21. Verses 4, 5. And God saw the light, that it was good, and God distinguished between the light and the darkness. And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. Light is called "good," because it is from the Lord, who is good itself. The "darkness" means all those things which, before man is conceived and born anew, have appeared like light, because evil has appeared like good, and the false like the true; yet they are darkness, consisting merely of the things proper to man himself, which still remain. Whatsoever is of the Lord is compared to "day," because it is of the light; and whatsoever is man's own is compared to "night," because it is of darkness. These comparisons frequently occur in the Word.
22. Verse 5. And the evening and the morning were the first day. What is meant by "evening," and what by "morning," can now be discerned. "Evening" means every preceding state, because it is a state of shade, or of falsity and of no faith; "morning" is every subsequent state, being one of light, or of truth and of the knowledges of faith. "Evening," in a general sense, signifies all things that are of man's own; but "morning," whatever is of the Lord, as is said through David:—
The spirit of Jehovah spake in me, and His word was on my tongue; the God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me; He is as the light of the morning, when the sun ariseth, even a morning without clouds, when from brightness, from rain, the tender herb springeth out of the earth (2 Sam. xxiii. 2-4).
As it is "evening" when there is no faith, and "morning" when there is faith, therefore the coming of the Lord into the world is called "morning;" and the time when He comes, because then there is no faith, is called "evening," as in Daniel:—
The Holy One said unto me, Even unto evening when it becomes morning, two thousand and three hundred (viii. 14, 26).
In like manner "morning" is used in the Word to denote every coming of the Lord, consequently it is an expression of new creation.
23. Nothing is more common in the Word than for "day" to be used to denote time itself. As in Isaiah:—
