Yesterday we talked about the fact that God doesn’t operate in the supernatural. He operates in the spiritual. The main reason this is important is because supernatural indicates something above nature and outside of it. But God isn’t removed from this natural world. He didn’t create and then step back and become hands off. he created and then stays involved in creation. It’s not an exception when we see God’s powerful hand intervene. It’s usually just the exception when we realize what is happening.
I strongly believe this way, primaril...
Yesterday we talked about the fact that God doesn’t operate in the supernatural. He operates in the spiritual. The main reason this is important is because supernatural indicates something above nature and outside of it. But God isn’t removed from this natural world. He didn’t create and then step back and become hands off. he created and then stays involved in creation. It’s not an exception when we see God’s powerful hand intervene. It’s usually just the exception when we realize what is happening.
I strongly believe this way, primarily because how God created the world.
Now we’ve read the Genesis account already this year. But let’s read John 1. This is the most telling part of this concept for me.
John 1:1-5
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Ok, just a simple few verses here to discuss today.
In the beginning was the Word. . .What is the Word?
This word ‘logos’ is a word that was familiar to both the Jews and the Gentiles. In the Old Testament, the “word” of God is often personified as an instrument for the execution of God’s will.
Psalm 33:6 - By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.
Psalm 107:20 - He sent out his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave.
Psalm 147:15-18
He sends his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly.
He spreads the snow like wool
And scatters the frost like ashes.
He hurls down his hail like pebbles.
Who can withstand his cry blast?
He sends his word and melts them;
He stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow.
See, the usage of Logos was often used to describe something going forth from God and fulfilling his promises. So, for his Jewish readers, by introducing Jesus as the “Word,” John is pointing them back to the Old Testament where the Logos or “Word” of God is associated with the personification of God’s revelation. And in Greek philosophy, the term Logos was used to describe the intermediate agency by which God created material things and communicated with them.
Think of if this way. You have three parts to the LORD. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father is spirit, and is not a physical part of God. The Spirit is the rûaḥ, or breath of God. Jesus - well he is the physical manifestation of God. So Spirit, Breath, and physical body make up the Lord. Jesus not only represents the physical part of God, but also every single word that was spoken that would ever show the heart and desire of God. Jesus told us in Matthew 12:34 that what the heart is full of, the mouth will speak. . . . . In essence, Jesus is the overflow of God’s heart. He came forth as the embodiment of God’s heart.
But let’s keep reading.
In the beginning was the word (Jesus - the physical piece of the trinity that shows the heart of God.) And the word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning..
So this fully human - physical manifestation of God - was with God in the beginning. In fact, this Word - Jesus - IS God.
John is helping us understand that this physical side of God has been there since the beginning, and is fully God.
But listen to verse 3 again.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
Think now, What does Jesus represent? The heart of God, and what? ? ? The physical side of God. Jesus is the physical piece of God.
Why would all things be made through him?
Well, if all things were made through God the father - it would be a spiritual world.
If all things were made through the spirit - it would be a breath of a world.
All things had to be made through Jesus, so that they would physically exist.
So the spirit of God breathed the heart of God straight through the physical person of God (Jesus) in order to bring the physical world into existence. It’s not just that God spoke it. . It’s that God spoke it and his words passed through the physical body of Jesus. . .
Why?
Because through him all things were made.
What does the word through mean?
It’s a motion. A passing into and out of something or someone.
All of Creation was made as the words of God passed through the person of the Son of God and into the physical realm of existence. Without this physical person of God, nothing would have been made. And by passing through the Word in order to exist in the physical realm, it all carries the same meaning and intent as the Word.
What does Jesus say bout himself as a system of directing?
John 14:6 - I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
He is directing all people back toward what? ? ? God!
In fact, if you know him, you have seen the father as well.
And all of creation is working in harmony with Jesus to draw people back to the Father.
This is why Paul says, in Romans 1:20
“For since the creation of the World God’s invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”
Paul is saying the same thing.
The whole of creation came through Jesus in order to help draw us back to God. It is all bringing us back into the presence of God, because it was made to glorify the physical part of God that created it.
Ok, so what does all of this have to do with us viewing things as Spiritual instead of Supernatural?
Well, God created the physical world, by passing his words through Jesus so that it was all made. God reached into the physical in order to make sure all things were able to exists. And without the Word, nothing would be made. But listen to the next part. Not only was the physical world made this way, but John continues -
In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
In him was our ability to have physical life. God breathed through the Word to create the world. It is important that mankind was formed out of this created dirt as well. By this, God took a piece of the physical ground that passed through the physical Word, and then he breathed his own breath and spirit into us.
Look how close God was to creation as it came into being. Not only were his hands all over it, but it physically passed through the Word of God in order to exist. And then, God breathed a deposit of his breath into mankind as well. God was all over creation as it began. It passed through him and was filled with his breath. The creation narrative would imply that he is definitely not supernatural, but was spiritual.
So the question is, did it remain that way, or did something change?
Well King David would suggest that Creation is working the same just as Paul did. Listen to Psalm 19:1-6
The heavens declare the glory of God;
The skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
Night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
No sound is heard form them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
Their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
Like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
It rises at one end of the heavens
And makes its circuit to the other;
Nothing is deprived of its warmth.
David suggests that all of creation is still proclaiming the name of the Lord and the glory of God.
Think of the Old Testament for a moment.
IN Exodus a pillar of cloud led the Israelites through the day and a pillar of fire by night.
The waters split in two and created dry ground for the Israelites to walk on as they crossed the red sea into safety.
Joshua saw the sun and moon stand still in Joshua 10, and large hail stones came down and defeated the Amorites
The mountain of God shakes and his presence falls on it in a cloud as God speaks to Moses and gives him the Ten Commandments.
And the ground opens up and swallows the people of Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and their followers after they rebelled against Moses in Numbers 16.
Straight through the old testament and into the new where a virgin birth brought our savior into the world.
When Jesus was crucified there was complete darkness and the temple curtain tore in half.
Paul and Silas were in prison praising God and the physical chains fell from them and the people around them.
Philip baptized the Ethiopian Eunich and then was teleported to another place.
Here is the point, all through the Bible we see examples of God’s interaction with mankind. The physical world was created through Jesus and is near and dear to the heart of God. He isn’t removed from it, he is intertwined with it.
Even listen to what Jesus said as he gave his final commandment to mankind.
Matthew 28:18-20
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Ok. He declared that he had all power and authority in heaven and on earth. He rules and reigns. So he commissioned his people and left us with a promise. . . And surely I am . . . What? ? ? WITH YOU always, to the very end of the age.
He isn’t removed or far from us.
He is not supernatural.
He is spiritual. . And in essence, still a part of his created world.
So what does he expect of us now? ? ?
Well, for that you will have to come back tomorrow.
But for now, that’s all the time we have left for today. I love you, and God bless!
