78. BRIEF ANALYSIS

In the prophetic parts of the Word, statements similar to the one in Matthew 24:29, occur concerning the sun, moon and stars. Thus it is written in Isaiah:

Behold the cruel day of Jehovah cometh . . . the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened at his rising and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. Isaiah 13:9-10.

In Ezekiel:

When I shall extinguish thee, I will cover the heavens and darken the stars thereof; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light; . . . and I will set darkness upon thy land.Ezekiel 32:7-8.

In Joel:

The day of Jehovah cometh, ... a day of darkness, . . . the sun and moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.Joel 2:1-2, 10.

The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and the terrible day of Jehovah cometh. Joel 2:31.

The day of Jehovah is near in the valley of decision, the sun and moon shall be darkened. Joel 3:14-15.

In the Revelation:

The fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars, . . . and the day shone not for a third part of it. Revelation 8:12.

The sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood. Revelation 6:12.

All these passages treat of the last time of the Jewish Church, when the Lord came into the world. The meaning here is similar in Matthew and the Revelation, but they refer to the last time of the Christian Church, when the Lord would come again in the Word which is Himself, and in which He is. Wherefore, immediately after those words in Matthew 24:29, it is said:

And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man . . . coming in the clouds of the heavens.Matthew 24:30.

By the sun in the above passages is meant love, by the moon faith, and by the stars the cognitions of good and truth. By the powers of the heavens are meant those three essentials as the supports and foundations of the heavens where the angels are, and of the Churches where men are. Therefore, by the foregoing passages collected into one idea is meant that neither love nor faith, nor any cognitions of good and truth remain in the Christian Church, in the last time thereof when it draws to its end. That the sun signifies love has been shown in THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED 53-54, 413, 796, 831, 961; that the moon signifies faith, THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED 53, 332, 413, 423, 533; and that stars signify cognitions of good and truth, THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED 51, 74, 333, 408, 419, 954.

796. 18:23 "The light of a lamp shall not shine in you anymore." This symbolically means that those caught up in the Roman Catholic religion because of its doctrine and a life in accordance with it are without any enlightenment from the Lord and so without any perception of spiritual truth.

The light of a lamp symbolizes enlightenment by the Lord and a consequent perception of spiritual truth. That is because the light means the light of heaven, which is the light angels have, and people, too, as regards their intellect, because the light in its essence is Divine wisdom. For it emanates from the Lord as the sun of the spiritual world, which in its essence is the Divine love in Divine wisdom, and the only light that can emanate from it is the light of Divine wisdom, and the only warmth the warmth of Divine love. The reality of this is something we showed in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom, nos. 83-172.

Since that light comes from the Lord, and the Lord is omnipresent in it and by means of it, therefore it is the means of all enlightenment and the consequent perception of spiritual truth, a perception that those people have who love Divine truths spiritually, that is, who love Divine truths because they are true, thus because they are Divine. Plainly this is what it is to love the Lord. For the Lord is omnipresent in that light, inasmuch as Divine love and wisdom do not exist in space, but are present wherever they are received, in accordance with their reception.

[2] That people caught up in the Roman Catholic religion are without any enlightenment and so without any perception of spiritual truth, can be seen from the fact that they have no love for any spiritual light. For as we said, spiritual light originates from the Lord, and the only people who can receive and accept that light are people conjoined with the Lord, and conjunction with the Lord is achieved solely by an acknowledgment and worship of Him, and at the same time by a life in accordance with His commandments from the Word. An acknowledgment and worship of the Lord and reading the Word bring about the Lord's presence, but it is these two things combined at the same time with a life in accordance with His precepts that bring about a conjunction with Him.

The opposite is the case in Roman Catholicism. The Lord is acknowledged in it, but without His having any dominion, and the Word is acknowledged without its being read. Instead of the Lord they worship the Pope, and instead of the Word they acknowledge papal bulls, and live according to those bulls, and not according to the commandments in the Word. The bulls, moreover, have as their goal the dominion of the Pope and his ministers over heaven and the world, while the commandments in the Word have as their goal the dominion of the Lord over heaven and the world. These two goals are as diametrically opposed to each other as heaven and hell.

We have said this much for it to be known that people caught up in the Roman Catholic religion because of its doctrine and a life in accordance with it are without the least light of a lamp, that is to say, without any enlightenment from the Lord and so without any perception of spiritual truth.

[3] That the Lord is the light that produces all enlightenment and perception of spiritual truth is apparent from the following:

He was the true light which enlightens every person coming into the world. (John 1:4-12)

This in reference to the Lord.

This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world... Whoever does the truth comes to the light... (John 3:19, 21)

Jesus said..., "A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you... While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may be children of light." (John 12:35-36)

(Jesus said,) "I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness." (John 12:46)

(Jesus said,) ."..I am the light of the world." (John 9:5)

(Simeon said,) ."..my eyes have seen Your salvation..., a light for revelation to the Gentiles...." (Luke 2:30-32)

The people sitting in darkness have seen a great light; upon those sitting in the region and shadow of death, light has arisen. (Matthew 4:16, Isaiah 9:2)

I have given You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth. (Isaiah 49:6)

The city (New Jerusalem) has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb. (Revelation 21:23, cf. 22:5)

It is apparent from this that the Lord is the light that produces all enlightenment and the consequent perception of spiritual truth. And because the Lord is the light, the Devil is darkness. The Devil is also the love of exercising dominion over all the Divine sanctities belonging to the Lord, and over the Lord Himself; and to the extent it achieves that dominion, it darkens, extinguishes, sets on fire and burns up the Divine sanctities belonging to the Lord.