The Bible

 

Genesis 1:1

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Commentary

 

Resurrection, the first

  

'The first resurrection,' mentioned in Revelation 20:5, 6, does not mean a first resurrection, but the essence and primary part of resurrection, which is salvation and eternal life. There is only one resurrection to life. A second does not happen, and is not mentioned anywhere in the Bible.

(References: Apocalypse Explained 6; Apocalypse Revealed 851; Revelation 20:5-6)

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1533

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1533. Before my sight was opened I was scarcely able to entertain any different idea than that entertained by others about the countless things to be seen in the next life. I had thought that light and such things as come from it, as well as the objects of the senses, did not exist at all in the next life. This was the result of the delusion under which the learned labour about the immaterial, which they harp on so much in speaking of spirits and everything in their life. In consequence it was impossible to conceive of anything immaterial except as either something too obscure to be grasped by the mind, or as nothing, for that is what immaterial implies The reality however is altogether the reverse, for unless spirits had organs and angels were made of organic substance, they could neither speak, nor see, nor think.

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