From Doctrine of Life:

18. Who does not know, or who cannot know, that evils impede the Lord’s being able to enter a person? For evil embodies hell, and the Lord embodies heaven, and hell and heaven are opposed to each other. Insofar as a person is engaged in one, therefore, so far he cannot be engaged in the other. For one acts in opposition to the other and destroys it.

19. During the time a person is in the world, he is between heaven and hell, having hell below and heaven above; and he is kept free then to turn either in the direction of hell or in the direction of heaven. If he turns in the direction of hell, he turns away from heaven. But if he turns in the direction of heaven, he turns away from hell.

In other words, during the time a person is in the world, he stands between the Lord and the devil, and he is kept free to turn either to the one or to the other. If he turns to the devil, he turns away from the Lord. But if he turns to the Lord, he turns away from the devil.

Or to put it another way, during the time a person is in the world, he is between evil and good, and he is kept free to turn either to the one or to the other. If he turns to evil, he turns away from good. But if he turns to good, he turns away from evil…

…21. It is clearly apparent from this that insofar as a person refrains from evils, so far he is in the Lord’s presence and in the Lord, and that insofar as he is in the Lord, so far he does good, not of himself, but from the Lord.

This results, then, in the general law, that insofar as someone refrains from evils, so far he does good.

22. There are, however, two requisites:

One, that the person must refrain from evils because they are sins, that is to say, because they are infernal and works of the devil, being thus against the Lord and against His Divine laws.

Second, that the person must refrain from evils as being sins as though of himself, but know and believe that he does so from the Lord…

23. From all this, three conclusions follow:

1. That if a person wills and does good before he refrains from evils as being sins, the good that he does is not good.

2. That if a person thinks and speaks piously, and does not refrain from evils as being sins, his pious thoughts and words are not pious.

3. That if a person gains much knowledge and wisdom, and does not refrain from evils as being sins, he is still not wise.

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