31. That 'the great lights' mean love and faith, and are also mentioned as the sun, the moon, and the stars, is clear from various places in the Prophets, as in Ezekiel,

When I have blotted you out, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars, I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. All the bright lights in the heavens I will make dark over you, and I will put darkness over your land. Ezekiel 32:7-8.

This refers to Pharaoh and the Egyptians, who are used in the Word to mean the sensory and the factual. The meaning here is that they will have blotted out love and faith by means of sensory evidence and factual knowledge. In Isaiah,

The day of Jehovah for making the earth a desolation; for the stars of the heavens and their constellations ¹ will not give their light; the sun will be darkened in its rising, and the moon will not shed its light. Isaiah 13:9-10.

In Joel,

The day of Jehovah is coming, a day of darkness and thick darkness. The earth quakes before Him, the heavens tremble, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. Joel 2:10.

[2] In Isaiah, in reference to the Lord's Coming and the enlightenment of gentiles, and so to a new Church, in particular to individuals who are in darkness but who are beginning to receive the light and be regenerated,

Arise, shine, for your light has come. Behold, darkness is covering the earth, and thick darkness the peoples, but Jehovah will arise upon you, and nations will walk towards your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light; your sun will no more go down nor your moon be withdrawn, for Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light. Isaiah 60:1-3, 19-20.

In David,

Jehovah makes the heavens by intelligence, He spreads out the earth upon the waters, He makes the great lights, the sun to have dominion over the day, and the moon and stars to have dominion over the night. Psalms 136:5-9.

And in the same author,

Praise Jehovah, sun and moon, praise Him, all stars of light! Praise Him, heaven of heavens, and waters that are above the heavens! Psalms 148:3-4.

[3] In all of these places 'the lights' mean love and faith. Because the lights represented and meant love and faith in the Lord, the Jewish Church was commanded to keep a light burning all the time from evening till morning, for every command which that Church received was representative of the Lord. Concerning this light it is said,

Command the sons of Israel that they take oil for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually. In the Tent of Meeting outside the veil which is before the testimony Aaron and his sons shall tend it from evening to morning before Jehovah. [Exodus 27:20-21]

That this means the love and faith which the Lord kindles and causes to shine in the internal man, and by means of the internal man in the external man, will in the Lord's Divine mercy be shown at that point in Exodus.

Footnotes:

3865. 'For now my husband will love me' means that from this state would come the good of truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'will love' as the good coming from this state, for all good is the product of love and is therefore the meaning of 'love' at this point; and from the meaning of 'husband' (vir) as truth, dealt with in 3134. What the good of truth is has been explained frequently already, namely an affection for truth for the sake of life, for life is the good seen within truth by those who are subsequently regenerated. Without life in accordance with truth no truth can ever become joined to good nor consequently can good be made one's own.

[2] This can be seen quite clearly by anyone if he turns his attention to those who lead evil lives and to those who lead good lives. Those who lead evil lives, though instructed in the teachings of the Church during childhood and youth like everybody else, will be found on examination to believe nothing at all about the Lord, about faith in Him, or about the truths of the Church, whereas those who lead good lives will be found in every case to have faith in those truths which they believe to be truths. Those however who teach truths, as Church leaders do, and yet lead evil lives will indeed say that they believe, yet they do not believe in their hearts.

[3] With some a persuasive faith exists which is an imitation of true faith, but that faith is no more than factual knowledge which has been corroborated by them not because it is the truth but because by declaring their allegiance to it they improve their chances of personal position, honour, and gain. That knowledge goes no further than through the ears into the memory, and from the memory passes out on to the lips. It does not enter the heart and from there into a confession of it. From these considerations it is evident that the life is the guide to what kind of acknowledgement of truth exists, that is, to what kind of faith. They also show that faith separated from the good of life declares that no matter how a person lives he can still be saved by grace, and that such faith argues against the teaching that everyone's life remains with him after death.