1058. God said to Noah means that the church would know the following. This is borne out by the sequence of ideas, which are visible only in the inner meaning, where they connect in this way: The first subject is people inside the church who are regenerate and spiritual. The second is everyone throughout the world. The third is everyone who is capable of regenerating. The present verse rounds out the series by saying that the church would know the following. (It was shown earlier that Noah is a church [§§529-531, 597-598, 768, 788:1, 915]; here he is the spiritual church as a whole, since his name is the only one mentioned.) What the church would know now follows.

529. The symbolism of Noah as the ancient church, the progenitor of the three churches that followed the Flood, will become clear in what follows, where Noah is treated of at length.