16. Verse 1. In the beginning God created heaven and earth. The most ancient times of all are called 'the beginning', and are throughout the Prophets referred to as 'days of antiquity' and also 'days of eternity'. 'The beginning' also embodies within it that first Period when a person is being regenerated, for at that time he is being born anew and receiving life. Regeneration itself is therefore called a new creation of man. Almost everywhere in the prophetical sections 'to create', 'to form', and 'to make' mean to regenerate, though each of these verbs has a different shade of meaning, as in Isaiah,

Every one who is called by My name - I have created him for My glory, I have formed him, I have also made him. Isaiah 43:7

This is why the Lord is called Redeemer, One who forms from the womb, Maker, and also Creator, as in the same prophet,

I am Jehovah, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King. Isaiah 43:15.

In David,

A people to be created will praise Jah. Psalms 102:18.

In the same author,

You send forth Your Spirit; they are created; and You renewest the face ¹ of the ground. Psalms 104:30.

'Heaven' means the internal man, and 'earth' the external man prior to regeneration. This will be seen further on.

Footnotes:

10064. 'And you shall sprinkle the blood over the altar round about' means the uniting of Divine Truth to Divine Good. This is clear from the meaning of 'the blood', when it refers to the sacrifice and burnt offering, as Divine Truth, dealt with above in 10026, 10033; and from the meaning of 'the altar' as that which is representative of the Lord in respect of Divine Good, dealt with in 9964. When the words 'Divine Good' are used Divine Love is also meant. For all good belongs to love; indeed whatever people love they perceive to be good and therefore also call it good. But all truth belongs to faith; for whatever people believe they perceive to be and also call the truth. From this it follows that the things which compose the human understanding belong to faith and those that compose the will belong to love; for a person's understanding is dedicated to receiving truths that belong to faith and his will to receiving forms of good that belong to love. The character therefore of a person's understanding is determined by that of the truths which compose it and by that of his belief in them; and the character of a person's will is determined by that of the forms of good which constitute it and by that of his love of them. In the contrary sense there is a love of evil and belief in falsity, and also a will and understanding consisting of these. But the character of the understanding is determined by that of the falsity which composes it and by that of the belief in this falsity; and the character of the will is determined by that of the evil which constitutes it and by that of the love of this evil. The fact that a will consisting of evil and an understanding consisting of falsity come from hell, and that they constitute hell with a person, is self-evident, for they are the opposites of an understanding consisting of truth and a will consisting of good, which come from heaven and originate in the Lord, and so which constitute heaven with a person.