860. From these considerations it also becomes clear that all regeneration advances from evening to morning, as is mentioned six times in Genesis 1 where the regeneration of man is the subject. Here the evening is described in verses 2-3, the morning in verses 4-5. The present verse describes the first ray of light or the morning of this state as 'the tops of the mountains appearing'.

10365. 'That soul will be cut off from the midst of his people' means that not heaven and the Church but hell resides with that person. This is clear from the meaning of 'being cut off from the midst of his people' as separation from the Church and spiritual death, dealt with in 10288, so that not the Church but hell resides with him. When the Church does not reside with a person, neither does heaven; for heaven and the Church act as one. In the case of a person in whom the Church is present heaven, that is, the Lord by way of heaven, flows in and constitutes the Church there. So it is that when the Church does not reside with a person hell does so; and this is therefore meant by 'being cut off from the midst of his people'.