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.

9832. 'And they shall take the gold' means the good reigning universally. This is clear from the meaning of 'gold' as the good of love, dealt with in 113, 1551, 1552, 5658, 6914, 6917, 9490, 9510. Its reigning universally is meant by the fact that the gold was interwoven everywhere in the ephod, as is clear from what is stated later on in this book,

They beat out ¹ the plates of gold and cut them up into threads, to work in among the violet, and in among the purple, and in among the twice-dyed scarlet, and in among the fine linen. Exodus 39:3.

'Reigning universally' describes that which is dominant and so is present in each individual part, see 5949, 6159, 7648, 8067, 8853-8858, 8865. The reason why the gold was interwoven everywhere was that Aaron's garments represented the spiritual heaven, 9814, and in that heaven good holds sway, as it also does in the remaining heavens. In the inmost heaven it is the good of love to the Lord, in the middle one the good of charity towards the neighbour, and in the lowest the good of faith. The truth however which belongs to faith leads the way to good, and afterwards is brought forth from it. From this it is evident that a person is not in heaven until good is present within him. If merely the knowledge of truths, called the truths of faith, is present in a person he does no more than stand in front of the door; or if, knowing those truths, he is looking towards good he goes through into the porch. But if, in knowing those truths, he is not looking towards good he cannot see heaven, not even from a long way off. The reason for saying that a person is not in heaven until good is present within him is that a person must have heaven within him while in the world if he is to enter it after death. For heaven exists within people; and it is granted in mercy to those who during their life in the world allow themselves to be led by means of the truths of faith into charity towards the neighbour and into love to the Lord, that is, into good. People are not in heaven until they have come into that state in which the Lord leads them by means of good, see 8516, 8539, 8722, 8772, 9139. By good is meant the good of life; and the good of life consists in the performance of what is good because there is a will for what is good, and a will for what is good springs from love; for what a person loves, he wills.

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