413. 'And a third part of the sun was smitten, and a third part of the moon, and a third part of the stars, and a third part of them was darkened' signifies that by reason of the evils derived from untruths and the untruths derived from evils they did not know what love is, what faith is, nor anything true. By 'a third part' is signified all (n. 400); by 'the sun' is signified love (n. 53); by 'the moon' is signified intelligence and faith (n. 332); by 'the stars' are signified cognitions of truth and good out of the Word (n. 51); by 'to be darkened' is signified not to be seen or known by reason of the evils derived from untruths and the untruths derived from evils. Those have evils derived from untruths who adopt untruths of religion and confirm them till they appear as truths, and while they are living in accordance with them make evils out of the untruths, or evils of untruth. Those, however, have untruths derived from evils who do not reckon evils as sins, and still more those who, by reasonings out of the natural man and especially out of the Word, confirm with themselves that evils are not sins. The confirmations themselves are untruths derived from evils, and are called untruths of evil. [2] 'Darkness' signifies those things because 'the light' signifies truth, and darkness is brought about when the light is extinguished. For confirmation, the passages will first be quoted where things similar to those here in the Apocalypse are said of the 'sun', the 'moon' and the 'stars', and of the 'darkness' originated by the extinguishing of them:-
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah comes Joel ii 31 [H.B. iii 4].
The stars of the heavens and the constellations thereof shall not shine with their light (lux), the sun shall be darkened in his rising, and the moon shall not ause her light (lumen) to be bright [Isa. xiii 10.
Jehovah shall make a visitation upon the host of the height in the height, and upon the kings of the land upon the land, then shall the moon blush and the sun be ashamed]* Isa. xxiv 21, 23.
When I shall extinguish thee I will cover the heavens, I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine, all the luminaries of light in the heavens will I black out over thee, and I will give darkness upon thy land Ezek. xxxii 7, 8.
The day of Jehovah is near; the sun and the moon are blacked out, and the stars shall diminish their brightness Joel ii 10.
Immediately after the affliction of those days, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall down from heaven Matt. xxiv 29; Mark xiii 24, 25.
Who that elevates his mind is not able to see that it is not the sun, the moon and the stars of the world that are understood in these passages? [3] That untruths of various kinds are signified by darkness is established from these:-
Woe to them desiring the day of Jehovah; it is a day of darkness and not of light; is not the day of Jehovah darkness and not light? thick-darkness and not brightness? Amos v 18, 20.
The day of Jehovah is a day of darkness and of thick-darkness, a day of cloud and of clouding over Zeph. i 15.
In that day he shall look down upon the land which, behold, is darkness, and the light shall grow dark in the destructions thereof Isa. v 30; viii 22.
Behold darkness covers the land, and thick-darkness the peoples Isa. lx 2.
Give glory to Jehovah, before He cause darkness: we wait for the light, but He makes it into thick-darkness Jer. xiii 16.
We wait for the light, but behold darkness, and not brightness; we walk in thick-darkness; we stumble at noon as in the twilight, among the living as if dead Isa. lix 9, 10.
Woe to them fashioning darkness into light, and light into darkness Isa. v 20.
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light Isa. ix 2 [H.B. 1]; Matt. iv 16.
The day-spring from on high has appeared to those who are sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death Luke i [78], 79.
If thou shalt give thy soul to a hungry one, thy light shall rise in the darkness, and thy thick-darkness [shall be] as the noon-day Isa. lviii 10.
In that day, the eyes of the blind, who are in thick-darkness and darkness, shall see Isa. xxix 18; xlii 16; xlix 9.
Jesus said, I am the light of the world, he who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life John viii 12.
Walk while you have the light, lest darkness lay hold of you: I, the Light, have come into the world, that everyone who believes in Me should not abide in darkness John xii 35, 46.
When I sit in darkness, Jehovah is the light unto me Micah vii 8.
This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, but men have loved the darkness more than the light John iii 19; i 4, 5.
If the light (lumen) that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness Luke xi 34-36.
This is your hour, and the power of darkness Luke xxii 53.
By 'darkness' in these places is signified untruth originating either out of ignorance of truth, or out of an untrue principle of religion, or out of a life of evil. Of those who are in untruths of religion, and consequently in evils of life, the Lord says:-
That they are to be cast out into outer darkness Matt. viii 12; xxii 13; xxv 30. * It appears that a passage and reference have been omitted here. The form of the quotation within the square brackets is the same as in AE 401:20.
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