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:

362. I heard the second animal saying, signifies out of the inmost heaven from the Lord. This is evident from what was said above n. 353; for by the animals are meant cherubim, and "cherubim," in the highest sense, signify the Lord in relation to providence and guard that He be not approached except through the good of love; and in a relative sense, the inmost heaven (See above, n. 152, 277, 313, 322). "Cherubim" signify also the inmost heaven because this heaven is in the good of love to the Lord, and the Lord cannot be approached except through the heavens, and into the inmost or third heaven there is nothing admitted that does not savor of the good of that heaven. There were four animals or cherubim, because "four" signifies conjunction into one, and such is the conjunction with those who are there; for the Lord thus conjoins them by means of love to Him from Him. For this reason four were seen. From this also it is clear that the second animal here has a similar significance as the first, and similar as the third and fourth in what follows. (That "four" signifies conjunction, see Arcana Coelestia 1686, 8877, 9601, 9674)