1839. That 'behold, a dread of great darkness was coming over him' means that it was a dreadful darkness, 'darkness' being falsities, is clear from the meaning of 'darkness' as falsities, to be dealt with immediately below. The state of the Church just before the close, or when the sun was going down, is described by 'the dread of great darkness', but the state when the sun had gone down is described by 'the thick darkness' and other details given in verse 17 below.
[2] The Lord spoke of it in the same way in Matthew,
The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Matthew 24:29.
He did not mean that the sun of the world will be darkened but the celestial entity of love and charity. Nor will the moon be darkened but the spiritual entity of faith. Nor will the stars fall from heaven but the cognitions of good and truth with the member of the Church, which are 'the powers of the heavens'. Nor will these things take place in heaven but on earth, for heaven is never plunged into darkness.
[3] 'A dread of great darkness fell on him' means His horror at such great devastation. In the measure that the heavenly or celestial things of love find acceptance in anyone, so great is his horror when he perceives the close. This applied to the Lord more than anybody else, since His love was heavenly and Divine love itself.
[4] 'Darkness' means falsities, as is clear from very many places in the
Word, as in Isaiah,
Woe to those who put darkness for light, and light for darkness! Isaiah 5:20.
'Darkness' stands for falsities and 'light' for truths. In the same prophet, He will look to the land, and behold, darkness, distress; and the light has been darkened. Isaiah 5:30.
'Darkness' stands for falsities, 'darkened light' for the fact that truth does not appear.
[5] In the same prophet,
Behold, darkness is covering the earth, and thick darkness the peoples. Isaiah 60:2.
In Amos,
The day of Jehovah is that of darkness and not light. Is not the day of Jehovah darkness and not light, thick darkness and no brightness in it? Amos 5:18, 20.
In Zephaniah,
The great day of Jehovah is near. A day of wrath is that day, a day of anguish and repression, a day of vastation and desolation, a day of darkness and thick darkness, a day of cloud and shadow. Zephaniah 1:14-15.
Here 'the day of Jehovah' stands for the final period and state of the Church, while 'darkness and thick darkness' stands for falsities and evils.
[6] The Lord too calls falsities 'darkness', in Matthew,
If your eye has been evil, the whole body has been made full of darkness. If therefore the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! Matthew 6:23.
'Darkness' is used to mean falsities that have overtaken people who possess cognitions, a greater darkness than that found in those called gentiles, who have no cognitions.
[7] Similarly in the same gospel,
The sons of the kingdom will be thrown into outer darkness. Matthew 8:12; 22:13.
'Outer darkness' stands for the quite dreadful falsities of those inside the Church, for those people shut out the light and oppose truths with falsities, something gentiles are not able to do. In John,
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men; but the light appears in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:4-5.
'The darkness' stands for falsities inside the Church.
[8] Falsities outside the Church too are called 'darkness' but these are capable of receiving light. Of them it is said in Matthew,
The people sitting in darkness have seen a great light; and for those sitting in the region and shadow of death, the light has arisen. Matthew 4:16.
'Darkness' stands for falsities that go with not knowing, such as exist with gentiles.
[9] In John,
This is the judgement, that light has come into the world, but men have preferred darkness rather than light, for their deeds were evil. John 3:19.
'Light' stands for truths, and 'darkness' for falsities. 'The light' also stands for the Lord since He is the source of all truth, while 'darkness' stands for the hells since they are the source of all falsity.
[10] In the same gospel,
Jesus said, I am the light of the world. He who follows Me will not walk in darkness. John 8:12.
In the same gospel,
Walk, as long as you have the light, lest darkness overtakes you, for he who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. I have come as light into the world in order that all who believe in Me may not remain in darkness. John 12:35, 46.
'Light' stands for the Lord, the source of all good and truth, 'darkness' for falsities, which are dispersed by the Lord alone.
[11] The falsities that prevail in the last times and which are called 'the darkness' here, that is, to which 'the dread of great darkness' has reference, were represented and meant by the darkness that came over the whole earth from the sixth to the ninth hour, and also by the sun's being darkened at that time, by which was represented and meant that no love, that is, no faith, existed any more, Matthew 27:45; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44-45.
