Apocalypse Revealed #53
53. And His countenance as the sun shining in its power. This symbolizes the Divine love and wisdom which are the Lord and which emanate from Him.
The fact that the face of Jehovah or of the Lord means the Divine itself in its essence, which is Divine love and wisdom, thus Himself, will be seen in explanations below where the face of God is mentioned. "The sun shining in its power" has the same symbolic meaning.
In the sight of angels the Lord is seen as the sun in heaven, and it is His Divine love accompanied by Divine wisdom that so appears. This may be seen in the book Heaven and Hell (London, 1758), nos. 116-125 and in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom, 83-172.
[2] It remains here simply to confirm from the Word that when the subject is the Lord, the sun is His Divine love and at the same time His Divine wisdom. This can be seen from the following passages:
...in (that) day... the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days... (Isaiah 30:25-26)
That day is the Lord's advent, when the old church has been destroyed and a new one is about to be established. The light of the moon is faith arising from charity, and the light of the sun is intelligence and wisdom arising from love emanating then from the Lord.
Your sun shall no longer go down, nor shall your moon wane; for Jehovah will be your everlasting light... (Isaiah 60:20)
The sun that will not go down is love and wisdom from the Lord.
...the Rock of Israel spoke to me... like the light of the morning when the sun rises... (2 Samuel 23:3-4)
The Rock of Israel is the Lord.
...his throne (shall be) as the sun... (Psalms 89:36-37)
This is said in reference to David, but David there means the Lord.
They shall fear You as long as the sun endures... In His days the righteous shall flourish, and abundance of peace, until the moon is no more... Before the sun He will have the name of Son, and all nations shall be blessed in Him... (Psalms 72:5, 7, 17)
These statements, too, are made in reference to the Lord.
[3] Because the Lord appears in heaven to angels as the sun, therefore when He was transfigured,
His face shone like the sun, and His garments became... as the light. (Matthew 17:1-2)
Moreover, in Revelation 10:1 it is said of the mighty angel coming down from heaven that he was "clothed with a cloud," and "his face was like the sun," and of the woman in Revelation 12:1 that she appeared "clothed with the sun." The sun there is love and wisdom emanating from the Lord. The woman there is the church called the New Jerusalem.
[4] Since the sun means the Lord with respect to love and wisdom, it is apparent what the sun symbolizes in the following places:
Behold, the day of Jehovah is coming, cruel... The sun will be darkened at its rising, and the moon will not cause its light to shine. I will visit upon the world its wickedness, and upon the impious their iniquity. (Isaiah 13:9-11)
...Jehovah will visit [punishment] in the high place upon the host of the high place, and on the earth upon the kings of the earth... Then the moon will blush and the sun be ashamed. (Isaiah 24:21, 23)
When I put out your light, I will cover the heavens, and make their stars dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not cause its light to shine... and I will... bring darkness upon your land. (Ezekiel 32:7-8)
...the day of Jehovah is coming..., a day of darkness... The sun and moon (will not cause their light to shine), and the stars have diminished their brightness. (Joel 2:1-2, 10)
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great... day of Jehovah. (Joel 2:31)
...the day of Jehovah is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon have grown dark... (Joel 3:14-15)
The fourth angel sounded: and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars..., and a third of the day did not shine... (Revelation 8:12)
...the sun became as black as sackcloth of goat's hair, and the moon became as blood... (Revelation 6:12)
...the sun was... darkened because of the smoke of the pit. (Revelation 9:2)
The sun in these places does not mean the world's sun, but the sun of the angelic heaven, which is the Lord's Divine love and wisdom. These are said to be obscured, darkened, covered, or become black when falsities and evils are present in a person.
[5] It is apparent, therefore, that something similar is meant by the Lord's words when speaking of the end of the age, which is the final period of the church:
Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven... (Matthew 24:29, cf. Mark 13:24-25)
So, too, in the following places:
The sun shall go down on the prophets, and the day shall be dark for them. (Micah 3:6)
...in that day... I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in broad daylight. (Amos 8:9)
She... who has borne seven... will breath her last; her sun will go down while it is yet day. (Jeremiah 15:9)
The subject here is the Jewish Church, which will breathe its last or perish. The sun's going down means that there will no longer be any love or charity.
[6] It is said in Joshua that the sun stood still in Gibeon, and the moon in the valley of Aijalon (Joshua 10:12-13). This seems to be an historical statement, but in fact it is prophetic, for it comes from the book of Jasher, which was a prophetic book; for in verse 13 it says, "Is this not written in the Book of Jasher?" The same book is called a prophetic one by David in 2 Samuel 1:17, 18.
A similar statement is found in Habakkuk:
The mountains... were shaken... The sun and moon stood still in their habitation. (Habakkuk 3:10-11)
[In Isaiah:]
Your sun shall no longer go down, nor shall your moon wane. (Isaiah 60:20)
For to cause the sun and moon to stand still would be to destroy the universe.
[7] Since the sun means the Lord with respect to Divine love and wisdom, therefore in their holy worship ancient peoples turned their faces to the rising sun, and their temples also, a practice that continues to this day.
That the sun in these passages does not mean the world's sun is clear from the fact that it was profane and an abomination for people to worship the world's sun and moon (see Numbers 25:1-4, Deuteronomy 4:19; 17:3, 5, Jeremiah 8:1-2; 43:10, 13; 44:17-19, 25). For the world's sun means self-love and a conceit in one's own intelligence, and self-love is diametrically opposed to Divine love, while a conceit in one's own intelligence is opposed to Divine wisdom. To worship the world's sun is also to accept nature as the creator of all things and one's own prudence as the effecter of all things, which entails a denial of God and a denial of Divine providence.
Revelation 21
1
I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea is no more.
2
I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
3
I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, "Behold, God's dwelling is with people, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
4
He will wipe away from them every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. The first things have passed away."
5
He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." He said, "Write, for these words of God are faithful and true."
6
He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give freely to him who is thirsty from the spring of the water of life.
7
He who overcomes, I will give him these things. I will be his God, and he will be my son.
8
But for the cowardly, unbelieving, sinners, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their part is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death."
9
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls, who were loaded with the seven last plagues came, and he spoke with me, saying, "Come here. I will show you the wife, the Lamb's bride."
10
He carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,
11
having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, as if it was a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
12
having a great and high wall; having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.
13
On the east were three gates; and on the north three gates; and on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.
14
The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb.
15
He who spoke with me had for a measure, a golden reed, to measure the city, its gates, and its walls.
16
The city lies foursquare, and its length is as great as its breadth. He measured the city with the reed, Twelve thousand Twelve stadia. Its length, breadth, and height are equal.
17
Its wall is one hundred forty-four cubits, by the measure of a man, that is, of an angel.
18
The construction of its wall was jasper. The city was pure gold, like pure glass.
19
The foundations of the city's wall were adorned with all kinds of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald;
20
the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprasus; the eleventh, jacinth; and the twelfth, amethyst.
21
The twelve gates were twelve pearls. Each one of the gates was made of one pearl. The street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
22
I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb, are its temple.
23
The city has no need for the sun, neither of the moon, to shine, for the very glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb.
24
The nations will walk in its light. The kings of the earth bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.
25
Its gates will in no way be shut by day (for there will be no night there),
26
and they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it so that they may enter.
27
There will in no way enter into it anything profane, or one who causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.
