24. Verse 6 And God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let there be a distinguishing of the waters from the waters.

After the Spirit of God, which is the Lord's mercy, has brought out into the daylight cognitions of truth and good, and has shed the light of dawn to reveal that the Lord does exist, and that He is good itself and truth itself, and that no good or truth exists except from the Lord, a distinction is at that point made between the internal man and the external man, and so between cognitions which reside with the internal man and the facts which belong to the external man. The internal man is called 'an expanse, and the cognitions residing with the internal man are called 'the waters above the expanse', while the facts belonging to the external man are called 'the waters below the expanse'.

[2] Until his regeneration starts a person is not aware of even the existence of the internal man, let alone the identity of the internal man. Submerged in bodily and worldly concerns he imagines there is no difference between the two. Furthermore he has submerged in those same concerns the things that belong to the internal man and has made one thorough obscurity out of things that are distinct and separate. For this reason it is first said, 'Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters', and then, 'Let there be a distinguishing of the waters from the waters', and not a distinguishing of the waters. But this is followed immediately by the statement, Verses 7-8, And God made the expanse and He made a distinction between the waters that were under the expanse and the waters that were above the expanse; and it was so. And God called the expanse Heaven.

[3] The second thing therefore that a person notices when being regenerated is that he is starting to become aware of the existence of the internal man, or that what reside in the internal man are goods and truths which are the Lord's alone. And since the external man during regeneration is such as still imagines that he is the source of the good deeds he performs, or of the truth he utters, and since such a person, by means of them, is led by the Lord to do good and to speak truth as if they were his own, therefore the identification of those under the expanse comes first, and the identification of those above the expanse follows. It is also a heavenly arcanum that the Lord uses those things that are man's own - both his illusions of the senses and his desires - to lead and direct him towards the things that are goods and truths. Every single movement of regeneration is accordingly a progression from evening to morning - from external man to internal, that is, from earth to heaven. This is why the expanse, or internal man, is now called 'heaven'.

389. Verses 9-11. And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a great voice, saying, How long, O Lord, who art holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet a little time until both their fellow-servants and their brethren, that should be killed, as they were, should be fulfilled.

"And when he had opened the fifth seal," signifies prediction still further; "I saw under the altar," signifies those who were reserved under heaven; "the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held," signifies those who were rejected and concealed on account of the Divine truth and confession of the Lord.

"And they cried with a great voice," signifies the grief of their minds saying, How long, O Lord, who art holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth," signifies sighings to the Lord, who is justice, concerning the judgment and removal of those who persecute and infest them who acknowledge the Lord, and are in the life of charity.

"And white robes were given unto every one," signifies Divine truth from the Lord with them, and protection. "And it was said unto them that they should rest yet a little time," signifies some further duration in that state; "until both their fellow-servants and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled," signifies, until all things were consummated.