859. 'On the first of the month the tops of the mountains appeared' means the truths of faith which at that point start to become visible. This is clear from the meaning of 'mountains' as goods that stem from love and charity, 795. These mountain-tops start to be seen when a person is being regenerated and is being given a conscience, and through conscience charity. Anyone is utterly mistaken who supposes that he sees the tops of the mountains, which are the truths of faith, from any other vantage point than the goods that stem from love and charity. Without these, Jews and untaught gentiles can see just the same. 'The tops of the mountains' are the first rays of light to appear.

The sun in the Bible represents the Lord, with its heat representing His love and its light representing His wisdom. “Daytime,” then, represents a state in which we are turned toward the Lord, receiving His love and being enlightened by His truth. And “nighttime,” obviously, represents states in which we are turned away from the Lord, left cold and blind to the truth. The most common word used for it in the New Christian theology is “obscurity.” The darkness is not absolute, of course. The light of the moon represents the understanding we can have based on facts and our own intelligence. But while the moon reflects some of the sun's light, it offers almost no heat, so this kind of understanding is a cold one, without the warmth of love. And at its darkest and coldest, night represents a state of judgment. This happens when a person -- or a church -- becomes so mired in evil and falsity that there is no light or heat. The Lord can then step in, separate the good from the evil, consign the evil to hell and begin rebuilding based on the remnant that is still good. Drastic as that sounds, it is something that we all go through repeatedly in various aspects of our loves, so that we can be rid of what is evil and let the Lord rebuild us as angels.