413. And the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars, so that the third part of them was darkened, signifies that by reason of evils from falsities and of falsities from evils, they did not know what love is, or what faith is, or any truth. By "the 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 "stars" are signified the knowledges of truth and good from the Word (n. 51); by "being darkened" is signified not to be seen or known by reason of evils from falsities and falsities from evils. Evils from falsities are with those who assume the falsities of religion, and confirm them till they appear as truths, and when they live according to them they do evils from falsities, or the evils of falsity. But those have falsities from evils, who do not regard evils as sins; and still more those who, by reasonings from the natural man, and more still from the Word, confirm with themselves that evils are not sins. The confirmations themselves are falsities from evils, and are called the falsities of evil. [2] The reason that "darkness" signifies this is because light signifies truth; and when the light is extinguished, there comes darkness. In confirmation the passages will first be adduced, where similar things to those here in Revelation are said of "the sun, the moon, and the stars," and of "the darkness" arising from the extinction of them:
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah cometh (Joel 2:31). The stars of the heavens and their constellations shall not shine with their light; the sun shall be darkened in his rising; and the moon shall not make her light to shine (Isa. 13:10; see also 24:23). When I shall extinguish thee, I will cover the heavens; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not make her light to shine; all the luminaries of light in the heavens will I make black over thee, and I will set darkness upon thy land (Ezek. 32:7-8). The day of Jehovah is near; the sun and the moon are blackened, and the stars shall withdraw their brightness (Joel 2:10). 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 from heaven (Matt. 24:29; Mark 13:24-25). Who, that elevates his mind, cannot see that the sun, the moon, and the stars of the world are not meant in these cases? [3] That falsities of various kinds are signified by "darkness," is evident from these passages:
Woe to them that desire 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 5:18, 20). The day of Jehovah is a day of darkness and thick darkness, a day of cloud and of cloudiness (Zeph. 1:15). In that day He shall look down upon the earth, which, behold, is darkness; and the light shall grow dark in its ruins (Isa. 5:30; 8:22). Behold, darkness covereth the earth, and thick darkness the peoples (Isa. 60:2). Give glory to Jehovah, before He cause darkness: we wait for light, but He maketh it thick darkness (Jer. 13:16). We wait for light, but behold darkness, and not brightness; we walk in thick darkness; we stumble at noon as in the twilight, as if dead among the living (Isa. 59:9-10). Woe to them that put darkness for light, and light for darkness (Isa. 5:20). The people walking in darkness see a great light (Isa. 9:2; Matt. 4:16). The dayspring from on high hath appeared to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death (Luke 1:78-79). If thou give thy soul to the hungry, then shall thy light rise in the darkness, and thy thick darkness shall be as the noonday (Isa. 58:10). In that day the eyes of the blind, who are in thick darkness and darkness, shall see (Isa. 29:18; 42:16; 49:9). Jesus said, I am the light of the world; he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life (John 8:12). Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness seize upon you: I am come a light into the world, that everyone that believeth in Me should not abide in darkness (John 12:35, 46). When I sit in darkness Jehovah is a light unto me (Micah 7:8). This is the judgment, that light hath come into the world; but men loved the darkness more than the light (John 3:19; 1:4-5). If the light [lumen] that is in thee be darkness, how great is the darkness (Luke 11:34-36). This is your hour, and the power of darkness (Luke 22:53). By "darkness" in these places is signified falsity arising either from ignorance of the truth, or from a false principle of religion, or from a life of evil. Concerning those who are in the falsities of religion and thence in evils of life, the Lord says that they shall be cast into outer darkness (Matt. 8:12; 22:13; 25:30).
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