8426. 'At evening you will know that Jehovah has brought you out of the land of Egypt' means that at the end of a former state comes the revelation that they have been delivered. This is clear from the meaning of 'at evening' as the end of a former state, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'knowing' as being revealed, for what Jehovah causes a person to know is called revelation; and from the meaning of 'bringing out' as delivering, as often before, at this point from the molestations that are meant by 'the land of Egypt', 7278.

[2] The reason why 'at evening' means the end of a former state is that changes of state in the next life resemble the times of day in the world, that is to say, morning, midday, evening, and night or twilight, then morning again. It should be recognized that in the spiritual world changes of state are forever taking place, which all who are there pass through, the purpose of it all being that they may continue unceasingly to be made more perfect. For without changes of states, that is, without variations constantly following one another in sequence, those who are there cannot be made more perfect. The changes of states which follow one another in sequence, resembling the times of day and seasons of the year, are never exactly the same when they come round again, but are varied. The beginning of each state corresponds to morning on earth, and also in the Word is meant several times by 'morning'. The end of each state however corresponds to evening, and is also called 'evening' several times in the Word. When it is morning they are in a state of love; when it is midday they are in a state of light or truth; but when it is evening they are in a state that is dim so far as truths are concerned and rather cool so far as good is concerned, since it is a state in which the delight belonging to natural love rules them. This delight is what is meant by 'the selav' which the people received in the evening, and good is what is meant by 'the manna' which they received every morning.

[3] All this goes to show what 'the evening' means - the end of the state of whatever the subject may be; consequently it may mean the end of a state of the Church. But see what has been shown already about the meaning of 'the evening':

In the next life there are changes of state, just as in the world there are changes of times and seasons, 5672, 5962, 6110.

'Evening' is the end of a former Church, and 'morning' the beginning of a new one, 2323, 7844; therefore 'evening, and 'morning' mean the Coming or arrival of the Lord, 7844.

In heaven there is evening and twilight before morning, but no night; night occurs in hell, 6110.

3356. The reason 'a quake' means an alteration of state is that a quake occurs within the space-time continuum, and in the next life there is no concept of space and time, but instead of these the concept of state. In the next life it does indeed appear as though all things exist within space and follow one another in a time-sequence, but in themselves they are alterations of state, for space and time there are the products of these. This is very well known to all spirits, even evil ones, who by means of alterations of state effected in others cause them to appear somewhere other than where they in fact are. Man too is able to know of this from the fact that insofar as his state is one of affection and therefore of joy, or insofar as it is one of thought and therefore of withdrawal from the body, he is outside time. For while such a state lasts, many hours seem to him to be as scarcely one hour. The reason for this is that states belong to his internal man, which is his spirit, to which states intervals of space and periods of time in the external man correspond. 'A quake' therefore, being one of the consecutive events that occur within space and time, in the internal sense means an alteration of state.