523. The Lord never does anything contrary to his design because he himself is the design. The divine truth that emanates from him is what establishes the design, and divine truths are the laws of the design by which the Lord is leading us. Saving people by unmediated mercy is contrary to the divine design, and anything contrary to the divine design is contrary to the divine nature.
The divine design is heaven for us. We have distorted it by living contrary to its laws, which are divine truths. The Lord brings us back into the design out of pure mercy, through the laws of the design; and to the extent that we are brought back, we accept heaven into ourselves. Whoever accepts heaven enters heaven.
This shows again that the Lord's divine mercy is pure mercy but not unmediated. 1
Footnotes:
1. [Swedenborg's footnote] Divine truth emanating from the Lord is the source of his design, and divine good is the essence of the design: Arcana Coelestia 1728, 2258, 8700, 8988. As a result, the Lord is the design: 1919, 2011, 5110, 5703, 10336, 10619. Divine truths are the laws of the design: 2247 [2447?], 7995. The whole heaven is arranged by the Lord according to its divine pattern: 3038, 7211, 9128, 9338, 10125, 10151, 10157. So heaven's form is a form in accord with the divine design: 4040-4043, 6607, 9877. To the extent that we live according to the design, that is, to the extent that we live intent on what is good according to divine truths, we accept heaven into ourselves: 4839. The human being is where all the elements of the divine design are gathered together, and by creation we are the divine design in form because we are its vessels: 4219-4220, 4223, 4523-4524, 5114, 5368 [4839?], 6013, 6057, 6605, 6626, 9706, 10156, 10472. We are not born into what is good and true but into what is evil and false, and therefore not into the divine design but into a pattern contrary to it, which is why we are born into pure ignorance and need to be born again or regenerated; the Lord effects this through divine truths, in order to bring us back into the design: 1047, 2307-2308, 3518, 3812, 8480, 8550, 10283-10284, 10286, 10731. When the Lord is forming us afresh or regenerating us, he arranges everything in us according to the design, or into heaven's form: 5700, 6690, 9931, 10303. Evil and false things are contrary to the design, but still people who are absorbed in them are governed by the Lord, not according to the design but from it: 4839, 7877, 10778 [10777?]. It is impossible for someone who is living in evil to be saved out of pure mercy, because this goes against the divine design: 8700.
