268. (Verse 3) And he that sat was in aspect like a jasper and a sardius. That this signifies the appearance of the Lord as to Divine truth translucent from the Divine good of the Divine love is evident from the signification of one sitting upon the throne, as being the Lord as to the Last Judgment, which was treated of just above (n. 267); and from the signification of in aspect like, as being appearance; also from the signification of a jasper stone, as being the spiritual love of truth, of which we shall treat in what follows; and from the signification of a sardine stone, as being the celestial love of good, thus by a jasper and a sardius, to which the Lord appeared like, is signified Divine truth translucent from the Divine good of the Divine love.

[2] That a jasper signifies the Divine love of truth, or Divine truth proceeding is evident from those passages in the Word where it is mentioned, as in Exodus 28:20, and in Ezekiel 28:13; also in the Apocalypse:

"The light" of the holy Jerusalem "was like unto a stone most precious, like to a jasper stone, clear as crystal" (21:11.).

By the light of the holy Jerusalem is signified the Divine truth of the church shining, and by the light truth itself shining, by Jerusalem the church as to doctrine; this is likened to a jasper stone, because jasper has a similar signification. And in another place:

"The building of the wall" of the holy Jerusalem "was of jasper, and the city was pure gold like unto pure glass" (21:18).

The wall of the holy Jerusalem is said to be of jasper, because by wall is signified Divine truth defending; and on account of this signification of wall, the first stone of its foundation is said to be jasper (verse 19), foundation signifying the truth upon which the church is founded.

[3] The sardius is also mentioned, because by that stone is signified good, here Divine good, because it is said of the Lord. It is this stone which is called pyropus; and since it shines as it were from fire, by both is signified the translucence of truth from good. (That all precious stones signify the truths of heaven and of the church derived from good, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 114, 9863, 9865, 9868, 9873. This is why in the breast-plate of Aaron, which is called the Urim and Thummim, were set twelve precious stones, and by them responses were given, and this by their shining forth, and at the same time by perception of the thing inquired about, or by a living voice.)

4742. 'The tunic of various colours that was on him' means the nature of the appearances which is determined by that of the truths derived from good. This is clear from the meaning of 'the tunic of various colours' as appearances of truth by which the spiritual of the natural is recognized and distinguished, dealt with in 4677, here therefore the nature of those appearances; and for this reason the word 'tunic' is used twice - 'they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of various colours'. The fact that the nature of these appearances is determined by that of the truths derived from good may be known from appearances of truth when these are manifested visually in the light of heaven, that is, in the next life. There no other light exists than that which comes from the Lord by way of heaven and which emanates from His Divine Truth; for this appears before the eyes of the angels as light, 2776, 3190, 3195, 3222, 3339, 3340, 3636, 3643, 3993, 4302, 4413, 4415. This light varies with each angel, depending on his reception of it. Angels' entire thought is formed by the variegation of that light, as also is man's thought, though he is not conscious of this because in man's case that light falls onto material images or ideas present in his natural or external man which are formed from the light of the world.

Consequently in his case the light of heaven is dimmed to such an extent that he scarcely knows that the light and sight in his understanding are a product of the light of heaven. But in the next life when the sight of the eye is no longer reliant on the light of the world but on that of heaven it is then obvious that his thought is formed from the latter.

[2] When this light passes from heaven into the world of spirits it manifests itself there in the form of various colours, the beauty, variation, and loveliness of these colours being immensely superior to the colours produced by the light of the world; see what has already been presented from experience regarding colours, in 1053, 1624, 3993, 4530, 4677. Because colours in the next life are formed from the light of heaven they are in origin nothing else than appearances of truth derived from good. The source from which truth shines is not truth itself because by itself alone it does not possess any flame; rather, good is the source of it since this is like the flame from which light shines. The nature of good therefore determines the nature of the truth that appears from it, and the nature of the truth is the same as that of the good from which it shines. From this one may see what is meant in the internal sense by 'the tunic of various colours' - that the nature of the appearances is determined by that of the truths derived from good; for as shown already, 'Joseph', to whom the tunic belonged, represents Divine Truth.