Table of contents:
Why I Write This Today
God is real. Evidence of this is Creation.
He is present in nature and every aspect of the universe.
How do we experience this?
“Be still and know that I am God.”
We step into His reality by first becoming still.
Then, we seek Him, asking Him to reveal Himself.
He reveals Himself in His Word.
The Bible brings Him to us.
As we read, the Holy Spirit brings Jesus into our life.
He brings grace and truth into our lives.
We can begin this alone, obeying Jesus’ words, “Only Believe.”
Worship works. It is wonderful alone or with other believers.
Be still today and open your heart to receive Him.
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Our reality is what we experience every day.
The dictionary defines it like this:
1: the quality or state of being real
2: a (1): a real event, entity, or state of affairs, his dream became a reality
(2): the totality of real things and events, trying to escape from reality
b: something that is neither derivative nor dependent but exists necessarily
Human Reality
Our reality is the product of our senses, what we see, hear, feel, taste, and smell. Although the concept is abstract, its experience is concrete as we travel through life day by day. It has a beginning and an end.
Albert Einstein ( 1879–1955) is reported to have said,
“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”
Nevertheless, he enjoyed an ice cream cone once in a while!
Reality changes continuously. It is temporal and spatial. It is material, measurable, quantifiable, and finite. It is visible.
God’s reality
What is God’s reality? It is Big, Better, and full of love and truth.
Jesus* (4BC-30AD) tells us:
God is a Spirit, and they who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. – John* (5-100) 4:24
* indicates this person has a short bio in my book SPIRITUAL LIVES.
God’s reality is not bound by time and space. It has no beginning and no end.
Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, – St. Paul*(5-67) 2 Timothy 1:9
In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; – St. Paul* Titus 1:2
St. Paul* explains an essential difference between God’s reality and ours;
While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. – 2 Corinthians 4:18
God’s reality is not only invisible. It is eternal, holy, true, and glorious.
There, God rules as King and holds all wisdom and honor.
Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. 1 Corinthians_2:9
All of this is far beyond our ken, but amazingly, God has prepared to share His reality with us:
But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 1 Timothy 1:17
Of course, in our natural state, guided by our own will, and deceived by sin, we cannot take hold of these wonderful realities:
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. – 1 Corinthians 2:14
Our own reality is uncertain in all things but death and after that, judgment. How wonderful is the alternative that God has planned for us!
For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. – Romans 8:6
What is the dynamic behind all of this? How will it play out?
God has it all covered. He chose us to be His:
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: – Ephesians 1:4
This choice was complete before we existed naturally. In God’s reality, we occupy a place without the material elements that we use to define our natural reality!
Who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, – 2 Timothy 1:9
Yes, Jesus* was working on this for us before He created the world:
And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. – John 17:5
From His reality, the Son played the key role in structuring the world in which our reality exists:
For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. – St. Paul* in Colossians 1:16-17
And God’s reality will accomplish the ultimate restoration of all things for us, His people when the plan of redemption is complete:
Ultimate reality is the persons of the Godhead in relationship, dealing with each other concerning how their majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness and truth shall be manifest in a redeemed people. – John Piper (1946 --)
Our reality vs God’s Reality
The gap between them is enormous. Our reality is based upon our perception and senses. It is temporal, spatial, and changing.
God’s reality is based upon His character of holiness, love, and truth. It is eternal, infinite, and transcends time and space being outside of both.
Can that gap be bridged? Not from our reality, though many of our best minds have tried. But God, two of my favorite words, has provided three answers.
His Word is the #1 bridge between God’s reality and ours
God’s word is perfect and unchanging:
For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. – Psalm 119:89
In Genesis 1 we see that God “said” 9 times, and each time “it was so.”
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. – Genesis 1:3
After He spoke the world into existence, God continued to speak. At first, He spoke directly to Adam* (4004-3073BC) & Eve* (4004-?) and their children. Later He spoke to prophets who wrote His words down in the Bible.
That work began with Moses*(1571-1451BC) in 1500 BC and continued through the apostle John* (5-100)in 70 AD. It is with us today teaching God’s reality.
Peter (1BC-67AD)tells us that it is through His word that we come to see God’s reality:
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. – 1 Peter 1:23-25
God’s word is the first thing that has come from His reality to ours, crossing the unbridgeable gap from eternity to our lives.
His Son is bridge #2 between God’s Reality and ours
The second connection God has given us from His reality to ours is His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus came Himself, born of Mary* (18BC?-41AD) to deliver the most important words we have ever heard:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. – Jesus in John 3:16
Jesus gave His life on the cross of Calvary and washed our sins away with His precious blood, Praise God! He conquered death Himself 3 days later, winning eternal life for each of us.
40 days later, He ascended into heaven, and His disciples were afraid that they were being left alone! But Jesus* took care of that, for them and for us.
The Holy Spirit is bridge # 3 between God’s Reality and ours
He baptized them all in the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost:
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. – John 14:16-17
That day the church was born and is with us today. We find Him in our local church, where we worship and experience His presence and power.
His is the work of convicting us of sin, leading us to repentance, and growing His Church.
But there is much more. He does this through us,
“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” – John 7:37-38
And that living water shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4:14)
And that everlasting life in us flows through to others, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, HALLELUJAH!!!
What is the eternal outcome?
Death is swallowed up in victory. Jesus returns for us and takes us to the place He has been preparing for us that we can be with Him forever. The Word of God tells us this:
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb
through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.
They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. – Revelation 22:1-5
This is our future, brothers and sisters in Christ, to be with Him forever, the end of our reality and the beginning of His. God’s Word leaves us with Jesus’ last words in Revelation:
Surely, I come quickly.
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