THE CENTRALITY OF THE WORD OF GOD The consistent emphasis of the "apostles' doctrine" (Acts 2:42) is heaven and heavenly things. They never stress earth or earthly relationships. We are challenged to "be NOT conformed to this world" (Rom. 12:2), because of its obvious inferiority for those that are "baptized into Christ" (Gal. 3:28). Tomorrow:
"I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for THOU HAST MAGNIFIED THY WORD ABOVE ALL THY NAME." (Psa 138:2) ". . . for You have exalted above all else Your name and Your word and You have magnified Your word above all Your name!" (Amplified Bible)
Devotion 11 of 30
Mark it well, that whether the Holy Spirit moved men to speak concerning benefit, experience, involvement, or expression, the thrust was always upward, never downward; heavenward, never earthward. Men were urged to lay hold of unseen realities, not seen delusions. The Lord pulls men from earth, not to earth. He woos men to heaven, not to this world. He speaks primarily of the unseen, not the seen!
The full exercise of all natural senses will utterly fail to bring the realization of heavenly things. They simply cannot be perceived by the physical senses. Neither God nor Christ can be seen with the natural eye, because they are beyond the capacity of that eye to behold. Too, the ultimate reality, which is God Himself, simply cannot be seen naturally. He is a Spirit, and is not confined by form or physical restriction, both of which are required if something is to be perceived by carnal vision. Christ has gone where He cannot be seen. Our inheritance is also kept where it cannot be seen.
THE REASON FOR THE INTANGIBILITY
A faculty that has been cursed cannot perceive what has not been cursed. A condemned body cannot bring the realization of ultimate blessing. That is something of what is meant by the inspired assertion: "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (I Cor. 15:20). It involves more than the fact that our earthly bodies cannot dwell in the presence of the Almighty. The entire corrupted nature is incapable of apprehending the glorious benefits of salvation in Christ Jesus.
A disciplined body cannot do it. A scholarly mind of itself cannot perceive it. Unilluminated effort cannot appropriate it. If you want the things of God, if you desire to enjoy heavenly benefits and realities, you must seek them another way.
DISCERNMENT ONLY BY FAITH
It is faith alone that lays hold of the things of God. Faith is the hand of the soul, the eye of the inner man. So far as experience is concerned, faith turns unseen realities into substance, and Divine assertion into evidence. Is it not written, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Heb. 11:1)? In other words, faith obtains what sense cannot appropriate, and the results are very real. Sense is bypassed, and a persuasion of unseen reality settles upon the soul.
Faith is transcendent to sense; it is of a higher order, and is the divinely appointed means of appropriating the truth. God and the things of God cannot be discerned or received through natural resources because they are beyond the sphere of nature.
God, for instance, is termed "invisible" (Col. 1:15; Heb. 11:27), and the "things of God," or the particular aspects of Himself that are manward, are also termed "invisible" (Rom. 1:20). Invisibility, in this case, is not the result of micro-size or physical geography, but rather of dimension. "God is a Spirit" (John 4:24), and the "things of God" are spiritual (I Cor. 2:13) which is why they are "invisible" – beyond the scope of the seeable.
Because the kingdom of God "is not meat and drink" (Rom. 14:17), the physical senses are rendered impotent in its realization. Although the situation is contradictory to much contemporary thought, a spiritual awareness of God and His Son, cannot be transmitted through the natural senses. That is to say, they cannot be seen, felt, or heard audibly with profit. Visual potential and fleshly sensation are completely powerless for the verification or realization of God or the things of God. This has never before been as true as now, since the exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ, God's "express" image (Heb. 1:3).
While it is true that there have been sensible representations of God in His dealings with men, they have not been attended by any degree of understanding or perception by men. Israel heard the voice of the Almighty, and He "came down in the sight of all the people upon Sinai" (Exod. 19:12-10; 20:19); but they really "neither heard His voice" nor saw "His shape" any more than those contemporaries of our Lord Jesus Christ (John 5:37). Their eyes could not penetrate the sphere of spirit; their ears could not perceive the intimate communications of the Lord; their hands could not touch the heavenly mount. Both God and they were limited by their cursed capacities. They could confess like Job, "Lo, He goeth by me, and I see Him not; he passeth on also, but I perceive Him not" (Job. 9:11).
So far as nature is concerned, God dwells "in the light which no man can approach unto" (I Tim. 6:16). That is why "no man hath seen God at any time" (I John 4:12; John 1:18). Physical sense – when it comes to the things of God, how limited it is! Even if one were to break through into the presence of the Almighty, he could not sustain the confrontation. God Himself declared of those "in the body": "Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me and live" (Exod. 33:20).
PRAYER POINT: Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank You for the gift of faith, and for its marvelous qualities.