Arcana Coelestia #39
39. Verse 20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth creeping things, living creatures; and let birds fly above the earth, upon the face 1 of the expanse of the heavens.
After the great lights have been kindled and lodged in the internal man, from which the external man receives its light, a person starts to live for the first time. Till then he can hardly be said to have lived, for he had imagined that the good he had done he had done from himself, and the truth he had uttered he had spoken from himself. And since man functioning from himself is dead - there being nothing in him that is not evil and false - therefore whatever he brings forth from himself is not living. So true is this that of himself he is incapable of doing any good deed that is in itself good. The fact that man cannot begin to think about good or to will it, and so cannot do good, unless the Lord is the source, is clear to everyone from the doctrine of faith, for the Lord says in Matthew,
He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. Matthew 13:37.
Nor can good come from anywhere else than the one fount itself of all good, as yet again He says,
Nobody is good but one, God. Luke 18:19.
[2] Nevertheless when the Lord is revitalizing a person, or regenerating him, He does allow him, to begin with, to imagine that good and truth originate in himself, for at that point a person cannot grasp anything else, or be led to believe and finally perceive, that all good and truth come from the Lord alone. As long as he held the former opinion his truths and goods were comparable to 'a tender plant', then 'a plant bearing seed', and after that 'a fruit tree', which are inanimate. But once he has been brought to life by love and faith and believes that the Lord is at work in every good deed he does and in every truth he utters, he is compared first to creeping things from the water and to birds which fly above the earth, and then to beasts, all of which are animate and are called 'living creatures'.
Footnotes:
1. literally, the faces
Ezekiel 40:20-46
20
The gate of the outer court whose prospect is toward the north, he measured its length and its breadth.
21
The lodges of it were three on this side and three on that side; and its posts and its arches were after the measure of the first gate: its length was fifty cubits, and the breadth twenty-five cubits.
22
The windows of it, and its arches, and the palm trees of it, were after the measure of the gate whose prospect is toward the east; and they went up to it by seven steps; and its arches were before them.
23
There was a gate to the inner court over against the [other] gate, [both] on the north and on the east; and he measured from gate to gate one hundred cubits.
24
He led me toward the south; and behold, a gate toward the south: and he measured its posts and its arches according to these measures.
25
There were windows in it and in its arches all around, like those windows: the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth twenty-five cubits.
26
There were seven steps to go up to it, and its arches were before them; and it had palm trees, one on this side, and another on that side, on its posts.
27
There was a gate to the inner court toward the south: and he measured from gate to gate toward the south a hundred cubits.
28
Then he brought me to the inner court by the south gate: and he measured the south gate according to these measures;
29
and its lodges, and its posts, and its arches, according to these measures: and there were windows in it and in its arches all around; it was fifty cubits long, and twenty-five cubits broad.
30
There were arches all around, twenty-five cubits long, and five cubits broad.
31
The arches of it were toward the outer court; and palm trees were on its posts: and the ascent to it had eight steps.
32
He brought me into the inner court toward the east: and he measured the gate according to these measures;
33
and its lodges, and its posts, and its arches, according to these measures: and there were windows therein and in its arches all around; it was fifty cubits long, and twenty-five cubits broad.
34
The arches of it were toward the outer court; and palm trees were on its posts, on this side, and on that side: and the ascent to it had eight steps.
35
He brought me to the north gate: and he measured [it] according to these measures;
36
its lodges, its posts, and its arches: and there were windows therein all around; the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth twenty-five cubits.
37
The posts of it were toward the outer court; and palm trees were on its posts, on this side, and on that side: and the ascent to it had eight steps.
38
A room with its door was by the posts at the gates; there they washed the burnt offering.
39
In the porch of the gate were two tables on this side, and two tables on that side, to kill thereon the burnt offering and the sin offering and the trespass offering.
40
On the [one] side outside, as one goes up to the entry of the gate toward the north, were two tables; and on the other side, which belonged to the porch of the gate, were two tables.
41
Four tables were on this side, and Four tables on that side, by the side of the gate; eight tables, whereupon they killed [the sacrifices].
42
There were four tables for the burnt offering, of cut stone, a cubit and a half long, and a cubit and a half broad, and one cubit high; whereupon they laid the instruments with which they killed the burnt offering and the sacrifice.
43
The hooks, a handbreadth long, were fastened within all around: and on the tables was the flesh of the offering.
44
Outside of the inner gate were rooms for the singers in the inner court, which was at the side of the north gate; and their prospect was toward the south; one at the side of the east gate having the prospect toward the north.
45
He said to me, This room, whose prospect is toward the south, is for the priests, the keepers of the duty of the house;
46
and the room whose prospect is toward the north is for the priests, the keepers of the duty of the altar: these are the sons of Zadok, who from among the sons of Levi come near to Yahweh to minister to him.
