"And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself. (John 12:32)

A promise from the Lord - He can and will lift us up. He will take our hands and draw us out of the frustrations and pains of selfish life. He will be with us and raise us up into joy and happiness beyond our belief.

That is, of course, as we let Him. For we have genuine freedom. We can forget about Him, relegating formal religion to the nooks and crannies of our life, becoming swamped with the incessant demands of this natural world. But we can also make room for Him, allowing Him to draw us towards Him.

For the Lord's love for us is an infinite constant. And His inmost desire is to have us return His love - to have us become images and likenesses of Himself, to become one with Him. Everything He does, all His providential leading, has this as its purpose - to make us eternally happy with Him. As the Writings note: "He wills to save everyone and by His mighty power to draw all towards heaven, that is, towards Himself" (AC 1038). "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself."

His love has an inherent power of attraction. He does not sit back passively, watching our silly antics, wishing us well but hesitating to intervene. His existence is intervention. Not openly seen, He is a constant force attracting us to what is good. So we are taught: "There is actually a sphere proceeding continually from the Lord and filling the entire spiritual and natural worlds which raises all towards heaven. It is like a strong current in the ocean which unseen draws a vessel. All who believe in the Lord and live according to His precepts enter that sphere or current and are elevated" (True Christian Religion 652:3).

His providence - an expression of His love - flows out to all and draws all to Himself. Silently, surely, His current moves us along. This is the underlying reality. Although ignored, His presence is never avoided. He lifts up our thoughts and affections. Raising whatever of worth we have, we are drawn to His throne. The doctrines declare that "the life which is from the Lord has a power of attracting, because it is from love, since it wills to be conjoined, so as to be a one. When therefore a person is in good, and from good in truth, he is drawn by the Lord, and is conjoined with Him" (Arcana Coelestia 8604:3).

The Lord attracts all to Himself because His love yearns for the closeness, the return, of all good, all truth. Everything of love we have comes from Him. It is His gift to us, for us to enjoy and share. All our happiness comes from this Source. And His love becomes perpetual and increasing in us when it circles back - building upon itself.

How do we feel when we do a favor for someone, and they neither thank us nor seem to appreciate what we have done? Do we help again? Probably not. (Or at least with a little bit more self compulsion!). Our helping hand is drawn back if it does not elicit a good response. Love requires love. It is drawn to it. It is when we help others and they become happy, sharing their joy with us and others, that we are encouraged to continue.

Within all good is an attractive power. For all good, all love, is one. When we receive it His current is a powerful force that lifts us up to the Source of all good, all love. It is why the Lord said He would draw all people to Him. Whatever of love we have raises us to Him, joining us to His life, His way.

A vivid example of this was provided to Emmanuel Swedenborg, revelator for the New Church, when he was allowed to experience the process of resuscitation - being raised from the dead. For perhaps at no other time will we sense the direct intervention and caring of the Lord as when we put off our natural bodies. Swedenborg noted that "especially was I permitted to see and feel that there was an attraction and as it were a drawing forth of the interiors of my mind, thus of my spirit, from the body; and I was told that this is from the Lord, and that the resurrection is thus effected" (Heaven and Hell 449e). The process of awakening in the spiritual world is the actual elevation of our spirits. We are drawn out of our bodies, raised up into eternal life. His love attracts us to Him. "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself."

The attractive power of good can also be seen in our selection of friends and spouse. Why do we form friendships? Certainly there must be common interests which enable friendship to grow. But why it is we can have much in common with some people we find distasteful, and appear to have little in common with others who we feel close to? In the same vein, why is it that we can feel friendly to many of the opposite sex, but love and want to marry only one special person? Why that particular person? There is no way to predict who will be a friend or who we will marry. For what creates both deep friendship and an eternal marriage is the attraction of love. Friends and spouse are selected by similar loves drawing them together like the current of the ocean. We are drawn to find friends and a spouse by spiritual qualities resonating within each other. This is why our close friends seem to be one with us, and to always have been there. It is also why there can be proposal and consent to an everlasting relationship. It is as if one's own loves have found their home, their completion. It is love attracting good together. It is the Lord lifting up all good, all love, to Himself.

This power of attraction that good has is seen in innumerable areas. The Arcana Coelestia states: "what is good and true, just and fair, and also what is honest, have a strong hidden power of attracting minds" (Arcana Coelestia 6655e). Are we not drawn to those who seem to be honest and fair? Are we not repelled by those who appear to be dishonest? The issue of fairness is active from a very early age. Children know what fairness is, and are most upset when they sense injustice or inequality. Even while the varied population of this country disagree about many things, all want the government to be fair and honest. Without fairness, honesty, there can be no trust, no confidence. We are attracted to these things because they are expressions of spiritual good. It is that good which draws us near, encouraging us to come into the sphere of natural justice, fairness, and honesty.

And, perversely, were it not for this power of attraction of good, evil would never be able to succeed (see Arcana Coelestia 5464:2). This sounds strange, contradictory, but it is not. For who would willingly choose evil if he could see the hell of it? Who would become selfish if he could see the result of a devil cut off from others, fearing the plots of fellow devils yet confident that he is more sly than they? Or who would be overly concerned with money if he could see the hells where their only delight is in touching coins, counting bills? If the end result of any evil were openly seen, no one would ever sin, or let hell grow up within.

So why are we drawn to evil? Because it cloaks itself in the appearance of good, and we are drawn to that good. We know the Lord wants us to feel good, so what feels good must be good, right? Revenge is sweet - hellish, but sweet. The Lord wants our natural surroundings to reflect our inner states (as actually occurs in the other world), so we can justify acquiring unlimited amounts of luxuries without thought for others or the Lord. Selfishness can seem good because we are meant to care for ourselves. The positive value of caring for ourselves can be used to justify all manner of self-centeredness.

Evil in itself is horrible and disgusting. We are not drawn to it. But when it puts on the appearance of good, and excuses itself with some half truths, our desire for delight can carry us along, if we allow it.

But that is not the purpose of good, and evil cannot long hide behind it. We will be forced to see some of the hell in evil and make conscious choices. For the attraction of good uplifts us. Hell drags us down. When we sense a conflict we have an opportunity to discover if the attraction is for genuine good or not.

For we do not always find the best choices or allow ourselves to be elevated. While the current is strong, we can grab on to overhanging branches, or paddle furiously against it. The Lord recognizes that we can only take so much at a time. His love is infinite, "but as angels and people on earth are finite they can follow the current of the attraction only according to their measure, although the force of the attraction persists to eternity" (True Christian Religion 350). We alternate between the highs and lows (see Arcana Coelestia 6315, 2119e). When we must concentrate on earthly life, we do not feel especially uplifted. When we are selfish, we are being dragged down. But the Lord never stops reaching out to us so that there might be times when we are raised above selfishness and worldliness.

Whenever we are on the path of regeneration, we are periodically gifted with glorious moments when we feel the Lord's presence and the attraction of His love. Perhaps it's in saying and reflecting upon the Lord's prayer, or holding a tender infant, or singing a favorite tune. Wherever it may be, we sense the Divine and know we are drawn to it.

But it may also be the case that we do not often feel His attraction in this life. We can lead a fundamentally good life, shunning evils as they appear, trying not to get into any trouble, and still not see and feel any special elevation to heaven. The Heavenly Doctrines note that "so long as a person lives in the world he does not know that he is raised up above his proprium, because he does not feel it. And yet there is an elevation or as it were an attraction of the person's interior understanding and interior will towards the Lord, and thus a turning of the person's face as to his spirit towards the Lord. After death this is made clear to a good person, for then there is a constant turning of his face to the Lord, and as it were an attraction to Him as to a common center" (Apocalypse Explained 646:3).

This is what the attraction of good means - placing the Lord in the center of our lives. Perhaps not openly speaking of Him in every sentence, but being certain of His inner presence, and willing Him to grasp our hands and ever lead us to a higher place. For as we acquire a love of what is good we are attracted to Him, and drawn up to His heaven. "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself."

(références: True Christian Religion 652)

526. And the third part of them was darkened.- That this signifies that all those things were changed into falsities of evil, and into the evils of falsity, is evident from the signification of darkness which denotes falsities, and hence of being darkened which denotes to be changed into falsities. The reason why it denotes to be changed into the falsities of evil and the evils of falsity is, that it is said the third part of the sun was darkened, the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; and the sun signifies the good of love, the moon, the good and truth of faith, and the stars, the cognitions of good and truth. Therefore the third part of the sun being darkened, signifies that the good of love was changed into evil, and the falsity thence, which is the falsity of evil. For good is changed into evil, and thence falsity, but the truth of faith, signified by the moon, is changed into falsity, and thence evil, which is the evil of falsity. The evil of falsity is the falsity of doctrine, from which proceeds evil of life, and the falsity of evil is evil of life, from which proceeds falsity of doctrine.

[2] The reason why darkness signifies falsity, is, that light signifies truth, and falsity is the opposite of truth, as darkness is of light. Moreover, when a man does not possess the light of life, which is the Divine Truth, the shadow of death is then in him, which is falsity. For man, from his proprium, is in every evil, and the falsity therefrom, and he can be removed from them only by means of the truths of the church; where therefore there are no truths, there the falsities of evil are. That truths are the only means by which man can be removed from evils, purified and reformed, may be seen in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 24).

[3] That darkness in the Word, signifies falsities of various kinds, is evident from the following passages.

In Joel:

"The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah come" (2:31).

By the sun being turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, is signified the same as by the third part of the sun and the third part of the moon being darkened, namely, that at the end of the church the falsity of evil will be in the place of the good of love, and the evil of falsity in the place of the truth of faith. Similar things are signified elsewhere also in the Word, where mention is made of the darkening of the sun and moon.

[4] Thus in Isaiah:

"For the stars of the heavens, and the constellations thereof, shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in his rising, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine" (13:10; 24:21, 23).

In Ezekiel:

"When I shall extinguish thee, I will cover the heavens; and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not make her light to shine. All the luminaries of light in the heavens will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land" (32:7, 8).

Again, in Joel:

"The day of Jehovah is near in the valley cut off. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their shining" (3:14, 15).

In the same:

"The day of Jehovah cometh, a day of darkness and thick darkness, a day of cloud, and obscurity, the earth quaketh before him, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their shining" (2:1, 2, 10).

And in the Evangelists:

"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven" (Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24, 25).

These things are said concerning the last time of the church, when there are no longer any spiritual good and truth, or good and truth of heaven and the church, but only evil and falsity. That the goods and truths of the church, which are called the goods of love and the truths of faith, are changed into evils and falsities, is signified by the sun and moon being obscured and darkened, and the stars not giving their light. The last judgment, which then follows, is signified by the day of Jehovah great and terrible; and because this takes place when the church is in darkness and thick darkness, therefore it is also called a day of darkness, and of thick darkness, and also a day of cloud and obscurity, as also in the following passages.

[5] In Amos:

"Woe unto you that desire the day of Jehovah! what to you is the day of Jehovah? It is a day of darkness and not light. Shall not the day of Jehovah be darkness, and not light? even thick darkness, and no brightness in it?" (5:18, 20).

And in Zephaniah:

"The day of Jehovah, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and thick darkness, a day of clouds and gloominess" (1:14, 15).

And in Isaiah:

"In that day he shall look into the land, which behold is darkness and sorrow, and the light becomes darkened in the ruins thereof" (5:30).

And again:

"He shall look unto the earth; and, behold, distress and thick darkness, the gloom of straitness; and driven with thick darkness" (8:22).

And again:

"Behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the people" (60:2).

So in Jeremiah:

"Give glory to Jehovah your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the mountains of twilight, then shall we look for light, but he will turn it into the shadow of death, and make it thick darkness" (13:16).

These passages also relate to the last time of the church, when the Lord shall come into the world, and judgment be accomplished; because at that time there is no longer any good of love, or truth of faith, but evil of falsity, and the falsity of evil, that day is therefore called a day of darkness and of thick darkness.

[6] The same is signified by the darkness over all the land from the sixth hour to the ninth, when the Lord was crucified (Matthew 27:45; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44-49). By the darkness over all the land was represented, that in the entire church there was nothing but evil and the falsity thence and the falsity and the evil thence. The three hours also signify what is full and absolute; for all the details related in the Evangelists concerning the passion of the Lord, contain in them interior things of heaven, and signify celestial Divine things, and these can be made evident only by means of the internal spiritual sense.

[7] That falsity is signified by darkness, is still further evident from the following passages.

Thus in Isaiah:

"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness" (5:20).

To put darkness for light, and light for darkness, signifies to call falsity truth, and truth falsity; that darkness denotes falsity and light truth, is clear, for good and evil are first mentioned, afterwards therefore, truth and falsity.

[8] So in John:

"And this is the judgment, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, for their works were evil" (3:19).

The Lord here calls Himself the light because He was the Divine Truth itself when in the world; therefore light signifies the Lord as to Divine Truth, and also Divine Truth from the Lord; and because darkness is opposed to light, therefore the darkness which men loved rather than the light, signifies the infernal falsity, which is the falsity of evil. That the falsity of evil is here meant by darkness, is evident from the words, for their works were evil. The falsity of evil exists from evil works or evils of the life; for as good conjoins to itself truth, so evil conjoins to itself falsity, the one is from the other.

[9] Similar things are signified by light and by darkness in the following passages in John:

"In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not" (1:4, 5).

Again:

Jesus said, "I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (8:12).

And again:

Jesus said, "Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you; for he that walketh in the darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me may not abide in darkness" (12:35, 46).

In these passages darkness signifies infernal falsity. For light of which darkness is the opposite, signifies Divine truth. Light signifies Divine Truth, because light in the heavens in its essence, is the Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord; see in the Heaven and Hell 126-140). Since the Divine Truth is the light in the heavens, it follows that the falsity of evil, which is the falsity in the hells, is darkness; it does not indeed appear as darkness to those who are in the hells, for they do see one another, but the light (lumen) by which they see is like that from ignited charcoal, and such light, when the light of heaven flows into it, becomes complete darkness. For this reason the caverns and dens in which [the infernals] are, appear, to those who are in the heavens, like gloomy caves.

[10] From these considerations it is evident why darkness signifies the falsities of evil, and why the Lord said that those who are cast into hell should be cast into outer darkness (Matthew 8:12; 22:13; 25:30).

So in David:

"The enemy persecuteth my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to sit in darkness, as the dead of the world" (Psalm 143:3).

Here, by the enemy who persecuteth his soul, is signified, in the spiritual sense, evil; therefore his being made to sit in darkness, signifies to be in falsities.

[11] So in Isaiah:

"Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us; we look for light, but, behold darkness; for brightness, but we walk in thick darkness" (59:9).

By judgment is far from us, is signified that there is no understanding of truth; neither doth justice overtake us, signifies that there is no good of life; we look for light, but, behold, darkness, signifies expectation of truth, but behold falsity; and for brightness, but we walk in thick darkness, signifies the expectation of goods by truths, but behold the life of falsity from evils. For brightness signifies the goods of truth, because light signifies truth, and truth is resplendent from good; thick darkness signifies the falsities of evil, and to walk signifies to live.

[12] So in Luke:

"But this is your hour, and the power of darkness" (22:53).

This the Lord said to the chief priests, the rulers of the temple, and the elders who took Him by means of Judas. The power to do this wickedness the Lord calls the power of darkness, because they were in the falsities of evil, in falsities concerning the Lord, and in evils against Him; by darkness is here also meant hell, because such falsities of evil are there.

[13] So again:

The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore thine eye is clear, thy whole body also shall be full of light; but if thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed, therefore, that the light which is in thee be not darkness. If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp doth give thee light" (11:34, 35, 36; Matthew 6:22, 23).

The eye here signifies the understanding, and the pure or single eye, the understanding of truth from good; but the evil eye signifies the understanding of falsity from evil; the body which is said to be either full of light or darkness, signifies the whole man. It may then be concluded that the signification of these words in their series, is, that the whole man is of such a nature as the quality of his understanding from the will. For every man is his own good and his own truth, because he is his own love or his own affection, therefore his nature is entirely such as that of his understanding from the will. For all truth is of the understanding, and all good of the will; the body being only obedience, because it is the effect from an efficient cause, and the efficient cause is the understanding from the will; the quality therefore of the one is according to the quality of the other, since every effect derives all that it has from the efficient cause. That care must be taken, lest truth once perceived in the understanding and received into the will, be turned into falsity, which is done from evil, is meant by, "Take heed, therefore, that the light which is in thee be not darkness," for falsities consequently become worse; therefore it is said in Matthew in the passage already quoted, "If, therefore, the light which is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness."

[14] Darkness also signifies the falsities of evil in the prophet Isaiah:

"Sit thou silent, and enter into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for they shall call thee no more the mistress of kingdoms" (47:5).

Here, the daughter of the Chaldeans signifies the falsification of truth, and hence darkness signifies the falsities of evil, since evil falsifies truth. The falsity of evil was also signified by the thick darkness, which was over all the land of Egypt, during three days, while the children of Israel had light in their dwellings (Exodus 10:21, 22, 23); also by the darkness in Genesis 15:12, 17, and in many other passages.

[15] It has been shown so far, that darkness, in the Word, signifies the falsities of evil; that darkness also signifies falsities not of evil, such as were the falsities of religion with the upright Gentiles, originating in ignorance of the truth [shall now be shown]. That these falsities are also called darkness, is clear from the following passages:

In Isaiah:

"The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined" (9:2).

And in Matthew:

"The people which sat in darkness saw great light; to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up" (4:16).

And in Luke:

The dayspring from on high hath appeared "to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death" (1:78, 79).

Again, in Isaiah:

"And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul then shall thy light rise in darkness, and thy thick darkness be as the noon day (58:10).

Again:

"He shall say to the bound, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves" (49:9).

Again, in the same prophet:

"And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of thick darkness and out of darkness" (29:18).

And again:

"And I will bring the blind by a way that they have not known; I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight (42:16).

And in Micah:

"When I sit in darkness, Jehovah shall be a light unto me" (7:8).

In these passages, darkness signifies the falsities of ignorance, such as formerly existed, and at this day exist, with the upright Gentiles. These falsities are altogether distinct from the falsities of evil, for the latter contain in themselves evil, because they are from evil, while the former contain in themselves good, for they have good for an end. Those therefore who are in those falsities can be instructed in truths, and also when instructed they receive truths in the heart, because the good, which is in their falsities, loves the truth, and also conjoins itself with the truth when it is heard. The case is different with the falsities of evil; these are averse to, and reject all truth, because it is truth, and does not therefore agree with evil.

[16] In the Word, darkness also signifies mere ignorance arising from the deprivation of truth; as in David (Psalm 18:29; Psalm 139:11, 12). Darkness also signifies natural light (lumen naturale), for this, in comparison with spiritual light, is like darkness; wherefore also the angels, when they look down into the natural light of man, such as is in the natural cognition of men, regard it as darkness, and the things which are in it, as in darkness; this light (lumen), is signified by the darkness mentioned in Genesis (Micah 1:2-5). And because the sense of the letter of the Word is natural, therefore this also in the Word is called a cloud, and also darkness, in comparison with the internal sense, which is the light of heaven, and is called glory.