18. The faces of the abyss are the lusts of the unregenerate man, and the falsities thence originating, of which he consists, and in which he is totally immersed. In this state, having no light, he is like a deep abyss, or something obscure and confused. Such persons are also called abysses, and depths of the sea, in many parts of the Word, which are dried up, or wasted, before man is regenerated; as in Isaiah: "Awake as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art not thou he who hath dried the sea, the waters of the great abyss; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over? Therefore the redeemed of Jehovah shall return," (li. 9 — 11.) Such a man also, when he is seen from heaven, appears like a black mass, destitute of vitality. The same expressions likewise in general imply the vastation[1] of man, frequently spoken of by the prophets, which precedes regeneration; for, before man can know what is true, and be affected with what is good, there must be a removal of such things as hinder and resist their admission: thus the old man must needs die, before the new man can be conceived.
19. By the Spirit of God is meant the mercy of the Lord, which is said to move, or brood, as a hen broods over her eggs. The things over which it moves, are such as the Lord has hidden and treasured up in man, which in the Word throughout are called remains or a remnant, consisting of the knowledges of the true and of the good, which never come to light, or day, until external things are vastated. These knowledges are here called the faces of the waters.
20. Verse 3. And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. The first [state], is when man begins to know that the good and the true are of a superior nature. Men who are altogether external do not even know what good and truth are; for they fancy all things to be good which relate to self-love and the love of the world, and all things to be true which favor those loves; not being aware that such goods are evils, and such truths falses. But when man is conceived anew, he then begins first to know that his goods are not goods, particularly when he is enlightened to see that the Lord is, and that He is the good and the true itself. That men ought to know that the Lord is, he himself teaches in John: "Except ye believe that I am, ye shall die in your sins," (viii. 24.) Also, that the Lord is good itself, or life, and the true itself, or light, and consequently, that there is neither goodness nor truth except from the Lord, is thus declared: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.—All
- ↑ The term vastation, when applied to the regenerate man, signifies the removal of such things as hinder the operation of the divine grace in the soul; but when applied to the unregenerate, it signifies his deprivation of all goodness and truth, whereby he is left a prey to the evils and errors which he has embraced.
