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.

10017. 'And the priesthood shall be theirs' means the stages, following one after another, of the Lord's work of salvation. This is clear from the meaning of 'the priesthood' or 'the priestly office' as that which is representative of the Lord's whole work of salvation, dealt with in 9809. The reason why the stages following one after another is meant is that the priesthood of Aaron's sons is the subject here, and his sons represent the things which emanate and so follow in order one after another, 9807. The situation in all this is that the priesthood which Aaron represents consists in the work of saving those who are in the Lord's celestial kingdom, this kingdom being the proper meaning in the Word of 'a kingdom of priests'. But the priesthood which Aaron's sons represent consists in the work of saving those who are in the Lord's spiritual kingdom emanating directly from His celestial kingdom. From this it is evident that 'the priesthood' is used in the present instance to mean the stages, following one after another, of the Lord's work of salvation. But the priesthood which the Levites represent consists in the Lord's work of salvation at a further stage.

[2] There are three realities which follow one another in order. These are the celestial, which is the good of love to the Lord; the spiritual, which is the good of charity towards the neighbour; and the natural springing from these, which is the good of faith. Since these three are realities which follow one another in order there are also three heavens, and in them the types of good follow in that order. The work of saving those with whom celestial good exists is represented by Aaron's priesthood; but the work of saving those with whom spiritual good exists is represented by the priesthood of Aaron's sons, and the work of saving those with whom the natural good springing from these exists is represented by the priesthood of the Levites. And since the things following one another in order emanate from the good of love to the Lord, which is represented by Aaron and his priesthood, it is said of the Levites that they were given to Aaron. For things which emanate belong to that from which they emanate; such emanations or stages following one after another owe their very existence to that source, as accords with what has been stated a little above in 10011. The fact that the Levites were given to Aaron and his sons to perform priestly duties under them, see Numbers 3:1-end.