Jesus clearly said that He was not of this world (Jn 8:23). Now, because Jesus was the firstborn of many who would follow in His footsteps, we too are not of this world. Just as Jesus was sent into this world for a purpose and with a mission, we too were sent into this world for a purpose and with a mission.
2 TIMOTHY 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
We came from another world; this is not our home. Abraham looked for a city whose builder and maker was God; He was aware that this world was not his home.
HEBREWS 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
The Spiritual Dimension
The realm of spirit is very different from this earthly physical realm. The spiritual realm is sometimes referred to as “eternity” and this realm is not bound by time or space. In this realm movement or transportation between seemingly distant points – either in what we call time or space – occurs instantly. In heaven, distance can be covered by just thinking about it – imagine a place and you are there.
Jesus walked in both worlds while He was on earth.
JOHN 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
This Scripture tells us that Jesus was in heaven while on earth! How could this be? The answer to this question requires that we understand the make-up of Man.
King David asked the question, “What is man?” Philosophers, theologians, and sages throughout the ages have pondered this question. However, the Scriptures do give us some insight into this puzzling quandary.
Body, Soul and Spirit
The Bible clearly stated that we are made up of a physical body, a soul, and a spirit.
1 THESSALONIANS 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The physical body we understand, the soul we understand a little – it can be thought of in terms of Mind, Emotion, and Will.
However, very little is understood about our spirit. Our spirit did not come from this world in which we live. Our spirit belongs to the realm of Spirit which is not restricted by time or space.
While our physical body has many restrictions that limit it to this world, our spirit does not have these restrictions.
That is why Jesus could be in heaven at the same time that He was on this earth. There is a part of us that has access to our original home: heaven. This is described in Ecclesiastes 3:11 as “Eternity in our hearts.”
This word eternity is very interesting and has a much greater implication than the concept of a very, very long time. The Hebrew word for eternity is ‘owlam – it means concealed, the vanishing point, time out of mind past present or future, eternity.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 is saying that our spirit lives in this realm – a place of time out of mind, the vanishing point between the two worlds. Our spirit lives in this realm of eternity.
The word owlam is used in this verse: PSALMS 24:7 7. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
The word everlasting is the Hebrew word owlam. The implication here is that when we worship, lifting up the gates of our mouth, eyes, and imagination, another door can open up – the door to time out of mind or the Spirit realm.
There is a part of us (our spirit) that can access eternity, access heaven, access the spirit realm.
GALATIANS 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
2 CORINTHIANS 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
We must learn to walk in the realm of spirit as Jesus did; knowing that this is possible opens the way to enter in.
We need to allow our thinking to be enlarged, our understanding to be expanded, to embrace both worlds. We are not just of this earth and we have the capacity to live in both. The greatest battle rages between what we see with the eyes of the heart and what we see with our physical natural mind. What you see with the eyes of the heart is more real than what you see with your physical eyes. He who lives in eternity is never pressed for time.