Dark<\/b><\/p>\n
Swedenborg<\/a> tells us that \u201clight,\u201d both in life and in the Bible,<\/a> represents<\/a> divine truth<\/a>, ideas which describe and emanate from the Lord<\/a>\u2019s infinite love<\/a>. The Lord, however, does not force us<\/a> to turn to face the light; we can choose to reject it and instead cling to ideas that support and excuse<\/a> our selfishness<\/a>. Such falsity, then, is represented by \u201cdarkness\u201d in the Bible, states in which people understand nothing about the Lord and the love the Lord has for us, and thus nothing about how to be loving<\/a> themselves.<\/p>\n This is easy to picture if we think of the Lord as the sun. When we are on the side of the earth turned toward the sun, we are in light; when we are on the side of the earth turned away from the sun, we are in darkness. So it is entirely a matter of which way we choose to turn; the Lord, like the sun, is always there, always shining.<\/p>\n Passages from Swedenborg<\/b><\/p>\n Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 1839<\/b><\/p>\n 1839. That ‘behold, a dread of great\u00a0darkness\u00a0was coming over him’ means that it was a dreadful\u00a0darkness, ‘darkness’ being falsities, is clear from the meaning of ‘darkness’ as falsities, to be dealt with immediately below. The state of the Church just before the close, or when the sun was going down, is described by ‘the dread of great\u00a0darkness’, but the state when the sun had gone down is described by ‘the thick\u00a0darkness’ and other details given in verse 17 below.<\/p>\n [2] The Lord spoke of it in the same way in Matthew,<\/p>\n The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Matt. 24:29.<\/p>\n He did not mean that the sun of the world will be darkened but the celestial entity of love and charity. Nor will the moon be darkened but the spiritual entity of faith. Nor will the stars fall from heaven but the cognitions of good and truth with the member of the Church, which are ‘the powers of the heavens’. Nor will these things take place in heaven but on earth, for heaven is never plunged into\u00a0darkness.<\/p>\n [3] ‘A dread of great\u00a0darkness\u00a0fell on him’ means His horror at such great devastation. In the measure that the heavenly or celestial things of love find acceptance in anyone, so great is his horror when he perceives the close. This applied to the Lord more than anybody else, since His love was heavenly and Divine love itself.<\/p>\n [4] ‘Darkness’ means falsities, as is clear from very many places in the Woe to those who put\u00a0darkness\u00a0for light, and light for\u00a0darkness! Isa. 5:20.<\/p>\n ‘Darkness’ stands for falsities and ‘light’ for truths. In the same prophet, He will look to the land, and behold,\u00a0darkness, distress; and the light has been darkened. Isa. 5:30.<\/p>\n ‘Darkness’ stands for falsities, ‘darkened light’ for the fact that truth does not appear.<\/p>\n [5] In the same prophet,<\/p>\n Behold,\u00a0darkness\u00a0is covering the earth, and thick\u00a0darkness\u00a0the peoples. Isa. 60:2.<\/p>\n In Amos,<\/p>\n The day of Jehovah is that of\u00a0darkness\u00a0and not light. Is not the day of Jehovah\u00a0darkness\u00a0and not light, thick\u00a0darkness\u00a0and no brightness in it? Amos 5:18, 20.<\/p>\n In Zephaniah,<\/p>\n The great day of Jehovah is near. A day of wrath is that day, a day of anguish and repression, a day of vastation and desolation, a day of\u00a0darkness\u00a0and thickdarkness, a day of cloud and shadow. Zeph. 1:14, 15.<\/p>\n Here ‘the day of Jehovah’ stands for the final period and state of the Church, while ‘darkness\u00a0and thick\u00a0darkness’ stands for falsities and evils.<\/p>\n [6] The Lord too calls falsities ‘darkness’, in Matthew,<\/p>\n If your eye has been evil, the whole body has been made full of\u00a0darkness. If therefore the light in you is\u00a0darkness, how great is the\u00a0darkness! Matt. 6:23.<\/p>\n ‘Darkness’ is used to mean falsities that have overtaken people who possess cognitions, a greater\u00a0darkness\u00a0than that found in those called gentiles, who have no cognitions.<\/p>\n [7] Similarly in the same gospel,<\/p>\n The sons of the kingdom will be thrown into outer\u00a0darkness. Matt. 8:12; 22:13.<\/p>\n ‘Outer\u00a0darkness’ stands for the quite dreadful falsities of those inside the Church, for those people shut out the light and oppose truths with falsities, something gentiles are not able to do. In John,<\/p>\n In Him was life, and the life was the light of men; but the light appears in thedarkness, and the\u00a0darkness\u00a0has not overcome it. John 1:4, 5.<\/p>\n ‘The\u00a0darkness’ stands for falsities inside the Church.<\/p>\n [8] Falsities outside the Church too are called ‘darkness’ but these are capable of receiving light. Of them it is said in Matthew,<\/p>\n The people sitting in\u00a0darkness\u00a0have seen a great light; and for those sitting in the region and shadow of death, the light has arisen. Matt. 4:16.<\/p>\n ‘Darkness’ stands for falsities that go with not knowing, such as exist with gentiles.<\/p>\n [9] In John,<\/p>\n This is the judgement, that light has come into the world, but men have preferred\u00a0darkness\u00a0rather than light, for their deeds were evil. John 3:19.<\/p>\n ‘Light’ stands for truths, and ‘darkness’ for falsities. ‘The light’ also stands for the Lord since He is the source of all truth, while ‘darkness’ stands for the hells since they are the source of all falsity.<\/p>\n [10] In the same gospel,<\/p>\n Jesus said, I am the light of the world. He who follows Me will not walk indarkness. John 8:12.<\/p>\n In the same gospel,<\/p>\n Walk, as long as you have the light, lest\u00a0darkness\u00a0overtakes you, for he who walks in the\u00a0darkness\u00a0does not know where he is going. I have come as light into the world in order that all who believe in Me may not remain indarkness. John 12:35, 46.<\/p>\n ‘Light’ stands for the Lord, the source of all good and truth, ‘darkness’ for falsities, which are dispersed by the Lord alone.<\/p>\n [11] The falsities that prevail in the last times and which are called ‘thedarkness’ here, that is, to which ‘the dread of great\u00a0darkness’ has reference, were represented and meant by the\u00a0darkness\u00a0that came over the whole earth from the sixth to the ninth hour, and also by the sun’s being darkened at that time, by which was represented and meant that no love, that is, no faith, existed any more, Matt. 27:45; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44, 45.<\/p>\n Apocalypse Explained n. 526 [2]<\/b><\/p>\n \u00a0[2] The reason why\u00a0darkness\u00a0signifies falsity, is, that light signifies truth, and falsity is the opposite of truth, as\u00a0darkness\u00a0is of light. Moreover, when a man does not possess the light of life, which is the Divine Truth, the shadow of death is then in him, which is falsity.<\/p>\n Apocalypse Revealed (Rogers) n. 695<\/b><\/p>\n 695. And his kingdom became full of\u00a0darkness. This symbolically means that nothing but falsities appeared. Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 7688<\/b><\/p>\n 7688. ‘And the land was darkened’ means that falsity was introduced where there had been truth. This is clear from the meaning of ‘darkness’ as falsities, dealt with in 1839, 1860, 4418, 4531, so that ‘being darkened’ is being subject to falsity. And since the vastation of those who belonged to the Church, had a knowledge of truths, but led an evil life, are the subject ‘the land was darkened’ means falsity where there has been truth. Truth is meant in the internal sense by ‘light’, and therefore falsity is meant by ‘darkness’; for truth and falsity are opposites like light and\u00a0darkness. And those guided by truth dwell in actual light, whereas those under the influence of falsity dwell in actual\u00a0darkness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dark Swedenborg tells us that \u201clight,\u201d both in life and in the Bible, represents divine truth, ideas which describe and emanate from the Lord\u2019s infinite love. The Lord, however, does not force us to turn to face the light; we can choose to reject it and instead cling to ideas that support and excuse our […]<\/p>\n
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\nWord, as in Isaiah,<\/p>\n
\nDarkness\u00a0symbolizes falsities because light symbolizes truth. To be shown that\u00a0darkness\u00a0symbolizes falsities that lead to evils, and thick\u00a0darknessfalsities springing from evils, see no. 413 above. Thus the beast’s kingdom becoming full of\u00a0darkness\u00a0means symbolically that nothing but falsities appeared.<\/p>\n