123. 7. It is the unceasing effort of the Lord's divine providence to unite us to himself and himself to us in order to give us the joys of eternal life; and this can happen only to the extent that our evils and their compulsions are banished. I explained in 27-45 that it is the constant effort of the Lord's divine providence to unite us to himself and himself to us, and that this union is what we call reformation and regeneration. I explained also that this is the source of our salvation. Can anyone fail to see that union with the Lord is eternal life and salvation? Everyone can see this who believes that we were originally created in the image and likeness of God (see Genesis 1:26-27) and who knows what the image and likeness of God are.

[2] If we are truly rational and use our rationality when we think and use our freedom when we try to think, can any of us believe that there are three gods equal in essence and that the divine Being or divine Essence can be divided? As for a threefold nature in one God, that is something we can conceive and understand, just as we understand the soul and the body of an angel or a person and the life that they bring forth. Further, since this threefold nature in a single Being exists only in the Lord, it follows that any union must be a union with him.

Use your rationality and think freely, and you will see this truth in its own light. First, though, admit that the Lord, heaven, and eternal life are real.

[3] Now, since God is one and since by creation we have been made in his image and likeness, and since we have come into a love for all our evils through our hellish love, its compulsions, and their pleasures, thereby destroying the image and likeness of God within us, it follows that it is the constant effort of the Lord's divine providence to unite us with himself and himself with us and thereby to make us his images. It also follows that the Lord is doing this so that he may give us the bliss of eternal life, since this is the nature of divine love.

[4] The reason he cannot make this gift, cannot make us images of himself, unless we banish sins from our outer self in apparent autonomy is that the Lord is not just divine love but divine wisdom as well; and divine love does nothing unless it stems from divine wisdom and is in accord with it. It is in accord with divine wisdom that we cannot be united to the Lord and thus reformed, regenerated, and saved unless we are allowed to act freely and rationally. This is what makes us human. Anything that is in accord with the Lord's divine wisdom is also in accord with his divine providence.

7506. 'And Jehovah will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of the Egyptians' means the difference between the forms of the truth and good of faith of those who belong to the spiritual Church and forms of the truth and good of faith [acquired from the Church] which reside with those engaged in molestation. This is clear from the meaning of 'making a distinction' as a difference; from the meaning of 'the livestock' as forms of the truth and good of faith, as above in 7502; from the representation of 'the children of Israel' as those who belong to the spiritual Church, also dealt with above, in 7500; and from the meaning of 'the livestock of the Egyptians' as forms of good and truth belonging to the Church which reside with those who engage in molestation. Regarding 'the Egyptians', that they are those who belonged to the Church and therefore had a knowledge of the truth and good of faith, but led an evil life, and are those who engage in molestation in the next life, see 7097, 7127, 7317, 7501.

[2] Let the difference between forms of the truth and good of faith with those belonging to the Church who are saved and forms of the truth and good of faith which reside with those belonging to the Church who are damned be stated briefly. Forms of the truth and good of faith which reside with those who belong to the Church and are saved are rooted in the good of charity; and since the affection characteristic of charity constitutes the truly spiritual level of things, those forms of truth and good are spiritual, flowing in from the Lord by way of heaven. For those people's interiors, which are receptive, are open to heaven. But forms of truth and good possessed by those who belong to the Church and are damned are not rooted in the good of charity, and so they are not spiritual. They do, it is true, flow in by way of heaven, but they are given a very cold and dark reception, very cold because the good of charity is lacking, and very dark because the light in which they receive them resembles the light of winter, a light which, compared with the light of heaven, is as thick darkness. These people's interiors are not open to heaven but to the world; they turn the truth and good that flow in from heaven in a worldly direction. As a consequence, too, the ideas they have about the good and truth of faith are wholly natural, indeed material ones, which when represented in the spiritual world are ugly and bear no kind of resemblance to a human being. But the ideas about the truth and good of faith of those who belong to the Church and are saved are spiritual, and although they are embodied in material images of worldly things, yet they are separate from those images, for they can be raised above them. When the ideas of these people are represented in the spiritual world they are beautiful, and take on a resemblance to a human being. Such is the difference, no matter how much alike they seem to be to outward appearances, that is, when people speak and preach about them.

[3] What causes such a difference is the kind of life a person leads. For when good reigns in a person's life, that is, good which springs from charity, it has an effect on his understanding, which is the receptacle of truth. It creates beautiful ideas about forms of the good and truth of faith. But when evil reigns in a person's life, that is, the opposite of charity, that too has an effect on his understanding. It produces ugly ideas about forms of the good and truth of faith; and such ideas find no acceptance in heaven.