Swedenborg Arcana Caelestia Vol. I (1750)

In general, they involve the devastation of man, of which more is said among the prophets, which precedes regeneration; for before a person can know what is true and be moved by what is good, those things which hinder and conflict must be removed, so that the old man may die before the new can be conceived.

19. By the "Spirit of God" is understood the Lord’s mercy, which is described as moving, just as a hen moves over her eggs. Here, it is over those things which the Lord stores up in man, which are called "remains" throughout the Word; they are the knowledges of truth and good which never come into the light or day until external things are devastated. These knowledges are called here the "faces of the waters."

20. Vers. 3. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. The first thing is when a person begins to know that there is some good and truth that is higher. Completely external people do not even know what is good and what is true, for they think all things belonging to the love of self and the love of the world are good, and all things that favor these loves are true, not knowing that those goods are evil and those truths are false. But when a person is conceived anew, he first begins to know that his goods are not good, and when he comes further into the light, that the Lord is, and that the Lord is the very Good and Truth. That they must know that the Lord is, He Himself says in John: "Unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins" (8:24). Then, that the Lord is the very Good, or Life, and the very Truth, or Light, and thus that there is no good and truth except from the Lord, also in John: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness. He was the true light, which illuminates every person coming into the world" (1:1, 3, 4, 9).

21. Vers. 4, 5. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God distinguished between the light and the darkness. And God called the light "Day," and the darkness He called "Night." The light is said to be good because it is from the Lord, Who is the very Good. The darkness is what, before the person is conceived and born anew, appeared like light, because evil seemed like good and falsity like truth, but it is darkness; these are the person's own things that remain. Everything that belongs to the Lord is compared to Day, because it belongs to light, and everything that belongs to the person himself is compared to Night, because it belongs to darkness; this occurs many times in the Word.

22. Vers. 5. And there was evening, and there was morning, the first day. What evening is and what morning is is now known. Evening is every preceding state, because it is of shadows, or of falsity and lack of faith. Morning is every succeeding state, because it is of light, or of truth and the knowledges of faith. Evening in general signifies all things that are the person's own; Morning, however, signifies those which are the Lord’s, as in David: "The spirit of Jehovah spoke in me, and His word was upon my tongue. The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me: He is like the morning light when the sun rises, a morning without clouds, when from the brightness, from the rain, the tender herb from the earth" (2 Samuel 23:2-4). Because evening is when there is no faith, and morning when there is faith, the Lord’s coming into the world is called the Morning, and the time when He came, because there was then no faith, is called the Evening, as in Daniel: "The Holy One said to me, 'Until