283. This means that people within the church who do not acknowledge the Lord and his divine nature cannot be joined to God, and therefore their portion will not be among angels in heaven. You see, no one can be joined to God except by the Lord and in the Lord.
The Lord teaches in John that no one can be joined to God except by the Lord:
No one has ever seen God. The only-begotten Son, who is close to the Father's heart, has made him visible. (John 1:18)
Again,
You have never heard the Father's voice or seen what he looks like. (John 5:37)
Again,
No one knows the Father except the Son, and those to whom the Son wills to reveal him. (Matthew 11:27)
And again,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)
The reason no one can be joined to God except in the Lord is that the Father is in him and they are one, as he teaches us, again in John:
If you know me you also know my Father. Those who see me see the Father. Philip, do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. (John 14:7-11)
And again,
The Father and I are one. . . . [Believe in my works,] so that you may know and believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. (John 10:30, 38)
