The Bible

 

Genesis 1:15

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15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #23

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23. Nothing is more common in the Word than for the word 'day' to be used to mean the particular time at which events take place, as in Isaiah,

The day of Jehovah is near. Behold, the day of Jehovah comes. I will make heaven tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, on the day of My fierce anger. Its time is close at hand, and its days will not be prolonged. Isaiah 13:6, 9, 13, 22.

And in the same prophet,

Her antiquity is in the days of antiquity. On that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, like the days of one king. Isaiah 23:7, 15.

Since 'day' stands for the particular time it also stands for the state associated with that particular time, as in Jeremiah, Woe to us, for the day has declined, for the shadows of evening have lengthened! Jeremiah 6:4

And in the same prophet,

If you break My covenant that is for the day and My covenant that is for the night, so that there is neither daytime nor night at their appointed time. Jeremiah 33:20, 25.

Also,

Renew our days as of old. Lamentations 5:21.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #4059

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4059. Each individual phrase in these verses is clear evidence of the existence of an internal sense, and of the fact that unless that sense is understood no one can possibly know what is implied in any of the following descriptions: The sun will be darkened, and the moon also; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken; the Lord will appear in the clouds of heaven; and the angels will sound a trumpet and in so doing will gather together the elect. Anyone who is not acquainted with the internal sense of these words will believe in a literal fulfilment of such events - that the world really is going to perish, together with everything visible in the universe. It is not the destruction of the world that is meant however by a last judgement but the coming to an end or the ruination of the Church as regards charity and faith; see 3353. The same is also quite evident from the words which come later on in this same chapter in Matthew,

At that time two will be in the field; one will be taken, the other left. Two women grinding; one will be taken, the other left. Matthew 24:40-41.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.