The Bible

 

Genesis 1:8

Study

       

8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

The Bible

 

Psalms 8:7

Study

       

7 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Divine Love and Wisdom #100

Study this Passage

  
/ 432  
  

100. The heat and light that emanate from the Lord as the sun are by virtue of their preeminence what we call the spiritual essence, and we call them the spiritual essence in the singular because they are one. Consequently in subsequent discussions where we mention the spiritual essence, we mean the two together.

It is because of that spiritual essence that that entire world is called spiritual. All the constituents of that world have their origin in consequence of that spiritual essence, and so also their designation.

The reason we call that heat and that light the spiritual essence is because God is called spirit, 1 and God as spirit is that emanating essence. In relation to His own essence God is called Jehovah; but it is by that emanating essence that He animates and enlightens angels in heaven and people in the church. Consequently animation and enlightenment are said to be accomplished by the spirit of Jehovah. 2

Footnotes:

  
/ 432  
  

Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.