Evening, a time when the light and heat are fading away, represents a state in which a person -- or a community of people -- is turning away from the Lord, with little desire left to be good and little knowledge left regarding what good is. Evening is often a time of judgment.

In Genesis 19:1, the evening signifies the visitation that comes before judgment. (Arcana Coelestia 2318)

In Genesis 30:16, this signifies the good or truth in a state of good, but in the obscurity that is characteristic of the natural. (Arcana Coelestia 3949)

24. This Church, like the rest, is to be treated of in the following order:

I. Its Rise, or Morning, which is its first state.

II. Its Progression into light, or Day, which is its second state.

III. Its Decline, or Evening, which is its third state, and is called Vastation.

IV. Its End, or Night, which is its fourth state, and is called Consummation.

V. The Separation of the Evil from the Good, which is the Last Judgment upon all who were from that Church.

VI. The Elevation to God of the Good, of whom a new Heaven is formed; and the removal from God of the Evil, of whom is formed a new Hell.

That the four Churches of this earth-spoken of above-have undergone these changes of state, will be shown in what follows; and lastly, that the Church truly Christian, which succeeds those four at the present day, will never undergo consummation.