13. (vi) The state of the world and the church before the Last Judgment resembled evening and night, but after it morning and day. When the light of truth is not to be seen, and truth is not accepted, the state of the church in the world resembles evening and night. Such was its state before the Last Judgment, as is evident from what was said above (11). But when the light of truth is to be seen, and truth is accepted, the state of the church in the world resembles morning and day. That is why those two states of the church are called in the Word evening and morning, as well as night and day; as for example:

The Holy One said to me, 'Until the evening and morning two thousand three hundred [days], then the sanctuary shall be made holy'. Daniel 8:14.

The vision of the evening and the morning is truth. Daniel 8:26.

There shall be one day, known to Jehovah, neither day nor night, because around evening time there shall be light. Zechariah 14:7.

One is calling to me from Seir, Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning is coming, and night again. Isaiah 21:11-12.

Jesus spoke of the final period of the church:

Keep awake, for you do not know when the lord of the house will come, at evening, at midnight, at cockcrow or in the morning. Mark 13:35.

Jesus said, I must work while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. John 9:4.

Also elsewhere, such as Isaiah 17:14; Jeremiah 6:4-5; Psalms 30:5; 65:8; 90:6.

Because this is the meaning of evening and night, the Lord, in order to fulfil the Word, was also buried in the evening, and afterwards rose again in the morning.

9864. 'There shall be four rows of stones, the order being' means all of them joined together, that is to say, all the truths springing from good. This is clear from the meaning of 'four' as a joining together, dealt with in 1686, 9601, 9674; and from the meaning of 'rows of stones' as truths springing from good in their proper order. The setting of them in four rows, three in each row, was decreed in order that the joining together of all the truths springing from the same good, and so their perfection, might be represented; for 'four' means a joining together, as has been stated, and 'three' means perfection, 9825. Indeed since one and the same good is the source from which they all emanate, 9863, and is consequently the one to which they all look back, that good is what joins them all together.

[2] Things that happen in heaven may serve to cast light on all this and show that it is so. All without exception in heaven turn their face towards the Lord; and - marvel that it is - this happens whatever direction they turn to face. As a consequence of this all who are in heaven are joined together as one. But those who are outside heaven turn their face away from the Lord; and the further away they are from heaven the further away their faced is turned. As a consequence of this there is division among them, because they do not love God or their neighbour, only themselves and the world. But this is an arcanum which for those whose thought is ruled by the illusions of the senses is inconceivable; for they cannot at all comprehend how every face in heaven can be always looking, in whatever direction its owner turns, towards the Lord, who is the Sun there. See what has been introduced above in 9828 on this subject.