Unseen: The Visible and Invisible World
Notes
Transcript
Unseen: The Visible and Invisible Worlds
Unseen: The Visible and Invisible Worlds
Our world view controls how we interpret the world. We do it without acknowledging as such. We begin developing our world view at an early age. Christians are taught to view the world through the lenses of the scriptures, its called a biblical worldview. In order for us to do this we rely heavily on the Bible obviously, but we also depend upon those who have dedicated their life to studying the bible. We all have our favorite teachers we listen to and even read their books, often times accepting their views as solid. Often times they are, but even some of the best scholars avoid difficult scriptures or interpret them incorrectly because they fail to view the bible from the context in which it was written and the world view of the ones who wrote it.
Michael Heiser, in his book “The Unseen Realm” states that there are three errors we make when study scripture and I would agree with him.
1) We have been trained to think that the history of Christianity is the true context of the Bible.
Context=the circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood and assessed.
“the proper context for interpreting the Bible is not Augustine or any other church father…the reformation or the puritans. It is not evangelicalism in any of its flavors.”
The proper context for interpreting the Bible is context of the biblical writers. Who wrote it? What did they believe? How did they view the world?
2) We’ve been desensitized to the vitality and theological importance of the unseen world.
We say we believe in the supernatural but think like and live like skeptics. It is uncomfortable. It is not rational.
We have denominations that over emphasize “an experience” and throw out sound biblical teaching.
3) We assume that alot of things in Bible are too odd or peripheral to matter.
Here are some for you to look up and scratch your head. Genesis 6:1-4; Job 1-2; Daniel chapter 7. Theres more, but those will keep you busy for awhile.
In order for us to win our spiritual battles we have to understand that we are fighting against an enemy we cannot see who lives in a world we cannot see and have the ability to enter ours.
Let’s read
4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
That “g”od of this world is also known as the devil, satan, the serpent, the prince of power of the air.. One of his jobs is to blind unbelievers from the truth of the gospel.
ch. 14:30; 2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 2:2; 6:12; [Matt. 13:19; Luke 4:6; 1 John 4:4; 5:19]
Jesus refers to him in Jn 14.30 as the ruler of this world.
30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me,
Before we became followers of Jesus we were followers of the “prince of the power of the air”
2 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—
After Jesus, we have the Holy Spirit living in us and HE is greater than “the one in the world”
4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
It is very apparent from scripture there is an unseen enemy that is present in ours. In order to fight this enemy we need a firm foundation. Mark Driscoll, author of Win Your War calls this foundation the four legs of a biblical worldview.
Four Legs of a Biblical Worldview
Four Legs of a Biblical Worldview
1. The Unseen Realm
1. The Unseen Realm
You cannot believe God’s word and understand God’s world unless you embrace the supernatural. From creation to the resurrection, supernatural things occur all throughout scripture and are still taking place today.
Everyone is both a physical being with a body that is seen and a spiritual being with a soul that is unseen.
We cannot be concerned with worldly scholarship that deals only in rationalism (things i can only see or proven scientifically), naturalism (all we have is material, nothing spiritual) and skepticism (we are skeptics of anything spiritual which leads to atheism)
Unfortunately this has caused some writers of study bibles to offer other explanations when talking about miracles in the Bible!
Angels, demons, healing, and prophecy are real
2. Binary Thinking
2. Binary Thinking
Christians think in terms of black and white. Right and wrong. Non-christians think in terms of shades of gray. Biblical thinking is binary thinking.
The bible is very categorical: Satan and God, demons and angels, sin and holiness, lies and truth, wolves and sheep, non-christians and christians, damnation and salvation, hell and heaven.
God creates and Satan counterfeits, corrupts and co-opts what God creates.
obedience vs rebellion
truth vs lies
spirit filled vs demon-possessed
forgiveness vs bitterness
worship vs idolatry
peace vs fear
life vs death
church vs world
kingdom vs hell
3. Group Guilt
3. Group Guilt
The bible teaches us that God holds spirits and humans responsible for their behavior. Look at Genesis 3.
Satan tempts Eve, she gives in and takes fruit to Adam, he eats as well.
God speaks to man first, then to the woman and then to the devil. This is the order of responsibility.
Man failed to lovingly lead and protect his family. Men we must accept this role in our families. Adam blames the woman and God trying to play the victim.
12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”
2. She sinned and failed to obey God’s command. She blames the devil.
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
3. God judges the devil for his role in the fall.
14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
Who is responsible for the first sin? The man? The woman? or the devil? The answer is yes. That is group guilt, when numerous people participate in a sin they are all guilty for the role they played.
4. Heaven down or hell up
4. Heaven down or hell up
In this series we will explore the fact there was a war in heaven that came to the earth (Rev 12). Jesus came to earth and will come again, this time bringing his kingdom with him. Everyday we are living amidst a great battle. Our decisions either invite heaven down or hell up into our lives.
When we confess Jesus is Lord. Lord of our salvation, Lord in our struggles, Lord in our successes, Lord in our failures, Lord in our health (sickness and health) we are pulling heaven down to earth saving us daily.
10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
In James 3:13-17 Jesus’ half brother uses binary thinking to urge Christians not to pull hell up into their lives.
13 If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom.
14 But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying.
15 For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic.
16 For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.
17 But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere.
Paul instructs us to
2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
In order to be successful in our daily battles we must “set” our minds on the kingdom above. This will put in motion God’s will in your life. Let us not pull hell up by practicing things we know please the enemy, like bitterness, unforgivness, and selfishness.
Our worldview must be seen in the context of the Bible. Christians foundational beliefs are constructed around supernatural events. The bible describes a world that we see and a spiritual realm we do not see. In the unseen realm God has other family members that he has created. The spiritual beings interact with our world. Satan was kicked out of heaven because of his rebellion and is now on earth operating as an agent of discourse. His mission, to blind unbelievers and sow discourse among christians in any way possible.
We must understand this unseen realm is real.
We have to understand the importance of binary thinking. Truth vs lies, light vs darkness.
The fall of man did occur and all three participants were judged. As a result, all humankind are born into sin and need a savior.
As Christians we can pull heaven down into our lives to experience the will of God or we can pull hell up, adding to chaos the devil has been stirring up for ages.
Let us be a church that engages the enemy with the proper state of mind.
Jesus has the victory, now let us learn how to strategically win on the battlegrounds in our homes, our jobs, our world we come in contact with everyday.