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 Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light; your sun will no more go down nor your moon be withdrawn, for Jehovah will be for you an everlasting light.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

4328. I have also been shown the situation in general with regard to the will part of the mind and the understanding part. The most ancient people who constituted the Lord's celestial Church, and who are described in 1114-1123, had a will which contained good and an understanding which contained truth derived from that good; and with them these two parts made one. The ancients however who formed the Lord's spiritual Church had a will that was completely destroyed, but an intact understanding within which, through regeneration, the Lord formed a new area of will, and through this a new area of understanding also, see 863, 875, 895, 927, 928, 1023, 1043, 1044, 1555, 2256.

[2] What the situation had been in the celestial Church so far as good was concerned was demonstrated by means of a blue-coloured column coming down from the sky, the left side of which was full of light, like the blazing light of the sun. This was a representation of the first state of those people, the blue colour representing their will, which was good, and the blazing light their understanding. After that the blue of the column turned to a dull red, which was a representation of their second state, a state in which their two kinds of life - that of the will and that of the understanding - still acted as one, though this was more dull so far as good from the will was concerned. For blue means good, and blazing light truth derived from good. After that the column became completely black, and surrounding the column there was a brightness which was variegated by means of something glittering and which presented colours. These changes meant the state of the spiritual Church. The black column meant that the will had been completely destroyed and that it was nothing but evil. The light variegated by something glittering meant the understanding in which a new will was provided by the Lord; for in heaven the understanding is represented by brightness.