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.

Фусноте:

9966. 'It shall be the statute of an age for him and his seed after him' means laws of order in the representative Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'the statute of an age' as a law of Divine order in heaven and in the Church, dealt with in 7884, 7995, 8357. The reason for saying 'in the representative Church' is that 'statutes' was the term given to outward forms of worship which represented inner realities, 8972, thus which were the things of the Church that were representative. And since the inner realities which were represented were Divine, and so eternal, the words 'the statute of an age' are used; for 'an age' means something eternal.