The first book of the Bible is "Genesis", which means "creation". It's a very, very ancient story - one of the oldest stories of humankind, and it's full of symbolic meaning that - still - gets to the core of what it is to be truly human.

The first three days of creation describe the development of the natural degree of man's life. They come first as a preparation for the opening of the spiritual degree of our minds. The creation of the grass, herbs, and trees took place on the third day, and constitutes the third step in regeneration. The creation of the fowl and fish was on the fifth day. Between these on the fourth day the sun, moon, and stars were created.

From the beginning man had light, for all light is from the Lord, but it was not direct light. He was not at first in the clear light of the sun, moon, and stars, which are set in the firmament. The firmament is the internal man. There is a preparation that has to be made before the internal man is opened. At first we think we see the truth and do good from ourselves. Hence only inanimate things are produced. All truth and good are from the Lord who alone is truth and goodness, and only when we come to acknowledge this can we have true love from him, true faith in Him, and true knowledge of spiritual things. These are not seen from the external or natural degree of life.

Again we should note a change of language. It was said, "Let the earth bring forth" the grass, herb, and fruit trees. Now and through the remaining days it is said that "God created." Man has a part to play in his regeneration. There must be in his mind forms into which the warmth of love and the light of faith and of spiritual truths can flow.

When the mind is so prepared, influx from the Lord can be received, with greater power. "And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven." It should be noted that it is the waters that are commanded to bring forth the moving creature that hath life, and that it is not the seas but the waters which are to produce the living creatures. The seas represent the gathering together of knowledges, but by the "waters" are meant the spiritual truths in the mind. So in the Lord's words to the woman of Samaria, "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst" (John 4:14). In Ezekiel it is the "waters" issuing from the sanctuary that give life (Ezekiel 47:1). The Psalmist writes, "Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters" (Psalm 104:3). It is not in natural waters that the Lord lays the beams of His chambers. His chambers are the interior principles of His church; the beams give them support and strength. These are said to be laid in the waters because they rest and have their foundation in the genuine truths of the Word. So in Revelation the Word itself is described as a pure river of water of life.

The will faculty in man embraces all his affections and is the internal man. When the sun, moon, and stars—love, faith, and knowledges of spiritual truth—are set in this heaven and begin to impart their warmth and light to the external man, enabling him to think and act from these higher and purer principles, then the external man is gifted with a new life. There may be no apparent change in his outward conduct—he may already be living a moral life—but the motives that direct his acts will be wholly different. And it is the motive that gives character to the act as well as to the actor. He no longer thinks of the truths that he has learned, either natural or spiritual, as the product of his own mind nor of the good, that he does as the result of his own efforts, but thinks of them as wholly from the Lord, who alone is the source of all true light and life.

Before one recognizes clearly that all good and truth come from the Lord, he can bring forth only inanimate things, the grass, herb, and fruit tree, however good and useful these may be. But when he is enlightened by genuine love and faith, his knowledges become the basis for the development of spiritual life and God can create in him the living creatures that have life. First the fishes are created; then the fowl of the air. There is a difference between fishes and birds. The fishes, living in water, represent our affections for natural truths. The great whales, the largest of living creatures, are affections for the great general principles that control the mind. The principle may be either true or false. Of Pharaoh or Egypt it is written, "Thou art as a whale in the seas: and thou earnest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouled at their rivers" (Ezekiel 32:2) Here is pictured a ruling false principle from the natural degree of the mind — Egypt. That is, when the ruling principle is false, it will be a monster making the truths in the mind obscure like filthy or muddy waters.

Another example of the meaning of the whale in a bad sense is in the story of Jonah. When the principle is false it swallows up for a time all the truths that are in the mind. This is the whale swallowing Jonah the prophet. But Divine truth cannot be used by a false principle so as to become a part of its organic structure. Nor can the Divine truth perish. So the whale could not digest Jonah, nor could the prophet perish, but the whale vomited him up.

Spiritually there are whales trying to swallow prophets today, evil principles that try to use Divine truths to attain their ends. In the creation story, however, the whales are affections for the principles of natural truth for the sake of uses to the spiritual man. There is one source of genuine love. The creatures of the fifth day are living because they are animated by this love. Birds fly in the air above the earth. They have the power of flight and enjoy broader views. They represent affections for truth that rise above the natural. They are the thoughts that look at life from the heights of spiritual perception, ideas about the Lord, heaven, and spiritual things. Isaiah writes, "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles" (Isaiah 40:31). Birds represent spiritual intelligence, the power to lift us up to understand spiritual truth in heavenly light, through which truth the Lord can impart to us something of the Divine intelligence. So at the baptism of the Lord "The heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him" (Matthew 3:16). So a new knowledge of heavenly life is given, a new perception of our possibilities, and in this higher intelligence a basis for further development is laid. This further development is pictured in the creation of the living creatures upon the earth. These are symbols of the affections. Here, too, it is said, "Let the earth bring forth" and also "And God made the beast of the earth." The creation of living animals on the earth and of man in the image and likeness of God marks the completion of the six days of creation—the six stages in regeneration. Man has first to learn what is to be believed and done and then to do it.

It is the office of the understanding to hear the Word and of the will to do it. In this way the truths are made our own, and the will and understanding make one mind. And when one begins to act from love as well as from faith, he becomes a spiritual man, who is called an image of God, and is given dominion over all things. Thus all things natural and spiritual come to be a delight to him and serviceable to him. To be an image and likeness of God one must act from impulses similar to those of God. This he cannot do until he comes into the final state of regeneration. Then he will not act from selfish motives, as does the natural man, nor from mere obedience to truth, but from love to the Lord and the neighbor. When these loves are developed and rule, to them is given the dominion over all subordinate affections and the fruits of all the growths of intelligence. These are what make man to be a man and cause him to be in the image and likeness of his Maker. Each step in the formation of a truly human character the Lord saw and pronounced good, but of the work of the sixth day it is said, "God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good."

194. "'And the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem.'" This symbolically means that they will have the doctrine of the New Church engraved on their hearts.

The New Jerusalem symbolizes the New Church, and when it is called a city, it symbolizes the New Church in respect to its doctrine. Therefore to "write on him the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem," means, symbolically, that they will have the doctrine of the New Church engraved on their hearts.

To be shown that Jerusalem symbolizes the church, and that as a city it means the church in respect to its doctrine, see nos. 880, 881, below.

A city symbolizes doctrine because a land, and particularly the land of Canaan, symbolizes a church in its entirety; and the inheritances into which the land of Canaan was divided consequently symbolized various components of the church, and the cities in it doctrines. Because of this, when cities are mentioned in the Word, the angels understand them to mean nothing else. I have also had this attested for me through a good deal of experience.

The case with this is the same as with the symbolic meanings of mountains, hills, valleys, springs, and rivers, all of which symbolize such things as have to do with the church.

[2] That cities symbolize doctrines can be seen to some extent from the following passages:

The land shall be... emptied..., the land shall be turned upside down..., the land shall be profaned... The empty city shall be broken down... What is left in the city shall be waste, and the gate shall be stricken even to its destruction. (Isaiah 3; 4; 5; 10; 11; 12)

The lion has come up from his thicket..., to make your land a wasteland. Your cities will be destroyed... I beheld... Carmel a wilderness, and all its cities desolate... ...the land shall mourn... The whole city shall flee..., forsaken... (Jeremiah 4:7, 26-29)

The land there is the church, and the city is its doctrine. The devastation of the church by doctrinal falsities is described in this way.

The despoiler shall come upon every city, so that no city escapes. The valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed... (Jeremiah 48:8)

Likewise:

Behold, I have made you this day as a fortified city... against the whole land... (Jeremiah 1:18)

This was addressed to the prophet because a prophet symbolizes the doctrine of the church (no. 8).

On that day they will sing... in the land of Judah: "We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks." (Isaiah 26:1-2)

...the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. (Revelation 16:18-19)

(The prophet saw) on a very high mountain... the structure of a city to the south... (And an angel measured the wall, the gates, their chambers, and the vestibule of the gate,) and the name of the city... shall be JEHOVAH IS THERE. (Ezekiel 40:1ff., 48:35)

There is a river whose streams have made glad the city of God? (Psalms 46:4-5)

I will embroil Egypt with Egypt, so that... city (fights) against city, and kingdom against kingdom. (Isaiah 19:2)

Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city... divided against itself will not stand. (Matthew 12:25)

Cities in these passages mean, in the spiritual sense, doctrines, as is the case also in Isaiah 6:11; 14:4, 17, 21; 19:18-19; 25:1-3; 33:8-9; 54:3; 64:10, and elsewhere.

[3] From the symbolic meaning of a city it can be seen what cities mean in this parable of the Lord:

A... nobleman (going) into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom..., delivered to (his servants) minas (with which to) do business... ...when he returned..., he (called the) servants... The first came, saying, ."..your mina has earned ten minas," and he said to him, ."..good servant..., you shall have authority over ten cities." And the second came, saying, ."..your mina has earned five minas." And he said... to him, "You also be over five cities." (Luke 19:12-19)

Cities here likewise symbolize doctrines or doctrinal truths, and to be over them is to be intelligent and wise. Thus to give power over them is to impart intelligence and wisdom. Ten symbolizes much, and five some. It is apparent that to do business and earn a profit means to acquire intelligence for oneself by making use of one's abilities.

[4] That the holy city Jerusalem symbolizes the doctrine of the New Church is clearly apparent from its description in chapter 21 of the book of Revelation, for it is described in respect to its dimensions, its gates, and its wall and foundations, and inasmuch as Jerusalem symbolizes the church, these can symbolize nothing other than matters having to do with its doctrine. Neither is the church a church on any other basis.

Because the city Jerusalem means the church in respect to doctrine, it is therefore called the City of Truth (Zechariah 8:3-4), and in many places a holy city, and this because holiness is predicated of truths derived from the Lord (no. 173).