The Bible

 

Genesis 1:26

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26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Commentary

 

Morning

  
Two gorgeous red poppies -- one popped, and one just about to.

Morning comes with the rising of the sun, and the sun -- which gives life to the earth with its warmth and light -- represents the Lord in His divinity, bringing spiritual life through love and wisdom. Thus, the morning represents the coming of the Lord into our lives, and all the things that flow from it: the love, joy and enlightenment He brings; the peace and tranquility of passing the spiritual obscurity of night; the anticipation of the learning and usefulness of a new day; and the awareness of The Lord's renewed presence.

(References: Apocalypse Explained 179; Apocalypse Revealed 151; Arcana Coelestia 2333 [1-3], 2540, 2780, 5740, 8211, 8812, 10134, 10200, 10413; True Christian Religion 764 [1-2])

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #7990

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7990. 'To lead them out of the land of Egypt' means deliverance from spiritual captivity. This is clear from the meaning of 'leading out' as delivering; and from the meaning of 'the land of Egypt' as the place where they were molested by the evil, thus where they were in spiritual captivity, as accords with the matters introduced in 6854, 6914, 7035, 7091, 7828, 7932, 7985. People are said to be in spiritual captivity when inwardly they are maintained by the Lord in goodness and truth, but outwardly they are kept by hell in evil and falsity, as a result of which there is conflict between the external man and the internal man. This is the state in which those who are being molested are held. During it, by an influx (or flowing into them) by way of their interiors, the Lord fights on their behalf against the afflux (or flowing towards them) of evil and falsity from the hells. At this time they are held like captives; for as a result of the influx from the Lord they wish to be guided by truth and good, but the afflux from the hells makes it seem to them that they are incapable of it. This conflict takes place to the end that the external man may be brought into obedience to the internal man, and in that way natural things may be made subordinate to spiritual ones.

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