Arcana Coelestia #16
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:
1. literally, the faces
Heavens
'The former heavens, which passed away,' as mentioned in Revelation 21:1, signify the societies of people in the spiritual world who were only in external or apparent good. (Apocalypse Explained 675) Heavens are celestial and spiritual things. Consequently, they are inmost things, both of the Lord's kingdom in heaven and in the earth. This also refers to the church, and every individual, who is a kingdom of the Lord, or a 'church.' Consequently, heavens denote all things pertaining to love and charity, and faith grounded in them, as well as all things pertaining to internal worship. In like manner they denote all things pertaining to the internal sense of the Word. All these things are heavens, and are called, 'the throne of the Lord.' (Arcana Coelestia 2162)
(References: Apocalypse Explained 21)
