The Bible

 

Genesis 1:21

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21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

Commentary

 

Resurrection, the first

  

'The first resurrection,' mentioned in Revelation 20:5, 6, does not mean a first resurrection, but the essence and primary part of resurrection, which is salvation and eternal life. There is only one resurrection to life. A second does not happen, and is not mentioned anywhere in the Bible.

(References: Apocalypse Explained 6; Apocalypse Revealed 851; Revelation 20:5-6)

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #142

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142. Verses 19-20 And Jehovah God formed out of the ground every beast of the field, and every bird of the air, 1 and He brought it to the man to see what he would call it; and whatever the man called it, the living creature, 2 that was its name. And the man gave names to every beast, and to the birds of the air, 1 and to every wild animal of the field; but for man there was not found a help suitable for him.

'Beasts' means celestial affections, 'birds of the air' 3 spiritual ones; that is, 'beasts' means things that belong to the will, and 'birds' those that belong to the understanding. 'Bringing them to the man to see what he would call them' means enabling him to know their nature. 'He gave them names means that he did recognize their nature. But even though he knew the nature of the affections for good and the cognitions of truth which the Lord had granted him, he still set his heart on the proprium, which is expressed in the same way as before - 'there was not found a help suitable for him'.

Footnotes:

1. literally, bird of the heavens (or the skies)

2. literally, the living soul

3. literally, birds of the heavens (or the skies)

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