25. 'Spreading out the earth and stretching out the heavens' is a common expression in the Prophets when the subject is man's regeneration, as in Isaiah,

Thus said Jehovah, your Redeemer, He who formed you from the womb, I am Jehovah who makes all things, who stretches out the heavens Alone, and who spreads out the earth by Myself. Isaiah 44:24.

Also, when it is speaking of the Lord's Coming,

A bruised reed He does not break off and a smoking wick He does not quench; He brings forth judgement towards truth; that is, He neither shatters man's illusions nor stifles his desires. Instead He bends them towards truth and good. This verse in Isaiah continues,

The God Jehovah creates the heavens and stretches them out: He spreads out the earth and what comes from it: He gives breath ¹ to the people upon it, and spirit to those who walk on it. Isaiah 42:3-5.

Such phrases recur several times elsewhere.

Footnotes:

7987. 'Even on this same day it was' means that it was at that very time. This is clear from the meaning of 'day' as state, dealt with in 23, 487, 488, 493, 2788, 3462, 3785, 4850, 5672, 5962, 7680. 'On this same day' consequently means in that state, and so at that very time, that is to say, when the Lord's Coming took place, meant by 'at the end of the four hundred and thirty years', and the deliverance of those belonging to the spiritual Church, meant by 'all the hosts of Jehovah went out of the land of Egypt'.