Thank you very much for your good letter and your present (silver spoon) for little Kristian. He also received a lovely little suit and a nice dog from Berglioth and Father and Mother. He got them all on the morning of the 18th. You can imagine the fun he had seeing his reflection in the shiny buttons. And then he received a postcard from Selma, so he was really showered with gifts on his first birthday.

Thank you for contradicting me when you don’t agree, because in this way we are better able to grasp the concept. I have thought much about what you wrote in order to be able to present the concept more clearly. With regards to the word “matter”: as you well know, our language is adapted to this world. If we would speak about heavenly things, then we can only do so in the language we have learned. But we interpret spiritual things with spiritual words, and we don’t use words that human wisdom teaches us but words that the Holy Spirit teaches us. Now spiritually speaking, I am of the opinion that “matter” and “material things” are “something” as opposed to “nothing,” even though matter can be abstract: e.g., love, righteousness, wisdom, knowledge, etc. Therefore, we should devote our heart to understanding such things so we can become wise, because if it’s difficult for us to understand prophetic speech, how much harder is it to understand a message in tongues and writing. Now I hope we agree on these things, so that just as we think about earthly “matter,” so we can also think about heavenly “matter” without automatically thinking about mountains, trees, and tangible objects.

The next thing you spoke about was of a far more difficult nature than “matter,” although everything is straightforward enough. You say that love came before wisdom, and that God had such love that He used wisdom as a means of pouring it out. This sounds very reasonable, and it is difficult to contradict, although it can be contradicted.

Now the point is this: nothing is nothing. Nothing can neither be loved nor hated, and love and hatred mean nothing to “nothing.” Before anything was created, God was to nothing as nothing was to God. God had eternally possessed love, righteousness, truth, goodness, and all good attributes, but these attributes were as nothing to “nothing.” They were bound up in themselves and could not be poured out over nothing. Therefore, if we are going to ask what is the primary quality in God, we must ask which quality is the first to work toward producing something. Wisdom is saturated with love, so love is not outside of wisdom but within it. If you take love out of wisdom, all you have left is knowledge. Love does not employ wisdom; rather, wisdom is the regulator of love. Love is a single component, whereas wisdom contains all the components and thus is life itself. It’s possible for a mother to love her child in such a way that she overlooks their faults, to the child’s detriment. But a mother who has wisdom disciplines her child at the right time and in the right way.

It was not love for what did not exist that caused God to create something, because God cannot love nothing. If He had such a great desire to give expression to love that He made use of wisdom, as you said, to produce something, then it would seem that He did so in order to satisfy a desire in Himself. But it was not out of love for what did not exist. On this you must surely agree.

So we see that, for the creation, wisdom is the first work until the creation came into being, because the creation could not understand or comprehend love before it was created. Neither do you love something that you haven’t seen or known, despite the fact that you possess love, which through the Holy Spirit is poured out in your heart. I know now that love existed for the creation, but I didn’t know that before I existed, because then love and hatred were both as nothing, and things that existed were as nothing to me, because I was nothing. But when wisdom formed me, then love was kindled. Therefore, wisdom is the mother of beautiful love. Read Sirach, Chapter 24, verse 21, where he tells about the law of wisdom and what he says about wisdom: “I am the mother of beautiful love, of fear, of knowledge, and of holy hope . . . .” It was not without insight that he said this.

You said that love came before creation; the same applies to wisdom, righteousness, and truth. But, as mentioned, these things did not exist for “nothing,” where there was nothing. Love first became active when wisdom had accomplished its work. Wisdom says in Prov. 8:7, “For my mouth will speak truth; wickedness is an abomination to my lips.”

Prov. 8:23-25: “I have been established from everlasting, from the beginning, before there was ever an earth. When there were no depths I (wisdom) was brought forth, when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I was brought forth.” Verse 34: “Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.”

We have to make a clear distinction between wisdom and knowledge. Revelation in the knowledge of God is given to each one for his profit. The knowledge of God is obtained when we recognize it; when we value and esteem it, that produces love for it; and love, in turn, causes us to keep His commandments, and thus we become wise.

God so loved the world that He gave His Son, etc. The love of God goes out to the whole world, drawing all men to Christ (God’s wisdom). No one can come to the Son unless the Father draws him. The Father’s drawing to the Son takes place by a loving conviction of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. When the Son has laid hold of us, we can—by the Son—come to the Father, for no one comes to the Father except by the Son. Love draws us to wisdom, because apart from wisdom, love can achieve nothing; for God loves none—except those who cling to wisdom. No one has known the eternal God except the Son and the one to whom the Son reveals Him. The way through the Son is an education in wisdom; it is the way of chastisement and tribulation. A whole bunch of people are “liberated” from this way and this wonderful schooling. They are rejoicing that Christ has suffered everything and that now they are free to live according to the flesh to their heart’s content. At a meeting on Sunday evening, I heard someone rejoicing over the fact that Lot’s wife became a glorious pillar of salt. Have you ever heard anything so preposterous? The problem is that those who listen to them do not have any discernment. All people are saved, they say, so conversion is not needed. At the same meeting I gave my testimony, but they expressed their disapproval of me by muttering behind my back; those who spoke afterwards asserted that I was in darkness and sin. So you understand that I am used to all sorts of contradiction, and so I can’t exactly boast about having many on my side in this world. However, God’s peace is in me, and it keeps me from all Satan’s wiles and saves me from the hands of my opposers, and those who rejoice over their freedom in the flesh shall be put to shame.

Greet those who are at home, and write soon—“more about this,” as you said.

Your brother,

Kristian and Pauline send their many thanks for the nice present. I sent Father’s book to you this afternoon. Read it. Believe me, there is a lot to learn from it. The book is old and outdated, but that doesn’t matter.