The Bible

 

Genesis 1:8

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

Commentary

 

258 - The Heaven Project

By Jonathan S. Rose

Title: The Heaven Project

Topic: Salvation

Summary: Heaven is the ultimate purpose behind creation. It is an infinite and eternal project involving ever increasing numbers, variety, and connections, to embody God with greater and greater resolution. Yet it also gives us more and more peace.

Use the reference links below to follow along in the Bible as you watch.

References:
2 Corinthians 5:1-10
Psalms 126
Matthew 10:29-30; 13:23, 47
Mark 10:29
Genesis 1:27-28; 13:16; 22:17
Isaiah 9:6-7
Job 8:7; 15:15
1 Kings 8:27
Luke 16:13-16
John 14:2-3; 12:24
Romans 12:1-5
1 Corinthians 12:12, 27
Psalms 132:8-14

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Spirit and Life Bible Study broadcast from 4/13/2016. The complete series is available at: www.spiritandlifebiblestudy.com

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #913

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913. 'Let them spread out into the earth' means the action of the internal man into the external, while 'be fruitful' means increases in good, 'and multiply' increases in truth, and 'over the earth' means with the external man. This is clear from the train of thought and also from what has been stated and shown already about the meaning in the Word of 'being fruitful' as having reference to goods, and of 'multiplying' to truths. That 'the earth' means the external man has in like manner been shown already, so there is no need to pause and confirm these points. Here the subject is the action of the internal man into the external after a person has been regenerated. That is to say, when good starts 'to be fruitful' and truth 'to multiply', the external man is rendered correspondent or obedient. Until then this is not possible because the desires of the body are incompatible with goods, and the illusions of the senses with truths. The former annihilate the love of good, the latter the love of truth. The fruitfulness of good and the multiplication of truth take place in the external man - the fruitfulness of good in his affections, the multiplication of truth in his memory. The external man is here called 'the earth' into which mankind spreads out and over which they are fruitful and multiply.

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