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.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #663

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663. Verses 11, 12. And after three days and a half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them that saw them. And they heard a great voice out of heaven, saying unto them, Come up hither; and they ascended into heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them.

"And after three, days and a half," signifies, when completed, thus the end of the old church, and the beginning of a new church; "the spirit of life from God entered into them," signifies enlightenment and the reception in some of the influx of Divine Truth from the Lord for the beginning of a new church; "and they stood upon their feet," signifies a new life such as the regenerated man of the church has; "and great fear fell upon them that saw them," signifies a state of anxiety with those who did not receive and acknowledge. "And they heard a great voice out of heaven, saying unto them," signifies the Lord's Divine Providence; "Come up hither," signifies separation and thence protection; "and they ascended into heaven in a cloud," signifies separation as to things internal, and their protection; "and their enemies saw them," signifies cognition and acknowledgment with those who are interiorly opposed to the goods and truths of the Word and of the church.

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #379

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379. The fact that such things are meant by these statements is clear from what has gone before, and from the fact that 'one who is cursed' means one who became alienated, as also shown already in 245. For it is forms of iniquity and abomination, which are forms of hatred, that alienate a person and cause him to look downwards only, that is, towards bodily and earthly interests, and so to things that belong to hell. This takes place when charity is banished and annihilated. Indeed the bond that exists between the Lord and man is in that case put asunder. Charity alone, or love and compassion, is what joins the two together. Faith without charity never does so, for that is not faith, but mere knowledge such as even the devil's crew is able to possess and by which they are able to deceive and mislead the upright and pretend to be angels of light. Very wicked preachers are sometimes accustomed to act in a similar way; they preach with a zeal that seems to be an expression of inner godliness but is in fact nothing more with them than that which they bear on the lips. Can anyone be so lacking in judgement as to believe that faith alone residing in the memory has the power to achieve anything, or that mere thought from the same source has? Everyone from personal experience knows that nobody places any value on another person's words and assentings if these are not an expression of his will and intention. It is will and intention that make them acceptable and join one person to another. The activity of the will is the real person, not thought and utterance of that which he does not will. From the activity of his will he acquires a particular nature and disposition, for his will is what moves him. If his thoughts are of good, the essential element of faith, which is charity, is contained in his thinking, because it contains the will for good. But if he asserts that his thoughts are of good and yet lives wickedly, the activity of his will cannot possibly be anything else than the will of evil, and as a consequence faith does not exist.

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