Genesis: Chapter 7.

You are now at the climax of the first great spiritual drama of the Bible, which Swedenborg views as the end of one era of consciousness (the Most Ancient Church) and the start of a new one.

Genesis Chapter 7, in Arcana Coelestia, describes the spiritual destruction or devastation of the ungodly people and the spiritual trial and protection of the saving remnant (Noah).

Entering the Ark: A New State of Mind (Verses 1–5).

The chapter begins with Noah entering the Ark, which seals the vessel of the new church just before the world-shattering event begins.

“Come thou and all thy house into the ark”: The Lord is inviting the last remaining elements of goodness and truth—the good heart and its corresponding intellectual faculties (Noah and his household)—into a state of safety and preparation for a new spiritual life. “Noah” is the starting point of the new mind.
The Seven Days of Waiting: The warning that the flood will come in “seven days” (verse 4) signifies the completeness of the preparatory state. It means that the old state of the church/mind had reached its absolute end, and the new state (Noah) was fully ready and sealed off.
Seven Clean Animals: The instruction to take seven pairs of every clean animal (representing holy affections) and two of the unclean (representing natural, serviceable affections) signifies that the holiest forms of love and affection must be preserved in abundance for the new spiritual life to thrive.

The Flood Commences: Judgment and Devastation (Verses 6–20)

This is the great spiritual crisis. The Flood is not God sending water to destroy the world; it is the evil of humanity collapsing upon itself and destroying its own spiritual foundation.

The Flood: The Flood represents the overwhelming influence of falsity that rushes in and drowns the corrupt mind. Specifically, it symbolizes the vastation or utter destruction of those who profaned holy truths (the evil people before the flood). Because they joined self-love with Divine Truth (spiritual adultery, in Chapter 6), the Lord had to cut them off entirely from celestial life.
“The fountains of the great deep were broken up”: The “fountains of the deep” symbolize the influx of falsities from the hells that now completely dominate the exterior and interior human mind. It means the evil people were overcome by their own self-confirming lies.
“The windows of heaven were opened”: This doesn’t mean literal rain. It means the influx of genuine truth from heaven was corrupted and turned into falsity when it reached the wicked minds. When truth meets a heart focused on evil, it gets twisted into lies that justify the evil.
Forty Days and Forty Nights: This number, which shows up repeatedly in the Bible, signifies the full duration of a period of trial, temptation, or devastation. The 40 days of rain were the intense, complete period of spiritual combat and judgment that the old wicked church suffered, leading to their spiritual “death.”
The Waters Prevail: The waters covering “all the high mountains” means that the falsities and evils took over everything, even the highest parts of the human mind (the mountains, which symbolize love and celestial good). The profaned affections and false thoughts totally submerged all remnants of genuine spirituality.
“All flesh died”: Spiritually, this signifies that all celestial life and love (which is what makes a person truly human in the highest sense) was extinguished in the people outside the ark. They lost the ability to be regenerated.

Preservation in the Ark (Verses 17–24)

While the old world is spiritually drowning, the Ark floats above the destruction.

The Ark Floated: The Ark represents the protection of the Lord’s new church (Noah’s spiritual state) amidst the chaos of temptation and judgment. The fact that the Ark rises means that even though the mind is in a state of spiritual combat (the Flood), the good and truth within it (Noah’s household/the animals) are safely held separate, preventing them from being swept away by the engulfing evil.
The Flood Lasted: The continual measurements of the Flood’s duration emphasize that this was an extended spiritual state of purification and judgment. The whole process was precise, methodical, and divinely governed, not a random act of anger. The judgment had to be complete to entirely separate the saved remnant from the condemned evil.

Summary.

Genesis 7 is the spiritual apocalypse of the Most Ancient Church. The Flood is a massive, self-inflicted spiritual crisis where humanity’s evil lusts and intellectual falsities (the water) overwhelmed all traces of celestial love (the mountains). The Ark and its contents (Noah) represent the Divine preservation of a new, distinct spiritual mind, kept safe through doctrine and obedience to survive the judgment and begin a new, lower-level spiritual existence on the cleansed “earth” (mind).

Taken from Arcana Coelestia Volume 1.

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