Lift Up Thine Eyes

Living above the Line

“Lift Up Thine Eyes”





2 Cor. 4:18 (ESV) As we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

This verse contains two absolute truths. One truth talks about things that are seen and temporary, the other talks about things that are unseen and are eternal. A line exists between the two. Above the line is the unseen and eternal; below the line is the seen and temporary.

ETERNAL
Unseen
______________________________

Seen
Temporary

Now just for the sake of explanation, there really is not a physical line; these two realms coexist. The unseen and the eternal are going on in the midst of the seen and temporary. As Christians, we have the privilege of living an unseen and eternal life in the midst of this seen and temporary world. But, because we think in concepts, it helps to separate these two realities with the line to understand them better.

As 2 Cor. 4:18 indicates, the realm above the line is invisible and eternal. It is changeless and timeless. It is the realm of spirit and of God’s absolutes. It is the realm of ultimate reality, of the uncreated, of completeness and wholeness, it is where things are finished and settled. The eternal realm can be illustrated by the word “now.” It is the realm of I AM, where things simply “are.”
The realm below the line is visible and temporary. We call it the natural realm. The Apostle Paul called it “this age.” It is the created realm of matter, of substances and appearances. It has a beginning and an end. It is the realm of past, present, and future:… birth, life, and death are here, …. sowing, growing, and reaping are here. It is the realm of activity, process, and need. It is a realm where we often say, I want to grow in Christ.” It is a realm in which we see both good and evil. …Where as the unseen and eternal realm is the realm of “I AM,” the seen and the temporary is the realm of “I am becoming.”

Spirit “I AM” Ultimate Reality
Wholeness ETERNAL Changeless
Complete Unseen Timeless

_______________________________________________________________


In Progress Seen Time-based
Need Temporary Changing
Matter “I am becoming” Appearances


Now, hear me, I’m not talking about a belief in which one realm, the realm of spirit, is pure and all important, and the other realm, the physical, is un-clean and unimportant, or even unreal. Both realms are crucially important to God, because He made both of them. The seen and temporary is a true realm and is important. We live in the seen and temporary realm. But, we are simply acknowledging what Paul says, that there are two realms, and that one is greater than the other. And we, as Christians are to focus on the eternal realm.

Many Scriptures illustrate the difference between the two realms. When Moses asked God His name Ex 3:14, God replied, “I AM WHO I AM”. He told Moses to tell the Hebrews that “I AM” had sent him. God’s very name indicates the changeless, timeless, eternal, present-tense nature of His being. Jesus used the same language to refer to Himself: John 8:58 “I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” The writer of Hebrews said Heb13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Our God is the unseen, eternal, timeless, changeless One.

At the appointed time, however, I AM came down below the line and entered the seen and temporary realm that HE had created. And John 1:14 says “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us... . The changeless, timeless One became a seen and temporary man. As a man, Jesus experienced all that we experience below the line, except sin. He had a past, a present, and a future. He experienced growth both as a child, (Luke 2:40) and as an adult (Heb 5:8). He had needs just like us.

In a very similar way, we as God’s children live both above the line and below the line. The verse that best illustrated this is Hebrews 10:14: For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. God has already perfected those of us who are in Christ. We are complete in Him Col 2:10. We are His righteousness 2 Cor 5:21. We are Holy, and blameless and beyond reproach. Co 1:22.

These are all already true of us above the line, in the unseen and eternal realm, in God’s Kingdom, in our spirit. These are the eternal, unchanging truths of our identity as new creatures, as sons and daughters whom God has birthed John 3:3-6.

Below the line, however, in the seen and temporary realm, we are in the process of being sanctified. We have needs. Our emotions fluctuate. Our behavior changes. And through it all we experience growth.

We live in both realms but what is important, is where-our-eyes–are-focused!

Now this distinction between the two realms is vital to us for three reasons.

First, in the here and now, God has designed His Kingdom to work by faith. God could have placed the eternal in the visible realm. His eternal kingdom would then be plainly seen. But if He had done that, there would not be any faith. Everything would, in fact, be exactly as it appears to be, and faith would be pointless.

But the whole universe operates on faith. We in particular, were designed to operate by faith. We have the privilege of looking through the seen and temporary to the unseen and eternal. … By the Spirit of God, living in us, Christ in the man, we discern what, from God’s perspective, is taking place in the seen and temporary around us.

That is how Jesus lived. He saw the seen and temporary around him, but when the man stretched out his withered hand, Jesus did not see the withered hand as ultimate. When the people brought Jesus five loaves and two fish, He did not see them as insufficient. When they took him to the dead girl, He did not see death as ultimate. In each case Jesus saw beyond the outward appearance to what His Father was doing. He lived in another Kingdom. He lived in another realm. And He invites you and me to do the same.

Your cancer, your heart disease, your handicap, is not what is ultimate in the eyes of Jesus. Your current financial situation is not what is ultimate in the eyes of Jesus. Even your death, is not what is ultimate in the eyes of Jesus. And it does not have to be for you ether. It is all a matter of where your eyes are fixed my friends. This life is a vapor. What is real is above the line in the eternal realm. God wants you to lift up your eyes beyond what’s here and now, look up Christian, look to the Heavens, cast your eyes upon Jesus.

Second, the distinction is important because it enables us to understand our true identity in Christ.

As Christians, our failures, sins, and shortcomings---all things below the line, are realities, and constantly confront us. They are right in our face. Unless we understand that our true identity lies above the line in our spirit (which is the identity God gave us when we were reborn, our new birth), unless we understand that our true identity lies above the line in our spirit we will draw our identity from our below the line performance, whether good or bad. Our focus will be on trying to clean up our act and to look good enough for God to accept.

That is where most Christians are living: (and it makes me want to scream out, just what Jesus did, He said tear it down and in three days I will rebuild it. They did and He did. If my getting a bull dozer and tearing down this building would help you understand this I would) Christians are trying to become something they already are. We have it backwards.

See, in God’s system, in the seen realm we become because in the unseen realm we already are. In the eternal realm we are ether eternally lost or eternally saved, and we cannot live in the seen world differently that we are in the eternal realm. Christians are saved but they are still living as though they need saving.

As we know and rest in the unseen and eternal truth, God manifests that truth in the visible realm. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. In the unseen and eternal realm, God has already perfected us. ….In the seen and temporary realm, God is bringing that perfection, or completion, into view.

That is why we can say we are a complete and a new creation while simultaneously, in the seen and temporary realm, a process is going on. From God’s point of view, in the unseen and eternal realm, we are a finished product. At the same time, in the seen and temporary, He is continuing to work the truth deeper into us and He is continuing to conform us to His image.

Third, the distinction between the two realms is important because God has designed us so that we can find fulfillment only in the unseen and eternal realm.

The seen and temporary realm offers many pleasures that God has provided, but none of them ultimately satisfy. That is why Jesus said, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst John 6:35. Hear me; there is not anything below the line, no matter how beautiful, no matter how touching, no matter how true, that equals true Life. And we only find true Life above the line, in God. He and He alone is Life!

God has created each of us with a thirst that only He can quench. The French philosopher, Pascal, called it a God-shaped vacuum in our hearts that only He can fill. Or as the early church father Augustine said, “Our souls are restless until they find their rest in thee.” Man is forever seeking. To whatever degree we do not know the unseen and eternal realm; we seek answers in the seen and temporary. We look for eternal answers among temporary things. But we discover again and again that they cannot and never will provide them.

We are programmed for failure if we are looking for ultimate answers in a non-ultimate realm, a realm that is partial, fragmented, and incomplete. We end up worshipping the creation rather than the creator. We can do that as Christians too. I’m not talking about just houses and cars and boats and jewelry; we worship buildings and music and clothes and heat and air and soft pews. The ultimate answer is a Person …Jesus Christ. It is part of God’s program to make us dissatisfied with what the temporary realm offers, that’s why so many people do nothing but complain, they think they know what they want but what they need is Jesus, and more of Jesus. God’s makes us dissatisfied with what the temporary realm offers so that we will seek Life in Him.

What kind of life; a life of faith, it is our true identity, and fulfillment in life is all based in the unseen and eternal realm. Our problem is that we cannot see that realm or learn of it through our own observations, or experiments, or experiences. Presently, right this moment God’s unseen and eternal kingdom is within us, …but we can only understand the things of that realm if God reveals it to us. Look at 2 Cor 2: 14,10,12 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. But 10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.

We are completely dependent on the Holy Spirit to be our teacher.

To whatever degree the Holy Spirit of God has revealed to us the unseen and eternal realm, we live in it. So, to whatever degree we do not understand by revelation the unseen and eternal realm of God’s kingdom, we are locked into living in the seen and temporary realm. And, to whatever extent you greave and quench the revelation of God’s Holy Spirit of the eternal realm you condemn yourself to life in this realm of the here and now, below the line.

God makes known to us the eternal, unseen, spiritual realities of His own domain by revelation. He breaks through into our consciousness and reveals eternal truths not discernable in the realm of appearance. And we respond when we close our physical eyes and open up our hearts eye and say “Oh God, I see!” …I was blind God, but now I see, I see You God, I see You Jesus, I see heaven coming down and this realm is passing away, I see the Holy City God, coming down from You, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. I hear Your voice saying Your dwelling place is among man. You dwell in them, and they are Your people, You God, our true God, are with us. You want to wipe away our tears; You want us to see God that death is no more, there is for Your children no more mourning, no more pain for us if we will lift up our eyes. That which is below the line has all passed away. ….Thank You God!

And what has happened? … Revelation has met with faith on our part, and when revelation encounters faith, it produces an inner knowing. …. Unfortunately for us this happens to us progressively. Some seek it, some give up, some think what they received on the day they received Christ is all there is to be had in this life.

One of our first revelations is that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of the World. The natural man does not know that. He cannot know it, even if he hears it over and over. Only the Holy Spirit can reveal to him the reality of Jesus Christ. If this has yet to happen to you, you are lost. You are a captive, a prisoner of the temporary realm, below the line.

Once then we place our faith in Christ, the next revelation is that our sins are forgiven. That is an unseen and eternal truth. Nothing in the seen and temporary tells us that. The Holy Spirit reveals it. As is my testimony, I lived primarily on that revelation for 27 years. But thank God He continued and still continues to reveal unseen and eternal truths to me that expanded that basic spiritual understanding. And at the age of 37 I came to understand the truth I share with you today, the life of unspeakable joy.

As Christians, we live below the line, but we are not a below the line people. We are of God’s Kingdom. But we live in a realm of temporary appearance that differs from what Gods sees in the unseen and eternal. Spiritual Growth is a process of replacing temporary appearances with eternal reality, and then living it out. See, once one knows inner life, the Life of the Spirit; one cannot help but live it.

Generally speaking, except for brief excursions, we are almost always constantly living out what we believe. We cannot escape it. We do not do anything but what we believe. So, the more we understand the unseen and eternal realm we will live it, and as we live it, we become less and less oriented toward the seen and temporary. It exercises less control over us.

Paul in Romans Chapter 6 tells us that we died to sin and are free from it. That is an unseen and eternal truth, about which I will say more another time. Sin no longer has any power over us. But if we do not know that unseen and eternal truth, sin still exercises power over us. That is because we are caught in the trap of trying to become something we already are: what is that, we are free from sin.

We will never know abundant life until the unseen and eternal realm is home to us in our everyday experience. Until then, we will be living according to appearances, and appearances will never lead us deeper into the life of God. Only faith will. God wants to bring us to the point where we say, “I live by what God says about things in my life, …situations, people, and even myself. Then we see what He sees, that situations are not as they appear to be,… but that God’s absolutes are operating in the realm of appearance. We are at rest then in the unseen and eternal realm, and we experience His fullness within us.

In our daily lives as Christians,… the most important thing we can know from the unseen and eternal realm is that we and God are one, we are in union. That sounds heretical, but it is exactly what the Bible says: 1 Cor. 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

God has permanently joined Himself to your spirit. Your spirit and He are one. The two then operate as one spirit. When we begin to know and live out of that truth, all the promises of the New Testament Covenant, suddenly become real. We realize that there really truly is no more separation. No more God up there and us down here. We stop trying to get closer to God. We stop asking, How do I reach God. Give me a program, give me a plan, and give me a way.

Instead, we live out of what is already true. We live in union. God and we are one. In the seen and temporary, He operates as us. And we rest in Him.

Where you live and where your eyes are can easily be determined by your understanding of my next statement, ….Every one of us who has received Christ is complete in Christ (Colossians2:10). We are already Holy Col 3:12. There is nothing else to be done.

As we see that, we will live it, and God will make what is true in the unseen and eternal, above the line, a seen and temporary experience here below the line.