The Spiritual Realms
Notes
Transcript
Handout
The goal of this series is to think Biblically about the supernatural world so that we draw closer to God through our identity in Christ and better understand the world we live in.
Much of our understanding of the spiritual realms is caught rather than taught. It is caught through our culture and is often inaccurate or incomplete.
In this series, we will strive to clarify and bring understanding to this topic by looking at what the Bible actually has to say about the spiritual realms. Even as we endeavour to gain understanding, it is important to recognize that the Bible has a certain amount of mystery concerning the spiritual world.
For us to gain more understanding, we will have to identify the terms used to talk about the supernatural world in both the OT and the NT.
What are the terms for the realms of the current supernatural world?
There are currently five spiritual realms that can be observed in Scripture.
The first realm’s terms are: the third heaven, heaven, and paradise. See Isaiah 66:1; 1 Kings 22:19-23; 2 Corinthians 12:2; Luke 23:43 for examples.
Thus says the Lord:
“Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool;
what is the house that you would build for me,
and what is the place of my rest?
And Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left; and the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, saying, ‘I will entice him.’ And the Lord said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’ Now therefore behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the Lord has declared disaster for you.”
I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows.
And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
The second realm’s terms are: the realm of the earth and the world, which includes the first and second heavens. See Genesis 3:1-5; Genesis 6:1-2; Ephesians 2:2; 6:12; Revelation 12:9 for examples.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.
in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
The third realm’s terms are: Sheol in the OT, and Hades and Abraham's Bosom in the NT. See Psalm 16:10; Hosea 13:14; Luke 16:19-26 for examples. These terms describe the place of the dead.
For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption.
I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol;
I shall redeem them from Death.
O Death, where are your plagues?
O Sheol, where is your sting?
Compassion is hidden from my eyes.
“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’
The fourth realm’s terms are: the abyss, the pit, Tartarus, prison, and Abaddon. See Job 26:6; 2 Peter 2:4; Revelation 9:1-2,11; Revelation 20:3 for examples.
Sheol is naked before God,
and Abaddon has no covering.
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;
And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft.
They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.
and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.
The fifth realm’s terms are: Hell, Gehenna, outer darkness, eternal fire, utter darkness, and the Lake of Fire. See Matthew 5:29-30; 8:12; Jude 7; 13; Revelation 20:10; 21:8 for examples.
If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.
and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
What are the terms for the realms of the future supernatural world?
There are three future spiritual realms.
The first realm's term is the New Heaven. See Revelation 21:1 for an example.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
The second realm's terms are: paradise, the New Earth, and the New Jerusalem. See Revelation 2:7; 21:1,10 for examples.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,
The third realm’s terms are: Hell, Gehenna, outer darkness, eternal fire, utter darkness, the Lake of Fire, and the second death. See Matthew 5:29-30; 8:12; Jude 7; 13; Revelation 20:10; 21:8 for examples.
If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.
and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
In this brief overview, we can already see how, in our cultural context, we reduce these terms and thus lose understanding of the supernatural realms.
When we are ignorant of the truth, we cannot apply it. This causes us, as children of God, to engage poorly in the spiritual world in which we live.
We have barely begun to go through the material, and already we have three misconceptions that our culture has given us concerning the Spiritual Realm.
The first misconception is the idea that the current heaven is a perfect place. The current heaven is a great place because God is there, but it is not a perfect one, as we saw in 1 Kings 22:19-20. In fact, sin began in the current heaven (Isaiah 14:12-15). More on that later. The truth is, the future heaven to come will be a perfect place. Come, Lord Jesus, come!
The second misconception is that Satan's domain is hell. We see the truth from the Scriptures that the realms Satan has dominion over are the world and Sheol / Hades. Hell is the final place of judgement for the devil and his angels, and all those who do not believe. It is the place of God’s wrath for all eternity, not Satan’s domain.
The third misconception is that the supernatural and the natural can be neatly categorized. This misconception has us asking the question, “Is this spiritual or natural?” The truth is, it is both, because we are spiritually embodied beings, and the realities of both affect us.
God has called us by name to be his children and to live the gospel on the realm of earth, bringing his sacred presence wherever we go.
Go in the armor of God that he has given you in Christ so that you can stand in this evil day.
