16. Verse 1. In the beginning God created heaven and earth. The most ancient times of all are called 'the beginning', and are throughout the Prophets referred to as 'days of antiquity' and also 'days of eternity'. 'The beginning' also embodies within it that first Period when a person is being regenerated, for at that time he is being born anew and receiving life. Regeneration itself is therefore called a new creation of man. Almost everywhere in the prophetical sections 'to create', 'to form', and 'to make' mean to regenerate, though each of these verbs has a different shade of meaning, as in Isaiah,

Every one who is called by My name - I have created him for My glory, I have formed him, I have also made him. Isaiah 43:7

This is why the Lord is called Redeemer, One who forms from the womb, Maker, and also Creator, as in the same prophet,

I am Jehovah, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King. Isaiah 43:15.

In David,

A people to be created will praise Jah. Psalms 102:18.

In the same author,

You send forth Your Spirit; they are created; and You renewest the face ¹ of the ground. Psalms 104:30.

'Heaven' means the internal man, and 'earth' the external man prior to regeneration. This will be seen further on.

Fusnotat:

7009. 'And it will happen, that he will be for you as a mouth' means the truth contained in doctrinal teachings, which also goes forth from the Lord in an indirect way. This is clear from the representation of Aaron, who 'will be for Moses as a mouth', as doctrinal teachings, dealt with in 6998; and from the meaning of 'being for Moses as a mouth' as the utterance or declaration of it, dealt with in 6987. The reason why the words of explanation are 'the truth contained in doctrinal teachings, which also goes forth from the Lord in an indirect way' is that the truth contained in doctrinal teachings, which 'Aaron' represents, is the kind of truth that can be heard and discerned by angels and by men. Such truth is what goes forth in an indirect way from the Lord. But the kind of truth that is represented by 'Moses' goes forth directly from the Lord, and cannot be heard or discerned by men, nor even by angels, see 6982, 6985, 6996, 7004.