609. Who created heaven, and the things that are therein, and the earth, and the things that are therein, and the sea, and the things that are therein.- That this signifies the Lord as to all things, interior and exterior, of heaven and the church, is evident from the signification of creating, as denoting not only to cause a thing to be, but also to give it perpetual existence, by holding it together and sustaining it by the proceeding Divine; for the heavens have existed, and do perpetually exist, that is subsist, by the Divine of the Lord, which is called the Divine Truth united to Divine Good, and this received by the angels makes heaven; for this reason when heaven is mentioned, the Lord is meant, because heaven, where the angels are, is heaven from the Lord, that is from the Divine which goes forth from Himself; this, then, is the signification here, of creating; that to create, when spoken of the church, and the men of the church, means to create anew, that is, to regenerate, may be seen above (n. 294); and from the signification of heaven, the earth, and the sea, and the things which are in them, as denoting all things, interior and exterior, of heaven and the church. Heaven, the earth, and the sea, here signify specifically, the higher and lower heavens. Since in the spiritual world the appearance of things is similar to what it is in the natural world, consequently, there are mountains, lands, and seas, and the mountains there are the higher heavens, because the angels of those heavens dwell upon mountains, and the land and sea there are the lower heavens, for the angels of these heavens dwell below the mountains upon the lands, and as it were in seas (see above, n.594:18). For this reason the angel who said these things, was seen to stand upon the earth and the sea. The reason why the earth, and the sea, and the things which are in them, also signify all things of the church, both interior and exterior, is, that in the church there are things interior and exterior, just as in the heavens there are things higher and lower, and the former correspond to the latter. That the sea and the earth signify the church as to its exteriors and interiors, may be seen above (600).

According to the sense of the letter, heaven, the earth, and the sea, mean the visible heaven, the habitable earth, and the navigable sea, and the things therein mean the birds, beasts, and fishes. But that these things are not meant by those words, is evident from this fact, that the angel was seen by John, when in the spirit, standing upon the sea and upon the earth. And what is seen in the spirit, is not seen in the natural world, but in the spiritual world, where also, as said above, there are lands and seas, and also angels and spirits therein. Concerning the appearance of seas in that world, and concerning those therein, see above (n. 342).

5413. 'For he said, Perhaps harm may come to him' means that without the celestial of the spiritual, which is 'Joseph', that intermediary will perish. This is clear from the meaning of 'coming to harm' here as perishing. These words were spoken by Benjamin's father because he loved him and was afraid that he would perish among his brothers, as Joseph had done. But they have been quoted and incorporated into the Word because of the internal sense, which is that if the intermediary is present with external things alone without the internal it will perish, the intermediary being 'Benjamin', the external things 'the sons of Jacob', and the internal 'Joseph'. Indeed the intermediary perishes whenever it exists with external things alone without the internal, for the situation with the intermediary is this: It derives its being from what is internal and is therefore also kept in being from there; for it is brought into being when the internal beholds the external, when the affection and intention exists there to link that external to itself. Accordingly what is intermediate exists joined to the internal; and extending from the internal it is joined to the external, but not to the external without the internal. From this it is evident that if the intermediary is present with the external alone it will perish. What is more, it is a law common both to things in the spiritual world and to those in the natural world that anything prior can remain in being with what is prior to that, but not with what is posterior without what is prior to it. If it exists solely with what is posterior it will perish. The reason for this is that everything unconnected to something prior to itself is unconnected to Him who is the First, the Source of all that comes into being and is kept in being.