The Bible

 

Genesis 1:15

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

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 #5041

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5041. 'And Jehovah was with Joseph' means that the Divine was inwardly present, that is, present within the Lord, who is represented in the highest sense by 'Joseph'. At this point the Divine presence in temptations is meant, temptations being the subject here. For the Divine itself is Jehovah, whose existence or presence within the Lord is meant by 'Jehovah was with Joseph'. Because the sense of the letter is dealing with Joseph the expression 'with Joseph' is used, but in the internal sense, where the Lord is the subject, 'within the Lord' is meant. Anybody within the Church can recognize this from the consideration that the Lord was conceived from Jehovah and for that reason calls Him His Father on so many occasions. A person's essential being (esse) and consequently the inmost centre of life in him is received from his father, its coverings or outward clothing from his mother. Therefore the Lord's Essential Being (Esse) and consequently the inmost centre of life in Him was the Divine because it was Jehovah Himself, while its coverings or outward clothing constituted the human which He took upon Himself from His mother by being born from her. The nature of this human was such that it could undergo temptation, for it was defiled by hereditary evil received from His mother. But because the inmost centre of Him was the Divine, He was able by means of the power that was His own to cast out that hereditary evil received from His mother. This casting out took place in succeeding stages by means of temptations, until He underwent the final temptation, that on the Cross, at which point He fully glorified His Human, that is, made it Divine. From this one may see what is meant when it is said that the Divine was inwardly present.

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