Spiritual Meaning of REVELATION 8:12
previous  -  next  -  text  -  summary  -  Revelation  -  BM Home  -  Full Page

AR 412. Verse 12. And the fourth angel sounded, signifies the exploration and manifestation of the state of the church with those whose religion is faith alone, that they are in the evils of falsity, and in the falsities of evil. That this is the signification of these words, is evident from what follows, when understood in the spiritual sense. "To sound" signifies here, as before, to explore and make manifest (n. 398, 402, 407).

AR 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. 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 the Apocalypse 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; 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? 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 noon-day (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 (Mic. 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).

AR 414. That the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise, signifies that there is no longer any spiritual truth nor natural truth serving for doctrine and life from the Word with them. By "the day not shining," is meant that there was no light from the sun; and by "no night likewise," is meant that there was no light from the moon and stars. By "light," in general, is signified the Divine truth, which is truth from the Word; by "the light of the sun," Divine truth spiritual; and by the light of the moon and stars, the Divine truth natural, both from the Word. The Divine truth, in the spiritual sense of the Word, is like the light of the sun by day; and the Divine truth in the natural sense of the Word, is like the light of the moon and stars by night. The spiritual sense of the Word also flows into its natural sense as the sun does with its light into the moon, which gives forth the light of the sun in a mediate manner. In the same way does the spiritual sense of the Word enlighten men, even those who know nothing at all concerning it, whilst they read the Word in its natural sense; but it enlightens the spiritual man, as the sun‘s light does the eye; but the natural man, as the light of the moon and stars enlighten his eye. Everyone is enlightened according to the spiritual affection of truth and good, and at the same time according to genuine truths, by which he has opened his rational faculty. The same is meant by "day" and "night," in the following passages:--

And God said, Let there be luminaries in the expanse of the heavens to distinguish between the day and the night; and God made two great luminaries, the great luminary to rule in the day, and the lesser luminary to rule in the night; and the stars: And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth, and to rule in the day and in the night, and to distinguish between the light and the darkness (Gen. 1:14-19).

Jehovah made great luminaries, the sun to rule in the day, the moon and stars to rule in the night (Ps. 136:7-9).

To Thee, O Jehovah, is the day, and to Thee the night; Thou hast prepared the light and the sun (Ps. 74:16).

Jehovah that giveth the sun for the light of the day, the statutes of the moon and stars for the light of the night (Jer. 31:35).

If ye can make void My covenant of the day and My covenant of the night, that there should not be day and night in their season, My covenant also with David My servant shall be made void; if I have not set My covenant of the day and of the night, the statutes of heaven and earth, I will also reject the seed of Jacob and of David (Jer. 33:20, 21, 25, 26).

These are adduced, that it may be known that the darkening of both kinds of light is meant.

REVELATION 8:12    previous  -  next  -  text  -  summary  -  Revelation  -  Full Page

Author:  E. Swedenborg (1688-1772). Design:  I.J. Thompson, Feb 2002. www.BibleMeanings.info