10605. And be thou ready against the morning, and come up in the morning unto Mount Sinai. That this signifies a new beginning of the revelation of Divine truth, is evident from the signification of “morning,” as being a rising state or beginning, here a new beginning (of which in what follows); and from the signification of “Mount Sinai,” as being heaven from which comes Divine truth, thus from which comes revelation (see n. 8805, 8931, 9420). That “morning” denotes a rising state or beginning, is because all times signify states, for the reason that in heaven time is not thought of, but only changes of state in respect to the affections and derivative thoughts, and also because the changes of state there are like the times of the day, which are morning, noon, evening, and night; and the morning is that from which they begin. It may seem strange that in heaven there are no times, when yet they live there one with another like men in the world; nevertheless with a difference in respect to intelligence, wisdom, and happiness. But the reason is that the light there from the sun, which is the Lord, does not undergo daily alternations like the light from the sun in the world, but is varied in accordance with the states of love and faith with the angels, which states undergo alternations like the states of heat, of light, and of shade every day in the earth. The reason of this is that the light from the sun there, which is the Lord, is Divine truth; and the heat from that sun is love, with which the angels are affected as are men with the state of light and heat in the world. (That the light in heaven is from the Lord as a sun there, may be seen at the places cited in n. 9548, 9684: That this light is the Divine truth from which angels and men have intelligence and wisdom, see the places cited in n. 9548, 9571, 9684, 10569: That times signify states, see the places cited in n. 10133: That in heaven states vary like the times of day and year in the world, n. 5962, 8426: That “morning” denotes the beginning of these states, thus a new beginning, n. 8427, 10114: And that in heaven there is a state of evening and twilight, but not a state of night, n. 6110)

5360. And the seven years of famine began to come. That this signifies the following states of desolation, is evident from the signification of “years,” as being states (see n. 482, 487, 488, 493, 893); and from the signification of “famine,” as being a lack of the knowledges of truth and good (n. 1460, 3364), consequently desolation. That a famine denotes such a lack, or desolation, is because celestial and spiritual food are nothing else than good and truth. These are what angels and spirits are nourished by, and what they hunger for when hungry, and thirst for when thirsty; and therefore also material food corresponds thereto-as bread to celestial love, and wine to spiritual love, as well as everything that pertains to bread or food, and to wine or drink. When therefore there is a lack of such things, there is a “famine,” and in the Word this is called “desolation” and “vastation”—“desolation” when truths fail, and “vastation” when goods fail. This desolation and vastation is treated of in many passages of the Word, and is there described by the desolation of the earth, of kingdoms, of cities, of nations, and of peoples, and is also termed a “pouring out,” a “cutting off,” a “consummation,” a “desert,” and a “void;” and the state itself is called the “great day of Jehovah,” the “day of His wrath” and “vengeance,” a “day of darkness,” and “thick darkness,” of “cloud” and of “obscurity,” a “day of visitation,” also the “day when the earth shall perish,” thus the “last day” and the “day of judgment;” and because men have not understood the internal sense of the Word, they have hitherto supposed that it meant a day when the earth will perish, and that then for the first time will there be a resurrection and a judgment, not being aware that by a “day” in such passages is signified a state, and by the “earth” the church, and thus by a “day when the earth will perish,” a state when the church will come to its end; therefore when this perishing is described in the Word, a “new earth” is also described, by which is meant a new church. (In regard to the “new earth” and “new heaven,” see what is said above, n. 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 3355, 4535.) That last state of a church which precedes the state of a new church, is properly meant and described in the Word by “vastation” and “desolation.” By the same words is described also the state that precedes man’s regeneration, which state is here signified by the seven years of famine.