32. Love and faith are first called 'the great lights', then love is called 'the greater light' and faith 'the lesser light'. In reference to love it is said that it will have dominion over the day, and in reference to faith that it will have dominion over the night. Because these are arcana and have become hidden, especially at this end of an epoch, in the Lord's Divine mercy let the whole subject be opened up. The reason they have become hidden, especially at this present end of an epoch, is that now is the close of the age, when love is almost non-existent, and consequently faith too, just as the Lord Himself foretold in the Gospels with these words,

The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Matthew 24:29.

Here 'the sun' is used to mean love, which is 'darkened', 'the moon' faith which does not give its light, 'the stars' cognitions of faith which fall from heaven, and which are the various 'powers of the heavens'. The Most Ancient Church acknowledged no other faith than love itself; celestial angels as well do not know what faith is except faith which stems from love. Love pervades the whole of heaven, for in the heavens no other life is found except the life that belongs to love. This is the source of all happiness in heaven, a happiness so great that no aspect of it can be described or in any way captured in human concepts. People in whom this love is present love the Lord wholeheartedly. Yet they realize, say, and perceive that all love, thus all life, which belongs exclusively to love, and so all happiness, come from the Lord and nowhere else, and that they derive not one trace of love, life, and happiness from themselves. The Lord's being the source of all love was again represented by the greater light, that is, the sun, at the Transfiguration, for His face shone like the sun, and His garments became white as the light, Matthew 17:2. What is inmost is meant by His face, and what emanates from the inmost by His garments. Thus His Divinity is meant by the sun or love, and His Humanity by the light or wisdom coming from love.

4918. 'That behold, there were twins in her womb' means the two essentials of the Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'twins' as the two - good and truth - dealt with in 3299; and from the meaning of 'the womb' as the place where good and truth have been conceived and are lying, and consequently the place where the essentials of the Church are lying. In the genuine sense 'the womb' means the inmost centre of conjugial love where innocence is present, for the womb corresponds to that love in the Grand Man. Now because conjugial love has its origin in the love of good and truth, which love is at the heart of the heavenly marriage, and because this marriage is heaven itself or the Lord's kingdom, and the Lord's kingdom on earth is the Church, therefore 'the womb' also means the Church. For the Church exists where the marriage of good and truth exists. This explains why 'opening the womb' means the resulting doctrines taught by the Churches, 3856, as well as the ability to receive the truths and goods of the Church, 3967; while 'going out of the womb' means being born again or being regenerated, 4904, that is, becoming the Church since one who is born again or regenerated becomes the Church.

[2] Since 'going out of the womb' means rebirth, and therefore the Church, the Lord is called in the Word 'He who formed from the womb' and 'He who brought out of the womb', and those who have been regenerated and become the Church are said 'to have been carried from the womb', as in Isaiah,

Thus said Jehovah. your Maker. He who formed you from the womb, and who helps you. Isaiah 44:2.

In the same prophet,

Thus said Jehovah, your Redeemer, He who formed you from the womb. Isaiah 44:24.

In the same prophet,

Thus said Jehovah. who formed me from the womb to be His servant, to bring back Jacob to Him, and that Israel might be gathered to Him. Isaiah 49:5.

In David,

Jehovah who brought me out of the womb. Psalms 22:9.

In Isaiah,

Hearken to Me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel who have been carried from the womb, and borne from the belly. Isaiah 46:3.

In David,

The wicked are alienated from the womb, and go astray from the belly, with lying words. Psalms 58:3.

Here 'being alienated from the womb' means alienation from the good fostered by the Church, and 'going astray from the belly' straying from the truth. In Hosea,

The pains of childbirth will come upon him, he is an unwise son, for now he does not present himself at the womb of sons. Hosea 13:13.

'Not presenting himself at the womb of sons' stands for not coming to the good of truth fostered by the Church.

[3] In the same prophet,

Their glory will fly away like a bird, away from birth, from the belly, and from conception. Hosea 9:11.

This means that the truth of the Church will perish fully - 'from birth' being that to which birth is given, 'from the belly' that which is undergoing gestation, 'from conception' that which is taking rise. In Isaiah,

I knew that you would certainly act treacherously, and that you were called [a man] of transgression from the womb. Isaiah 48:8.

This means that from the time when the Church first began he was like this. In John,

A great sign was seen in heaven - a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet. and on her head a crown of twelve stars. Carrying in the belly however, she cried out in labour, and was in anguish to give birth. Revelation 12:1-2.

'The woman' is the Church, 252, 253, 255. 'The sun' with which she was clothed is the good of love, 30-38, 1529, 1530, 2441, 2495, 4060, 4696; 'the moon' which was under her feet is the truth of faith, 30-38, 1529, 1530, 2120, 2495, 4696; 'the stars' are cognitions of good and truth, 2495, 2849, 4697 - there being 'twelve stars' because 'twelve' means all things, thus all aspects of faith, 577, 2089, 2129 (end), 2130 (end), 3272, 3858, 3913; 'carrying in the belly' is the truth of the Church that had been conceived; 'being in labour and in anguish to give birth' is the fact that it was received with difficulty.