115. The second memorable occurrence. Once an angel said to me, “Do you want to see clearly what faith and goodwill are, and therefore what faith separated from goodwill is, and what faith united to goodwill is? I will express it in visual terms for you.”

“Please do!” I answered.

The angel said, “Instead of faith and goodwill, think of light and heat, and you will see them clearly. Faith in its essence is truth that relates to wisdom. Goodwill in its essence is affection that relates to love. In heaven, truth related to wisdom is light and affection related to love is heat. The light and heat that angels live in are, in essence, exactly this. As a result, you can clearly see what faith is when it is separated from goodwill and what it is when it is united to goodwill.

“When faith is separated from goodwill, it is like the light in winter. When faith is united to goodwill, it is like the light in spring. The light in winter, which is a light separated from heat, is united to coldness; therefore it completely strips trees of their leaves, kills grass, makes ground as hard as rock, and freezes water. Light in spring, which is a light united to heat, causes trees to grow, first producing leaves, then flowers, and finally fruit; it also unlocks and softens the ground so that it produces grass, plants, flowers, and shrubs; and it melts ice, so that water flows from its sources again.

“The situation with faith and goodwill is absolutely identical. Faith separated from goodwill kills everything. Faith united to goodwill brings everything to life. This killing and this bringing to life are vividly visible in this spiritual world of ours, because here faith is light and goodwill is heat. Where faith has been united to goodwill there is a paradise of gardens, flower beds, and lawns; the more united faith and goodwill are, the more pleasing the gardens are. Where faith has been separated from goodwill, there is not even grass; the only greenness comes from thorns and brambles.”

At that point there were some members of the clergy not far away. The angel called them “justifiers and sanctifiers of people through faith alone” and also “arcanists.” We said the same things to the members of the clergy and added enough proof that they could see that what we said was true. But when we asked them, “Isn’t that so?” they turned away and said, “We didn’t hear you.” So we cried out to them and said, “Then keep listening to us,” but they put both hands over their ears and shouted, “We don’t want to hear you!”

Closing Thought from Jeremiah 7:2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11

Stand in the gate of the house of Jehovah and proclaim this word there. “Thus says Jehovah Sabaoth, the God of Israel: ‘Make your ways and your deeds good. Do not put your trust in lying words, saying, “The temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah are these.” Are you going to steal, kill, commit adultery, and swear falsely, and then come and stand before me in this house that bears my name and say “We are delivered” when you are doing all these abominations? Has this house become a den of thieves? Behold I, even I, have seen it,’ says Jehovah.”

78. Brief Analysis

The prophetic Word includes a number of statements about the sun, the moon, and the stars that are similar to this statement in Matthew 24:29. For example, in Isaiah:

Behold, the fierce day of Jehovah is coming. The stars of the heavens and their constellations will not shine their light. The sun will be darkened in its rising, and the moon will not make its light shine. (Isaiah 13:9, 10)

In Ezekiel,

When I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens and darken the stars. I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. I will bring darkness upon your land. (Ezekiel 32:7, 8)

In Joel,

The day of Jehovah is coming, a day of darkness; the sun and the moon will be darkened and the stars will withhold their light. (Joel 2:1, 2, 10)

The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great day of Jehovah comes. (Joel 2:31)

The day of Jehovah is at hand in the valley of decision; the sun and the moon have been darkened. (Joel 3:14, 15)

In the Book of Revelation,

The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun was struck, [a third of the moon,] and a third of the stars; and a third of the day did not shine. (Revelation 8:12)

Also in the Book of Revelation,

The sun became black as sackcloth of goat hair and the moon became like blood. (Revelation 6:12)

The topic of all the Old Testament passages here is the final times of the Jewish church, which occurred when the Lord came into the world. The passages from Matthew and the Book of Revelation are similar, but they deal with the final times of the Christian church, when the Lord is going to come again, but this time in the Word, which contains him and is him. For this reason, immediately after the statement in Matthew 24:29 the following passage occurs: “Then the sign of the Son of Humankind will appear, coming in the clouds of the heavens” (Matthew 24:30).

In these passages “the sun” means love, “the moon” means faith, and “the stars” mean knowledge of what is good and what is true. “The powers of the heavens” mean all three of these things as the sources of strength and stability for the heavens, where angels are, and the churches, where people are.

Gathering all the above together into one meaning, then, they refer to the fact that at the last time of the Christian church, when its end is imminent, it will have no more love, no more faith, and no more knowledge of what is good or what is true.

(For a demonstration that the sun means love, see Revelation Unveiled 53, 54, 413, 796, 831, 961; that the moon means faith, see Revelation Unveiled 53, 332, 413, 533; that the stars mean knowledge of what is good and what is true, see Revelation Unveiled 51, 74, 333, 408, 413, 954.)