As mentioned, all humans after this life pass on into the spirit world and become subject to the law of compensation. It is the law of cause and effect – all wrong actions and law-breaking bring about penalties that will have to be paid. Jesus and others in the Bible referred to this process on numerous occasions as judgment.
Matthew 12:36 – But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.
In TGRABJ/2/56 (paraphrased), we find the same in different words. No one can save themselves by their own efforts from the operation of the law of compensation. This law of cause and effect operates automatically and relentlessly. Every time we sin – break any of the laws of conduct summed up by loving God and loving neighbor – there is a penalty. This penalty may not come immediately or even in this life, but ultimately will have to be paid.
As these penalties are paid, soul purification occurs and the person progresses nearer and nearer to a time and condition when the law of compensation will cease to operate on them. The purer their soul becomes, the more happiness they will experience. However, such payment and resultant soul purification may require long years of suffering. For every wrong deed, and for not doing what should have been done, each person will have to answer the law.
Other Bible passages refer to our human predicament that brings judgment or penalties of the law of compensation as curse or imprisonment:
Galatians 3:10, 22; 4:3 – All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law’ [because as soon as the law is broken, penalty ensues]. … The Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin [of which we can free ourselves only through a long period of expiation.]
Yet, there is a hope. Again, in TGRABJ/2/56, we are told that while the penalties of the law of compensation cannot be avoided under ordinary circumstances, there is one exception: This is “the redemption of a man’s soul by the Love of the Father entering into it, and making it at-one with His own, and like His in all the qualities that partake of the divine essence.”
The chapters in Part II deal with the various aspects of this redemption / justification through the Father’s Divine Love, how it works in this life, and what part each person has to play.
Those on the Divine Love journey are in the process of development which can be compared to gestation – the prenatal development in the womb. Physically, the unborn embryo / fetus is already a child of its parents. In about nine months, it will be ready to be born into a very different environment, but its growth and development will continue.
On the spiritual level, we are at this stage true children of God and going, with our cooperation and effort, through a process involving justification, purification and transformation, and indeed re-creation, until our soul development reaches such level that we will be born into the Celestial Kingdom of God.
We learn in TGRABJ/2/56 (paraphrased) that there is no immediate transformation upon the Divine Love entering the soul of a sinner. The person doesn’t straight away become a saint or all at once get rid of their evil nature, for such an instantaneous cleansing would not serve the purpose for which the work of the redemptive Love is intended. Some, however, seem to be able to receive more of this Love in a short time than others, and so their redemption is more quickly accomplished.
While most churches teach that the blood of Jesus cleanses from all sin, and that it happens in the twinkling of an eye, this is not true. Jesus’ blood was spilled centuries ago, and having become a part of other elements of the natural world, it cannot save anyone. Jesus himself never taught that his blood could save or that the shedding of his blood was in any sense the means of saving a soul. Sadly, this prevalent, but untrue teaching takes people’s attention away from the one vital principle that is necessary for their salvation. This is the New Birth, which means the flowing into a person's soul and becoming a part of it, the Divine Love of the Father. This does not happen because of Jesus’ bloody sacrifice, said to appease the wrath and meet the requirements of the Father, or because of any vicarious suffering of Jesus. Rather, it is the Father’s gift to whomever asks for it.
Every soul on the Divine Love path becomes sinless to the degree that it has received the Father’s Love. This substance of God merges with our soul, progressively transforming it into a sinless state (“incorruptible”, as 1 Peter 1:23 is sometimes translated; also “imperishable” – NIV – as we shall see later). This process will continue until the soul is so replete with the Divine Love that it experiences a complete transformation. From then on, we will be fully born children of God, and upon passing into the spirit world, glorified inhabitants of the Celestial Kingdom. We will resemble Jesus in his glorified state – though with lesser brightness, for he is the most advanced spirit in the Divine Love and will always have pre-eminence. As we read in John 1:13, we will become “children born not of natural descent ..., but born of God.”
The next ten chapters deal with this redemption process and its stages of development, which are not necessarily linear. This spiritual gestation includes justification; becoming true children of God; receiving immortality; being transformed into a new and loving being; experiencing a change of desires; growing in spiritual virtues and understanding; increasing in faith; and being born of water and the Spirit.