4697. And eleven stars. That this signifies the knowledges of good and truth, is evident from the signification of “stars,” as being the knowledges of good and truth. That “stars” have this signification in the Word is because they are small luminaries which shine at night, when they give forth into our atmosphere gleams of light, just as knowledges give forth gleams of good and truth. That such knowledges are signified by “stars,” is evident from many passages in the Word, as in Jeremiah:

Thus said Jehovah who giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirreth up the sea that the waves thereof are tumultuous (Jeremiah 31:35); where a new church is treated of, and by “giving the sun for a light by day” is signified the good of love and of charity, and by “giving the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night” is signified truth and knowledges.

[2] So too in David:

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

one who knows nothing of the internal sense of the Word will believe that by the “sun” here is meant the sun of the world, and by the “moon and stars,” the moon and stars of the world; but from this arises no spiritual and heavenly sense, and yet the Word is heavenly in every particular; from which again it is evident that the goods of love and charity, and the truths of faith, together with the knowledges of these, are what is signified.

[3] So also in the first chapter of Genesis, where the new creation of the celestial man is described:

God said, Let there be luminaries in the expanse of the heavens to distinguish between the day and the night; and let them be for signs and for stated times, and for days and for years; and let them be for luminaries in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth; and it was so. And God made two great luminaries; the greater luminary to rule by day, and the lesser luminary to rule by night; and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth, and to rule in the day and in the night, and to distinguish between the light and the darkness (Genesis 1:14-18; see (30-38) n. 30-38).

[4] In Matthew:

Immediately after the affliction of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken (Matthew 24:29).

That here by the “sun and moon” are signified love and charity, or good and truth, and by the “stars” knowledges, may be seen above (n. 4060); and because the last day or the last state of the church is here treated of, by “the sun being darkened and the moon not giving her light” is signified that then the good of love and of charity will perish; and by “the stars falling from heaven,” that the knowledges of good and of truth will also perish.

[5] That these things are signified, is evident from the prophetic parts of the Word, in which similar things are said of the last state of the church, as in Isaiah:

Behold the day of Jehovah cometh cruel, to make the earth a waste, and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of the heavens and the constellations thereof shall not shine with their light; the sun shall be darkened in his rising, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine (Isaiah 13:9-10).

In Joel:

The day of Jehovah is near. The sun and the moon have been blackened, and the stars have withdrawn their shining (Joel 3:14, 16).

In Ezekiel:

When I shall extinguish thee I will cover the heavens, and I will blacken the stars thereof; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not make her light to shine, all the luminaries of light in heaven will I make black over thee, and will set darkness upon thy land (Ezekiel 32:7-8).

And in Revelation:

The fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; that the third part of them should be darkened, and the day should not shine for the third part of it, and the night in like manner (Revelation 8:12).

[6] Moreover, that “stars” are the knowledges of good and truth is plain from the following passages: in Daniel:

Out of one of the horns of the he-goat came forth a little horn, and it grew exceedingly toward the south, and toward the east, and toward adornment. And it grew even to the army of the heavens; and some of the army and of the stars it cast down to the earth, and trampled upon them (Daniel 8:9-10);

and in Revelation:

The great dragon with his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth (Revelation 12:4).

That “stars” are not meant in these passages, is evident.

In Daniel and Revelation is described the state of the church in its last times.

[7] Likewise in David:

Jehovah counteth the number of the stars; He giveth names to all (Psalms 147:4).

Again:

Praise ye Jehovah, sun and moon, praise Him all ye stars of light (Psalms 148:3).

And in Revelation:

A great sign was seen in heaven; a woman encompassed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars (Revelation 12:1).

[8] As “stars” signify the knowledges of good and truth, they signify also the doctrinals of the church, for these are knowledges. The doctrinal respecting faith separate from charity in the last times, is thus described by a star in Revelation:

The third angel sounded, and there fell from heaven a great star burning as a torch, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; and the name of the star is called Wormwood, and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter (Revelation 8:10-11).

The waters made bitter by this star are truths, and the “rivers and fountains of waters” are intelligence thence and wisdom from the Word. (That “waters” are truths may be seen above, n. 2702, 3058, 3424; that “rivers” are intelligence, n. 3051; and that “fountains” are wisdom from the Word, n. 2702, 3424)

4060. Therefore that by the words now before us there is signified the state of the church at that time in respect to good (that is, as to charity toward the neighbor and love to the Lord), is evident from their internal sense, which is as follows:

But immediately after the affliction of those days;

signifies the state of the church in respect to the truth of faith (concerning which just above). In the Word the desolation of truth in various places is called “affliction.” (That “days” are states may be seen above, n. 23, 487, 488, 493, 893, 2788, 3462, 3785.) From this it is manifest that by these words is signified that after there is no longer any faith, there will be no charity. For faith leads to charity, because it teaches what charity is, and charity receives its quality from the truths of faith; but the truths of faith receive their essence and their life from charity, as has been repeatedly shown in the preceding volumes.

[2] The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light; signifies love to the Lord, which is the “sun;” and charity toward the neighbor, which is the “moon.” “To be darkened and not to give their light” signifies that they will not appear, and thus will vanish away. (That the “sun” is the celestial of love, and the “moon” the spiritual of love; that is, that the “sun” is love to the Lord, and the “moon” charity toward the neighbor, which comes forth through faith, may be seen above, n. 1053, 1529-1530, 2120, 2441, 2495.) The reason why this is the signification of the “sun and moon,” is that in the other life the Lord appears as a sun to those in heaven who are in love to Him, and who are called the celestial; and as a moon to those who are in charity toward the neighbor, and who are called the spiritual (see n. 1053, 1521, 1529-1531, 3636, 3643).

[3] The sun and moon in the heavens (that is, the Lord) is never darkened, nor does it lose its light, but it shines perpetually; and so neither is love to the Lord darkened with the celestial, nor does charity toward the neighbor lose its light with the spiritual, in the heavens; nor on earth with those with whom these angels are, that is, those who are in love and charity. Those however who are in no love and charity, but in the love of self and of the world, and consequently in hatred and revenge, bring that “darkening” upon themselves. The case herein is as it is with the sun of this world, which shines continuously; but when the clouds interpose, it does not appear (n. 2441).

[4] And the stars shall fall from heaven;

signifies that the knowledges of good and truth will perish. Nothing else is signified by “stars” when these are mentioned in the Word (n. 1808, 2849).

And the powers of the heavens shall be shaken; signifies the foundations of the church, which are said to be “shaken” and “made to quake” when they perish. For the church on earth is the foundation of heaven, because the influx of good and truth from the Lord through the heavens finally terminates in the goods and truths that are with the man of the church. When therefore the man of the church is in such a perverted state as no longer to admit the influx of good and truth, the powers of the heavens are said to be “shaken.” For this reason it is always provided by the Lord that something of the church shall remain; and that when an old church perishes, a new one shall be set up again.

[5] And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven;

signifies the appearing of Divine truth at that time; the “sign” signifies the appearing; the “Son of man,” the Lord as to Divine truth (see n. 2803, 2813, 3704). It was this appearing or this “sign,” concerning which the disciples asked when they said, “Tell us when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the consummation of the age” (verse 3). For they knew from the Word that when the age should be consummated, the Lord would come; and they learned from the Lord Himself that He would “come again,” by which they understood that the Lord would once more come into the world; not yet knowing that the Lord has come whenever the church has been vastated, not indeed in person, as when He assumed the human by birth and made it Divine; but by means of appearings-either manifest, as when He appeared to Abraham in Mamre, to Moses in the bush, to the people of Israel on Mount Sinai, and to Joshua when he entered the land of Canaan; or not so manifest, as by inspirations through which the Word was given, and afterwards through the Word; for the Lord is present in the Word, because all things in the Word are from Him and concerning Him, as may be seen from what has already been frequently shown. This latter is the appearing here signified by the “sign of the Son of man,” and which is described in this verse.

[6] And then shall all the tribes of the earth wail;

signifies that all who are in the good of love and the truth of faith shall be in grief. That “wailing” signifies this, may be seen in Zechariah 12:10-14; and that “tribes” signify all things of good and truth, or of love and faith, and consequently those who are in them, may be seen above (n. 3858, 3926). They are called the “tribes of the earth,” because those are meant who are within the church. (That the “earth” is the church may be seen above, n. 662, 1066, 1067, 1262, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2928, 3355)

[7] And they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of the heavens with power and great glory;

signifies that the Word will then be revealed as to its internal sense, in which the Lord is; the “Son of man” is the Divine truth therein (n. 2803, 2813, 3704); the “cloud” is the literal sense; “power” is predicated of the good, and “glory” of the truth, therein. (That these things are signified by “seeing the Son of man coming in the clouds of the heavens,” see the preface to the eighteenth chapter.) This is the “coming of the Lord” here meant, and not that He will literally appear in the clouds. Now follows the subject of the setting up of a New Church, which takes place when the old one is vastated and rejected.

[8] He shall send forth His angels with a trumpet and a great voice;

signifies election, not by visible angels, still less by trumpets, and by great voices; but by the influx of holy good and holy truth from the Lord through angels; and therefore by “angels” in the Word there is signified something of the the Lord, (n. 1925, 2821, 3039); here, there are signified things that are from the Lord and concerning the Lord. By the “trumpet” and the “great voice” there is signified evangelization, as elsewhere in the Word.

[9] And they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the end of the heavens even to the end thereof;

signifies the setting up of a New Church. The “elect” are those who are in the good of love and of faith (n. 3755-3900); the “four winds” from which they shall be gathered together, are all states of good and truth (n. 3708); “from the end of the heavens to the end of them” denotes the internals and the externals of the church. Such therefore are the things signified by these words of the Lord.