Morning comes with the rising of the sun, and the sun -- which gives life to the earth with its warmth and light -- represents the Lord in His divinity, bringing spiritual life through love and wisdom. Thus, the morning represents the coming of the Lord into our lives, and all the things that flow from it: the love, joy and enlightenment He brings; the peace and tranquility of passing the spiritual obscurity of night; the anticipation of the learning and usefulness of a new day; and the awareness of The Lord's renewed presence.

(References: Apocalypse Explained 179; Apocalypse Revealed 151; Arcana Coelestia 2333 [1-3], 2540, 2780, 5740, 8211, 8812, 10134, 10200, 10413; True Christian Religion 764 [1-2])

1837. That 'as the sun was going down' means the period of time and the state just before the close is clear from the meaning of 'the sun'. In the internal sense 'the sun' means the Lord, and because of this means the celestial things of love and charity, consequently love and charity themselves, dealt with already in 30-38, and 1053. From this it is evident that 'the going down of the sun' is the last period of time in the Church, which is called the close, when charity does not exist any longer. The Lord's Church is also compared to the times of day, its earliest time being compared to sunrise, or dawn and morning, and its final period to sundown, or evening and the shadows that fall then; for there is indeed a similarity between the two. In like manner the Church is compared to the seasons of the year, its earliest time being compared to spring when everything is flowering, while the time next to the last is compared to autumn when everything starts to die off. Indeed, the Church is also compared to metals, its first time being called golden, its last that of iron and clay, as in Daniel 2:31-33. These considerations show what is meant by 'as the sun was going down', namely that the period of time and the state just before the close are meant, for the sun had not yet gone down. In what follows the subject is the state of the Church when the sun had gone down, at which point thick darkness descended, and a smoking furnace and a flaming torch passed between the pieces.