42. Verse 21 And God created the great sea monsters, and every living creature that creeps, which the waters produced abundantly according to their kinds; and all winged birds according to their kinds; and God saw that it was good.

As has been stated, 'fish' means facts, here facts quickened and brought to life through faith from the Lord. 'Sea monsters' means those facts' general sources, below which and from which details derive. Nothing whatever exists in the universe that does not depend on some general source for its commencement and continuance. In the Prophets sea monsters or whales are mentioned several times, and in those places they mean those general sources of facts. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, who represents human wisdom or intelligence - that is, knowledge in general - is called 'a great sea monster', as in Ezekiel,

Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster lying in the midst of his ¹ rivers, who has said, It is my river and I have made myself. Ezekiel 29:3.

[2] And elsewhere in Ezekiel,

Raise a lamentation over Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and say to him, You are like a monster in the seas, and you have come forth in your rivers, and have troubled the waters with your feet. Ezekiel 32:2

These words mean people who wish to penetrate the mysteries that are part of faith by means of facts, and so from themselves. In Isaiah,

On that day Jehovah will make a visitation with His hard and great and strong sword upon Leviathan the full-length serpent, ² and upon Leviathan the twisting serpent, and He will slay the monsters that are in the sea. Isaiah 27:1.

'Slaying the monsters in the sea' means preventing people's knowing facts even in their general aspects. In Jeremiah,

Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel has devoured me, he has troubled me, he has made me an empty vessel, he has swallowed me up like a sea monster, he has filled his belly with my delicacies, he has cast me out. Jeremiah 51:34.

This stands for the fact that mankind did swallow cognitions of faith, which are 'the delicacies' here, just as the sea monster swallowed up Jonah. In that story the sea monster stands for people who treat general cognitions of faith as mere facts, and behave accordingly.

Footnotes:

248. (Verse 20) Behold, I stand at the door and knock. That this signifies the perpetual presence of the Lord is evident from the signification of door, or gate, as being, in the highest sense, the Lord as to introduction into heaven or into the church, and in the internal sense truth from good which is from Him, because by it man is admitted into heaven (concerning this see above, n. 208). Here, because it is said by the Lord, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock" signifies His perpetual presence, and at the same time His perpetual will, because He wills to admit into heaven, and also does admit; and He conjoins Himself with all who receive Him, which is effected by means of truths from good, or by faith from charity; therefore it follows, "If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." Because mention is made of a door, mention is also made of knocking, which signifies the Lord's perpetual will of conjoining Himself with man, and of communicating to him the happiness of heaven. That this is the case, is evident from this, that in the Lord is Divine love; and Divine love consists in the will to give all its own to others, and in the will that they may receive it. And because this can be accomplished only by the reception of good and truth, or love and faith, by man, because these are the Divine things which proceed from the Lord and are received, and, being Divine, the Lord Himself is in them, therefore conjunction of the Lord with angels and with men is effected by means of truths from good, or by means of faith from love. To will to give these things and to implant them in man, is specifically signified by I stand at the door and knock.

[2] There are two things in man's free-will from the perpetual presence of the Lord, and from His perpetual will of conjoining Himself with a man. THE FIRST is, that he has the capability and the faculty of thinking well concerning the Lord and concerning the neighbour; for every one can think well or ill concerning the Lord and concerning the neighbour; if he thinks well, the door is opened, if otherwise, it is shut. To think well concerning the Lord and concerning the neighbour, is not from man and his proprium, but from the Lord, who is perpetually present, and by perpetual presence gives him that capability and faculty; but to think ill concerning the Lord and concerning the neighbour, is from man himself and his proprium. THE SECOND THING in the free-will of man from the perpetual presence of the Lord with him, and from His perpetual will of conjoining Himself with him is, that he is able to abstain from evils, and in proportion as he does this, in the same proportion the Lord opens the door and enters. For the Lord cannot open and enter so long as evils are in a man's thought and will, because these oppose and close the door. It has been granted to man by the Lord to know the evils of his thought and will, also the truths by means of which these evils are to be dispersed; for the Word has been given, where those things are made known.

[3] From these considerations, it is evident that nothing is wanting in order that a man may be reformed if he will, for all means of reformation are left to man in his free-will; but it should be well understood that that free-will is from the Lord, as said above, and hence that the Lord operates those things, if man, from free-will, which is given to every one, is receptive. Reception must be entirely on man's part, which is meant by If any one hear my voice, and open the door. It is of no consequence that a man, in the beginning, does not know that this is from the Lord, because he does not perceive the influx, if he only believes afterwards from the Word that all the good of love and the truth of faith are from the Lord; for the Lord effects those things, although man is ignorant of the fact; and this by His perpetual presence, which is signified by I stand at the door and knock. Finally, the Lord wills that man from himself should abstain from evils and do good, only believing that the faculty of so doing is not from himself, but from the Lord. For the Lord desires that a man should be receptive; and reception can be given only as man acts as of himself, although it is from the Lord; thus also a reciprocal faculty is given with man, which is his new will.

[4] From these considerations it is evident how much those are deceived who say that man is justified and saved by faith alone, because he cannot do good of himself. And what else would such belief be, but that man would hang down his hands and expect immediate influx? and he who did this could receive nothing at all. Those also who believe that they can dispose themselves for influx by prayers, adorations, and other externals of worship are mistaken; for these things are nothing unless a man abstains from thinking and doing evils, and by means of truths from the Word leads himself as of himself to goods as to life; if a man does these things, then he disposes himself, and in such case his prayers, adorations and external acts of worship, avail before the Lord. (Upon this subject more may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell 521-527.)