The Bible

 

Genesis 1:20

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20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

Commentary

 

Morning

  
Two gorgeous red poppies -- one popped, and one just about to.

Morning comes with the rising of the sun, and the sun -- which gives life to the earth with its warmth and light -- represents the Lord in His divinity, bringing spiritual life through love and wisdom. Thus, the morning represents the coming of the Lord into our lives, and all the things that flow from it: the love, joy and enlightenment He brings; the peace and tranquility of passing the spiritual obscurity of night; the anticipation of the learning and usefulness of a new day; and the awareness of The Lord's renewed presence.

(References: Apocalypse Explained 179; Apocalypse Revealed 151; Arcana Coelestia 2333 [1-3], 2540, 2780, 5740, 8211, 8812, 10134, 10200, 10413; True Christian Religion 764 [1-2])

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #151

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151. "'And I will give him the morning star.'" (2:28) This symbolizes intelligence and wisdom then.

Stars symbolize concepts of goodness and truth, as may be seen in no 51 above; and because concepts of goodness and truth are the means to intelligence and wisdom, therefore these concepts are symbolically meant by the morning star. It is called the morning star, because the people meant here will be given intelligence and wisdom by the Lord when He comes to establish the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem; for He says, "Hold fast what you have till I come" (verse 25), which symbolically means, "so that they may retain the few truths that they know from the Word about charity and its resulting faith, and live according to them, until the New Heaven and New Church are formed, which are the Lord's advent" (no. 145).

[2] It is called the morning star because the morning symbolizes the Lord's advent, when the New Church is formed. That this is the meaning of the morning in the Word is apparent from the following passages:

Till the two thousand three hundredth evening and morning, then the sanctuary shall be made right... The vision of the evening and the morning... is the truth. (Daniel 8:14, 26)

One is calling to me from Seir, "Watchman..., watchman, what of the night?" The watchman said, "The morning comes, and also the night. (Isaiah 21:11-12)

Evening and night symbolize the final period of the old church, and morning the initial period of a new church.

An end has come... The morning has come upon you, you who dwell in the land... Behold, the day... has come! The morning has gone forth. (Ezekiel 7:6-7, 10)

Jehovah... every morning will bring His judgment to light, and it shall not be lacking. (Zephaniah 3:5)

God is in the midst of her...; God shall help her when He beholds the morning. (Psalms 46:5)

I have waited for Jehovah... My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, [indeed] than those who watch for the morning... For... with Him is abundant redemption, and He shall redeem Israel... (Psalms 130:5-8)

[3] And elsewhere. Morning in these passages means the Lord's advent, when He came into the world and established a new church, and likewise now. Moreover, because the Lord alone imparts intelligence and wisdom to the people who will be people of His New Church, and as everything that the Lord imparts embody Him because they are His, therefore the Lord says that He is the morning star:

I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star. (Revelation 22:16)

He is also called the morning in 2 Samuel:

The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me: .".. He is as the light of the morning..., a morning without clouds...." (2 Samuel 23:3-4)

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.