The Lord’s Divine Providence Has as Its Goal a Heaven from the Human Race

I have explained elsewhere that heaven did not originate in angels who were created angels at the beginning, and that hell did not originate in a devil who was created an angel of light and was cast down from heaven. Rather, both heaven and hell are from the human race. Heaven is made up of people who are involved in a love for what is good and a consequent discernment of what is true, and hell of people who are involved in a love for what is evil and a discernment of what is false. I have been given convincing evidence of this through long-term association with angels and spirits, and would refer you to Heaven and Hell 311–316, the booklet Last Judgment 14–27, and the whole of Supplements on the Last Judgment and the Spiritual World.

Since heaven comes from the human race, then, and since heaven is living with the Lord forever, it follows that this was the Lord’s goal for creation. Further, since this was the goal of creation, it is the goal of the Lord’s divine providence.

The Lord did not create the universe for his own sake but for the sake of people he would be with in heaven. By its very nature, spiritual love wants to share what it has with others, and to the extent that it can do so, it is totally present, experiencing its peace and bliss. Spiritual love gets this quality from the Lord’s divine love, which is like this in infinite measure.

It then follows that divine love (and therefore divine providence) has the goal of a heaven made up of people who have become angels and are becoming angels, people with whom it can share all the bliss and joy of love and wisdom, giving them these blessings from the Lord’s own presence within them. He cannot help doing this, because his image and likeness is in us from creation. His image in us is wisdom and his likeness in us is love; and the Lord within us is love united to wisdom and wisdom united to love, or goodness united to truth and truth united to goodness, which is the same thing. (See the preceding section for a description of this union.)

However, people do not know what heaven is in general or in groups of people and what heaven is in particular or in an individual. They do not know what heaven is in the spiritual world and what it is in the physical world, either; and yet it is important to know about these matters. Consequently, I want to shed some light on this, in the following sequence.

1. Heaven is union with the Lord.

2. Our nature from creation enables us to be more and more closely united to the Lord.

3. The more closely we are united to the Lord, the wiser we become.

4. The more closely we are united to the Lord, the happier we become.

5. The more closely we are united to the Lord, the more clearly we seem to have our own identity, and yet the more obvious it is to us that we belong to the Lord.

from Divine Providence, Section 27

Notes:

Heaven and Hell:

Sections 311-316: Published 5/11/2017-5/15/2017

Neighbors

Not only is the individual man the neighbor, but the collective man, too. A society, smaller or larger, is the neighbor; the Curch is; the Kingdom of the Lord is; and above all the Lord Himself. These are the neighbor, to whom good is to be done from love. These are also the ascending degrees of the neighbor; for a society consisting of many is the neighbor in a higher degree than is the individual; one’s country in a still highert degree; the Church in a still higher degree than one’s country; in a degree higher still the Kingdom of the Lord; and in the highest degree the Lord Himself. These degrees of ascent are like the steps in a ladder, at the top of which is the Lord. — Heavenly Doctrine, Section 91

from The Gist of Swedenborg, The Light of Love and Faith

The Need for Self-Action

No one can cleanse himself of evils by his own power and abilities; but neither can this be done without the power and abilities of the man, used as his own. If this strength were not to all appearance his own, no one would be able to fight against the flesh and its lusts, which, nevertheless, is enjoined upon all men. He would not think of comabt.

Because man is a rational being, he must resist evils from the power and abilities given him by the Lord, which appear to him as his own; an appearance that is granted for the sake of regeneration, imputation, conjunction, and salvation. — True Christian Religion, Section 438

from The Gist of Swedenborg, The Light of Love and Tuth

Notes:

True Christianity:

Section 438: Published 3/21/2021

“To Him That Overcometh” (Continued)

Because man is reformed by conflicts with the evils of his flesh and by vitories over them, the Son of Man says to each of the seven Churches, that He will give gifts “to him that overcomth.” — True Christianity, Section 610

from The Gist of Swedenborg: The Light of Love and Truth

“To Him That Overcometh”

Without moral struggle no one is regenerated, and many spiritual wrestlings succeed one after another. For, inasmuch as regenration has for its end that the life of the old man may die and the new and hevenly life be implemented, there will unfailingly be combat. The life of the old maan resists and is unwilling to be extinguished, and the life of the new man cannot enter, except where the life of the old man has been extinguished. From this it is plain that there is comabt, and ardent combat, because for life. — Arcana Coelestia, Section 8403

from The Gist of Swedenborg: The Light of Love and Faith

God’s Unrelaxed Effort

The object of creation was an angelic heaven from the human race; in other words, mankind, in whom God might be able to dwell as in his residence. For this reason man was created a form of Divine order.

God is in him, and as far as he lives according to Divine order, fully so; but if he does not live according to Divine order, still God is in him, but in his highest parts, endowing him with the ability to understand truth and to will what is good. But as far as man lives contrary to order, so far he shuts up the lower parts of his mind or spirit, and prevents God from descending and filling them with His presence. Then God is in him, but he is not in God. — True Christian Religion, Sections 66, 70

from The Gist of Swedenborg: The Light of Love and Truth

Notes:

True Christianity:

Section 66: Published 2/3/2018

Section 70: Published 2/7/2018

The First Three States after Death

He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he that is filthy, let him be filthy; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still. — Revelation 22:11

from The Gist of Swedenborg: The Light of Love and Truth

9. The Lord’s divine providence works things out so that what is both evil and false promotes balance, comparison, and purification, which means that it promotes the union of what is good and true in others (Continued)

The Lord provides for the union of what is good and true in others by purification. This happens in two ways, by temptations and by fermenting. Spiritual temptations are simply battles against the evil and false things that breathe forth from hell and affect us. These battles purify us from things that are evil and false, so that goodness in us is united to truth and truth to goodness.

Spiritual fermenting happens in many ways both in the heavens and on earth, but people in our world do not know what these processes are or how they happen. There are things that are both evil and false that are injected into communities the way agents of fermentation are injected into flour or grape juice. These serve to separate things that do not belong together and unite things that do, so that the substance becomes pure and clear.

These are the processes referred to by the Lord’s words,

The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until it was all leavened. (Matthew 13:33; Luke 13:21)

These useful functions are provided by the Lord through the union of what is evil and false that prevails among people in hell, since the Lord’s rule (which is not only over heaven but also over hell) is a functional rule and the Lord’s providence intends that there should be no one and nothing there that does not do some service or enable some service to happen.

from Divine Providence, Section 25-26

9. The Lord’s divine providence works things out so that what is both evil and false promotes balance, comparison, and purification, which means that it promotes the union of what is good and true in others (Continued)

The Lord provides for the union of what is good and what is true by comparison. We recognize the quality of what is good only by its relationship to something that is less good and by its opposition to what is evil. This is the source of everything in us that is perceptive and sensitive, because this is what gives perception and sensitivity their quality. That is, anything pleasing is perceived and sensed by contrast with something that is less pleasing and with what is unpleasant, anything beautiful by contrast with something less beautiful and with something ugly. By the same token, any good that love does is perceived and sensed by contrast with what is less good and by something evil, and anything true that wisdom offers is perceived and sensed by contrast with what is less true and by something false.

There need to be differences in everything, whether greaaat or small; and when these differences create a balanced opposition between the great and small, then there is a comparison between the levels in each direction. As a result, our perception and sensation are either enhanced or dulled.

We need to realize, that is, that the opposition may either deaden or intensify our perceptions and sensations. It deadens them when the opposites are mingled and intensifies them when they are not mingled. This is why the Lord separates goodness from evil very precisely so that they will not be mingled in us, just as he keeps heaven and hell separate.

from Divine Providence, Section 24

9. The Lord’s divine providence works things out so that what is both evil and false promotes balance, comparison, and purification, which means that it promotes the union of what is good and true in others (Continued)

The Lord provides for the union of what is good and true in others by the balance between heaven and hell. What is evil and what is false are continually breathing out together from hell, and what is good and what is true are continually breathing out together from heaven. Every one of us is kept in that balance as long as we are living in this world, and this is what gives us our freedom to think, intend, speak, and act, the freedom in which we can be reformed. (On this spiritual balance that gives us our freedom, see Heaven and Hell 589–596 and 597–603).

from Divine Providence, Section 23

Notes:

Heaven and Hell:

Sections 589-603: Published 3/17/2019-3/23/2019