The Bible

 

Genesis 1:23

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23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #300

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300. As regards the first arcanum, that 'Jehovah God' is used to mean the Lord and at the same time heaven, it should be recognized that in the Word, always for some hidden reason, the Lord is sometimes called simply Jehovah, sometimes Jehovah God, sometimes Jehovah and God interchangeably, sometimes the Lord Jehovah, sometimes the God of Israel, and sometimes simply God. In Genesis 1, for example, where again an utterance is made in the plural, 'Let Us make man in Our image', God is the only name used. Not until the next chapter, where the celestial man is the subject, is He called Jehovah God-Jehovah, because He alone has Being and is Living, and so from His essence; God, because of His ability to accomplish all things, and so from His power, as is clear in the Word where the two names are used separately, Isaiah 49:4-5; 55:7; Psalms 18:2, 28, 30-31; Psalms 38:15. Consequently any angel or spirit who spoke to a person, or who people thought had the ability to accomplish something, they called God, as is clear in David,

God stands in the assembly of God, in the midst of the Gods will He judge. Psalms 82:1.

And elsewhere in David,

Who in the sky will be compared to Jehovah? Who will be likened to Jehovah among the sons of gods? Psalms 89:6.

And elsewhere in the same,

Confess the God of Gods; confess the Lord of lords. Psalms 136:2-3

It is from power that even men are called 'gods', as in Psalms 82:6; John 10:34-35. And Moses is spoken of as 'a god to Pharaoh', Exodus 7:1. And this also is why [in Hebrew] the word for God, Elohim, is plural. But because angels have no power whatsoever from themselves, as they themselves also confess, but from the Lord only, and as there is but one God, Jehovah God is therefore used in the Word to mean the Lord alone. Yet when anything is accomplished through the ministry of angels He is spoken of in the plural, as in Genesis 1. In the present chapter too, since a celestial man, as man, did not bear comparison with the Lord, but with angels, it is therefore said that 'the man has become as one of Us in knowing good and evil', that is, become someone wise and having intelligence.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #1096

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1096. And he cried out in strength with a great voice.- That this signifies manifestation before heaven and in the church from joy of heart, is evident from the signification of crying out, as denoting to make manifest, namely, that the Last Judgment was accomplished upon Babylon, for the words "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great" follow; and from the signification of in strength, as denoting in power before heaven and in the church, of which we shall speak in what follows; and from the signification of a great voice, as denoting joy of heart, for from that the voice becomes great. The cause of the joy of heart was, that after the Last Judgment upon those who are meant by the harlot or Babylon, the Divine Truth, which proceeds from the Lord, acquired light and power as stated in the article above. A great voice signifies joy of heart, because exclamation in a loud voice proceeds from some affection, and is more intense according to the affection or degree of love. The reason why in strength signifies in heaven and on earth, is, that strength signifies power, and the power then existed of manifesting those things before heaven and the world. Concerning this power see above (n. 1093).

[2] Continuation concerning the Athanasian Creed.- The first and primary thought that opens heaven to man, is thought concerning God; the reason of this is, that God is the All of heaven, so that whether we speak of heaven or of God it is the same thing. The Divine things (Divina) taken together, which cause the angels, of whom heaven consists, to be angels, are God. This is the reason why thought concerning God is the first and primary of all the thoughts that open heaven to man; for it is the head and sum of all truths and loves celestial and spiritual. But there is thought from light, and there is thought from love, thought from light alone is the knowledge that God exists, which appears like acknowledgement, but is not.

[3] By thought from light, man has presence in heaven, but not conjunction with heaven. For the light of thought alone, does not conjoin, but is the cause of the presence of man before the Lord and the angels; for that light is like the light of winter, in which a man sees as clearly as in the light of summer, nevertheless that light does not enter into conjunction either with the earth, or with any tree, shrub, flower, or grass. In every man is implanted, by means of the light of heaven, the faculty of thinking about God, and, also, of understanding those things that pertain to God, but thought alone from that light, which is intellectual thought, is merely the cause of his presence before the Lord and before the angels, as said above.

[4] When a man is merely in intellectual thought concerning God and concerning those things which pertain to God, he appears then to the angels, from a distance, like an image of ivory or marble, which is capable of walking and uttering sounds, but in whose face and utterance there is yet no life. He also appears to the angels, comparatively, like a tree in winter time whose branches are bare and without leaves, which, is nevertheless, expected to be covered with leaves, and afterwards with fruit, when the heat is conjoined with light, as is the case in time of spring. As thought concerning God primarily opens heaven, so thought against God primarily closes heaven.

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.