The Bible

 

Genesis 1:11

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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.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #9

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9. The third state is one of repentance, a state in which he speaks piously and devoutly from the internal man and brings forth goods, like charitable acts which are nevertheless inanimate since he imagines that they originate in himself. They are called a tender plant, then a seed-bearing plant, and finally a fruit tree.

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

Commentary

 

Heaven and earth

  

'Heaven and earth' signify all the inner parts of the church, and 'sea and dry land' signify all its outer parts, as mentioned in Haggai 2:6. 'Heaven and earth' signify, in general, the internal and external church. In particular, they signify the internal and external, or the spiritual and the natural parts of a person.

In Psalm 89:13, they signify the higher and lower heavens, and also the internal and external church.

'Heaven and earth being finished, and all the host of them,' as mentioned in Genesis 2:1, signifies that mankind had been made spiritual.

'In heaven, on earth, and under the earth,' as mentioned in Revelation 5:3, signify the three heavens in orderly succession, from the highest to the lowest.

'Heaven and earth' in scripture signify the heaven and earth which angels and spirits inhabit. In a spiritual sense, they signify the church amongst men.

(References: Apocalypse Explained 751; Arcana Coelestia 82; Haggai 2)