940. Verse 5. And there shall be no night there, and they have no need of a lamp and the light of the sun, for the Lord* giveth them light, signifies that there will not be any falsity of faith in the New Jerusalem, and that men there will not be in knowledges concerning God from natural light which is from their own intelligence, and from glory arising from pride, but will be in spiritual light from the Word from the Lord alone. By "there shall be no night there," the like is signified as above (chap. 21), where are these words:
The gates of it shall not be shut by day, for there shall be no night there (Rev. 21:25). By which is signified that those are continually received into the New Jerusalem, who are in truths from the good of love from the Lord, because there is no falsity of faith there (n. 922). By "they have no need of a lamp and of the light of the sun, because the Lord God giveth them light" the same is signified as above (chap. 21), where are these things:
The city had no need of the sun and of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the lamp thereof is the Lamb (Rev. 21:23);
by which is signified that the men of that church will not be in the love of self and in their own intelligence, and thence in natural light alone, but in spiritual light from the Divine truth of the Word from the Lord alone (n. 919). But instead of "the moon" it is here said "a lamp;" and instead of "the sun" there, "the light of the sun" is here spoken of; and by "the moon," as by "a lamp," natural light from one's own intelligence is signified; and by "the light of the sun" is signified natural light from the glory arising from pride. [2] But it shall be explained in few words what natural light from the glory arising from pride is. There is given natural light from glory arising from pride, and also not from pride. Those have light from the glory arising from pride, who are in the love of self, and thence in evils of every kind; and if they do not do them from fear of the loss of reputation, and if they likewise condemn them because they are against morality and against the public good, they still do not repute them as sins. These are in natural light from the glory arising from pride, for the love of self in the will becomes pride in the understanding; and this pride from that love can elevate the understanding even into the light of heaven. This is given to man, that he may be a man, and that he may be capable of being reformed. I have seen and heard many who were in the highest degree devils, who understood as the angels themselves do, the arcana of angelic wisdom, when they heard and read them; but instantly when they returned to their love, and thence to their pride, they not only understood nothing about them, but also saw the opposites, from the light of the confirmation of falsity, in them. But natural light from glory that is not from pride is with those who are in the delight of uses from genuine love towards the neighbor. The natural light of these is also rational light, within which there is spiritual light from the Lord; the glory with them is from the brightness of the inflowing light from heaven where all things are splendid and harmonious, for all uses in heaven are resplendent. From these uses the pleasantness in the ideas of the thought with such is perceived as glory. It enters through the will and its goods, into the understanding and its truths, and in the latter becomes manifest. * The original omits "God."