Christ and the Father in Eternity (DCLC – July ’87, Part 2)

The next thing I want you to know is that your own origins are spiritual. Now, this one is going to be a little hard to take. Now, if there’s anything I can do this week, I want to get you off the earth. I want to give you a sense of other places, spiritual realms. I want to give you a sense of the other place. I want you to not be so earthbound or hidebound. I want you to begin to consider and appreciate spiritual things, consider spiritual realms, consider heavenly places, consider spirituals. Well, Gene, I’m here on this earth. What are you talking about? Are you talking about heaven? I’m talking about the realm where God is. Let’s not put any specific term on it. Where God dwells, it is the eternals, it is the spiritual. And my dear friend, long before you got to Earth, long before you were born on this planet, your true, real origins were spirit. You were spirit before you were soul or body. Gene, I don’t know what you are talking about. I’ll try to explain.

There’s a verse of scripture. If you listen to it, it’s in Ephesians 1. If you hear it translated properly, it will say this. You were marked off in Christ before the foundation of the world. You were marked off in Christ before the foundation of the world. Now then, you are four parts. You’re actually one, but you are four. More you’re one than you are four, but I’m going to say it this way. You’re made up of four things. It’s usually talked about body, soul, and spirit. Let’s go the other direction. Right at this moment, your content, what you’re made up of, is you’re made up of the Lord’s life, divine life. You didn’t know that; we have become partakers of the divine nature. Now that’ll hold up in any theological place in the world. That’s taught even by Baptists. We have become partakers of the divine nature.  If you have eternal life, you live; If you have no eternal life, you live in condemnation. And just on and on and on. You have the life of God the Father in you. That’s the first part of you. Now you’re also spirit, but interestingly enough, we are told that these two have become one. He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. So, these two have become one. Now that’s where we get three-part man being three-parted, but actually it’s four parts. Two of them have joined. You got that? So, there is the divine life of God, which is by nature and content Spirit. There is your own spirit. The two have joined, and they have become one. What have they become? Gene, I don’t really, I’m not clear, but I can tell you this: Eternal life is in there, divine life is in there, God the Father is in there, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit is in there. You’re doing fine now.

You have a soul, bless your heart. Now we have problems. Nothing wrong with that soul, God loves that soul above all things. He died for that soul, but the soul is just a little bit damaged, just a tiny tad bit damaged. You know, you know you’re up, you’re down, you’re sideways. You’re neurotic, you’re schizophrenic, you’re paranoid, and you’re all just a little damaged from the fall. We’re not talking about sin; we’re talking about damage. Okay? Then you got a body that ended up turning into flesh, and that’s where sin dwelt, until Jesus Christ took it to the cross and crucified it. So, we’re three parts: God’s life, your spirit becomes one, soul, and body. You’re three parts.

Now, which one of those parts showed up first? Which one? Who said that? That’s right, Terry. The first part showed up first. The first time you ever were found, the first time any history of you has ever been noted was when you were discovered in God. You were marked off in Christ. When He was the eternal Son before His incarnation, you were marked off in the eternal Son before the foundation of the ages. That part was marked off to be put in you on the day of your salvation. You started out with spirit, a spiritual history with a history in the other realm. You understand? No, I’m not so sure you do, but let it marinate. That’s where you began. You began in God.

There came a place in eternity when eternity intersected with time. That’s where you got converted. But that which was the most important part of you, that part of His nature, that He was going to put in you, which was spirit, that intersected with time, touched your spirit and raised it from the dead, and was placed in you, and the two became one. Your first origin, the first time anybody ever noticed you, you were in eternity in God. Say, “Praise the Lord.” That’s encouraging.

Alright, so we know where God was, and He was Spirit, and He is eternal life, and He was living the Christian life. Now then, we have discovered you in God before the foundation of the world. All of you, not just the most important part of you. Time is a different matter. We haven’t come to that yet. Now, then, God, after there was God, and He was the All, then He created. But please notice that He did not create the physical realm first; He created first things first. He created the spiritual realm, the heavenlies. They did not exist. God was all there was, and He is Spirit.

Now, He creates a spiritual realm. No earth, no stars, no sky, no galaxy, another realm preceding our own. Still no molecules, still no matter, still no electrons, no protons. A realm of the spirituals, and He populates it with beings that are spirit. Now what are they called? The angels. And what else was there? I don’t know, but the angels were there, and the archangels were there, and maybe some cherubim and some seraphim. A cherub, a seraph, and a host of others. We don’t know what all was there. I know it was a fast-moving place, that is, yeah, really fast.

A scientist reminded me last week, I don’t know what this means, but he said, “If something can move faster than the speed of light, then space-time no longer has any relationship with it whatsoever.” And this is a realm that’s faster than light. This is where everything is going pretty quickly—It is a realm without dimension. Now then, I want to say this to you, and this will be a little difficult for you to grasp, but it is the real realm. The realm we’re in is not real. Well, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, but it means that we live in a realm of types and pictures.

Now, anybody who has studied the Old and New Testaments knows that we are just sitting around here with all sorts of symbols, shadows, types, and figures surrounding us. We learn in Colossians 2, for instance, that the moon is not the real moon, that Jesus Christ is the real moon. We learn in Colossians that the Sabbath is not the real Sabbath, but a picture of Jesus Christ, who is the real Sabbath; that the Jewish festivals were not real festivals, but they were a picture of the real festival, which is Jesus Christ. The book of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 1 that all of the offerings and all of the priestly garbs, all the whole Jewish presentation was pictures, shadows, and types of the true reality. Even Adam was a picture of the real man, Jesus Christ is the real man; Adam was a foreshadowing of Him.

Now, I don’t understand what I just told you. I only tell you that it’s in the Bible, it’s in the New Testament, that we live in a world that is picturing reality, and reality is in the other realm. I think of the tree of life more than anything else. That is the real tree, and all these things around us out here are shadows of that tree. Real water, that stuff you’ve been drinking, is not real. It’s a picture, a type, and a sign of real water. Real water is Jesus Christ. We drink spiritual water, and that which is spirit is always superior to that which is physical. It preceded it and matches the nature of God. Are you following me? So suddenly, this thing of the spiritual realm becomes very important. The real realm is there; our realm pictured that realm. Now, the poor cows and horses and dogs and cats don’t know that, but you and I need to know this.

Now then, we have the spiritual realm created. It’s got spiritual beings, real waters there, His name is Jesus Christ. Real food is there; His name is Jesus Christ. The real tree is there, that is the Lord Jesus Christ. For He is the vine. The real light is there, and the light of the Son here is a picture of that—He is the real light. Resurrection is there; He is the resurrection. Truth is there; He is the truth. He is the resurrection, the truth, and the life is there, the real life. We have a picture of that life; real life comes to us on the day of our conversion. Are you following me? If you’re going to find reality, you will find it in the other realm.

Now, here comes the most exciting part of all. Let’s talk about the creation of man, and let us make a wonderful, glorious discovery. I’m having to move really fast. Throw up a hand if you get bogged down, will you just, I can’t take this, Gene.  Here we go. Let’s watch and see the creation of man. God makes man. He’s already the All, but now He has become All, plus the spiritual realm. So, He’s no longer the All. There are other things besides Him. There is the realm of the spirituals. Now I need a blackboard for this; I don’t have one. That’s all right, we’ll get one later. I’ll try to draw this for you later. Let’s imagine it this way. This is kind of foolish to say, God is the All and draw that because there’s no line, He was the All.