The Old Testament
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Deuteronomy 7:9
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“Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the
faithful God, who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations
with those who love Him and keep His commandments….”
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Habakkuk 2:4
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[T]he just [man] shall live by his faith
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Psalm 16:1
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Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust.
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Psalm 19:7-8
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The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
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Psalm 119:89-90,92-93
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Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven.
Your faithfulness endures to all generations….
Unless Your law had been my delight,
I would have perished in my affliction.
I will never forget Your precepts,
For by them You have given me life.
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Isaiah 12:2
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Behold, God is my salvation,
I will trust, and not be afraid;
For Yah, the Lord, is my strength and song;
He has become my salvation.
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Isaiah 33:10
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“Now I will rise,” says the Lord; “Now I will
be exalted, Now I will lift Myself up.”
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The New Testament
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John 14:27
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“Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid”
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Matthew 5:43-44
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“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love
your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you,
do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully
use you and persecute you”
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Matthew 6:31,33
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“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we
eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’…But
seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
and all these things shall be added to you”
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Matthew 24:13
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“He who endures to the end shall be saved”
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John 16:33
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“In the world you will have tribulation;
but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
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Matthew 28:20
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“Lo, I am with you always…”
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The Heavenly Doctrines
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Joseph
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see Arcana Coelestia 3969:6
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Joseph represents the Lord’s spiritual kingdom
or the spiritual man, and also the good of faith
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Arcana Coelestia 5307:3
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Joseph came to Egypt, where first of all he served
in the house of Potiphar, the chief of the attendants, then was
held in custody, and after that was made the governor over Egypt,
so that the way might be represented in which the Lord by progressive
stages made the Human within Himself Divine, and so that all this
might be written about in a Word that would contain matters of
a Divine nature in its internal sense. This sense was intended
to serve angels primarily, whose wisdom—which is beyond understanding
or description when compared with human wisdom—is concerned
with such Divine matters. It was intended at the same time to serve
people who prefer historical to any other descriptions, in which,
as people turn such descriptions over in their minds, angels can
perceive—through an influx from the Lord—the matters
of a Divine nature
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Arcana Coelestia 6556
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“And you thought evil against me” means
that the things which have become alienated intend nothing but
evil. “God thought [to turn] it into good” means that
the Divine turns it into good. “In order to do what is in
accord with this day” means that this is in accord with order
from eternity. “To bestow life on a great people” means
that life is thereby imparted to those governed by the truths of
good “And now, do not be afraid' means that they should not
be anxious. “I will sustain you and your young children” means
that they will have life from the Divine by way of the internal,
through truth which is of the understanding and good which is of
the will. “And he consoled them” means hope. “And
spoke to their heart” means trust
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The Lord’s Divine Providence
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Arcana Coelestia 7007:4
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The Lord’s providence has in view what is eternal
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Divine Providence 332
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The operation of the Divine Providence for the salvation
of a person begins at his birth and continues right on to the end
of his life, and afterwards to eternity
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Arcana Coelestia 5264:2
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[E]verything done by God, that is, by the Lord, constitutes
His Providence
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Divine Providence 186
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[The Lord] leads a person as silently as an imperceptible
stream or favoring current bears a vessel along
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Divine Providence 187
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It is granted that a person can see the Divine Providence
in the back and not in the face; and this in a spiritual state
and not in a natural state
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Arcana Coelestia 968
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Nothing at all could harm people whom the Lord is
protecting, not even if the whole of hell were surrounding them,
both from without and from within
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Looking to What Is Good
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see Arcana Coelestia 6303
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When the Lord is with someone, He leads him and makes
provision so that all that happens, whether sad or joyful, may
bring him what is good
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Arcana Coelestia 8480:1
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Those who trust in the Lord are constantly receiving
good from Him; for whatever happens to them, whether it seems to
be advantageous or not advantageous, is nevertheless good, for
it serves as a means contributing to their eternal happiness
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Arcana Coelestia 8478:4
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Be it known that the Divine Providence is universal,
that is, in things the most minute; and that they who are in the
stream of Providence are all the time carried along toward everything
that is happy, whatever may be the appearance of the means
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Apocalypse Explained 1193:4
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[W]hen use is in the first place, the Lord, from
whom is all good, is in the first place and rules, and gives whatever
contributes to eternal life and happiness; for, as has been said,
all things of the Lord's Divine providence pertaining to man look
to what is eternal”
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When the Lord Foresees Evil
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Arcana Coelestia 7007:4
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The Lord foresees what is evil and makes provision
for what is good
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Arcana Coelestia 9296
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[I]n every present moment the Lord foresees evil,
and provides good; and this He does from the first thread of life
even to eternity
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Arcana Coelestia 9304
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[P]rovidence consists in making provision for something
and looking towards it, thus in leading towards good, and in protecting
from evil—for the Lord provides what is good but foresees
what is evil, and since He foresees what is evil He also protects
a person from it, otherwise he could not be provided with good
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Arcana Coelestia 5155
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In its dealings with evil, providence is nothing
else than the directing and steering of evil towards a milder evil,
and so far as possible towards good; but evil itself is foreseen
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Doctrine of the Lord 35
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Every person who is saved ascends into heaven, but
not of himself. He ascends by the Lord's aid. The Lord alone ascended
of Himself
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Freedom
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Divine Providence 43
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A person is continually led by the Lord in freedom,
and is also reformed and regenerated in freedom
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see Divine Providence 164:5
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Every person from early childhood is led and taught
by the Lord, but because a person’s freedom is never taken
away, he can be led and taught only to the extent of his reception
as though of himself
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Divine Providence 43
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[T]o be led by good is freedom, while to be led by
evil is enslavement; for to be led by good is to be led by the
Lord, whereas to be led by evil is to be led by the devil
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see Divine Providence 123:4
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A person cannot be conjoined with the Lord (and so
be reformed, regenerated, and saved) unless the person is permitted
to act in freedom according to reason, for it is this that makes
a person human
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see Apocalypse Explained 1174:2
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A person is led by the Lord, and he takes no step
into which and from which the Lord does not lead…. [T]he
Lord leads him as if by the hand, permitting and withholding as
far as a person is willing to follow in freedom. But if a person
looks to the Lord…he is brought by continual steps out of
hell up towards heaven and into heaven
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Divine Providence 97
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If the freedom to will evil and by justifications
to make it seemingly a matter of reason were to be taken away from
the natural person, his freedom and rationality would perish, and
with them his will and understanding, and he could not be led away
from evils and be reformed, and so be conjoined with the Lord and
live to eternity. Therefore the Lord guards the freedom in a person
as a person does the pupil of his eye
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Permissions
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Divine Providence 234
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There are now laws of permission per se or apart
from the laws of Divine providence. Rather they are the same laws.
When we say, therefore, that God permits, we do not mean that He
wills, but that for the sake of the goal, which is salvation, He
cannot prevent
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Divine Providence 251
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Without permissions a person cannot be led by the
Lord away from evil and so be reformed and saved. For if evils
were not permitted to break out, a person would not see them and
therefore would not acknowledge them, and so could not be brought
to resist them. It is on this account that evils cannot….be
prevented
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Trusting in the Lord’s Providence
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Arcana Coelestia 8478:4
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Those are in the stream of Providence who put their
trust in the Divine and attribute all things to Him; and that those
are not in the stream of Providence who trust in themselves alone
and attribute all things to themselves
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Arcana Coelestia 8455:1,2
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Peace holds within itself trust in the Lord, the
trust that He governs all things and provides all things, and that
He leads toward an end that is good. When a person believes these
things about Him he is at peace, since he fears nothing and no
anxiety about things to come disturbs him. How far a person attains
this state depends on how far he attains love to the Lord. Everything
bad, especially trust in self, takes away the state of peace…
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Arcana Coelestia 8478:3
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Those who trust in the Divine are altogether different.
Though concerned about the morrow, yet are they unconcerned, in
that they are not anxious, let alone worried, when they give thought
to the morrow. They remain even-tempered whether or not they realize
desires, and they do not grieve over loss; they are content with
their lot…. They know that for those who trust in the Divine
all things are moving toward an everlasting state of happiness,
and that no matter what happens at any time to them, it contributes
to that state
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