“The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.” (Matthew 13:39)
We often think about the Lord and “the devil” in opposition, fighting a spiritual war over our souls. This is not a wrong analogy for thinking about spiritual struggles, but it is importnat to remember that it’s only a human point of view. What power does Satan really have? Only the power to deceive and persuade, and only that because it is permitted by the Lord for the sake of human freedom.
Of course, the writings for the New Church teach us that there is no one person who is The Devil or Satan, no immortal person with the power to oppose the Lord’s will. Instead, it is the Lord who governs hell just like He governs heaven and all of creation. This government we call Divine Providence because the Lord provides everything we have and everything we need to reach heaven. And there is no such thing as infernal Providence. The hells are not able to influence the order of things; they cannot cause bad things to happen to people. This becomes obvious when we realize that the hells are populated not by immortal demons, but by human beings who opposed the Lord’s will while they lived in the world. They have no more power in hell than they did here.
The influence they do have, which is permitted by the Lord’s government, is to whisper lies in an attempt to deceive and persuade us to also oppose the Lord’s will. This was how the serpent was able to get the woman to eat of the forbidden tree. And this was how the evil man was able to get tares to grow in the wheat. Evil spirits cannot cause seeds to sprout or trees to bear fruit; they can only use tricks and lies to convince us to behave selfishly. The devil cannot make anyone do anything. The Lord ensures that we always have the ability to rationally choose to do what is good and ignore the lies.
To see that this is true, read Genesis 3:1-13; Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43; and Heaven and Hell 544.
(This is a synopsis of the sermon preached by the Rev. Amos Glenn at Pittsburgh New Church at 11:00 am on Sunday, August 27, 2006. (Click here to listen to the complete sermon.)
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