DP 175, 177, 178 - God , Providence and Freedom

DP 175

For one who attributes nothing to God
attributes nothing to Divine providence either,
as God and Divine Providence are inseparably connected.

DP 177, 178

The operation of the Lord's Divine providence
is constant in withdrawing a person from evils.
If someone were to perceive or sense
this constant operation
and yet not be led as one bound,
would he not continually resist it,
and in that case either contend with God
or intervene in Divine providence?
If he did the latter
he would make himself also God.
If he did the first,
he would free himself from the constraint
and deny God.
This much is clearly apparent,
that there would be two forces
 continually acting in opposition to each other --
a force for evil on the person's part,
and a force for good on the Lord's part.
And when two opposites act against each other,
then either one is victorious or both fail.
In the present instance, however,
both fail if one is victorious,
for the evil that a person has
does not accept good from the Lord in a moment,
nor does good from the Lord cast out the evil
from a person in a moment.
If the one or the other were to happen in a moment,
no life would be left to the person.

That also is why it is not granted
a person to foreknow events,
that he may be able to act in freedom
in accordance with his reason.
For as people know, whatever a person loves,
he wishes to bring into effect,
and he guides himself to it by means of his reason.
People know, too, that everything
a person considers with his reason
springs from a love for it
to come through his thought into effect.
Consequently, if in consequence of some Divine prediction
he were to know the end result or outcome,
his reason would surrender,
and with reason his love.
For love comes to rest with reason in the effect,
and from it then begins anew.

Reason's essential delight is to envision from love
the effect in thought --
not at the time of the effect, but prior to it,
or not at the present time, but in a time to come.
It is this that gives a person what we call hope,
which grows or dwindles in his reason
as it envisions or anticipates the outcome.
This delight is fulfilled in the outcome,
but afterward erased, 
along with thought about it.
The same would be the case
with any outcome foreknown.

~ Joseph Feeds His Brothers ~

So the men took the gifts
and double the amount of silver,
and Benjamin also.
They hurried down to Egypt
and presented themselves to Joseph.
When Joseph saw Benjamin with them,
he said to the steward of his house,
"Take these men to my house,
slaughter an animal and prepare dinner;
they are to eat with me at noon."

When Joseph came home,
they presented to him the gifts
they had brought into the house,
and they bowed down before him to the ground.
He asked them how they were,
and then he said,
"How is your aged father you told me about?
Is he still living?"

They replied,
"Your servant our father is still alive and well."
And they bowed low to pay him honor.

As he looked about and saw his brother Benjamin,
his own mother's son, he asked,
"Is this your youngest brother,
the one you told me about?"
And he said, "God be gracious to you, my son."
Deeply moved at the sight of his brother,
Joseph hurried out and looked for a place to weep.
He went into his private room and wept there.

After he had washed his face,
he came out and, controlling himself, said,
"Serve the food."

(Genesis 43:15-16, 26-31)

DP 165, 168, 172 - The Lord, the Word, Being Human

DP 165

The Lord leads a person by influx
because to be led and also to flow in
are expressions applied to love and the will;
and He teaches a person by enlightenment
because to be taught and to be enlightened
are properly expressions
applied to wisdom and the intellect.

DP 168

An interior and an exterior
enlightenment by the Lord is possible,
and also is an interior and an exterior
enlightenment by man.
It is an interior enlightenment by the Lord
that enables a person to perceive at first hearing
whether a statement is true or not.
An exterior enlightenment
is the result of this in his consequent thought.
An interior enlightenment by man
is the result of mere justification.
And an exterior enlightenment by man
comes from the simple possession of knowledge.

DP 172 [2, 4]

Now, because the Word is from the Lord alone
and about the Lord alone,
it follows that when a person is taught by the Word,
he is taught by the Lord.
For the Word is Divine.
Who can communicate something Divine
and implant it in people's hearts
but the Divine itself
from whom it comes and of whom it treats?

. . . the Lord is
the Divine truth accompanying Divine good.
Every human being is human
not because of his face and anatomy,
but because of the goodness of his love
and the truths of his wisdom.
And as a human being is human because of these,
every person is also his own truth and own good,
or his own love and own wisdom.
Without these he is not human.
The Lord, however, is goodness itself and truth itself,
or to say the same thing,
love itself and wisdom itself.
And these are the Word
which was in the beginning with God,
and which was God,
and which became flesh.

~ Seven Years of Abundance ~

Joseph was thirty years old
when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
And Joseph went out from Pharaoh's presence
and traveled throughout Egypt.
During the seven years of abundance
the land produced plentifully.
Joseph collected all the food produced
in those seven years of abundance in Egypt
and stored it in the cities.
In each city
he put the food grown in the fields surrounding it.
Joseph stored up huge quantities of grain,
like the sand of the sea;
it was so much that he stopped keeping records
because it was beyond measure.

(Genesis 41:46-49)

 

DP 154 - The Reality Is That a Person Is Led and Taught By the Lord Alone

DP 154

The appearance is
that a person leads and teaches himself,
but in reality a person is led and taught
by the Lord alone.
People who affirm in themselves the appearance
and not at the same time the reality,
are unable to put away evils from themselves as sins.
By contrast, those who affirm in themselves
the appearance and at the same time the reality
are able to do so,
for evils are put away as sins
apparently by the person,
but in reality by the Lord.
The latter people can be reformed,
but not the former.

(1) A person is led and taught by the Lord alone.
(2) A person is led and taught by the Lord alone
through the angelic heaven and from it.
(3) The Lord leads a person by influx
and teaches him by enlightenment.
(4) The Lord teaches a person through the Word
and through doctrine and preaching from the Word,
thus directly from Himself alone.
(5) A person is led and taught by the Lord
in outward respects to all appearance
as though of himself. 

 

~ Joseph Ends Up in Egypt ~

Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt.
Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh's officials,
the captain of the guard,
bought him from the Ishmaelites
who had taken him there.

The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered,
and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.
When his master saw that the Lord was with him
and that the Lord gave him success
in everything he did,
Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant.
Potiphar put him in charge of his household,
and he entrusted to his care everything he owned.
From the time he put him in charge of his household,
and of all that he owned,
the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian
because of Joseph.
The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had,
both in the house and in the field.

(Genesis 39:1-5)

DP152 - Being Reformed

DP 152

Since a person has an inner self and an outer self,
and both must be reformed 
for the person to be reformed,
and since no one can be reformed
unless he examines himself,
sees and acknowledges his evils,
and afterward desists from them,
it follows that he needs to examine
not only his outer self but also his inner self.
If a person examines only his outer self,
he sees no more than what he has actually done --
as for example, that he has not murdered,
has not committed adultery,
has not stolen,
and has not borne false witness, and so on.
Thus he examines his physical evils,
but not the evils of his spirit;
and yet for anyone to be reformed
he needs to examine the evils of his spirit,
for a person lives as a spirit after death,
and all the evils that are in him remain.
He examines his spirit, moreover,
only by paying attention to his thoughts,
especially to his intentions,
for intentions are thoughts springing from the will.
Evils have their origin there and their root,
which is to say,
they exist there in their lusts and in their delights,
and unless these are seen and acknowledged,
the person is still governed by evils,
however much
he has not committed them in outward acts.

 

~ A Coat and Two Dreams ~

Joseph, a young man of seventeen,
was tending the flocks with his brothers,
the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah,
his father's wives,
and he brought their father a bad report about them.

Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons,
because he had been born to him in his old age;
and he made a richly ornamented robe for him.
When his brothers saw that their father loved him
more than any of them,
they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.

Joseph had a dream,
and when he told it to his brothers,
they hated him all the more.
He said to them,
"Listen to this dream I had:
We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field
when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright,
while your sheaves gathered around mine
and bowed down to it."

His brothers said to him,
"Do you intend to reign over us?
Will you actually rule us?"
And they hated him all the more
because of his dream and what he had said.

Then he had another dream,
and he told it to his brothers,
"Listen," he said,
"I had another dream,
and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars
were bowing down to me."

When he told his father as well as his brothers,
his father rebuked him and said,
"What is this dream you had?
Will your mother and I and your brothers
actually come and bow down to the ground before you?"
His brothers were jealous of him,
but his father kept the matter in mind.

(Genesis 37:2-11)

DP 136 - More on Being Compelled

DP 136 [3, 4 8, 9]

. . . the internal self so refuses
to be compelled by the external that it turns away:
The reason is that the internal self
wishes to be in freedom and loves freedom,
for freedom is bound up with a person's love or life . . ..
Consequently,
when that freedom feels itself to be compelled,
it withdraws into itself, so to speak,
and turns away,
and regards the compulsion as its enemy.
Indeed, the love
which constitutes the person's life is provoked,
and causes the person to think
that he is then not his own person,
consequently that he has no life of his own.

A person's internal self is of such a character
owing to the law of the Lord's Divine providence
that a person act in freedom
in accordance with his reason.

The fact that the internal self can compel the external
is because the internal self is, so to speak, the master,
and the external self its servant.

. . . a person can be reformed,
not by faith only,
but by a love of the will which forms for itself its faith.

The internal level of thought  . . .
cannot be coerced by any fear.
Yet it can be compelled by love and by a fear of losing it.
Fear of God in its true sense is just that.
To be compelled by love
and by a fear of losing it
is to compel oneself.
. . . [And] is not contrary to one's freedom and rationality.

~ Bethel ~

Then God said to Jacob,
"Go up to Bethel and settle there,
and build an altar there to God,
who appeared to you
when you fleeing from your brother Esau."

After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram,
God appeared to him again and blessed him.
God said to him,
"Your name is Jacob,
but you will no longer be called Jacob;
your name will be Israel."
So He named him Israel.

And God said to him,
"I am God Almighty;
be fruitful and increase in number.
A nation and a community of nations
will come from you,
and kings will come from your body.
The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac
I also give to you,
and I will give this land
to your descendants after you."
Then God went up from him at that place
where He had talked with him.

Jacob set up a stone pillar
at the place where God had talked with him,
and he poured out a drink offering on it;
he also poured oil on it.
Jacob called the place
where God had talked with him Bethel.

(Genesis 35:1, 9-14)

DP 126 - True "Being Born Again; DP 129 - Compulsion; DP 132 - The Lord and Internal Worship

DP 126

When instead of a hellish life's love
a heavenly life's love has been implanted by the Lord,
then instead of lusts for evil and falsity,
affections for goodness and truth are implanted,
and instead of the delights of lusts for evil and falsity,
the delights of affections for good,
and instead of the evils of hellish love,
the goods of heavenly love.
Instead of cunning, then, prudence is implanted,
and instead of malicious thoughts, thoughts of wisdom.
Thus the person is born again and becomes a new person.

DP 129 [1,3]

It Is a Law of Divine Providence
That a Person Not Be Compelled by External Means
to Think and Will, Thus to Believe and Love,
Matters Having to Do with Religion;
but That a Person Bring Himself to Do So
and at Times Compel Himself.

(1) No one is reformed by miracles and signs,
because they compel.
(2) No one is reformed by visions
or by communications with the dead,
because they compel.
(3) No one is reformed by threats and punishments,
because they compel.
(4) No one is reformed
in states devoid of rationality and freedom.
(5) It is not contrary to rationality and freedom
to compel oneself.
(6) The outer self must be reformed by the inner self,
and not the reverse.

DP 132 [3]

. . . one who does not acknowledge the Lord
is incapable of receiving any internal quality of worship.

~ Pillars and Piles ~

Laban answered Jacob,
"The women are my daughters,
the children are my children,
and the flocks are my flocks.
All you see is mine.
Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine,
or about the children they have borne?
Come now, let's make a covenant, you and I,
and let it serve as a witness between us."

So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar.
He said to his relatives,
"Gather some stones."
So they took stones and piled them in a heap,
and they ate there by the heap.
Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha,
and Jacob called it Galeed.

Laban said,
"This heap is a witness between you and me today."
That it why it was called Galeed.
It was also called Mizpah, because he said,
"May the Lord keep watch between you and me
when we are away from each other.
If you mistreat my daughter
or if you take wives besides my daughter,
even though no one is with us,
remember that God is a witness between you and me."

So Jacob took an oath
in the name of the Fear of his father Isaac.
He offered a sacrifice there in the hill country
and invited his relatives to a meal.
After they had eaten,
they spent the night there.

Early the next morning
Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters
and blessed them.
then he left and returned home.

(Genesis 31:43-22)

DP 121 - What Purifies Evils; DP 123 - The Continual Endeavor of Divine Providence; DP 124 - Two Secrets on the Nature of Divine Providence

DP 121

Many people think that simply believing
what the church teaches purifies a person of his evils.
Others believe that doing good is what purifies;
others, that it is knowing, speaking and teaching
such matters as have to do with the church;
others, that it is reading the Word and books of piety;
others, that it is going often to church, hearing sermons,
and especially partaking of the Holy Supper;
others, that it is renouncing the world
and pursuing a life of piety;
others, that it is confessing oneself guilty of all sins;
and so on.

None of these, however, purifies a person at all
unless he examines himself,
sees his sins, acknowledges them,
condemns himself on account of them,
and repents by desisting from them.
Moreover, all of this he must do as though of himself,
and yet with an acknowledgment at heart
that he does so from the Lord.

DP 123 [3]

. . . it is the continual endeavor
of the Lord's Divine providence
to conjoin a person with Himself
and Himself with the person,
and so make him to be an image of Himself.

DP 124

To this I will add two secrets of angelic wisdom,
from which one can see the nature of Divine providence.
One, that the Lord never
acts upon any one constituent in a person individually
without acting at the same time on all his constituents.
Two, that the Lord acts 
from inmost elements and from outmost elements 
simultaneously.

~ Jacob Leaves Laban ~

Jacob heard that Laban's sons were saying,
"Jacob has taken everything our father owned
and has gained all this wealth
from what belonged to our father."
And Jacob noticed that Laban's attitude toward him
was not what it had been.

Then the Lord said to Jacob,
"Go back to the land of your fathers 
and to your relatives,
and I will be with you.

So Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah
to come out to the fields where his flocks were.

. . . Then Jacob put his children and his wives on camels,
and he drove all his livestock ahead of him,
along with all the goods
he had accumulated in Paddan Aram,
to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.

When Laban had gone to shear his sheep,
Rachel stole her father's household gods.
Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean
by not telling him he was running away.
So he fled with all he had,
and crossing the River,
he headed for the hill country of Gilead.

(Genesis 31:1-4, 17-21)

DP 100 - Good and Evil Can Not Be In the Same Vessel; DP 107 - Trees and Spiders

DP 100

Everyone can see from reason alone that the Lord,
who is good itself and truth itself,
cannot enter into a person
unless the evils and falsities in him are put away.
For evil is opposed to good, and falsity to truth,
and two opposites can never be commingled.
Rather, when one approaches the other,
a combat ensues,
which lasts until one gives way to the other,
and the one that gives way,
goes away,
and the other takes its place.

In such an opposition are heaven and hell,
or the Lord and the devil.
Can anyone reasonably suppose
that the Lord can enter where the devil reigns?
Or that heaven and hell can exist together?
Who does not see
from the rationality granted to every sane person
that for the Lord to enter,
the devil must be cast out?
Or that for heaven to enter,
hell must be removed?

DP 107

Heavenly love with its affections
for good and truth and consequent perceptions,
together with the delights of those affections
and their consequent thoughts,
may be likened to a tree
adorned with branches, leaves and fruits.
The life's love is the tree itself.
The branches with their leaves
are affections for good and truth
with their accompanying perceptions;
and the fruits are the delights of the affections
with their accompanying thoughts.

In contrast,
hellish love with its affections for evil and falsity,
which are lusts,
together with the delights of those lusts
and their accompanying thoughts,
may be likened to a spider and its surrounding web.
The love itself is the spider.
Its lusts for evil and falsity
with their interior cunning and guile
are the threads of the web
immediately surrounding the spider's abode,
and the delights of those lusts
with their crafty schemes
are the threads further out,
where flies flitting about
are caught, wrapped up, and devoured.

~ Jacob Lays His Head on a Stone ~

Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran.
When he reached a certain place,
he stopped for the night because the sun had set.
Taking one of the stones there,
he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.
He had a dream in which he saw
a stairway resting on the earth,
with its top reaching to heaven,
and the angels of God
were ascending and descending on it.
There above it stood the Lord,
and He said:
"I am the Lord,
the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.
I will give you and your descendants
the land on which you are lying.
Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth,
and you will spread out to the west and to the east,
to the north and to the south.
All peoples on earth will be blessed
through you and your offspring.
I am with you
and will watch over you wherever you go,
and I will bring you back to this land.
I will not leave you
until I have done what I have promised."

When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought,
"Surely the Lord is in the place,
and I was not aware of it."
He was afraid and said,
"How awesome is this place!
This is none other than the house of God;
this is the gate of heaven."

Early the next morning Jacob
took the stone he had placed under his head
and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it.
He called that place Bethel,
though the city used to be called Luz.

Then Jacob made a vow, saying,
"If God will be with me
and will watch over me on this journey I am taking
and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear
so that I return safely to my father's house,
then the Lord will be my God
and this stone that I have set up as a pillar
will be God's house,
and of all that you give me
I will give you a tenth."

(Genesis 28:10-22)

DP 96 - Freedom and Rationality Are Human

DP 96 [2, 5]

. . . a person would not have will or understanding,
and so would not be human:
That is because a person has will
solely for the reason
that he is able to will freely as though of himself,
and his ability to will freely as though of himself
is due to the faculty continually given to him by the Lord
called freedom.
So, too, a person has understanding
solely for the reason that he is able to understand
as though of himself
whether something accords with reason or not,
and his ability to understand
whether something accords with reason or not
is due to the second faculty
continually given to him by the Lord
called rationality.

The Lord resides in every person in these faculties
because of an influx of the Lord's will --
His will being 
to be received by the person,
to have His abode in him,
and to impart to him the felicities of eternal life.
These are objects of the Lord's will
because they are the objects of His Divine love.

It is this, the Lord's will,
which creates in a person the appearance 
that what he thinks, speaks, wills and does 
is his own.

 

~ Rebekah Gets Isaac to Send Jacob to Paddan Aram ~

Then Rebekah said to Isaac,
"I'm disgusted with living because of these Hittite women.
If Jacob takes a wife from among the women of this land,
from Hittite women like these,
my life will not be worth living."

So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him
and commanded him:
"Do not marry a Canaanite woman.
Go at once to Paddan Aram,
to the house of your mother's father Bethuel.
Take a wife for yourself there,
from among the daughters of Laban,
your mother's brother.
May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful
and increase your numbers
until you become a community of peoples.
May He give you and your descendants
the blessing given to Abraham,
so that you make take possession of the land
where you now live as an alien,
the land God gave to Abraham."
Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way,
and he went to Paddan Aram,
to Laban the son of Bethuel the Aramean,
the brother of Rebekah,
who was the mother of Jacob and Esau.

(Genesis 27:46; 28:1-5)

DP 89 - Acting in Freedom; DP 92 - Conjunction With the Lord; DP 93 - And Again . . .

DP  89

Now because all willing springs from love,
and all understanding from wisdom,
it follows that the ability to will
springs from Divine love
and the ability to understand
from Divine wisdom,
thus both from the Lord,
who is Divine love itself and Divine wisdom itself.
It follows from this
that to act in freedom in accordance with one's reason
has no other origin.

DP 92

The conjunction of the Lord with a person
and the reciprocal conjunction of a person with the Lord
are effected by means of these two faculties.
Conjunction with the Lord and regeneration are one,
for to the extent someone is conjoined with the Lord,
to the same extent he is regenerate.
Consequently everything that we said above
about regeneration can be said of conjunction.
And what we say here about conjunction
can be said of regeneration.

DP 93

To look to God in one's life
is nothing else
than to refrain from evils as sins.

~ Jacob and Esau Are Born ~

This is the account of Abraham's son Isaac.

Abraham became the father of Isaac,
and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah
daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram
and sister of Laban the Aramean.

Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife,
because she was barren.
The Lord answered his prayer,
and his wife Rebekah became pregnant.
The babies jostled each other within her,
and she said, "Why is this happening to me?"
So she went to inquire of the Lord.

The Lord said to her,

"Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples from within you will be separated;
one people will be stronger than the other,
and the older will serve the younger."

When the time came for her to give birth,
there were twin boys in her womb.
The first to come out was red,
and his whole body was like a hairy garment;
so they named him Esau.
After this, his brother came out,
with his hand grasping Esau's heel;
so he was named Jacob.
Isaac was sixty years old
when Rebekah gave birth to them.

(Genesis 25:19-26)

DP 81 - When We Think Evils Are Allowed

DP 81

The evils that a person believes allowable,
even if he does not do them,
also become attached to him,
for making them allowable in the thought
springs from the will,
the two being in accord.
Consequently, when a person believes
some evil allowable,
he dissolves any internal bond against it,
and is kept from doing it only by external bonds,
which are fears.
Moreover, because the person's spirit
inclines to that evil,
therefore if the external bonds are removed
he does it as allowable.
And meanwhile he continually does it in his spirit.

~ Abraham Sends for a Wife for Isaac ~

Abraham was now old and well advanced in years,
and the Lord had blessed him in every way.
He said to the chief servant in his household,
the one in charge of all that he had,
"Put your hand under my thigh.
I want you to swear by the Lord,
the God of heaven and the God of earth,
that you will not get a wife for my son
from the daughters of the Canaanites,
among whom I am living,
but will go to my country and my own relatives
and get a wife for my son Isaac."

The servant asked him,
"What if the woman is unwilling
to come back with me to this land?
Shall I then take your son back
to the country you came from?"

Make sure that you do not take my son back there,"
Abraham said.
"The Lord, the God of heaven,
who brought me out of
my father's household and my native land
and who spoke to me
and promised me on oath, saying,
'To your offspring I will give this land' --
he will send his angel before you
so that you can get a wife for my son from there.
If the woman is unwilling to come back with you,
then you will be released from this oath of mine.
Only do not take my son back there."

(Genesis 24:1-8)

DP 67 - The Continual Goal of Divine Providence

DP 67

. . . it is the continual object of Divine providence
that a person become a heaven in form
and so an image of the Lord,
and this is achieved through
an affection for goodness and truth,
that he become an embodiment of that affection.

. . . This end is achieved, however,
with those whom the Lord is able to lead to heaven.
And because the Lord foresees it,
He also continually provides
for a person's becoming such as to allow it.
For everyone who allows himself to be led to heaven
is thus prepared for his place in heaven.

~ Isaac Is Born ~

Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as He had said,
and the Lord did for Sarah what He had promised.
Sarah became pregnant
and bore a son to Abraham in his old age,
at the very time God had promised him.
Abraham gave the name Isaac
to the son Sarah bore him.
When his son Isaac was eight days old,
Abraham circumcised him,
as God commanded him.
Abraham was a hundred years old
when his son Isaac was born to him.

(Genesis 21:1-5)

DP 46 - Because God Is

DP 46 [3]

. . . every created thing,
and above all the human being
and the love and wisdom in him,
have real existence,
and do not exist only in idea.
For unless God were infinite,
there would be nothing finite.
So, too, unless the infinite were omni- or all- ,
there would be nothing real.
And unless God created all things from Himself,
there would be nothing at all.

In a word: We are because God is.

~ When Abram Was Ninety-nine ~

When Abram was ninety-nine years old,
the Lord appeared to him and said,
"I am the God Almighty;
walk before Me and be blameless.
I will confirm My covenant between Me and you
and you will greatly increase your numbers."

Abram fell face down,
and God said to him,
"As for Me, this is My covenant with you:
You will be the father of many nations.
no longer will you be called Abram;
your name will be Abraham,
for I have made you a father of many nations.

. . . God also said to Abraham,
"As for Sarai your wife,
you are no longer to call her Sarai;
her name will be Sarah.
I will bless her
and will surely give you a son by her.
I will bless her
so that she will be the mother of nations;
kings of peoples will come from her."

When He had finished speaking with Abraham,
God went up from him.

(Genesis 17:1-5, 15-16, 22)

DP 35 - Wisdom

DP 35

Let no one suppose, however, that
someone has wisdom if he knows many things,
if he perceives them in some degree of light,
and if he can discuss them intelligently,
unless that wisdom is conjoined with love.
For it is love through its affections
that produces wisdom.
If wisdom is not conjoined with love,
it is like an atmospheric phenomenon in the sky
that vanishes, or like a falling star.
On the other hand,
wisdom conjoined with love
is like the enduring light of the sun,
or like a stationary star.

A person has a love of wisdom to the extent
that he shuns the devil's crew,
which are the lusts of evil and falsity. 

 

~ Abram Sets Out An Offering to the Lord ~

As the sun was setting,
Abram fell into a deep sleep,
and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.
then the Lord said to him,
"Know for certain that your descendants
will be strangers in a county not their own,
and they will be enslaved and mistreated
four hundred years.
But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,
and afterward
they will come out with great possessions.
You, however, will go to your fathers in peace
and be buried at a good old age.
In the fourth generation
your descendants will come back here,
for the sin of the Amorites
has not yet reached its full measure."

(Genesis 15:12-16)

DP 20 - Looking to God

DP 20

To look to God in one's life
means simply to think that this or that evil
is a sin against God,
and for that reason not to do it.

~ Terah Relocates and the Lord Calls Abram ~

Terah took his son Abram,
his grandson Lot son of Haran,
and his daughter-in-law Sarai,
the wife of his son Abram,
and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans
to go to Canaan.
But when they came to Haran,
they settled there.
Terah lived 205 years,
and he died in Haran.

The Lord had said to Abram,
"Leave your country,
your people and your father's household
and go to the land I will show you.

"I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all people on earth will be blessed through you."

So Abram left, as the Lord had told him;
and Lot went with him.
Abram was seventy-five years old
when he set out from Haran.
He took his wife Sara,
his nephew Lot,
all the possessions they had accumulated
and the people they had acquired in Haran,
and they set out for the land of Canaan,
and they arrived there.

(Genesis 11:31-32; 12:1-5)

DP 7 - A Goal of Divine Providence

DP 7

. . . it is a goal of Divine providence
that every created thing have in it
goodness and truth,
or a union of goodness and truth.

~ After the Flood ~

By the first day of the first month
of Noah's six hundred and first year,
the water had dried up from the earth.
Noah then removed the covering from the ark
and saw that the surface of the ground was dry.
By the twenty-seventh day of the second month
the earth was completely dry.

Then God said to Noah,
"Come out of the ark,
you and your wife and your sons and their wives.
Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you --
the birds, the animals, and all the creatures
that move along the ground --
so they can multiply on the earth
and be fruitful and increase in number upon it."

So Noah came out,
together with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives.
All the animals and all the creatures
that move along the ground and all the birds --
everything that moves on the earth --
came out of the ark, one kind after another.

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and,
taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds,
he sacrificed burnt offerings on it.
The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma
and said in His heart:
"Never again will I curse the ground because of man,
even though every inclination of his heart is evil
from childhood.
And never again will I destroy all living creatures,
as I have done.

"As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night will never cease."

(Genesis 8:13-22)

DP 2 - The Lord's Government

Divine Providence is the Government
of the Lord's Divine Love and Wisdom

(1) The universe with each and all of its constituents
was created out of Divine love by means of Divine wisdom.

(2) Divine love and Divine wisdom
emanate from the Lord as one.

(3) Some image of this union exists in every created thing.

(4) It is a goal of Divine providence
that everything created be such a unity,
as a whole and in every part;
and if it is not, that it become so.

(5) The goodness of love is good only to the extent
that it is united with the truth of wisdom;
and the truth of wisdom is true only to the extent
that it is united with the goodness of love.

(6) Any goodness of love not united
with the truth of wisdom
is not good in itself, but only seemingly good,
and any truth of wisdom
not united with the goodness of love
is not true in itself, but only seemingly true.

(7) The Lord does not allow anything to be divided.
Consequently either something must be impelled by good
and at the same time by truth,
or it must be impelled by evil
and at the same time by falsity.

(8) Whatever is impelled by good
and at the same time by truth is real,
and whatever is impelled by evil
and at the same time by falsity is not real.

(9) The Lord's Divine providence
causes evil and its accompanying falsity
to be of service in providing an equilibrium,
contrast, and means of purification,
and thus in promoting
the union of goodness and truth in others.
-----------------------------
DP = Divine Providence

~ The Flood ~

Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight
and was full of violence.
God saw how corrupt the earth had become,
for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.
So God said to Noah,
"I am going to put an end to all people,
for the earth is filled with violence because of them.
I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.
So make yourself an ark of cypress wood;
make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.

For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth,
and as the waters increased
they lifted the ark high above the earth.
The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth,
and the ark floated on the surface of the water.
They rose greatly on the earth,
and all the high mountains under the entire heavens
were covered.
The waters rose and covered the mountains
to a depth of more than twenty feet.
Every living thing that moved on the earth perished --
birds, livestock, wild animals,
all the creatures that swarm over the earth,
and all mankind.
Everything on dry land
that had the breath of life in its nostrils died.
Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out;
men and animals and the creatures
that move along the ground
and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth.
Only Noah was left,
and those with him in the ark.

The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.

(Genesis 6:11-14; 7:17-24)

DLW 426, 431 - Useful Services

DLW 426

By love for the neighbor

we mean a love of useful services,

and by love toward the Lord

we mean a love of performing useful services . . ..

DLW 431

In heaven, all those who perform useful services

from an affection for useful service

derive from the fellowship in which they live

the characteristic of being wiser and happier than others.

And to perform useful service is, for them there,

to act honestly, rightly, justly and faithfully

in the work connected with one's occupation.

They call this charity --

calling the venerations connected with worship

symbols of charity,

and everything duties and benefactions --

saying that when everyone does the work

connected with his occupation

honestly, rightly, justly and faithfully,

the whole is maintained and preserved

in its common good.

They say, too, that this is what it is to be in the Lord,

since everything that flows in from the Lord

is a useful endeavor,

which flows from the parts to the whole,

and from the whole to the parts.

the parts there are angels,

and the whole is the society in which they live.

~ "Why Are You Angry?" ~

Then the Lord said to Cain,

"Why are you angry?

Why is your face downcast?

If you do what is right,

will you not be accepted?

But if you do not do what is right,

sin is crouching at your door;

it desires to have you,

but you must master it."

(Genesis 4:6-7)

DLW 414, 418, 419 - Love and Wisdom

DLW 414

Love for the neighbor from the Lord
is the love proper to wisdom,
or the genuine love proper to the human intellect.

DLW 418

The common opinion is that wisdom makes the person.
Consequently when people hear
someone speaking or teaching wisely,
they believe that it reflects his character.
Indeed, that is how the person thinks of himself at the time,
because when he speaks and teaches
in the presence of others,
he thinks on the basis of his memory,
and if he is merely natural,
in accord with the outer layer of his love,
which is an affection for honor, glory and material gain.
However, when the same person is alone,
he thinks in accord with the interior love of his spirit,
and he thinks then not wisely but sometimes insanely.

It can be seen from this
that no one should be judged
by the wisdom of his speech,
but by his life, that is,
not by the wisdom of his speech
apart from his life,
but by the wisdom of his speech
in conjunction with his life.
By life we mean love.
Love is a person's life, as we have shown above.

DLW 419 [2]

. . . in the measure that love puts heaven in first place
and the world second,
and in the measure that it at the same time
puts the Lord in first place and self second,
in the same measure the love is purged
of its pollutions and purified.
That is to say, in the same measure
it is elevated into the warmth of heaven
and united with the light of heaven
in which the intellect is.
A marriage is then formed,
the marriage we call
the marriage of goodness and truth,
or of love and wisdom. 

~ In the Beginning ~

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Now the earth was formless and empty,
darkness was over the surface of the deep,
and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.

(Genesis 1:1-3)
 

DLW 402, 404, 406 - The Marriage of Goodness and Truth

DLW 402

Present in the created universe
and in each of its constituents
is a marriage of goodness and truth,
and this for the reason that goodness is a property of love,
and truth a property of wisdom,
and these two are in the Lord,
from whom come all created things.

How this marriage is formed in the human being
can be seen mirrored
in the conjunction of the heart with the lungs,
for the heart corresponds to love or good,
and the lungs to wisdom or truth . . ..

From that conjunction
it can be seen how love or the will
betroths to itself wisdom or the intellect,
and afterward marries it
or enters as though into a marriage with it.
Love betroths wisdom to itself
by preparing a home or bridal chamber for it,
and it marries it by joining it to itself through affections
and then living wisely with it in that home.

DLW 404 [2]

. . . no one who has his reason intact
ever lacks a perception of truth
as long as he has an affection for understanding truth.

DLW 404 [4]

Thought, indeed, occurs first,
because it is a faculty of the natural mind.
But thought from a perception of truth
springing from an affection for truth occurs last.
This latter thought is the thought of wisdom,
while the first is a thought from memory
formed in consequence
of the sight of the natural mind.

All operations of love or the will apart from the intellect
have to do not with affections for truth
but with affections for good.

DLW 406

. . . the light of the intellect
is the light by which love sees.

An action . . . takes its being from love
and its character from intelligence.

Good furthermore, has all its power through truth.
Consequently good acts in truth
and so by means of it;
and good is a matter of love,
while truth is a matter of intellect.

** The River of Life -- "Behold, I Am Coming!" **

Then the angel showed me
the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal,
flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb
down the middle of the great street of the city.
On each side of the river stood the tree of life,
bearing twelve crops of fruit,
yielding its fruit every month.
And the leaves of the tree
are for the healing of the nations.
No longer will there be any curse.
The throne of God and of the Lamb
will be in the city,
and His servants will serve Him.
They will see His face,
and His name will be on their foreheads.
There will be no more night.
They will not need the light of a lamp
or the light of the sun,
for the Lord God will give them light.
And they will reign for ever and ever.

The angel said to me,
"These words are trustworthy and true.
The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets,
sent His angel to show His servants
the things that must soon take place."

"Behold, I am coming soon. 
Blessed is he who keeps the words
of the prophecy in this book."

I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things.
And when I had heard and seen them,
I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel
who had been showing them to me.
But he said to me,
"Do not do it!
I am a fellow servant with you
and with your brothers the prophets
and of all who keep the words of this book. 
Worship God!"

Then he told me,
"Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book,
because the time is near.
Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong;
let him who is vile continue to be vile;
let him who does right continue to do right;
and let Him who is holy continue to be holy."

"Behold, I am coming soon!
My reward is with Me,
and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.
I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the First and the Last,
the Beginning and the End.

"Blessed are those who wash their robes,
that they may have the right to the tree  of life
and may go through the gates into the city.
Outside are the dogs,
those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral,
the murderers, the idolaters
and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

"I, Jesus, have sent My angel
to give you this testimony for the churches.
I am the Root and Offspring of David,
and the bright Morning Star."

The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!"
And let him who hears say, "Come!"
Whoever is thirsty, let him come;
and whoever wishes,
let him take the free gift of the water of life.

I warn everyone
who hears the words of the prophecy of this book:
If anyone adds anything to them,
God will add to him the plagues described in this book.
And if anyone takes words away
from this book of prophecy,
God will take away from him
his share in the tree of life and in the holy city,
which are described in this book.

He who testifies to these things say,
"Yes, I am coming soon."

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people.
Amen.

DLW 390 - When Correspondence Ceases

DLW 390

Since a person's spirit possesses a pulse and respiration
just as the body does,
it follows therefore that there is a like correspondence
of the pulse and respiration of a person's spirit
with the pulse and respiration of his body,
for the mind, as we said, is his spirit.
Consequently, when the correspondence
of these two motions ceases,
a separation takes place, which is death.

The separation or death occurs
when the body, owing to some illness or accident,
comes into such a condition
that it cannot operate in union with the person's spirit,
for thus the correspondence perishes,
and with the correspondence, conjunction.
This eventuates not when the respiration alone ceases,
but when the beating of the heart ceases;
for as long as the heart beats,
love with its vital warmth
remains and maintains the body's life,
as is apparent from cases of fainting and suffocation,
and from the state of life of a fetus in the womb.

In short, the life of a person's body depends on
the correspondence of its pulse and respiration
with the pulse and respiration of his spirit,
and when that correspondence ceases,
the life of the body ceases,
and his spirit departs
and continues its life in the spiritual world,
a life which is so like his life in the natural world
that he does not know he has died.

** The New Jerusalem **

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth,
for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,
and there was no longer any sea.
I saw the Holy City,
the new Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God,
prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
"Now the dwelling of God is with men,
and He will live with them.
they will be His people,
and God Himself will be with them and be their God.
He will wipe every tear from their eyes.
There will be no more death or mourning
or crying or pain,
for the old order of things has passed away."

He who was seated on the throne and said,
"I am making everything new!"
Then he said, "Write this down,
for these words are trustworthy and true."

He said to me:  "It is done.
I am the Alpha and Omega,
the Beginning and the End.
To him who is thirsty
I will give to drink without cost
from the spring of the water of life.
He who overcomes will inherit all this,
and I will be his God and he will be My son.
But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile,
the murderers, the sexually immoral,
those who practice magic arts,
the idolaters and all liars --
their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur.
This is the second death."

One of the seven angels
who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues
came and said to me,
"Come, I will show you the bride,
the wife of the Lamb."
And he carried me away in the spirit
to a mountain great and high,
and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God.
It shone with the glory of God,
and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel,
like a jasper, clear as crystal.
It had a great, high wall with twelve gates,
and with twelve angels at the gates.
On the gates were written
the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.
There were three gates on the east,
three on the north,
three on the south
and three on the west.
The wall of the city had twelve foundations,
and on them were the names
of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

The angel who talked with me
had a measuring rod of God to measure the city,
its gates and its walls.
The city was laid out like a square,
as long as it was wide.
He measured the city with the rod
and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length,
and as wide and high as it is long.
He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits thick,
by man's measurement,
which the angel was using.
The wall was made of jasper,
and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass.
The foundations of the city walls
were decorated with every kind of precious stone.
The first foundation was jasper,
the second sapphire,
the third chalcedony,
the fourth emerald,
the fifth sardonyx,
the sixth carnelian,
the seventh chrysolite,
the eighth beryl,
the ninth topaz,
the tenth chrysoprase,
the eleventh jacinth,
and the twelfth amethyst.
The twelve gates were twelve pearls,
each gate made of a singe pearl.
The great street of the city was of pure gold,
like transparent glass.

I did not see a temple in the city,
because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb
are its temple.
The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it,
for the glory of God gives it light,
and the Lamb is its lamp.
The nations will walk by its light,
and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.
On no day will its gates ever be shut,
for there will be no night there.
The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.
Nothing impure will ever enter it,
nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful,
but only those whose names are written
in the Lamb's book of life.

(Revelation 21)

DLW 379, 380 - The Heart; DLW 382, 384 - The Lungs

DLW 379 [2], 380

Because love is a person's life,
therefore the heart is the first and last vessel of that life.
Moreover, because love is a person's life,
and the soul maintains its life in the body
by means of the blood,
therefore blood in the Word is called the soul.
(Genesis 9:4, Leviticus 17:14).

The fact that the blood is red
is owing also to the correspondence of the heart and blood
with love and its affections.
For the spiritual world has in it colors of every kind.
The colors red and white are the fundamental ones,
and the rest take their variations from them
and from their opposites,
which are a dark fiery color and black.
The color red there corresponds to love,
and the color white corresponds to wisdom.

The color red corresponds to love for the reason
that it takes its origin
from the fire of the sun in the spiritual world;
and the color white corresponds to wisdom
for the reason that it takes its origin
from the light of the sun there.
Because, then, there is a correspondence
of love with the heart,
therefore the blood cannot but be red
and attest its origin.

It is in consequence of this
that in the heavens where love toward the Lord reigns,
the light is a flaming one,
and the angels there are clad in purple garments;
and in the heavens where wisdom reigns,
the light is bright white,
and the angels there are clad in garments of white linen.

DLW 382 [1,2]

. . . the intellect corresponds to the lungs
by considering both his thought and his speech.

As regards thought,
it is impossible for anyone to think
without his pulmonary respiration's
concurring and according.
Consequently when someone thinks quietly,
he breathes quietly.
If he thinks deeply, he breathes deeply.
He breathes in and out,
contracting and expanding his lungs,
in accordance with his thought,
thus in accordance with
the affection flowing in from his love --
slowly, quickly, eagerly, gently, intently.
Indeed, if he holds his breath altogether,
he cannot think,
except in his spirit in consequence of its respiration,
something of which he is not consciously aware.

DLW 384 [3-4]

Because breath passes through the nostrils,
therefore the nose symbolizes perception;
and an intelligent person is said to have a keen nose,
and an unintelligent one not a keen nose.

It is owing to this, too,
that the word for spirit and wind in Hebrew
and in some other languages
is the same.
For the word "spirit" is derived from
a word meaning "to breathe."
Consequently when a person dies
he is also said to breathe his last
and yield up the spirit.

It is owing to this as well
that people believe the spirit to be a gust of wind
or some airy entity,
like a puff of breath exhaled from the lungs,
and the soul likewise.

It can be seen from this
that to love God with all one's heart and all one's soul
means to do so with all one's love and all one's intellect,
and that giving a new heart and a new spirit
means giving a new will and a new intellect.

** Ten thousand Years -- Satan's Doom -- The Dead Are Judged **

And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven,
having the key to the Abyss
and holding in his hand a great chain.
He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent,
who is the devil, or Satan,
and bound him for a thousand years.
He threw him into the abyss,
and locked and sealed it over him,
to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore
until the thousand years were ended.
After that, he must be set free for a short time.

I saw thrones on which were seated
those who had been given authority to judge.
And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded
because of their testimony for Jesus
and because of the word of God.
They had not worshiped the beast or his image
and had not received his mark
on their foreheads or their hands.
They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
(The rest of the dead did not come to life
until the thousand years were ended.)
This is the first resurrection.
Blessed and holy are those
who have part in the first resurrection.
the second death has no power over them,
but they will be priests of God and of Christ
and will reign with Him for a thousand years

When the thousand years are over,
Satan will be released from his prison
and will go out to deceive the nations
in the four corners of the earth --
Gog and Magog --
to gather them for battle.
In number they are like the sand on the seashore.
They marched across the breadth of the earth
and surrounded the camp of God's people,
the city He loves.
But fire came down from heaven and devoured them.
And the devil, who deceived them,
was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur,
where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. 
They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Then I saw a great white throne
and Him who was seated on it.
Earth and sky fled from His presence,
and there was no place for them.
And I saw the dead,  great and small,
standing before the throne,
and books were opened.
Another book was opened,
which is the book of life.
The dead were judged according to what they had done
as recorded in the books.
The sea gave up the dead that were in it,
and death and Hades gave up the  dead that were in them,
and each person was judged according to that he had done.
Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.
the lake of fire is the second death.
If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life,
he was thrown into the lake of fire.

(Revelation 20)

** Hallelujah! and The Rider on the White Horse **

After this I heard what sounded like
the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting:

"Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
for true and just are His judgments.
He has condemned the great prostitute
who corrupted the earth by her adulteries.
He has avenged on her the blood of His servants."

And again they shouted:

"Hallelujah!
The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever."

The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures
fell down and worshiped God,
who was seated on the throne.
And they cried:

"Amen, Hallelujah!"

Then a voice came from the throne, saying:

"Praise our God,
all you His servants,
you who fear Him,
both small and great!"

Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude,
like the roar of rushing waters
and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:

"Hallelujah!
For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and His bride has made herself ready.
Fine linen, bright and clean,
was given her to wear."
(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)

Then the angel said to me,
"Write:  'Blessed are those who are invited
to the wedding supper of the Lamb!'"
And he added,
"These are the true words of God."

At this I fell at his feet to worship him.
But he said to me,
"Do not do it!
I am a fellow servant with you
and with your brothers
who hold to the testimony of Jesus.
Worship God!
For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."

I saw heaven standing open
and there before me was a white horse,
whose rider is called Faithful and True.
With justice He judges and makes war.
His eyes are like blazing fire,
and on His head are many crowns.
He has a name written on Him
that no one knows but He Himself.
He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood,
and His name is the Word of God.
The armies of heaven were following Him,
riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen,
white and clean.
Out of His mouth comes a sharp sword
with which to strike down the nations.
"He will rule them with an iron scepter."
He treads the winepress
of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.
On His robe and on His thigh
He has this name written:

KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

And I saw an angel standing in the sun,
who cried in a loud voice
to all the birds flying in midair,
"Come, gather together for the great supper of God,
so that you may eat
the flesh of kings, generals, and mighty men,
of horses  and their riders,
and the flesh of all people,
free and slave, small and great."

Then I saw the beast
and the kings of the earth and their armies
gathered together to make war
against the Rider on the horse and His army.
But the beast was captured,
and with him the false prophet
who had performed the miraculous signs in his behalf.
With these signs he had deluded those
who had received the mark of the beast
and worshiped his image.
The two of them were thrown alive
into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.
The rest of them were killed with the sword
that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse,
and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.

(Revelation 19)

DLW 366, 368, 369 - Human Beings and Love and Wisdom

DLW 366

. . . the human being is a kind of universe,
and a kind of heaven in miniature form . . ..

DLW 368

. . . everyone is the embodiment of his love.

People suppose that it is wisdom that distinguishes them,
but wisdom is the product of love,
wisdom being its form.
For love is the essence of life,
and wisdom the expression of life
springing from that essence.

DLW 369

So it is that a person who elevates his mind to the Lord
is wholly elevated to the Lord,
and that a person who casts his mind down to hell
is wholly cast down into it.
Consequently the whole person
comes either into heaven or into hell
in accordance with his life's love.

 

** The Fall of Babylon *

After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven.
He had great authority,
and the earth was illuminated by his splendor.
With a mighty voice he shouted:

"Fallen!  Fallen is Babylon the Great!
She has become a home for demons
and a haunt for every evil spirit,
a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird.
For all the nations have drunk
the maddening wine of her adulteries.
the kings of the earth committed adultery with her,
and the merchants of the earth
grew rich from her excessive luxuries."

The I heard another voice from heaven say:
"Come out of her, my people,
so that you will not share in her sins,
so that you will not receive any of her plagues;
for her sins are piled up to heaven,
and God has remembered her crimes.
Give back to her as she has given;
pay her back as she has given;
pay her back double for what she has done.
Mix her a double portion from her own cup.
Give her as much torture and grief
as the glory and luxury she gave herself.
In her heart she boasts,
'I sit as queen; I am not a widow,
and I will never mourn.'
Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her:
death, mourning and famine.
She will be consumed by fire,
for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.

"When the kings of the earth
who committed adultery with her
and shared her luxury 
see the smoke of her burning,
they will weep and mourn over her.
Terrified at her torment,
they will stand far off and cry:

"'Woe!  Woe, O great city, O Babylon, city of power!
In one hour your doom has come!"

"The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her
because no one buys their cargoes any more --
cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls;
fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth;
every sort of citron wood,
and articles of every kind made
of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble;
cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense,
myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil,
of fine flour and wheat;
cattle and sheep; horses and carriages;
and bodies and souls of men.

"They will say, 'The fruit you longed for is gone from you.
All your riches and splendor have vanished,
never to be recovered.'
The merchants who sold these things
and gained their wealth from her will stand far off,
terrified at her torment.
they will weep and mourn and cry out:

"'Woe!  Woe, O great city,
dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet,
and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls!
In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!"

"Every sea captain, and all who travel by ship, the sailors,
and all who earn their living from the sea, will stand far off.
When they see the smoke of her burning, they will exclaim,
'Was there ever a city like this great city?'
They will throw dust on their heads,
and with weeping and mourning cry out:

"Woe!  Woe, O great city,
where all who had ships on the sea
became rich through her wealth!
In one hour she has been brought to ruin!
Rejoice over her, O heaven!
Rejoice, saints and apostles and prophets!
God has judged her for the way she treated you.'"

Then a mighty angel picked up
a boulder the size of a large millstone
and threw it into the sea, and said:

"With such violence the great city of Babylon
will be thrown down, never to be found again.
The music of harpists and musicians,
flute players and trumpeters,
will never be heard in you again.
No workman of any trade will ever be found in you again.
The sound of a millstone will never be heard in you again.
The light of a lamp will never shine in you again.
The voice of bridegroom and bride
will never be heard in you again.
Your merchants were the world's great men.
By your magic spell all the nations were led astray.
In her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints,
and of all who have been killed on the earth."

(Revelation 18)

DLW 345 - Being Merely Natural; DLW 358 - An Image and Likeness of God

DLW 345

. . . if a person becomes merely natural,
he loves only things
connected with his person and the world;
and that to the extent he loves these,
to the same extent he is averse
to celestial and spiritual things,
and does not look to God,
and to that extent becomes evil.

That noxious phenomena on the earth
take their origin from mankind and so from hell
may be concluded from the state of the land of Canaan
as described in the Word.
When the children of Israel
lived in accordance with the commandments,
the land yielded its produce,
and so did their flocks and herds.
But when they lived contrary to the commandments,
the land was barren and, as the Word says, cursed.
Instead of a harvest
it produced thorns and brambles,
their flocks and herds miscarried,
and wild animals invaded.

DLW 358

We read that man was created in the image of God,
according to His likeness:

Then God said,
"Let us make man in our image,
in our likeness,
and let them rule over the fish of the sea
and the birds of the air,
over the livestock,
over all the earth,
and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
(Genesis 1:26)

By the image of God there is meant His Divine wisdom,
and by the likeness of God His Divine love.
For wisdom is nothing else than the image of love,
since love presents itself
to be seen and recognized in wisdom;
and because it is seen and recognized in wisdom,
wisdom is an image of it.
Love is moreover the essence of life,
and wisdom the expression of life springing from it.

A likeness and image of God
is clearly apparent in angels,
for love shines from within in their faces,
and wisdom in their beauty,
beauty being the outward expression of their love.

** The Woman on the Beast **

One of the seven angels
who had the seven bowls came and said to me,
"Come, I will show you
the punishment of the great prostitute,
who sits on many waters.
With her
the kings of the earth committed adultery
and the inhabitants of the earth
were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries."

Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert.
There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast
that was covered with blasphemous names
and had seven heads and ten horns.
The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet,
and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls.
She held a golden cup in her hand,
filled with abominable things
and the filth of her adulteries.
This title was written on her forehead:

MYSTERY
BABYLON THE GREAT
THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES
AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF
THE EARTH.

I saw that the woman was drunk
with the blood of the saints,
the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.

When I saw her, I was greatly astonished.
Then the angel said to me:
"Why are you astonished?
I will explain to you
the mystery of the woman of the the beast she rides,
which has the seven heads and ten horns.
The beast, which you saw,
once was,
now is not,
and will come up out of the Abyss
and got to his destruction.
The inhabitants of the earth
whose names have not been written in the book of life
from the creation of the world
will be astonished when they see the beast,
because he once was,
now is not,
and yet will come.

"This calls for a mind with wisdom.
The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits.
They are also seven kings.
Five have fallen,
one is,
the other has not yet come;
but when he does come,
he must remain for a little while.
the beast who once was, 
and now is not,
is an eighth king.
He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.

"The ten horns you saw are ten kings
who have not yet received a kingdom,
but who for one hour
will receive authority as kings along with the beast.
They have one purpose
and will give their power and authority to the beast.
they will make war against the Lamb,
but the Lamb will overcome them
because He is the Lord of lords and King of kings --
and with Him will be
His called, chosen and faithful followers."

Then the angel said to me,
"The waters you saw, where the prostitutes sits,
are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages.
The beast and the ten horns you saw
will hate the prostitute.
They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked;
they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.
For God has put it into their hearts
to accomplish His purpose
by agreeing to give the beast their power to rule,
until God's words are fulfilled.
The woman you saw is the great city
that rules over the kings of the earth."

(Revelation 17)

DLW 335, 336, 343 - Love and Use

DLW 335 [2]

Let no one suppose . . .
that the Lord dwells in those who merely adore Him,
but that He dwells in those who do His commandments,
thus who do things of use.

DLW 336

By forms of use from the Lord
we mean likewise all matters
that perfect a person's rational faculty,
and which enable the person to receive
a spiritual character from the Lord.
Conversely, by evil forms of use
we mean all matters that destroy the rational faculty,
and which render a person
incapable of becoming spiritual.

. . . We use the term 'use" in both senses,
like the term "love,"
as referring to a good love or an evil love;
and love calls everything that it does useful.

DLW 343

. . . in respect to his affections and lusts
and consequent thoughts,
and springing from these his actions,
which are good or evil forms of use,
a person is either in the midst of angels of heaven
or in the midst of spirits of hell.