3138. These three verses treat of the preparation and enlightenment of the natural man in order that the truth might be called forth thence which was to be conjoined with good in the rational. But with preparation and enlightenment the case is as follows: There are two lights which form the intellectual things of man-the light of heaven, and the light of the world; the light of heaven is from the Lord, who to angels in the other life is a Sun and Moon (see n. 1053, 1521, 1529, 1530); the light of the world is from the sun and moon which appear before the bodily sight. The internal man has its sight and its understanding from the light of heaven; but the external man has its sight and its understanding from the light of the world. The influx of the light of heaven into the things which are of the world’s light, effects enlightenment and at the same time observance; an observance of truth if there is correspondence, and an observance of falsity instead of truth if there is not correspondence. But enlightenment and observance are impossible unless there is affection or love, which is spiritual heat, and which gives life to the things that are enlightened by the light; comparatively as the sun’s light does not give life to the things of the vegetable kingdom, but the heat that is in the light, as is evident from the seasons of the year.

[2] In the verses which next follow, the preparation is further described-namely, that the light of heaven which is the Lord’s Divine light inflowed into the things that were of the light of the world in His natural man, in order that He might bring out thence the truth which was to be conjoined with good in the rational; thus by the ordinary way. And therefore in order that the Lord might make the human Divine by the ordinary way, He came into the world; that is, it was His will to be born as a man, and to be instructed as a man, and to be reborn as a man; but with the difference that man is reborn of the Lord, whereas the Lord not only regenerated Himself, but also glorified Himself, that is, made Himself Divine; and further, that a man is made new by an influx of charity and faith, but the Lord, by the Divine love which was in Him and which was His. Hence it may be seen that the regeneration of man is an image of the glorification of the Lord; or what is the same, that in the process of the regeneration of man may be seen as in an image, although remotely, the process of the Lord’s glorification.

1530. That this is so the Word has shown to all; as when the Lord was made manifest to Peter, James, and John; for His face then shone as the sun, and His garments became as the light (Matthew 17:2). He so appeared to them simply because their interior sight was opened. The same is confirmed also in the Prophets; as in Isaiah, where the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens is treated of:

The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days (Isaiah 30:26).

And in John, where also the Lord’s kingdom, which is called the New Jerusalem, is spoken of:

The city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the lamp thereof (Revelation 21:23).

And again:

There shall be no night there, and they have no need of a lamp, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light (Revelation 22:5).

Besides that when the Lord appeared to Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders,

they saw the God of Israel, under whose feet was as it were a work of sapphire stone, and as it were the substance of heaven in clearness (Exodus 24:10).

As the Lord’s celestial and spiritual appear before the external sight of the angels as a Sun and a Moon, therefore “the sun” in the Word signifies what is celestial, and “the moon” what is spiritual.