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.

Voetnoten:

6865. 'And lead My people the children of Israel out of Egypt' means the consequent deliverance of those belonging to the spiritual Church from molesting falsities. This is clear from the meaning of 'leading out' as deliverance; from the meaning of 'the children of Israel' as those belonging to the spiritual Church, dealt with in 6637; and from the meaning of 'Egypt' as false factual knowledge that is opposed to the Church's truths, thus falsity that molests, dealt with in 6692.

[2] Falsity within factual knowledge is what most of all molests those who belong to the spiritual Church. The reason for this is that they do not have a perception of truth that springs from good, only a knowledge of truth derived from religious teaching. People like these are subject very much to molestation from factual knowledge, for known facts serve as very general vessels, and until truths have been introduced into them to make them translucent, so that one no longer notices them, they may sometimes appear to be contrary to truths. Furthermore factual knowledge is full of the illusions of the senses which cannot be dispelled by those who have only a knowledge of things derived from religious teaching and no perception of truth that springs from good. The main reason for this is that the light of the world holds sway with these people, a light which seems to be clear light as long as the light of heaven does not flow into it but which turns from light into obscurity the moment that the light of heaven penetrates it. This explains why these people are enlightened and clever in worldly matters but dull and obtuse in heavenly ones.

[3] These people think that they are the enlightened when they have substantiated the teachings of their Church for themselves. But it is the inferior light of the senses, derived from the light of the world, that deceives them when they think so. For all religious teachings, no matter what kind they are, are capable of being substantiated. Jews are able to substantiate their own teachings, Enthusiasts ¹ theirs, Socinians theirs, and all kinds of heretics theirs. And once these teachings have been substantiated the light of the senses makes them appear to those people to be actual truths. But those who see by the light of heaven receive their enlightenment from the Lord; and before substantiating anything they view the factual knowledge below, arranged into order there, to discern whether or not a truth can be substantiated by it. From this it is evident that the latter kind of people see things from a more internal position which is above factual knowledge and so is distinct and separate from it, whereas the former's viewpoint, being lower, is situated within factual knowledge and so tangled up in it, 2831.

Voetnoten: