664. Verse 11. And after the three days and a half, signifies when it is finished, thus the end of the old church and the beginning of the New Church. This is evident from the signification of "the three days and a half," as being fullness and completion as to the end of the old church, when there is the beginning of the New Church (See above, n. 658). It is said "after the three days and a half" because in the Word "days" signify states, here the last state of the church; for in the Word all times, as "hours," "days," "weeks," "months," "years," "ages," signify states, as here the last state of the church, when there is no longer any good of love or truth of faith left. Because "days" signify states, and the establishment of the Most Ancient Church is treated of in the first chapter of Genesis, and it becomes established successively from one state to another, it is there said:

That there was evening and there was morning the first day, the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth, and the sixth days, even to the seventh, when it was finished (Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31; 2:2);

and the "days" there do not mean days, but the successive states of the regeneration of men at that time, and the consequent establishment of the church with them. So also elsewhere in the Word.

541. And the sun was darkened, and the air, by the smoke of the pit, signifies that the light of truth from the Lord was made thick darkness by infernal falsities. This is evident from the signification of "the sun and the air darkened," as being the light of truth from the Lord being made thick darkness (of which presently) and from the signification of "by the smoke of the pit," as being by dense falsities from hell, thus by infernal falsities. (That "smoke" signifies dense falsities, and "the pit of the abyss" the hells where and from which are falsities, see above, n. 536-539.) "The sun and the air darkened" signifies that the light of truth from the Lord was made thick darkness, for the Lord in the angelic heaven is a sun, and Divine truth proceeding from the Lord as a sun produces all the light there, and illuminates both the sight and the understanding of angels; when therefore that sun is darkened there, the light of truth, which is from the Lord, is made thick darkness; it is darkened by falsities from hell. All denial of the Divine and of Divine things by those who are merely natural comes from falsities of evil making the light of heaven thick darkness; for such look at Divine things in thick darkness, and therefore they see them as thick darkness, and in consequence deny them. Moreover, the light of heaven when it flows in with those who are in the falsities of evil actually becomes in the spiritual world thick darkness. From this it is that the evil not only do not see or understand spiritual things, that is, the things that belong to heaven and the church, but in heart they deny them. (That the Lord appears in the angelic heaven as a sun, and that Divine truth proceeding from the Lord as a sun produces all the light of heaven, thus all the intelligence and wisdom the angels have, may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell 116-125, and 126-140.) It is said also that the "air" was darkened, meaning the light of truth, for the air gives light from the sun. "Skies" [aetheres] have a similar signification in David:

Thy mercy O Jehovah, is in the heavens; and Thy truth is even unto the skies (Psalms 36:5; 57:10; 108:4).

"Mercy" signifies the Divine good of Divine love, and "truth" Divine truth; and as Divine truth is the light of heaven, as has just been said, it is said, "Thy truth is even unto the skies;" thus "skies" in the plural signify Divine light even to the highest heaven, where it is in the highest degree. ("Skies" have a similar signification in Psalms 77:17; Psalms 78:23, 24.)