The Lord came into the world to reduce to order everything in heaven and so on earth, and He accomplished this by combats against the hells. The hells at that time were infesting every person coming into the world and departing from the world. By combats against them the Lord became the embodiment of righteousness and saved mankind, without which people could not have been saved…

Taking away sins has the same meaning as the redeeming and saving of mankind. For the Lord came into the world to save mankind. Without His advent no mortal could have been reformed and regenerated, thus saved. But this became possible after the Lord had taken away all power from the devil, that is, from hell, and had glorified His humanity, which is to say, had united it to the Divinity of His Father. If He had not done both of these, no one could have received any Divine truth and retained it in him, and still less any Divine goodness; for the devil, who previously had possessed a superior power, would have plucked these from his heart.

It is apparent from this that by His suffering of the cross the Lord did not take away any sins, but that He bears them away, that is, removes them, in the case of people who believe in Him by living in accordance with His commandments. As the Lord also teaches in Matthew:

‘Do not think that I came to do away with the Law or the Prophets…. Whoever…breaks…the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.’ (Matthew 5:17, 19)

Everyone can see from reason alone, provided he possesses some enlightenment, that sins cannot be removed from a person except through the practice of actual repentance, which is for the person to see his sins, implore the Lord’s help, and desist from them.

To see, believe or teach anything else is not based on the Word, nor does it accord with sound reason, but it springs from lust and a corrupt will, which constitute a person’s native character and infatuate his intelligence.

Doctrine of the Lord 14, 17

While our world has been all tumultuous chaos this year, I have been reading through Divine Providence with some friends. Throughout the book, I have been reminded of the STEADINESS of our Savior. The steadiness of Him and of His purpose. Below I am sharing one of my new favorite comfort passages: Divine Providence 332.2-4. I hope you enjoy! And I pray you have a blessed New Year!

Simply consider a fruit tree. It is first born from a tiny seed as a tender sprout, is it not, and gradually grows after that into a sapling and spreads its branches, and these become covered with leaves, until it puts forth flowers and bears fruit, and in them places new seeds by which it provides for its perpetuation.

The same is the case with every bush and with every herb of the field. Do not each and all of the constituents in them proceed from first end to last end constantly and marvelously according to the laws of their order? Why not the primary end likewise, which is a heaven from the human race? Can there be anything in its progress which does not proceed constantly according to the laws of Divine providence?

Since a person’s life has a correspondence with the growth of a tree, let us draw a parallel or comparison. A person’s early childhood is comparatively like the tender sprout of a tree shooting up from its seed out of the earth. A person’s later childhood and adolescence are like the same sprout growing into a sapling and its little branches. The natural truths with which every person is first equipped are like the leaves which cover the sapling’s branches (leaves have just this symbolic meaning in the Word). A person’s initial introductions into the marriage of goodness and truth, or spiritual marriage, are like the flowers which the tree produces in the spring. Spiritual truths are the petals of those flowers. The first stages of the spiritual marriage are like the beginnings of the fruit. Spiritual goods – the goods of charity – are like the fruits themselves (they are also symbolized by fruits in the Word). The propagations of wisdom from love are like the seeds, as a result of which propagations a person becomes like a garden or paradise. A person is also described by a tree in the Word, and his wisdom from love by a garden. Nothing else is symbolically meant by the Garden of Eden.

A person is, indeed, owing to his seed a bad tree, but still possible is an engrafting or insertion of shoots taken from the tree of life, which turn the sap drawn from the old root into a sap producing good fruits.

We draw this comparison to make it known that, since the progress of Divine providence is so constant in the growth and rebirth of trees, it must be utterly constant in the reformation and rebirth or regeneration of people, who are of much more value than trees, in keeping with these words of the Lord,

Are not five sparrows sold for two small coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than… sparrows… .

Moreover, which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow?. (That) if … God so clothes the grass in the field, which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you people of little faith?

Luke 12:6-7, 25-28

“And it came to pass that when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

And she exclaimed with a great voice and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb!

And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

For behold, as soon as the voice of thy greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for gladness.

And happy is she who has believed that there shall be a performance of those things which were spoken to her from the Lord.”

Luke 1:41-44