The Bible

 

Genesis 1:2

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2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #63

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63. Meanwhile the Lord is constantly fighting on his behalf against evils and falsities and by these conflicts is confirming him in truth and good. The hour of conflict is the hour when the Lord is at work, which is why in the Prophets a regenerate person is called 'the work of God's fingers'. Nor does He rest until love is playing the leading part, at which point conflict ceases. When that work has reached the point where faith has been joined to love, it is then called 'very good', for the Lord then moves him to be a likeness of Himself. At the end of the sixth day evil spirits go away and good ones take their place; then the person is led into heaven, or the heavenly paradise, which is the subject of the next chapter.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #5999

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5999. Verses 2-4 And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Behold, here I am. And He said, I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid of going down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will certainly cause you to come up also; and Joseph will put his hand on your eyes.

'And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night' means obscure revelation. 'And said, Jacob, Jacob' means made to natural truth. 'And he said, Behold, here I am' means discernment. 'And He said, I am God, the God of your father' means the Divine Intellectual, the source of what flowed in. 'Do not be afraid of going down to Egypt' means that natural truth and all that accompanies it must be introduced into the facts known to the Church. 'For I will make you into a great nation' means that truths will be made into good. 'I will go down with you to Egypt' means the Lord's presence in that state. 'And I will certainly cause you to come up also' means a raising up after that. 'And Joseph will put his hand on your eyes' means that the internal celestial will impart life to it.

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