1530. That this is so the Word has shown to all; as when the Lord was made manifest to Peter, James, and John; for His face then shone as the sun, and His garments became as the light (Matt. 17:2). He so appeared to them simply because their interior sight was opened. The same is confirmed also in the Prophets; as in Isaiah, where the Lord's kingdom in the heavens is treated of:
The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days (Isa. 30:26). And in John, where also the Lord's kingdom, which is called the New Jerusalem, is spoken of:
The city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the lamp thereof (Rev. 21:23). And again:
There shall be no night there, and they have no need of a lamp, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light (Rev. 22:5). Besides that when the Lord appeared to Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders, they saw the God of Israel, under whose feet was as it were a work of sapphire stone, and as it were the substance of heaven in clearness (Exod. 24:10). As the Lord's celestial and spiritual appear before the external sight of the angels as a Sun and a Moon, therefore "the sun" in the Word signifies what is celestial, and "the moon" what is spiritual.
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