16. Verse 1. In the beginning God created heaven and earth. The most ancient times of all are called 'the beginning', and are throughout the Prophets referred to as 'days of antiquity' and also 'days of eternity'. 'The beginning' also embodies within it that first Period when a person is being regenerated, for at that time he is being born anew and receiving life. Regeneration itself is therefore called a new creation of man. Almost everywhere in the prophetical sections 'to create', 'to form', and 'to make' mean to regenerate, though each of these verbs has a different shade of meaning, as in Isaiah,

Every one who is called by My name - I have created him for My glory, I have formed him, I have also made him. Isaiah 43:7

This is why the Lord is called Redeemer, One who forms from the womb, Maker, and also Creator, as in the same prophet,

I am Jehovah, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King. Isaiah 43:15.

In David,

A people to be created will praise Jah. Psalms 102:18.

In the same author,

You send forth Your Spirit; they are created; and You renewest the face ¹ of the ground. Psalms 104:30.

'Heaven' means the internal man, and 'earth' the external man prior to regeneration. This will be seen further on.

Footnotes:

180. Since angels wear clothes in heaven, they have appeared clothed when they were seen in our world, like the ones seen by the prophets and the ones by the Lord's tomb, whose "appearance was like lightning and whose clothes were gleaming and white" (Matthew 28:3, Mark 16:5, Luke 22:4, 24:4, John 20:11-12, 13) and the ones seen in heaven by John whose "garments were of linen and white" (Revelation 4:4; 19:11, 13). And since intelligence comes from divine truth, the Lord's garments, when he was transfigured, were "gleaming and white as light" (Matthew 17:2, Mark 9:3, Luke 9:29: on light as divine truth emanating from the Lord, see 129 above). This is why garments in the Word mean things true and the intelligence that results from them, as in John: "Those who have not defiled their garments will walk with me in white, because they are worthy; whoever overcomes will be clothed with white garments" (Revelation 3:4-5); and "Blessed are those who are watchful and take care of their garments" (Revelation 16:15).

Concerning Jerusalem, meaning the church as it is focused on what is true, ¹ it says in Isaiah, "Rise up, put on your strength, O Zion; put on the garments of your beauty, O Jerusalem" (Isaiah 52:1); and in Ezekiel, "O Jerusalem, I have clothed you with linen, I have veiled you with silk, your garments are linen and silk" (Ezekiel 16:10, 13); and many other passages.

In contrast, someone who is not engaged with truths is said not to be wearing a wedding garment, as in Matthew: "When the king came in, he saw the one not wearing a wedding garment and said, 'Friend, how have you come in here without a wedding garment?' So that one was cast out into the outer darkness" (Matthew 22:11-13). The wedding house means heaven and the church by virtue of the Lord's union with them through his divine truth. This is why in the Word the Lord is called the Bridegroom and Husband, and heaven and the church the bride and wife.

Footnotes: