The Bible

 

Genesis 1:7

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7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

True Christian Religion #364

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364. (i) The Lord flows into every human being with all His Divine love, all His Divine wisdom, and so with all His Divine life.

We read in the Book of Creation that man was created an image of God, and God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (Genesis 1:27; 2:7). This description means that he is an organ of life, not life itself. For God could not have created another like Himself; if He could have done so, there would be as many gods as there are people. Nor could He create life, just as neither can light be created. But He could create man to be a form for life to act on, just as He created the eye to be a form for light to act on. Nor could God, nor can He, divide His essence, since it is one and indivisible. So since God alone is life, it follows indubitably that God uses His own life to give life to every human being. Without that quickening man would be as regards flesh nothing but a sponge, and as regards bones nothing but a skeleton, no more alive than a clock, which is kept running by a pendulum together with a weight or a spring. Since this is so, it also follows that God flows in with every person with all His Divine life, that is, with all His Divine love and Divine wisdom. These two make up His Divine life (39-40 above); for the Divine cannot be divided.

[2] However, the manner in which God flows in with all His Divine life can be grasped as somewhat resembling the way the sun of the world flows in with all its essence, which is heat and light, into every tree, into every shrub and flower, into every stone, ordinary as well as precious, so that each single object draws its ration from this common inflow; but the sun does not split up its light and heat, giving part to this object and part to that. It is much the same with the sun of heaven, which radiates Divine love as heat and Divine wisdom as light. These two flow into human minds, just as the heat and light of the sun of the world flow into human bodies, giving them life depending on the nature of their form; the form of each takes from the common inflow what it needs. The following saying of the Lord can be applied to this:

Your Father makes His sun rise upon the wicked and the good, and sends rain upon the righteous and the unrighteous, Matthew 5:45.

[3] Also, the Lord is omnipresent, and where He is present, there He is with His whole essence. It is impossible for Him to take anything away from that essence, so as to give a part to one and another part to another, but He gives it in its entirety, enabling a person to take a little or much. He says too that He has His dwelling with those who keep His commandments, and that the faithful are in Him and He is in them. In short, everything is full of God, and from that fulness each takes his own share. Everything held in common is like this, for instance, the atmospheres or the oceans. The atmosphere is the same on the smallest as it is on the largest scale. It does not assign a part of itself to a person's breathing, to a bird's flying, or to the sails of a ship, or the sails of a wind-mill; but each takes from it its own portion and uses for itself as much as is enough. It is also similar with a granary full of wheat; the owner each day takes from it his own rations, and it is not the granary that distributes them.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #2780

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2780. 'In the morning Abraham rose up early' means a state of peace and innocence. This is clear from the meaning of 'in the morning', also of 'rising up in the early morning', when used in reference to the Lord, who is 'Abraham' here. 'The morning' in the universal sense means the Lord, and from this His kingdom. Consequently it means the celestial element of love in general and in particular, as shown in 2333. And as it means those things it means the state itself in which they exist, which state is one of peace and innocence. The state of peace in heaven is like that at dawn on earth. Within the state of peace in heaven all celestial and spiritual things manifest themselves, and from it they derive all their bliss, blessedness, and happiness, even as at dawn on earth when all things present themselves to man with a delightful and gladsome air, for each specific celestial or spiritual thing receives its character from the general affection, 920, 2384. The same applies to the state of innocence. This manifests itself within the state of peace and is something general and overall which brings itself to bear on all things of love and faith. Unless the latter possess innocence within them they lack their essential element. It is for this reason that nobody is able to enter heaven unless he possesses a measure of innocence, Mark 10:15. From this it is evident what 'in the morning' means in the internal sense, even more what is meant by the words 'in the morning he rose up early'. And since in the highest sense 'the morning' is the Lord, and He is the author of the state which brings into being and exerts an influence on the things that exist in His kingdom, 'in the morning' and 'rising up in the morning' also mean further things still which arise in that state and are related to the things that follow in the internal sense.

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