940. 22:5 There shall be no night there: They have no need of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. This symbolically means that in the New Jerusalem there will be no falsity in its faith, and the people in that church will not acquire their concepts of God from any natural sight, namely from their own intelligence, or out of a desire for glory springing from conceit, but they will acquire those concepts from the Lord alone in a state of spiritual light from the Word.

There being no night there has the same symbolic meaning as verse 25 in chapter 21, which says, "Its gates shall not be shut by day, for there shall be no night there," which symbolically means that the New Jerusalem continually receives into it people who possess truths that spring from the goodness of love from the Lord, because it has no falsity in its faith (no. 922).

The people's having no need of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light, has the same symbolic meaning as verse 23 in chapter 21, which says, "The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it, and the Lamb is its lamp," which symbolically means that people of the New Church will not be caught up in self-love and their own intelligence so as to possess a natural sight only, but from the Word's Divine truth will possess a spiritual light from the Lord alone (no. 919). Only instead of the moon there, the verse here says a lamp, and instead of the sun there, the verse here says the light of the sun, and a lamp, like the moon, symbolizes the natural sight of one's own intelligence, and the light of the sun symbolizes a natural sight out of a desire for glory springing from conceit.

[2] But we must briefly explain what we mean by a natural sight out of a desire for glory springing from conceit:

A natural sight may be due to a desire for glory springing from conceit, or it may be due to a desire for glory that does not spring from conceit. A sight out of a desire for glory springing from conceit is found in people caught up in a love of self and so in evils of every kind. If they do not do those evils for fear of losing their good name, and if they also condemn them as being destructive of morality and the public good, still they do not regard them as sins. Such people possess a natural sight due to a desire for glory springing from conceit; for a love of self in the will becomes conceit in the intellect, and this conceit, owing to that love, is capable of raising the intellect even into the light of heaven. Such a capability is granted to a person in order for him to be human and to be capable of being reformed.

I have seen and heard many absolute devils who, when they heard them or read them, understood secrets of angelic wisdom as well angels themselves. Yet as soon as they returned to their self-love and their accompanying conceit, not only did they not understand any of those secrets, but they had the opposite sight in the light of the affirmation of falsity in them.

On the other hand, a natural sight due to a desire for glory that does not spring from conceit is present in people who find a delight in useful endeavors out of a genuine love for the neighbor. Their natural sight is also a rational sight that has inwardly in it a spiritual light from the Lord. The desire for glory in them comes from the brilliance of the light flowing in from heaven, where everything is radiant and harmonious, for all useful endeavors in heaven shine. From them arises a gratification in the ideas of their thoughts which they perceive as a glorious one. The glory enters through the will and its goods into the intellect and its truths and presents itself in them.

919. 21:23 The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it, and the Lamb is its lamp. This symbolically means that people of the New Church will not be caught up in self-love and their own intelligence and so possess a natural sight only, but from the Word's Divine truth will possess a spiritual light from the Lord alone.

The sun here symbolizes natural love divorced from spiritual love, which is self-love. And the moon symbolizes a natural intelligence and faith divorced from a spiritual intelligence and faith, which is one's native intelligence and a self-made faith. This is the love and the intelligence and faith symbolized by the sun and moon here, which people of the Lord's New Church will have no need of to light their sight.

The glory of God which illumines the city symbolizes the Word's Divine truth (no. 629), and because that illumination or enlightenment comes from the Lord, we are told as well that the Lamb is its lamp.

The symbolism here is similar to that found in the following verses in Isaiah:

You shall call your walls salvation, and your gates praise. The sun shall no longer be your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you; but Jehovah will be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory. Your sun shall no longer go down, nor shall your moon wane; for Jehovah will be your everlasting light... Your people shall all be righteous. (Isaiah 60:18-21)

The sun and moon that will no longer give light mean self-love and one's native intelligence. And the sun and moon that will no longer go down mean love from the Lord for the Lord, and an intelligence and faith from Him. That Jehovah will be an everlasting light has the same symbolic meaning as what is said here, that the glory of God will illumine the city and the Lamb be its lamp.

That the sun symbolizes love for the Lord, and in an opposite sense self-love, may be seen in nos. 53 and 414 above. And that the moon symbolizes intelligence from the Lord and faith from Him, in nos. 332, 413, 414. Thus the moon in an opposite sense symbolizes one's native intelligence and a self-made faith.

Since the sun in an opposite sense symbolizes self-love, and the moon one's native intelligence and a self-made faith, therefore it was an abomination to worship the sun, moon and stars, as may be seen in Jeremiah 8:1-2.