25. 'Spreading out the earth and stretching out the heavens' is a common expression in the Prophets when the subject is man's regeneration, as in Isaiah,

Thus said Jehovah, your Redeemer, He who formed you from the womb, I am Jehovah who makes all things, who stretches out the heavens Alone, and who spreads out the earth by Myself. Isaiah 44:24.

Also, when it is speaking of the Lord's Coming,

A bruised reed He does not break off and a smoking wick He does not quench; He brings forth judgement towards truth; that is, He neither shatters man's illusions nor stifles his desires. Instead He bends them towards truth and good. This verse in Isaiah continues,

The God Jehovah creates the heavens and stretches them out: He spreads out the earth and what comes from it: He gives breath ¹ to the people upon it, and spirit to those who walk on it. Isaiah 42:3-5.

Such phrases recur several times elsewhere.

Footnotes:

10365. 'That soul will be cut off from the midst of his people' means that not heaven and the Church but hell resides with that person. This is clear from the meaning of 'being cut off from the midst of his people' as separation from the Church and spiritual death, dealt with in 10288, so that not the Church but hell resides with him. When the Church does not reside with a person, neither does heaven; for heaven and the Church act as one. In the case of a person in whom the Church is present heaven, that is, the Lord by way of heaven, flows in and constitutes the Church there. So it is that when the Church does not reside with a person hell does so; and this is therefore meant by 'being cut off from the midst of his people'.