us to do our part of the work is clear from the following words: “Make
yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why should you die, O house of
Israel?” [Ezekiel 18 : 31 ].
We read that when Jesus was baptized the heavens opened and John 144
saw the Holy Spirit coming down like a dove (Matthew 3 : 16 ; Mark 1 : 10 ;
Luke 3 : 22 ; John 1 : 32 , 33 ). This happened because baptism means regener-
ation and purification, and so does a dove.
Surely anyone can see that that dove was not the Holy Spirit and that
the Holy Spirit was not in the dove. In heaven doves appear quite often.
Every time they appear, the angels know that they correspond to feelings
and thoughts in other angels nearby about regeneration and purification.
As soon as the angels go to those other angels and start a conversation on
a different subject than the one being pondered when the doves appeared,
the doves immediately vanish.
The situation is similar with many things the prophets saw. John, for
example, saw a lamb on Mount Zion (Revelation 14 : 1 and elsewhere).
Surely everyone realizes that the Lord was not that lamb and was not in
that lamb. The lamb was instead a representation of the Lord’s inno-
cence. This highlights the error of those who deduce the existence of
three persons in the Trinity from the dove seen above the Lord when he
was baptized and the voice heard from heaven saying, “This is my
beloved Son” [Matthew 3 : 16 , 17 ].
The Lord uses faith and goodwill to regenerate us. This is the mean-
ing of John the Baptist’s saying, “I baptize you for repentance with water,
but the one who is coming after me will baptize you with the Holy Spirit
and with fire” (Matthew 3 : 11 ; Mark 1 : 8 ; Luke 3 : 16 ). Baptizing with the
Holy Spirit and with fire means regenerating through the divine truth
that is in faith and the divine goodness that is in goodwill. The following
words of the Lord also mean the same thing: “Unless you have been born
of water and spirit you cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3 : 5 ).
“Water” in this passage, and elsewhere in the Word, means truth in our
earthly or outer self, while “spirit” means truth connected with goodness
in our spiritual or inner self.
Now, the Lord is absolute divine truth from divine goodness—this is 145
his very essence. We all do what we do because of our essence. It is clear
then that the Lord constantly tries (and cannot help trying) to implant
truth and goodness, or faith and goodwill, in everyone.
Many things in the world could be used to illustrate this [connec-
tion between essence and action]. For one thing, we all will and think,
and as much as possible speak and act, on the basis of our essence.
§145 the holy spirit & divine action 207