10135. And the other lamb thou shalt offer between the evenings. That this signifies the like in a state of light and love in the external man, is evident from the signification of “offering a lamb,” or sacrificing it, as being the removal from evils through the good of innocence from the Lord (as just (10134) above, see n. 10134); and from the signification of “between the evenings,” as being in a state of light and of love in the external man; for by “evening” in the Word is signified a state of the interiors when the truths of faith are in obscurity and the goods of love in some cold. For the states of love and light vary with the angels as vary in the world the states of the times of the day, which are morning, noon, evening, night or twilight, and again morning. When the angels are in a state of love, it is morning with them, and the Lord appears to them as a rising Sun; when they are in a state of light, it is noon with them; but when they are in a state of light in obscurity, it is evening with them; and afterward when they are in a state of love in obscurity or in some cold, it is night with them, or rather twilight before the morning.

[2] Such states succeed continually with the angels, and by means of them they are continually perfected. But these variations do not arise from the Sun there, its rising and setting, but from the state of the interiors of the angels themselves; for like men they desire now to be in their internals, and now in externals. When they are in internals, they are in a state of love and the consequent light in clearness, and when in externals, they are in a state of love and the consequent light in obscurity, for such is the external relatively to the internal. This is the origin of the variations of the states of the angels. They have such states and such variations because the Sun of heaven, which is there the Lord, is Divine love itself; and therefore the heat which thence proceeds is the good of love, and the light which is thence is the truth of faith; for all things which proceed from that Sun are alive, and not like those which are from the sun of the world, which are dead.

[3] From this it can be seen what heavenly heat is, and what heavenly light; and whence it is that by “heat,” “flame,” and “fire,” in the Word, is signified the good of love; by “light” and its “brightness,” the truth of faith; and by the “sun,” the Lord Himself as to Divine love (that the Lord in the heavens is a Sun, see n. 3636, 3643, 4321, 5097, 7078, 7083, 7171, 7173, 8812; also that the heat thence is the good of love, n. 3338, 3339, 3636, 3693, 4018, 5115, 6032, 6314; and the light from that Sun is Divine truth, from which come faith, intelligence, and wisdom, see the places cited in n. 9548, 9684). From all this it can now be seen what is signified by “morning,” and what by “evening.”

[4] But be it known that in the present case “morning” involves also noon, and “evening” also twilight; for when “morning and evening” are spoken of in the Word, the whole day is meant, thus by “morning” also noon, and by “evening” also night or twilight; hence it is that by “morning” is here signified a state of love and also of light in clearness, and by “evening” a state of light and also of love in obscurity, that is, in the external man.

[5] That by “between the evenings” is not meant the time between the evening of one day and the evening of another day; but the time between evening and morning, thus inclusively night or twilight, is evident from the fact that the continual burnt-offering from a lamb was made not only in the evening, but also in the morning. From this it is evident that the like is signified in other places by “between the evenings,” as where it is said that they should “offer the passover between the evenings” (Exodus 12:6; Numbers 9:5, 11); which is also explained elsewhere in these words:

Thou shalt sacrifice the passover in the evening, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt. And thou shalt boil and eat it in the place which Jehovah thy God shall choose; and thou shalt look back in the morning and go unto thy tents (Deuteronomy 16:6-7).

[6] That “evening” in general signifies a state of light in obscurity, is evident in Jeremiah:

Arise and let us go up at noon; woe unto you because the day departeth, because the shades of evening are stretched out; arise, let us go up in the night, and let us destroy palaces (Jeremiah 6:4-5); where “evening” and “night” signify the last times of the church, when all faith and love have been destroyed.

In Zechariah:

It shall be one day which is known unto Jehovah, when about the time of evening there shall be light. In that day living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, and Jehovah shall be King over all the earth (Zech. 14:7-9);

speaking of the coming of the Lord; the end of the church is “the time of evening;” “light” denotes the Lord as to Divine truth. So in Daniel:

A holy one said unto me, Even until evening, morning, two thousand three hundred (Daniel 8:13-14).

5115. And it was as though it budded. That this signifies the influx by which the rebirth is effected, is evident from the signification of “budding,” or producing leaves and afterward blossoms, as being the first of rebirth. The reason why influx is signified is that when man is being reborn, spiritual life flows into him, exactly as when a tree is budding its life flows in through the heat from the sun. He who is born a man is in the Word occasionally compared to the subjects of the vegetable kingdom, especially to trees; and this because the whole vegetable kingdom, as well as the animal kingdom, represents such things as are in man, and consequently such as are in the Lord’s kingdom; for man is a heaven in the least form, as is evident from what has been shown at the end of the chapters concerning the correspondence of man with the Grand Man, or heaven. Hence also the ancients called man a microcosm; and they might also have called him a little heaven had they known more about the state of heaven. (That universal nature is a theater representative of the Lord’s kingdom, may be seen above, n. 2758, 3483, 4939.)

[2] But it is especially the man who is being born anew, that is, who is being regenerated by the Lord, who is called a heaven; for he is then implanted in the Divine good and truth which are from the Lord, and consequently in heaven. For the man who is being reborn begins like a tree from seed (and therefore the truth which is from good is signified by “seed” in the Word); and also like a tree he produces leaves, then blossoms, and finally fruit; for he produces such things as are of intelligence, which in the Word are signified by “leaves,” then such things as are of wisdom, which are signified by “blossoms,” and finally such things as are of life, that is, the goods of love and charity in act, which in the Word are signified by “fruits.” Such is the representative likeness between the fruit-bearing tree and the man who is being regenerated, insomuch that if anything is known about spiritual good and truth, the nature of regeneration may be learned from a tree. From this it is evident that by the “vine” in this dream is representatively described the full process of the rebirth of man as to the sensuous subject to the intellectual part; first by the three shoots, then by the budding, next by the blossoms, afterward by the ripening of the clusters into grapes, and finally by their being pressed into Pharaoh’s cup and given to him.

[3] Moreover the dreams which flow in through heaven from the Lord, never appear otherwise than according to representatives. He therefore who does not know what this or that thing in nature represents, and especially he who is quite unaware that anything is representative, cannot but believe that these representatives are merely comparisons, such as everyone uses in common speech. They indeed are comparisons, but such as correspond, and are therefore actually presented to view in the world of spirits, when the angels in an interior heaven are conversing about the spiritual and celestial things of the Lord’s kingdom. (In regard to dreams, see above, n. 1122, 1975, 1977, 1979-1981)