The Bible

 

Genesis 1:15

Study

       

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

Commentary

 

Heaven

  
The Plains of Heaven, by John Martin

Heaven" and "heavens" are used many times in the Bible, with a couple of variations of meaning. Sometimes it is relatively literal, including times when the Lord is identified with it (“Our Father, who art in the heavens,” for instance), meaning heaven as the eternal home for people who chose to do what is good in this life and let the Lord lead them to a love of being good. In other references, particularly when it is paired with “earth” or other lesser ideas (“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” for instance), “heaven” or “heavens” means our internal life as opposed to our external life. In a way, these two meanings are really the same. If you think about the importance of your deepest thoughts and feelings, you can see that they are the “real” you, much more so than your body is. The relationship between the spiritual world and the natural world is similar; the spiritual world is the “real” one, and controls the natural world the same way our thoughts and feeling control our actions. So in both cases, “heaven” describes a deeper reality that we will enter fully after we die.

Play Video

This video is a product of the New Christian Bible Study Corporation. Follow this link for more information and more explanations - text, pictures, audio files, and videos: www.newchristianbiblestudy.org

Play Video

This video is a product of the New Christian Bible Study Corporation. Follow this link for more information and more explanations - text, pictures, audio files, and videos: www.newchristianbiblestudy.org

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #8327

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

8327. 'On the mountain of Your inheritance' means the heaven where the good of charity resides. This is clear from the meaning of 'mountain of inheritance' as heaven. For 'mountain' means the good of love, 795, 796, 2722, 4210, 6435, and 'inheritance' means another's life, in this instance the Lord's; thus the life of goodness and truth which is derived from the Lord is meant, since those who possess this life are heirs of the kingdom and are called sons, 2658, 2851, 3672, 7212. Since these things are meant by 'the mountain of inheritance', heaven is also meant; for heaven is heaven by virtue of the good of love and it is the inheritance belonging to those who are the Lord's.

  
/ 10837  
  

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