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 #6230

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6230. 'And blessed me' means a foretelling about a bestowal of life. This is clear from the meaning here of 'blessing' as a foretelling regarding a bestowal of life; for the blessing was that He would make him fruitful and multiply him, make him into a congregation of peoples, and give the land to his seed after him as an everlasting possession, which are all part of the foretelling about the bestowal of life. Not that Jacob's descendants were to have life bestowed on them but those who have the truth of faith and the good of charity in them; for these are the ones who are meant in the internal sense by 'Jacob and Israel'.

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