2441. That 'the sun had gone forth over the earth' means the final period which is called the Last Judgement is clear from the meaning of 'sunrise' when the subject is the times and states of the Church. That the times of the day, like the seasons of the year also, in the internal sense mean the consecutive states of the Church has been shown already in 2323, and that 'the dawn' or 'the morning' means the coming of the Lord or approach of His kingdom, in 2405. Thus 'sunrise' or its going forth over the earth is His actual arrival or presence, the reason being that both the sun and the east where it rises mean the Lord - 'the sun', see 31, 32, 1053, 1521, 1529-1531, 2120, and 'the east', 101.

[2] The reason the Lord's arrival or presence coincides with the final period called the judgement is that His presence separates the good from the evil, and leads on to the good being raised into heaven and the evil casting themselves down into hell. For in the next life the Lord is the Sun of the whole of heaven, see 1053, 1521, 1529-1531. Actually it is the Divine celestial manifestation of His Love which appears before their very eyes as the sun and produces the light itself of heaven. To the extent therefore that those in the next life abide in celestial love they are raised up into that celestial light which comes from the Lord. But to the extent they are remote from celestial love they cast themselves away from that light into the darkness of hell.

[3] This then is the reason why 'sunrise' which means the Lord's arrival or presence entails both the salvation of the good and the condemnation of the evil; and why at this point it is first stated that 'Lot came to Zoar', that is, that people represented here by Lot were saved, and immediately after this that 'Jehovah rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire', that is, the evil were condemned.

[4] To those there who are immersed in the evils of self-love and love of the world, that is, who hate all things to do with love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour, the light of heaven actually appears as thick darkness. This is why it is said in the Word that to those people the sun was darkened, which means that they rejected everything to do with love and charity and accepted everything contrary to these, 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.

Anyone may see that 'covering the heavens', 'darkening the stars', 'covering the sun', and 'making the bright lights dark' mean different things from these.

[5] Similarly in Isaiah,

The sun will be darkened in its going forth and the moon will not give its light. Isaiah 13:9-10.

And in Joel,

The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. Joel 2:2, 10.

This therefore shows what is meant by these words spoken by the Lord when He was describing the final period of the Church which is called the judgement, in Matthew,

Immediately after the affliction of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven. Matthew 24:29.

'The sun' is not used to mean the sun, nor 'the moon' the moon, nor 'stars' the stars, but 'the sun' is used to mean love and charity, 'the moon' faith derived from these, and 'the stars' cognitions of good and truth, which are said to have been darkened, to lose their light, and to fall from heaven when the acknowledgement of the Lord, and love to Him and charity towards the neighbour, cease to exist any longer. And when these have become non-existent self-love together with falsities deriving from it take possession of man; for the one thing results as a consequence of the other.

[6] This also explains the following in John,

The fourth angel poured out his bowl into the sun and it was allowed to scorch men with fire; therefore men were burned by the fierce heat, and they blasphemed the name of God. Revelation 16:8-9.

This too refers to the last times of the Church when all love and charity is being annihilated, or to express it in ordinary language, when no faith exists any longer. The annihilation of love and charity is meant by the statement that the bowl was poured out into the sun; consequently it is in that case self-love and its desires that are meant by the statement that men were scorched with fire and that they were burned by a fierce heat; and this led to their blaspheming the name of God.

[7] By 'the sun' the Ancient Church understood nothing other than the Lord and the Divine celestial manifestation of His love. It was their custom when praying therefore to turn towards the rising of the sun - yet without giving any thought at all to the sun itself. Later on however when their descendants had lost even this together with every other representative and meaningful sign they began to worship the sun and moon themselves. This kind of worship spread to very many nations, so much so that they dedicated temples to the sun and to the moon, and erected pillars. And because the sun and moon now assumed an opposite meaning they mean self-love and love of the world, which are the complete reverse of celestial and spiritual love.

[8] In the Word therefore worshipping the sun and moon is used to mean worship of self and of the world, as in Moses,

Lest you lift your eyes to heaven and you see the sun and moon and stars, all the host of heaven, and you are drawn away and bow down to them and serve them. Deuteronomy 4:19.

And in the same author,

If anyone has gone and served other gods, and bowed down to them, and to the sun or moon, or to all the host of heaven, which I have not commanded, you shall stone them with stones, and they shall die. Deuteronomy 17:3, 5.

People turned the worship of old into such idolatry when they no longer believed that anything internal was meant in the religious observances of the Church, only that which is external.

[9] Similarly in Jeremiah,

At that time the bones of the kings of Judah, of the princes, of the priests, of the prophets, and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, they will spread before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven which they have loved and which they have served. Jeremiah 8:1-2.

'The sun' stands for self-love and its desires. 'Spreading out the bones' means the hellish things which such people possess. In the same prophet,

He will break down the pillars of the house of the sun that is in the land of Egypt, and the houses of the gods of Egypt he will burn with fire. Jeremiah 43:13.

'The pillars of the house of the sun' stands for worship of self.

2405. That 'as dawn ascended' means when the Lord's kingdom draws near is clear from the meaning of 'the dawn' or morning in the Word. Since the subject in this chapter is the successive states of a Church, what happened in the evening, then what happened during the night have been referred to first. What took place when it was twilight comes now, and further on what took place after sunrise. Twilight is expressed here by 'as dawn ascended', which means the time when the upright are separated from the evil. This separation is described in the present verse to verse 22 as Lot being brought out together with his wife and daughters and being saved. The fact that separation takes place prior to judgement is clear from the Lord's words in Matthew,

Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. Matthew 25:32.

[2] In the Word that period of time or state is called 'the dawn' because that is when the Lord comes, or what amounts to the same, when His kingdom draws near. It is similar with the good, for at that time something akin to early morning twilight or the dawn shines with them. This explains why in the Word the Lord's coming is compared to and also called 'the morning'. Its comparison to the morning is seen in Hosea,

Jehovah will revive us after two days, on the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live before Him. And we shall know, and we shall press on to know Jehovah. As the dawn is His going forth. Hosea 6:2-3.

'Two days' stands for the period of time and the state which precedes. 'Third day' stands for judgement or the Lord's coming, and so for the approach of His kingdom, 720, 901 - a coming or approach which is compared to 'the dawn'.

[3] In Samuel,

The God of Israel is like morning light, [when] the sun rises on a cloudless morning; from brightness, from rain, grass comes out of the earth. 2 Samuel 23:4.

'The God of Israel' stands for the Lord, for no other God of Israel was meant in that Church, where every single feature of that Church was representative of Him. In Joel,

The day of Jehovah is coming, for it is near, a day of darkness and thick darkness, a day of cloud and gloom, like the dawn spread over the mountains. Joel 2:1-2.

This too refers to the Lord's coming and His kingdom. The words 'a day of darkness and thick darkness' are used because at that time the good are separated from the evil, as Lot was here from the men of Sodom; and after the good have been separated the evil perish.

[4] The Lord's coming or the approach of His kingdom is not compared to the morning but actually called such, as in Daniel,

The Holy One said, For how long is the vision, the continual [burnt offering], and the desolating transgression? He said to me, Up to the evening [when it is becoming] morning two thousand three hundred times, and the Holy One will be justified. The vision of the evening and the morning which has been told is the truth. Daniel 8:13-14, 26.

'The morning' here clearly stands for the Lord's coming. In David,

Your people are free-will offerings, in the day of Your power, in the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the dawn You have the dew of Your nativity. Psalms 110:3.

The whole of this psalm refers to the Lord and His victories in temptations, which are meant by 'the day of power and the beauties of His holiness'. 'From the womb of the dawn' means Himself, thus the Divine Love from which He fought.

[5] In Zephaniah,

Jehovah is righteous in the midst of her. He will do no wrong. In the morning, in the morning He will bring His judgement to light. Zephaniah 3:5.

'morning' stands for the time and the state when judgement takes place, which is the same as the Lord's coming, and this in turn is the same as the approach of His kingdom.

[6] Since 'the morning' meant these things, Aaron and his sons, to provide the same representation, were commanded to set up a lamp and tend it from evening till morning before Jehovah, Exodus 27:21. The 'evening' referred to here is the twilight prior to morning, 2323. For a similar reason it was commanded that the fire on the altar was to be rekindled every dawn, Leviticus 6:12; also that none of the paschal lamb and the consecrated elements of sacrifices were to remain until the morning, Exodus 12:10; 23:18; 34:25; Leviticus 22:29-30; Numbers 9:12 - by which was meant that when the Lord came sacrifices would come to an end.

[7] In a general sense 'morning' is used to describe both the time when dawn breaks and the time when the sun rises. 'morning' in this case stands for judgement in regard to the good as well as on the evil, as in the present chapter - 'The sun had gone forth over the earth and Lot came to Zoar; and Jehovah rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire', verses 23-24. It in like manner stands for judgement on the evil, in David,

In the mornings I will destroy all the wicked of the land, to cut off from the city of Jehovah all workers of iniquity. Psalms 101:8.

And in Jeremiah,

Let that man be like the cities which Jehovah overthrew, and He does not repent; and let him hear a cry in the morning. Jeremiah 20:16.

[8] Seeing that 'the morning' in the proper sense means the Lord, His coming, and so the approach of His kingdom, what else is meant by 'the morning' becomes clear, namely the rise of a new Church, for that Church is the Lord's kingdom on earth. That kingdom is meant both in a general and in a particular sense, and indeed in a specific sense, the general being when any Church on earth is established anew; the particular, when a person is being regenerated and becoming a new man, for the Lord's kingdom is in that case being established in him and he is becoming the Church; and the specific, as often as good flowing from love and faith is at work with him, for this is what constitutes the Lord's coming. Consequently the Lord's resurrection on the third morning, Mark 16:2, 9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1, embodies in the particular and the specific senses the truth that He rises daily, indeed every single moment, in the minds of regenerate persons.