What’s Beyond the Physical Realm?

In our daily meditations over the next few weeks, we will start exploring the topic of spiritual warfare. From childhood, we are taught to believe only in what is physical— that there is no spiritual world. However, this is a deception by our unseen enemy, Satan. Just because we can't see this spiritual realm doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Here's an illustration:

When I was young, I worked with my father on his commercial fishing boat along the east coast of England. We trawled the seabed for Dover soles, cod, plaice, and flounders, as well as anything else that got caught in our nets. We couldn't see what we were catching until the net surfaced. Because our coastline was involved in two world wars, our nets sometimes came up with unexploded mines meant to destroy ships leaving our harbor. We caught airplane wings with massive cannons, intact bombs, and other objects that could tear up our nets. We never knew what unseen things we would catch next. Just like the unseen world at the bottom of the sea, some things in life can be unseen but deadly. Being unaware of something dangerous doesn't mean it can't affect you. Electricity in a plug is unseen, but stick your fingers in a live socket, and you'll quickly realize that powerful, unseen dangers exist. Natural gas is odorless and invisible, but if there’s a lot of it in your house, it can destroy your home. Gas companies add a terrible smell so we will notice a leak and be warned of the danger.

Throughout the Bible, we see more than what’s visible to the eye. There is a spiritual realm that is just as real as the physical world we live in. The physical world we live in is only temporary and fleeting, a shadow of what’s to come, and some spiritual and unseen events occur that have real consequences in the physical realm. For instance…

In the Old Testament book of 2 Kings, there is a story about a king in Aram who became angry because his actions and plans were revealed to the armies of Israel (2 Kings 6:8-10). He believed he had a spy among his generals. His problem was that Israel had a prophet named Elisha, who was guided by the Spirit of God to know the very words the King of Aram secretly spoke to his generals (2 Kings 6:11-12). Elisha was aware of unseen realms and had a powerful, intimate prayer life, which gave him unique insight. When the King of Aram learned of Elisha's gift, he grew so furious that he sent his army to the town where Elisha lived, aiming to kill or capture him.

¹⁴Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city. ¹⁵When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. "Oh, my lord, what shall we do?" the servant asked. ¹⁶"Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." ¹⁷And Elisha prayed, "O LORD, open his eyes so he may see." Then the LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. ¹⁸As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, "Strike these people with blindness." So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked (2 Kings 6:14-18; emphasis added).

When Elisha's servant saw the size of the Aramean army surrounding the city, he started to lose hope. It looked hopeless from a human perspective. But everything was not as it seemed, because there were angelic forces of God around Elisha that the young servant did not see. Elisha prayed for his eyes to be opened to the spiritual realm around them. Because of Elisha's prayer, Gehazi saw the truth of God's spiritual forces, which are usually hidden from physical eyes. God's angels are far more powerful than the physical forces of evil around the city.

When Elisha prayed again, God defeated Israel's enemies with a single display of His power. My prayer for you today is that God may open your eyes to the reality of the unseen spiritual realm. I hope you can join us as we explore what the Bible says about that realm over the next few days. Keith Thomas.

This shortened meditation is from the series, The War Against Satan and Demons; the study is 1. The Hidden World Beyond Our Reality