20. Verse 3 And God said, Let there be light; and there was light. This is at the outset when a person starts to realize that good and truth are something superior. Thoroughly external people do not even know what good is and what truth is, for they imagine that everything which comprises self-love and love of the world is good, and that everything that panders to those loves is truth. Thus they do not know that the things which they imagine to be good are in fact evil, and that those which they imagine to be true are in fact false. But when a person is conceived anew, first he starts to recognize that the good in him is not really good, and then, when he enters more into light, to recognize the existence of the Lord and that the Lord is good and truth themselves. The Lord Himself says in John that men ought to know He exists,

Unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins. John 8:24.

The point that the Lord is good itself, which is life, and truth itself, which is light, together with the consequent point that no good or truth exist except from the Lord, is made once more in John,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in the darkness. He was the true light that enlightens every man coming into the world John 1:1, 3-5, 9.

10017. 'And the priesthood shall be theirs' means the stages, following one after another, of the Lord's work of salvation. This is clear from the meaning of 'the priesthood' or 'the priestly office' as that which is representative of the Lord's whole work of salvation, dealt with in 9809. The reason why the stages following one after another is meant is that the priesthood of Aaron's sons is the subject here, and his sons represent the things which emanate and so follow in order one after another, 9807. The situation in all this is that the priesthood which Aaron represents consists in the work of saving those who are in the Lord's celestial kingdom, this kingdom being the proper meaning in the Word of 'a kingdom of priests'. But the priesthood which Aaron's sons represent consists in the work of saving those who are in the Lord's spiritual kingdom emanating directly from His celestial kingdom. From this it is evident that 'the priesthood' is used in the present instance to mean the stages, following one after another, of the Lord's work of salvation. But the priesthood which the Levites represent consists in the Lord's work of salvation at a further stage.

[2] There are three realities which follow one another in order. These are the celestial, which is the good of love to the Lord; the spiritual, which is the good of charity towards the neighbour; and the natural springing from these, which is the good of faith. Since these three are realities which follow one another in order there are also three heavens, and in them the types of good follow in that order. The work of saving those with whom celestial good exists is represented by Aaron's priesthood; but the work of saving those with whom spiritual good exists is represented by the priesthood of Aaron's sons, and the work of saving those with whom the natural good springing from these exists is represented by the priesthood of the Levites. And since the things following one another in order emanate from the good of love to the Lord, which is represented by Aaron and his priesthood, it is said of the Levites that they were given to Aaron. For things which emanate belong to that from which they emanate; such emanations or stages following one after another owe their very existence to that source, as accords with what has been stated a little above in 10011. The fact that the Levites were given to Aaron and his sons to perform priestly duties under them, see Numbers 3:1-end.