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.
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.
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.
6001. 'And said, Jacob, Jacob' means made to natural truth. This is clear from the representation of 'Jacob' as natural truth, dealt with in 3305, 3509, 3525, 3546, 3599, 3775, 4009, 4234, 4520, 4578. The reason why the name 'Jacob' and not Israel is used is that natural truth and all that accompanies it must be introduced into the facts known to the Church, meant by Jacob's going down into Egypt together with his sons, see below in 6004.