32. Love and faith are first called 'the great lights', then love is called 'the greater light' and faith 'the lesser light'. In reference to love it is said that it will have dominion over the day, and in reference to faith that it will have dominion over the night. Because these are arcana and have become hidden, especially at this end of an epoch, in the Lord's Divine mercy let the whole subject be opened up. The reason they have become hidden, especially at this present end of an epoch, is that now is the close of the age, when love is almost non-existent, and consequently faith too, just as the Lord Himself foretold in the Gospels with these words,

The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Matthew 24:29.

Here 'the sun' is used to mean love, which is 'darkened', 'the moon' faith which does not give its light, 'the stars' cognitions of faith which fall from heaven, and which are the various 'powers of the heavens'. The Most Ancient Church acknowledged no other faith than love itself; celestial angels as well do not know what faith is except faith which stems from love. Love pervades the whole of heaven, for in the heavens no other life is found except the life that belongs to love. This is the source of all happiness in heaven, a happiness so great that no aspect of it can be described or in any way captured in human concepts. People in whom this love is present love the Lord wholeheartedly. Yet they realize, say, and perceive that all love, thus all life, which belongs exclusively to love, and so all happiness, come from the Lord and nowhere else, and that they derive not one trace of love, life, and happiness from themselves. The Lord's being the source of all love was again represented by the greater light, that is, the sun, at the Transfiguration, for His face shone like the sun, and His garments became white as the light, Matthew 17:2. What is inmost is meant by His face, and what emanates from the inmost by His garments. Thus His Divinity is meant by the sun or love, and His Humanity by the light or wisdom coming from love.

24. And from the seven spirits. That this signifies the Divine in heaven, is evident from the signification of seven, as being what is full, and thence all, and as being spoken of the holy Divine things which go forth from the Lord (concerning this see above, n. 20); and from the signification of spirits, as being those of whom heaven consists. For they are all called spirits of God, because the spirit of God is the proceeding Divine, or the Divine truth united to the Divine good, in heaven and in the church (concerning this see Arcana Coelestia 9818); and the proceeding Divine, or Divine truth united to Divine good, forms and creates an angel, and thus makes him what he is according to the nature and extent of his reception (as may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell. n. 7-12). From these considerations it is clear, that the seven spirits of whom more will be said in the following pages, do not mean seven spirits, but all those who are in heaven; just as the seven churches do not mean seven churches, but all who are in truths from good, or who belong to the church (concerning this see above, n. 20). These things being understood, the mystery becomes clear as to what is meant by Jehovah God in the Word; for by Jehovah is meant the Divine as Being (Esse), and by God, the Divine Manifestation (Existere) in heaven. The reason why the Divine which is meant by God, is the Divine Manifestation (Existere) in heaven is, because the Divine in heaven is in many; therefore, in the Hebrew language, God is called Elohim, in the plural, and therefore the angels are called gods, not that they are gods, but because the Divine of the Lord, which is in them, is meant by God. (That in the Word the Lord is called Jehovah from Being (Esse) or Essence, and God from Manifestation (Existere) or Existence, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 300, 3910, 6905. That the Divine, as Being (Esse) also is Divine Good, and that the Divine Manifestation (Existere) is Divine Truth, see n. 3061, 6280, 6880, 6905, 10579; and in general, that good is being (esse), and truth is the manifestation (existere) thence derived, see n. 5002. That angels are called gods from the reception of Divine truth going forth from the Divine good of the Lord, see n. 4295, 4402, 7268, 7873, 8301, 8192. And that Divine truth united to Divine good in heaven, is called in one phrase Divine truth, may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell 13, 133, 144.)