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:

710. 'Enter, you and all your house, into the ark' means things that constitute the will. This is clear from what has just been stated. In the previous chapter, which dealt with things of the understanding, verse 18 reads differently, namely 'You shall enter into the ark, you, and your sons, and your wife, and your sons' wives with you'. That 'a house' means the will and what constitutes the will is clear from various places in the Word, as in Jeremiah,

Their houses will be turned over to others, their fields and wives together. Jeremiah 6:11.

Here both 'houses' and 'fields and wives' refers to things of the will. In the same prophet,

Build houses and dwell in them; and plant gardens and eat their fruit. Jeremiah 29:5, 28.

Here 'building and dwelling in houses' has to do with the will, 'planting gardens' with the understanding. The same applies in other places. And frequently 'the house of Jehovah' stands for the Church where love is the chief thing. 'The house of Judah' stands for the celestial Church, 'the house of Israel' for the spiritual Church, because 'a house' means the Church. Consequently the mind of the member of the Church, which has within it things of the will and those of the understanding, that is, of charity and of faith, is meant by 'a house'.