20. Verse 3 And God said, Let there be light; and there was light. This is at the outset when a person starts to realize that good and truth are something superior. Thoroughly external people do not even know what good is and what truth is, for they imagine that everything which comprises self-love and love of the world is good, and that everything that panders to those loves is truth. Thus they do not know that the things which they imagine to be good are in fact evil, and that those which they imagine to be true are in fact false. But when a person is conceived anew, first he starts to recognize that the good in him is not really good, and then, when he enters more into light, to recognize the existence of the Lord and that the Lord is good and truth themselves. The Lord Himself says in John that men ought to know He exists,

Unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins. John 8:24.

The point that the Lord is good itself, which is life, and truth itself, which is light, together with the consequent point that no good or truth exist except from the Lord, is made once more in John,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in the darkness. He was the true light that enlightens every man coming into the world John 1:1, 3-5, 9.

2540. That 'in the morning Abimelech rose up early' means a clear perception and confirmatory light flowing from celestial good is clear from the meaning of 'rising in the morning', also of 'Abimelech', as well as of 'early'. What 'the morning' means has been shown in 2333, 2405. From these meanings - and also from the whole train of thought, which is that at first the Lord's perception was obscure, 2513, 2514, and after that less obscure, 2528 - it is evident that here a clear perception is meant. As for 'Abimelech' - that he means the doctrine of faith which has regard to rational things - see above 2509, 2510. And what 'in the early morning' means is evident from the meaning of 'the morning'. Here, since it is said that 'he rose up in the morning - in the early morning', not only a clear perception is meant but also confirmatory light flowing from celestial good; for celestial good is the source from which the confirmatory light of truth is derived. These considerations now show that such things are meant.

[2] The reason why the perception which the Lord had when He was in the Human, and why His thought concerning that which was rational with the doctrine of faith, are dealt with so extensively in the internal sense is that stated above. A further reason is that it is angel-like to think in a distinct manner about the various aspects of the Lord's life in the world, and about how He cast off the human rational and by His own power made it Divine, and at the same time to think about the nature of the doctrine of charity and faith when the rational mixes with it, besides many more things dependent on these, which are interior features of the Church and of man. To anyone whose heart and mind are set on worldly and bodily interests, such matters seem of little importance, and perhaps of no advantage to him; whereas to angels whose hearts and minds are set on celestial and spiritual interests, those same matters are precious. Their ideas and perceptions regarding them are beyond description. From this it is evident that very many matters which to man are of little importance because they are above and beyond his grasp of things are to angels of the highest worth since those matters come within the light of their wisdom; and conversely, the matters of highest worth to man, because they are worldly and so come within his grasp of things, are to angels of little importance since those matters go on away from the light of angels' wisdom. This difference between angels and men with regard to the internal sense of the Word occurs in many places.