102. The Lord loves people and wills to dwell with them, but he cannot love them and dwell with them unless He is received and loved in return. This and nothing else brings about conjunction. It was for this reason that the Lord gave mankind freedom and reason — the freedom to think and will as though of oneself, and the reason to do so rationally. It is impossible to love someone and be conjoined with him without any reciprocity on his part, and neither is it possible to enter into someone and dwell with him without any receptivity in him.
Since the receptivity and reciprocity in a person come from the Lord, therefore the Lord says,
Abide in Me, and I in you. (John 15:4)
He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit. (John 15:5)
At that day you will know that...you (are) in Me, and I in you. (John 14:20)
That the Lord is present in the truths and goods that a person receives and has in him is something He also teaches:
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you.... If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love.... (John 15:7, 10)
He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And...I will love him...and make (My) abode with him. (John 14:21, 23) Thus the Lord dwells in what is from Him in a person, and the person dwells in what He has from the Lord, thus dwelling in the Lord.
