414. So that a third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night. This symbolically means that they no longer have in them any spiritual truth or natural truth from the Word serviceable for doctrine and life.

The day's not shining means that they had no light from the sun, and "likewise the night" means that they had no light from the moon and stars. Light in general symbolizes Divine truth, which is truth from the Word. The light of the sun symbolizes spiritual Divine truth, and the light of the moon and stars symbolizes natural Divine truth, both acquired from the Word. Divine truth in the spiritual sense of the Word is like the light of the sun during the day, and Divine truth in the natural sense of the Word is like the light of the moon and stars at night. The spiritual sense of the Word, moreover, flows into its natural sense, as the sun does with its light to the moon, and this reflects the light of the sun indirectly.

In this way also does the spiritual sense of the Word enlighten people, even people who know nothing of that sense, when they read the Word in its natural sense. However, it enlightens a spiritual person as light from the sun does his eye, but a natural person as light from the moon and stars does his eye. Everyone is enlightened in accordance with his spiritual affection for truth and goodness, and at the same time in accordance with the genuine truths by which he has opened his rational faculty.

[2] Day and night also have this meaning in the following places:

God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night...." Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule by day, and the lesser light to rule by night. He made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule by day and by night, and to divide the light from the darkness. (Genesis 1:14-19)

(Jehovah) made great lights..., the sun to rule by day..., the moon and stars to rule by night... (Psalms 136:7-9)

The day is Yours, (O Jehovah,) the night also is Yours; You have prepared the light and the sun. (Psalms 74:16)

...Jehovah... gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night... (Jeremiah 31:35)

If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that there will not be day and night in their season, then My covenant also may be broken with David My servant... If I have not appointed My covenant with day and night, the ordinances of heaven and earth, I also will reject the offspring of Jacob and David... (Jeremiah 33:20-21, 25-26)

I cite these passages to make known that the darkening of both kinds of light is meant.

10240. Since 'washing' also means regeneration something more must be said about it. Anyone who does not know that both in the Prophets and in the Gospels the Lord used correspondences when He spoke, and that consequently the Word has an inner meaning, cannot possibly know what the Lord's words in John serve to mean,

Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless a person has been born of water and the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, but that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit. The Spirit breathes where it wishes, and you hear its voice; but you do not know where it comes from and where it goes away to. So is everyone who is born from the Spirit. John 3:5-6, 8.

[2] The meaning of these words is revealed if correspondences are used to explain them; for they contain the arcana of heaven. By virtue of its correspondence 'water' means the truth of faith, which is clearly perceptible within the natural. 'The Spirit' means Divine Truth which flows in from the Lord by way of a person's internal into his external or natural, and from that Truth springs the life of faith which the person who is being regenerated possesses. 'Flesh' is the person's proprium or selfhood, which is nothing but evil. 'The Spirit breathes where it wishes' means that in His mercy the Lord imparts new life by means of Divine Truth. 'You hear its voice' means that this life is perceptible in the external or natural man, 'voice' meaning what is declared by the Word. 'You do not know where it comes from or where it goes away to' means that a person does not know how his regeneration is accomplished, for the Lord accomplishes it in hidden ways that are countless and beyond description.

[3] By virtue of its correspondence 'water' means the truths of faith, see 28, 739, 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 5668, 8568, 9323, 10238.

'The Spirit' means Divine Truth, from which the life of faith springs, 9229, 9818.

'Flesh' means a person's proprium, which is nothing but evil, 8409.

'Breathing' means the state of the life of faith, 9281.

'Voice' means what is declared by the Word, consequently truth derived from it, 9926.

'Hearing' means perception, 9311, 9926.

'Coming' and 'going away' or entering and departing mean the state of affairs from start to finish, 9927.

The hidden ways of regeneration are countless and beyond description, 3179, 3573, 5398, 9334 (end), 9336.

What goes on in the internal man is not perceived while the person is in the world, only what goes on in the external or natural, above in 10236.