The doctrines of men took away the peace and the comfort that Jesus had brought to earth, because the men could derive more power and profit from fear. But now the Lord has come again in the spiritual sense of the Word to open and reveal the secrets of heaven, to restore the sense of peace and comfort. Our subject for this sermon, and the two which will follow it, is the orderly process that the Lord has provided for us to make our transition from this world to the next. We are all created for heaven, not this world. Just as the human body is prepared for life in the natural world by life in the mother's womb, so the human soul is prepared for life in the spiritual world by a period of gestation in the natural world.
Natural birth requires labor and pain, but once born no one wishes to return to the womb.
Spiritual birth also requires labor and pain, but once we have passed through the process, we will have no desire to return to this world of illusion and fantasy. Before we go any further in this treatment we will take a moment to define several important terms. It is always used to refer to that part of the spiritual world which lies between heaven and hell and which is the place where all people go first when their natural bodies die. In character and appearance, it is very much like this world. Its most general meaning is to refer to anyone living in the spiritual world.