414. So that a third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night. This symbolically means that they no longer have in them any spiritual truth or natural truth from the Word serviceable for doctrine and life.

The day's not shining means that they had no light from the sun, and "likewise the night" means that they had no light from the moon and stars. Light in general symbolizes Divine truth, which is truth from the Word. The light of the sun symbolizes spiritual Divine truth, and the light of the moon and stars symbolizes natural Divine truth, both acquired from the Word. Divine truth in the spiritual sense of the Word is like the light of the sun during the day, and Divine truth in the natural sense of the Word is like the light of the moon and stars at night. The spiritual sense of the Word, moreover, flows into its natural sense, as the sun does with its light to the moon, and this reflects the light of the sun indirectly.

In this way also does the spiritual sense of the Word enlighten people, even people who know nothing of that sense, when they read the Word in its natural sense. However, it enlightens a spiritual person as light from the sun does his eye, but a natural person as light from the moon and stars does his eye. Everyone is enlightened in accordance with his spiritual affection for truth and goodness, and at the same time in accordance with the genuine truths by which he has opened his rational faculty.

[2] Day and night also have this meaning in the following places:

God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night...." Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule by day, and the lesser light to rule by night. He made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule by day and by night, and to divide the light from the darkness. (Genesis 1:14-19)

(Jehovah) made great lights..., the sun to rule by day..., the moon and stars to rule by night... (Psalms 136:7-9)

The day is Yours, (O Jehovah,) the night also is Yours; You have prepared the light and the sun. (Psalms 74:16)

...Jehovah... gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night... (Jeremiah 31:35)

If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that there will not be day and night in their season, then My covenant also may be broken with David My servant... If I have not appointed My covenant with day and night, the ordinances of heaven and earth, I also will reject the offspring of Jacob and David... (Jeremiah 33:20-21, 25-26)

I cite these passages to make known that the darkening of both kinds of light is meant.

635. To round out this section, the following mystery will be disclosed. Seven chapters of the Book of Revelation, in describing the end of the church of today, use similar language as Exodus uses to describe the devastation of Egypt. In both cases there are similar plagues, each of which has as its spiritual meaning some falsity that brought on this devastation even to the point of death. Therefore the church that is being destroyed today is called Egypt, understood spiritually (Revelation 11:8).

The plagues in Egypt were as follows. The water was turned into blood, causing the death of every fish, and the river stank (Exodus 7). Similar statements are made in Revelation 8:8; 16:3. Blood means divine truth that has been falsified; see Revelation Unveiled 379, 404, 681, 687, 688. The fish that then died mean truths in our earthly self (Revelation Unveiled 290, 405).

Frogs came up on the land of Egypt (Exodus 8). There is also a mention of frogs in Revelation 16:13. Frogs mean reasonings born of a desire to falsify truths; see Revelation Unveiled 702.

Painful sores came upon the people and animals in Egypt (Exodus 9). A similar thing occurs in Revelation 16:2. Sores mean inner evils and falsities that destroy the good qualities and true teachings of the church; see Revelation Unveiled 678.

Hail and fire fell on Egypt (Exodus 9). Something similar occurs in Revelation 8:7; 16:21. Hail means hellish falsity; see Revelation Unveiled 399, 714.

Locusts came up over Egypt (Exodus 10). A similar thing occurs in Revelation 9:1-11. Locusts mean falsities on the lowest level; see Revelation Unveiled 424, 430.

Thick darkness came upon Egypt (Exodus 10). A similar thing occurs in Revelation 8:12. Darkness means falsities that arise from ignorance, or from false religious beliefs, or from evils in our lives; see Revelation Unveiled 110, 413, 695.

Eventually, the Egyptians perished in the Reed Sea (Exodus 14). In the Book of Revelation, though, the dragon and the false prophet perish in a lake of fire and sulfur (Revelation 19:20; 20:10). Both of these - the Reed Sea and the lake of fire and sulfur - mean hell.

The reason why similar things are said of Egypt and of the church whose close and end are described in the Book of Revelation is that Egypt means a church that at its outset was outstanding. This is why Egypt, before the devastation of its church, is compared to the Garden of Eden and the garden of Jehovah (Genesis 13:10; Ezekiel 31:8). It is also called the cornerstone of the tribes, and a child of the wise and of the ancient monarchs (Isaiah 19:11, 13). For more on Egypt in its original state and in its state of devastation, see Revelation Unveiled 503.