| Title:
3. The Reality of
the Spirit World
A
brief introductory consideration of the reality of a world beyond the
material
Introduction
This page is part of a series of pages on the world of the
spirit.
This
page simply uses the evidence of the Bible to show the reality of the
spirit world.
1.
Materialism
Many
people in our society today live life as if it consists of only the
material world, i.e. that which you can touch, feel and measure, but
is that all there is?
Think
of the increasing number of groups of people who seem to believe in
something more than just material things: Christians, Eastern Religions,
spiritists who “call up the spirits”, New Age people who speak of “life
forces” and “channelling”, witches, people who believe in horoscopes,
transcendental meditation etc.
2.
A “Spirit” World
Consider:
•
Many modern films dwell on the “supernatural”.
•
The earliest philosophers considered an alternative to a
purely material world.
•
The Greeks and Romans and primitive tribes have
always had their “gods”.
•
The world religions have always claimed an alternative.
It
seems there is built into man an inner expectation of another dimension
where there exists “God”.
The
Bible reveals to us a world that is at least two dimensional - material
and spiritual.
By
way of introduction consider the following example:
2
Kings 6:9-11
Look up these verses for the story of Elisha who kept
helping the king of Israel.
•
the man of God was Elisha the prophet
•
to call him a prophet immediately brings in the supernatural
•
a prophet was one who heard from God
•
Elisha warned the king of Israel every time the king of Aram came to
invade and
plunder their land
•
this clearly upset the king of Aram
2
Kings 6:13-16
On one occasion, Elisha and his servant were
i nthe city of Dotham. The city became surrounded by the enemy, which
naturally frightened the servant. Elisha has other ideas!
•
the king of Aram finds out it is Elisha so goes to get him
•
his forces surround the city and the sight frightens Elisha's servant
•
but Elisha is a prophet and they move in the spiritual dimension as
well
2
Kings 6:17 Elisha prays and asks God to open the eyes
of his servant to see the reality of the situation!
•
as Elisha prayed, the servant saw the whole picture!
•
not only was there a physical army there, but there was also a heavenly
army there who,
we see as we read on, were probably used by God to strike the physical
army
with blindness.
3.
Other “Spiritual” Realities
Both
the Old and New Testaments are full of “spiritual happenings” :
•
Angels appeared around Jesus' birth ( Luke 1:11-22 , 26-38 , 2:8-15
)
•
Jesus ministry was full of supernatural happenings, e.g.
•
healing sick, raising dead etc. ( Matt 11:4,5 )
•
calming a storm ( Matt 8:23-27 )
•
Moses & Elijah appearing ( Matt 17:1-3 )
•
casting out demons (e.g. Mark 1:23-27 )
•
resisting Satan ( Matt 4:1-11 )
•
Jesus spoke about having come from “heaven” ( John 6:33,35,38,41,51
)
•
Jesus followers carried on performing miracles, e.g. Acts 8:5-8
4.
Conclusions?
The Bible says "God is spirit" (John 4:24) and in literally
hundreds of other places the Bible speaks of things happening that are
beyond the purely material realm.
Modern
man and woman are caught in a conflict. On one hand they hear of scientists
who say, "I will only believe in what I can measure", while on the other
hand there is a yearning within them that says, "There must be something
more than this material world that fails to satisfy."
The
Bible gives us a complete picture of creation, of a world that is both
material and spiritual. Down through the centuries, millions have testified
to experiencing both. This is the reality of creation. Are you
enjoying both dimensions?
|