"Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the ground." Psalm 104:30

Additional readings: Isaiah 45:11-25, John 1:1-14, Psalm 104

Some today think of the universe as self-created, that its life is from itself, and that man is a product of the forces of nature. This is, in brief, the materialist's explanation of nature and of human life.

If this were true, the knowledge of nature and of its laws should solve all our problems. But there are qualities in man that are not found in nature. There is no morality in nature, nor is altruism to be found there. Nature's first law is the law of self-preservation, but among men—even the lowest of them—there is the feeling that they should not always seek to please themselves, that it is truly manly to try to save another at the risk of one's own life, that it is right to protect the weak, to help the neighbor.

Nature knows of no power above itself nor of any life after death. Likewise the materialists are unable to conceive of anything supernatural; they can acknowledge no supreme Being or Creator; they do not believe that they live after death. It should be obvious that nature cannot reveal anything that lies beyond its realm.

Yet in order that any finite thing may live there must be an infinite and uncreated source of life. If there were nothing to begin with, then plainly nothing could result. The forms of life which we see about us, and which we ourselves are, must derive their existence from One who is life itself. This is the meaning of the name Jehovah—the "I Am"—He who is in and of Himself. Such is the true conception which lies at the foundation of all intelligent thinking concerning Him. "Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Greater of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary?" (Isaiah 40:28). Creation is but the effect of the outpouring of life from Him. This life is called in the Scriptures His breath or spirit. Accordingly we have such statements as that of our text: "Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created."

But He who sends forth His life-giving spirit is hidden from our natural sight. Yes, even spirit itself is outwardly invisible. And so those who do not lift up their thoughts above nature are tempted to deny His existence. There are higher things than those that can be seen. The spirit of God and all else that is spiritual lie within and above the plane of the senses. Life flows from within outwards. What we see is its external effects; we do not see life itself. Our own spiritual natures are concealed from outward view. We cannot see the souls of those about us. The soul is within the body but is distinct from it. When it is withdrawn, the body dies. In like manner all life is internal and spiritual. He from whom it proceeds is the inmost fountain of all being. "Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created."

Again it has often been imagined by people who do believe in a personal God that He created the world and then let it go on by itself according to a system of laws provided for its government. This belief is in part due to the fact that God keeps Himself out of sight and in part to the fact that men think that His way of doing things would be like theirs. A man builds a house, and he may go away and never see it again. But we must remember that man does not create; he only makes use of materials at hand, reforming them to serve his immediate purpose. The Lord, because He creates, is never absent from any part of His creation. By His presence He keeps the universe alive, just as He originally called it into being. Were He to separate Himself from the things which He has made, they would all perish. This is what our text declares in saying, "Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created." We are not told that the Lord did send out His spirit at some time many years ago, but that He is sending it out now. The language is not that things were created once upon a time, but that they are created. "Existence is perpetual creation." The present tense transforms the statement into a universal law.

It is so too with the second phrase of the text, "Thou renewest the face of the ground." Allusion is obviously made, in the sense of the letter, to the changes continually going on in nature—the succession of one generation by another and the endless alternation of the seasons. Mother earth is just as fresh and young and productive today as she was in most ancient times. She is in the constant reception of new life. Not a moment passes without the face of the ground being renewed.

There is a lesson for us in this. It should teach us of the nearness of our Heavenly Father and of His constant provision for us. He is present in the heat and light of the sun, in the fields, forests, and mountains, in the rivers, lakes, and seas, in the winds and skies. All tell of His majesty and power, and especially of His constant presence. If we can see this, nature becomes more beautiful and wonderful to us. We see in nature His spirit renewing the face of the ground.

How strange it is that study of nature should lead men to disbelief in God. If the universe did not have order, if its parts were disconnected, without relation or use to one another and to the service and enjoyment of men, we might perhaps believe that it was not designed or created by an intelligent Being. But as the case stands, love and wisdom could not have written themselves more plainly in living characters before our eyes. And what are love and wisdom but the essence of a perfect personality? They cannot possibly exist as mere abstractions: they must be embodied in a person. Love is the inmost vital principle, and wisdom is the means whereby love accomplishes its purposes.

The Lord alone has life in Himself. He needs must be the Source of all creation. "All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made" (John 1:3). And of the creation of the earth it is written, "He created it not in vain; he formed it to be inhabited” (Isaiah 45:18). The purpose of the creation of the world was that there might be people upon it, that we might here be formed into God's own image and likeness and find happiness in heaven to eternity. For this reason, however long our life here may be, we are never completely satisfied with it. There has always been among all people a conviction that there is an afterlife. This conviction is not an idle dream but a perception that the goal of life cannot be reached here—that there is more which the Lord has prepared for us.

And just as the Lord is ever present in His creation, sustaining and controlling it from moment to moment, so He is ever present with us, giving us life, and guiding us if only we will be guided—for it is contrary to the Divine love to compel men—to our heavenly home. The Divine Providence is concerned with our spiritual and eternal life, and with bodily and temporal things only as they affect this. "What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" (Matthew 16:26).

This view of the relationship between God and His creation gives us a concept of God that is both rational and also satisfactory to our affectional nature. The Bible starts with the words "In the beginning God. created the heaven and the earth" (Genesis 1:1) to teach us that there is a Divine Being with a purpose supremely beneficent, and that there is an Intelligence altogether equal to the attainment of that purpose, and the rest of the Scriptures tell us of the Lord's operation in history to the accomplishment of His purposes. Knowledge of Him and of His purposes enables us to realize that there are better times ahead for us and happier times for the human race upon the earth, to which all lovers of mankind may look forward.

Moreover the Lord Himself came into the world as the Redeemer and Savior of men. In our own struggles we are not alone. The God of Battles is fighting for us. We are not cogs in a universal mechanism. The Lord is present everywhere in the universe. He comes to us outwardly in all the beneficent influences of nature, in the warmth and light of the sun and in all its other bounties. He is present in our souls, seeking to gladden us with the warmth of His love and to enlighten our minds with His wisdom, redeeming us from our iniquities and creating us anew into His own image and likeness.

9396. 'And he took the book of the covenant' means the Word in the letter to which the Word in heaven was joined. This is clear from the meaning of 'the book' as the Word in its entirety, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'the covenant' as a joining together, dealt with in 665, 666, 1023, 1038, 1864, 1996, 2003, 2021, 6804, 8767, 8778. 'The book of the covenant' is used here to mean everything the Lord spoke from Mount Sinai, for verse 4 just above says, And Moses wrote all Jehovah's words. In a restricted sense therefore 'the book of the covenant' is used to mean the Word revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai, and in a broad sense to mean the Word in its entirety since this is the Divine Truth revealed by the Lord. And since it is through this Truth that the Lord joins Himself to a member of the Church, that Truth too is meant by 'the book of the covenant'; for 'a covenant' is a joining together.

[2] But the nature of the Lord's being joined to a member of the Church through the Word is unknown at the present day because heaven at the present day is closed. Scarcely anyone today talks to angels or spirits and therefore knows the way in which they understand the Word. But this was well known to the ancients, and especially to the most ancients; for talking to spirits and angels was common among them. The reason for this was that people in ancient and especially in most ancient times were more internal, for they thought in the spirit virtually separated from the body, whereas people today are more external and think in the body virtually separated from the spirit. So it is that heaven has seemingly forsaken mankind, for heaven's contact is with the internal man when this can be unshackled from the body, but not directly with the external man. This explains why the nature of the Lord's being joined to a person through the Word is unknown at the present day.

[3] Those whose thought is based on what the body perceives with the senses and not on what the spirit perceives with the senses cannot possibly do other than think that the meaning the Word has in heaven is like the meaning it has in the world, that is, in the letter. If it were said that the meaning the Word has in heaven is like the thought of the internal man, which is free from material ideas, that is, from worldly, bodily, and earthly ideas, this would be considered an absurdity at the present day, especially if it were said that the meaning the Word has in heaven is as different from the meaning it has in the world or in the letter as a heavenly paradise is from an earthly paradise, or as heavenly food and drink are from earthly food and drink. How great that difference is may be seen from the consideration that the heavenly paradise consists in intelligence and wisdom, heavenly food in every good of love and charity, and heavenly drink in every truth of faith rooted in that good. Is there anyone at the present day who would not be astounded to hear that when a paradise, garden, or vineyard is mentioned in the Word those in heaven do not perceive a paradise, garden, or vineyard but instead such things as are attributes of intelligence and wisdom coming from the Lord? Or that when food and drink are mentioned, for instance bread, flesh, wine, or water, those in heaven perceive instead such things as are aspects of the good of love and the truth of faith received from the Lord? Or that this perception of the Word comes about not as a result of interpretations of its statements nor by seeing them as comparisons, but that it is due to correspondences and is their actual and real perception of it? For the heavenly virtues of wisdom, intelligence, the good of love, and the truth of faith correspond in actual reality to those worldly objects. In the same way the internal man has been created to correspond to the external man, and so therefore has heaven, which resides in the internal man, to correspond to the world, which resides in the external man. The same is so with everything generally. The truth that the Word is understood and perceived in heaven according to correspondences, and that this level of meaning is the internal sense, has been shown everywhere in the explanations prior to this.

[4] Anyone who grasps what has just been stated is capable of knowing and in some manner perceiving that a person is joined by means of the Word to heaven and through heaven to the Lord, and that without the Word no such joining together would be possible. See what has been shown many times about these matters, in 2143, 7153, 7381, 8920, 9094 (end), 9212 (end), 9216 (end), 9357, and elsewhere. From all this it is now clear why Moses took the book of the covenant and read it in front of the people, and then sprinkled the blood over the people and said, Behold, the blood of the covenant. And the reason why all this was done was that in heaven 'the blood of a sacrifice' is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, which on our planet is the Word, see 9393. Since 'the covenant' means a joining together, and since Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, that is, the Word, is the means by which the joining together is accomplished, everything that belongs to Divine Truth from the Lord or belongs to the Word is called 'the covenant', such as the tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written, also the judgements, statutes, and all else that is contained in the Books of Moses, and in general that is contained both in the Old Testament Word and in the New.

[5] The Tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written [were called the Covenant].

This may be seen in Moses,

Jehovah wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten words. Exodus 34:28.

In the same author,

I went up into the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which Jehovah made with you. Jehovah gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. I came down from the mountain, when the mountain was burning with fire; the two tablets of the covenant however were on my two hands. Deuteronomy 9:9, 11, 15.

And in the same author,

Jehovah declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the ten words which He wrote on tablets of stone. Take care, lest you forget the covenant of Jehovah your God, which He made with you. Deuteronomy 4:13, 23.

Because the two tablets had been laid up in the ark, which was in the middle or inmost part of the tabernacle, the ark was called the ark of the covenant, Numbers 10:33; 14:44; Deuteronomy 10:8, 31:9, 25-26; Joshua 3:3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17; 4:7, 9, 18; 6:6, 8; 8:33; Judges 20:27; 1 Samuel 4:3-5; 2 Samuel 15:24; 1 Kings 3:15; 6:19; 8:1, 6; Jeremiah 3:16.

[6] The Books of Moses were called the Book of the Covenant

This is clear from the ones found in the temple by Hilkiah the [high] priest, about which the following things are said in the second Book of Kings,

Hilkiah the high priest found the book of the law in the house of Jehovah.

And they read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant found in the house of Jehovah. 2 Kings 22:8; 23:2.

[7] The Old Testament Word was called the Covenant

This may be seen in Isaiah,

To those holding fast to My covenant I will give in My house and within My walls a place and a name better than sons and daughters. Isaiah 56:4-5.

In Jeremiah,

Hear the words of this covenant. Cursed is the man who will not hear the words of this covenant which I commanded your fathers. Obey My voice, and do those things, according to all that I command you. Jeremiah 11:2-4.

In David,

All the ways of Jehovah are mercy and truth to those keeping His covenant and His testimonies. Psalms 25:10.

In the same author,

The mercy of Jehovah is from eternity to eternity on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children's children, to those keeping His covenant, and to those remembering His commandments. Psalms 103:17-18.

And in the same author,

They did not keep God's covenant and refused to walk in His law. Psalms 78:10.

Here 'God's covenant' is called God's law. 'The law' is used in a broad sense to mean the whole Word, in a narrower sense to mean the historical section of the Word, in a restricted sense the Word that was written through Moses, and in a very restricted sense the Ten Commandments, see 6752.

[8] The New Testament Word too is the Covenant

This may be seen in Jeremiah,

Behold, the days are coming in which I will make with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant. This is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days: I will put My law in the midst of them, and will write it on their heart. Jeremiah 31:31-33.

'The house of Israel' stands for the spiritual Church, and 'the house of Judah' for the celestial Church. And in David,

I will also make Him the Firstborn, supreme over the kings of the earth; and My covenant will stand fast with Him. I will not profane ¹ My covenant, and the utterance of My lips I will not alter. Psalms 89:27-28, 34.

This refers to the Lord. 'My covenant will stand fast with Him' stands for the union of the Divine Himself and the Divine Human, thus also for the Word since the Lord's Divine Human was the Word made flesh, that is, made man (homo), John 1:1-3, 14.

[9] The reason why Divine Truth or the Word is a covenant or joining together is that the Word is the Divine from the Lord, thus is the Lord Himself; and this being so, when the Word is received by a person the Lord Himself is received. From this it is evident that it is through the Word that the Lord is joined to a person; and since the Lord is joined to the person, so too is heaven joined to that person. For heaven is called heaven by virtue of the Divine Truth emanating from the Lord and therefore from the Divine. This explains why those in heaven are said to be 'in the Lord'. Regarding the truth that the Divine joins Himself to those who love the Lord and keep His Word, see John 14:23.

[10] From all this it becomes clear that 'the blood of the covenant' means the Lord joined through heaven to a person by means of the Word, as also in Zechariah,

I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be cut off; on the other hand He will speak peace to the nations; His dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. As for you also, through the blood of your covenant I will let out your bound ones from the pit in which there is no water. Zechariah 9:10-11.

[11] A person with no knowledge at all of the internal sense cannot see in these verses anything other than such things as are implied in their literal meaning, that is to say, that the chariot from Ephraim, horse from Jerusalem, and battle bow were going to be cut off, and in the final words that through 'the blood of the covenant' - meaning the Lord's blood - those buried in sins were going to be delivered, various ways being used to explain who exactly are meant by 'bound ones in the pit in which there is no water'. But a person who knows the internal sense of the Word sees that these verses refer to Divine Truth, and that after it has been laid waste, that is, is no longer received in belief and heart by anyone, it will be restored through God's truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Human, and that those who believe and do it will be joined by means of it to the Lord Himself. All this becomes clearer still from the inner meaning of individual words in these verses, for example from the meaning of 'chariot' as doctrine taught by the Church, 2760, 5321, 5945, 8215, and of 'Ephraim' as the Church's enlightened understanding, 5354, 6222, 6238; from the meaning of 'horse' as an understanding of the Word, 2760-2762, 3217, 5321, 6125, 6534, 8029, 8146, 8148, ² and of 'Jerusalem' as the spiritual Church, 2117, 3654, 9166; from the meaning of 'bow' as the doctrine of truth, 2686, 2709, and of 'battle' or 'war' as conflict involving truths, 1664, 2686, 8295.

[12] From these meanings it is evident that 'cutting off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow' means God's truth laid waste so far as any understanding of it in the Church is concerned, and that 'through the blood of the covenant those bound in the pit in which there is no water were going to be let out' means a restoration effected through Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Human. The meaning of 'blood' as Divine Truth and of 'the covenant' as a joining together has been shown above; and for the meaning of 'those bound in the pit' as members of the spiritual Church who were saved by the Lord's Coming into the world, see 6854. The description 'pit where there is no water' is used because 'water' means truth, 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 5668, 7307, 8137, 8138, 8568, 9323.

Footnotes: