The Bible

 

Genesis 1

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1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first Day.

6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.

14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

True Christian Religion #776

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776. VII. This, the Lord's second coming, is not in person, but in the Word, which is from Him and which He is.

We read in many passages that the Lord will come in the clouds of heaven 1 ; e.g, Matthew 17:5; 24:30; 26:64; Mark 14:62; Luke 9:34-35; 21:27; Revelation 1:7; 14:14; Daniel 7:13. But no one up to the present has known what the clouds of heaven mean; they have thought that He would appear in them in person. It has so far been unknown that the clouds of heaven mean the Word in its literal sense, and that glory and power, with which He is to come at that time (Matthew 24:30), mean the spiritual sense of the Word. This is because no one has even guessed that there is a spiritual sense in the Word, as there is in essence in this example. Since the Lord has now revealed to me the spiritual sense of the Word, and has allowed me to associate with angels and spirits in their world, as if I were one of them, it has been disclosed that the cloud of heaven means the Word in its natural sense, glory the Word in its spiritual sense, and power means the Lord's strength through the Word. This meaning of the clouds of heaven can be seen from these passages in the Word:

There is none like the God of Jeshurun, riding on the heaven, and in magnificence upon the clouds, Deuteronomy 33:26-27.

Sing to God, praise His name, extol Him who rides upon the clouds, Psalms 68:4.

Jehovah riding upon a light cloud, Isaiah 19:1.

[2] To ride means to instruct in Divine truths from the Word, for a horse means the understanding of the Word (see Apocalypse Revealed 298). Anyone can see that God does not ride upon the clouds. Further:

God rode upon the cherubim, and made the clouds of the heavens His tent, Psalms 18:10-11.

Cherubim also mean the Word (see Apocalypse Revealed 239, 672).

Jehovah binds the waters in His clouds, and stretches out His cloud over His throne, Job 26:8-9.

Give strength to God 2 , strength upon the clouds, Psalms 68:34, Jehovah will create 3 over every dwelling of Zion a cloud by day; for glory will be a covering over all, Isaiah 4:5.

The Word in its literal sense was also represented by the cloud in which Jehovah came down on Mount Sinai, when He proclaimed the Law. The provisions of the Law then proclaimed were the rudiments of the Word.

[3] The following facts may be added in support. The spiritual world has clouds just as the natural world does, but they are of a different origin. In the spiritual world there are sometimes shining clouds over the heavens of the angels, but dark clouds over the hells. Shining clouds over the heavens of the angels betoken obscurity there resulting from the literal sense of the Word; but when those clouds are dispersed, it means that the spiritual sense has brought them its clarity 4 . Dark clouds over the hells betoken the falsification and profanation of the Word. The reason clouds have such meanings in the spiritual world is because light, which is radiated from the Lord as the sun of that world, stands for Divine truth. This is why He is Himself called light (John 1:9; 12:35). This also is why the Word itself, which is stored in the sanctuaries of church-buildings there, is to be seen with a halo of shining light; when dimmed, this is due to clouds.

Footnotes:

1. Or: of the sky.

2. The Latin has 'to Jehovah', corrected in the Author's copy.

3. The Latin has 'has created', corrected in the Author's copy.

4. The Latin has 'charity' for 'clarity'.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

The Bible

 

Daniel 7:13-14

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13 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.

14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.