the field’s harvest, from the earth’s fruit, and from animals; and clothing
from the same sources? Among the marvels of the universe is that those
lowly insects called silkworms clothe with silk and magnificently adorn
both women and men from queens and kings down to maids and but-
lers. And those lowly insects called bees supply wax for the lamps that
give churches and royal courts their splendor. These and many other
things are obvious proof that everything occurring in nature is produced
by God himself through the spiritual world.”
[ 10 ] To that statement I should add that in the spiritual world I have
had a chance to observe people who used phenomena visible in the phys-
ical world to support a belief in nature even to the point that they
became atheists. In spiritual light it became apparent that their intellect
was open at the bottom but closed at the top, because they had looked
downward toward the earth in their thought rather than upward to
heaven. Just above the lowest level of their intellect, the sensory level, I
saw a kind of covering that was flickering with hellish fire. In some it was
as black as soot; in others, gray like a corpse.
Everyone needs to beware of affirming a belief in nature. Affirm a
belief in God instead. There is no shortage of support for it.13 6. If there were not one God the universe could not have been created or
maintained.We can infer the oneness of God from the creation of the
universe, because the universe is a work connected together as one thing
from beginning to end, all dependent on one God as the body depends
on its soul. The universe was designed to allow God to be omnipresent,
keep every detail of it under his supervision, and maintain it perpetu-
ally as one entity, that is, preserve it. This is why Jehovah God says he is
“the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the
Omega” (see Isaiah 44 : 6 ; Revelation 1 : 8 , 17 ); and why he says elsewhere
that he makes all things, stretches out the heavens, and extends the
earth by himself (see Isaiah 44 : 24 ).
This vast system called the universe is a work connected as one thing
from beginning to end because God had a single purpose in creating it:
an angelic heaven populated by the human race. All the things that make
up the world are means of fulfilling that purpose, because someone who
intends an end result also intends the means to achieve it.
[ 2 ] If we view this world as a work containing the means of fulfilling
the aforementioned purpose, we can see the created universe as a work
connected together into one thing; and see that this world is a complex
structure of useful functions arranged and prioritized for the sake of the
human race, the source of the angelic heaven.