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 Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light; your sun will no more go down nor your moon be withdrawn, for Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light.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:

924. From a thousand six hundred furlongs. That this signifies evils in their whole extent is evident from the signification of furlongs, as denoting productions in a series. For furlongs, like miles, and ways in general, signify progressions in a series according to thoughts from affection. And from the signification of a thousand six hundred, as denoting goods in their whole extent, and in the opposite sense, as in this case, evils in their whole compass. For the number one thousand six hundred signifies the same as sixteen; and the number sixteen, the same as four and two. And all these numbers are said of goods, and in the opposite sense of evils. For the greater numbers arising from multiplication have a signification similar to the lesser and simple from which they arise by multiplication; as twelve thousand the same as twelve; and twelve the same as three and four multiplied into themselves; see above (n. 430, 851). That three, in the Word, is said of truths; and two, also four, of goods; thus in the opposite sense, three of falsities, and two and four of evils, may also be seen above (n. 532). It is, therefore, evident that by from a thousand six hundred furlongs are signified productions of evils in a continual series, thus evils in their whole compass.

That by those two devastators of the church, meant by Babylon, and by the beast of the dragon, are now being produced and have been produced, evils in a continual series, and by their means evils in their whole compass, may be shown from many examples. But the devastation of the church by the beast of the dragon has been shown in the explanations of chapters xii. and xiii.; and the devastation by Babylon will be shown below in the explanations of chapters xvii. and xviii.