** The Dawn Arose **

AC 2405 [1, 2, 3-4]

When the dawn arose.
(Genesis 19:15)

That this means when the Lord's kingdom is approaching,
is evident from the meaning in the Word
of the "dawn" or "morning."

This time or state is called in the Word the "dawn,"
because the Lord then comes;
or what is the same,
His kingdom then approaches.
The case is similar with the good,
for at such a time
there shines out with them
a semblance of the morning twilight or dawn;
and therefore in the Word
the advent of the Lord is compared to the "morning,"
and is also called the "morning."

The God of Israel is as the light of the morning,
the sun rises, a morning without clouds;
from the brightness,
from the rain,
there is a growth from the earth.
(2 Samuel 23:4)

The "God of Israel" denotes the Lord;
for no other God of Israel was meant in that church,
and He was represented in each and all things of it.
In Joel:

The day of Jehovah comes,
for it is near at hand;
a day of darkness and of thick darkness,
a day of cloud and obscurity;
as the dawn spread upon the mountains.
(Joel 2:1-2).

Here also
the Lord's advent and His kingdom are treated of;
it is said a "day of darkness and of thick darkness,"
because the good
are then being separated from the evil,
as here Lot from the men of Sodom;
and after the good have been separated,
the evil perish.

That the Lord's advent
or the approach of His kingdom,
is not merely compared to the "morning,"
but is actually called the "morning,"
may be seen in Daniel:

A holy one said,
How long shall be the vision,
the continual sacrifice,
and the transgression that makes waste?
He said unto me,
Until evening and morning,
two thousand three hundred,
then shall the holy one be justified.
The vision of the evening and the morning
which hath been told is truth.
(Daniel 8:13-14, 26)

"Morning" here manifestly denotes the Lord's advent.