Arcana Coelestia #31
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 Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light; your sun will no more go down nor your moon be withdrawn, for Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light.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:
1. literally, orions
Ephesians 4
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I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called,
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with all lowliness and humility, with patience, bearing with one another in love;
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being eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
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There is one body, and one Spirit, even as you also were called in one hope of your calling;
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one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
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one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all.
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But to each one of us was the grace given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
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Therefore he says, "When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men."
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Now this, "He ascended," what is it but that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth?
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He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.
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He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers;
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for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ;
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until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
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that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error;
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but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, Christ;
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from whom all the body, being fitted and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in measure of each individual part, makes the body increase to the building up of itself in love.
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This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,
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being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their hearts;
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who having become callous gave themselves up to lust, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
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But you did not learn Christ that way;
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if indeed you heard him, and were taught in him, even as truth is in Jesus:
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that you put away, as concerning your former way of life, the old man, that grows corrupt after the lusts of deceit;
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and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
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and put on the new man, who in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.
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Therefore, putting away falsehood, speak truth each one with his neighbor. For we are members of one another.
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"Be angry, and don't sin." Don't let the sun go down on your wrath,
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neither give place to the devil.
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Let him who stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need.
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Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good for building up as the need may be, that it may give grace to those who hear.
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Don't grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
31
Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and slander, be put away from you, with all malice.
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And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.
