Time to Cross Over

There is a principle in Scripture that Dan Stone and Greg Smith talk about in The Rest of the Gospel that propelled me to a new stage of growth in Christ, once I got it in my spirit. They call it “The Line.” We at Sounds like to call it, “The unseen, eternal truths vs. the seen, temporal facts.”

It comes from 2 Corinthians, chapter 4, verse 18: “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

The Two Realms

In this passage, Paul differentiates between two realities. There is the seen, temporal reality in which we live. That is the reality where we live in these bodies and move and act in the world. It’s the place where we love, work and play. It is the realm where things are becoming and changing. This seen, temporal realm is called such because it is bound by space and time. It is the realm where we speak of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

But then Paul speaks of another realm, the unseen, eternal realm. This is the realm that is not bound by space and time. It is the heavenly realm where God lives and where His truth stands forever. It is the realm of pure being. It is a place where things are done, finished, and settled once for all. It is also the realm of the Spirit, where spiritual truths abide. We can also think of it as the heavenly realm. There is no yesterday, today, or tomorrow in this realm; everything here is just now.

The ancient Greek philosophers called the two realms (1) The Realm of Appearance and (2) The Realm of Reality. The seen, temporal, material, physical realm, they reasoned, was a realm of mere appearances. Things simply appear to be what they really are. However, the unseen, eternal, immaterial, supernatural realm, they called the “Realm of Reality” because here things actually are what they are. They are what they are, not how they appear to be.

Did you know that how you appear to be (in the flesh) is not actually how you really are (in the spirit)?

The Line

Stone and Smith draw a line on a whiteboard to illustrate the difference in the two realms. Above the line is the unseen, eternal realm. This is the realm where Jesus is “seated at the right hand of the Father,” (Hebrews 12:2). This is the realm of the eternal now. This is the realm Jesus speaks of when He dies on the cross and says, “It is accomplished,” (John 19:30). It is the realm of completion, perfection, fullness. It is the realm where things just are.

Below the line is the seen, and temporal realm. This is the realm where we hunger and thirst. This is the realm where the physical body lives and has needs. It is the place where we recognize lack. It is the place where things grow, change, and develop. It’s the realm of birth and death. It is the realm of appearances where things are becoming.

Notice that these two realms are very different. One realm is visible to the senses. The other is not. In one realm, there is lack, need, sickness, limitation. In the other, there are no such things; there is only sufficiency, contentment, health, infinity. These two realms aren’t totally separate. They interpenetrate one another at all times.

Which Realm Do You Focus On?

The real question is: Which realm has authority? Which realm has the pre-eminence? Which realm is primary? Which realm has priority in your life?

Like most Christians, I lived most of my Christian life with the false belief that the seen and temporal realm was the primary one. And it’s understandable why we do; the seen, temporal realm is the one that speaks the loudest. But the truth is: The unseen, eternal realm is the one which supersedes the seen and temporal. It is the realm where the Kingdom of God is (also called the Kingdom of Heaven). Therefore, the unseen, eternal realm is the realm where God’s rule and reign originate.

And guess what? That realm of Reality is inside you. It is synonymous with the Holy of Holies — which is now the union of your spirit with Christ’s Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17). Everything in this Christian life is internal first, and only later becomes external.

Until we see this truth, we will continue to live our lives from the point of reference of seen, temporal facts instead of unseen, eternal truths. We will continue to judge ourselves from external appearances rather than internal Reality. We will continue to say things like, “I’m not righteous because I don’t act right;” or, “I have to pray more to get closer to God;” or, “I have to obey more to get God’s blessings.” We don’t realize that God has already given us Himself to be in union with us.

And guess what we reap from this false focus on the seen and temporal realm? More unrighteousness. This leads to seasons of frustration and failure. It produces cycles of defeat instead of levels of maturity; we cycle around the same depths, instead of “leveling up” to new heights. We want to go to new levels, don’t we? We want to climb to new heights in the Lord. We don’t want to be as the children of Israel when they were in the wilderness: wandering aimlessly for decades in circles through the wildernesses of life that were only meant to be transition places.

An Invisible Kingdom

The distinction between the seen/temporal and unseen/eternal is a matter of life or death. If we do not understand that the unseen/eternal realm of “I AM” (Exodus 3:14) is primary, we never really grow in faith. “We walk by faith, not by sight,” Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:7. “Faith is the evidence of things unseen, the substance of things hoped for” (Hebrews 11:1). In other words, faith isn’t faith unless it is evidence of something in the unseen realm, the Realm of Reality. You don’t need faith for things you see; once you see them in the seen/temporal, you no longer need faith. You only need faith to “see” (manifest) things that are unseen. It’s paradoxical, but this is how God designed us to function within His invisible kingdom.

The distinction between the two realms is important for another reason. It helps us truly grasp our true identity in Christ. Much of what the Bible says about us as Christians are not truths we can perceive in the seen Realm of Appearances. For example, the Scriptures tell us that we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21). But if I look at my seen, temporal performance, I certainly don’t appear to be righteous. So, where is this truth true? Clearly not in the seen/temporal, so it must be true in the unseen/eternal. But if I don’t realize that, if I don’t reckon that as so—if I do not realize that the unseen/eternal realm has authority and primacy over the seen/temporal, I will continue to draw my life from seen appearances and conduct. That is a recipe for frustration, defeat and ultimately despair. In God’s kingdom, one must first believe the unseen, eternal truths before they manifest as seen, temporal realities.

Do You Believe Right?

Have you heard Pastor Mike say, “The problem is, you don’t believe right?” This is what he’s referring to.

Stone writes, “As believers, you and I live below the line [in the seen, temporal realm], but we aren’t really below-the-line people. We are of God’s kingdom [the unseen Realm of Reality]. But we live in a realm of temporal appearances that differ from what God sees in the unseen and eternal. Spiritual growth is a process of replacing temporal appearances with eternal reality, and living out of it,” (Rest of the Gospel, p. 32).

We replace temporal appearances with eternal reality through faith. Faith is the access to God’s grace (Romans 5:2). But faith is also the agreement with God’s eternal, unseen truths. As we confess God’s eternal, unseen truths, they eventually work their way down into our spirits, and the Holy Spirit gives us revelation of those truths. Once revelation comes, what follows is an inner knowing and conviction. And when that inner knowing and conviction arrives, then the unseen, eternal truths manifest themselves as seen, temporal facts. This is how we go from “glory to glory,” (2 Corinthians 2:14).