The Two-Sided Existence

SIX

The two-sided existence

I need to turn in here to reemphasize that we indeed live in a two-sided existence. It is both corporeal and spiritual. It is wise to often remind ourselves of this. It is a strain on our attention to even recognize another human; we look then we look away. If we look at a man and say to ourselves, oh, it’s a man, we’ve recognized no more than the corporeal. How often do we actually attend the spiritual half of our existence? Our twofold existence is an issue that spans religions, philosophies, cultures, and eons. Christianity is not central to the issue, merely one satellite in orbit of its influence.

But Christian thinkers, have invested much thought in this important theme. Hebrews 11:3 says,

“Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” Man recognizes that the spiritual is the greater aspect of our two-sided existence. It is a lazy tendency to ascribe reality to the more solid. It is erroneous to think of the more ethereal as the sole reflection. We look and feel real by way of our solidity, but science points to the ethereal spaces between our atoms and asks, what is the real power that keeps us from flying apart?

When we consider the spiritual side of our existence, the prevalent concept is of a full-fledged ‘world’ at least on a par with our own. Matthew 12:32 puts it this way, “Neither in this world, neither in the world to come.” Not only are we made up of God particles, but Christian thought ascribes ownership of both sides to God. Innately, by way of comparison, I think that all of us, choosing between our brain and our body, will ascribe ownership to the brain. That ownership walks a fine line, and must necessarily enjoin that symbiosis through concession.

If the brain makes the hand pass through a flame, the brain suffers with the body. 1 Corinthians 6:20 informs us, “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.” God makes certain sacrifices to maintain the relationship. The greatest, of course, was the sacrifice of His Son. God making regular sacrifice is not an alien concept when one remembers that the pattern for the Israeli temple altar came from the altar that was real in Heaven. It is not so burdensome, then, to think that sacrifice on our part is necessary to the maintenance of our

relationship to the other side of existence, indeed, to the other side of our nature. 1 Corinthians 15:19

says this about sacrifice, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most

miserable.”

We are told that we may know and understand the spiritual side of existence, and even God, Himself, through things commonly known and understood here on the corporeal side. It is upon this that parables, as straight gates to the truth, are based. (Side note: ‘parable’ seems strikingly similar

to ‘parallel’). Parables make comparisons that lead the mind from the corporeal illustration to the

spiritual parallel. It is a device that will keep many out, and yet, those who are most interested, those

who ‘strive to enter in’ will discover the key.

It seems fitting that the key to all parables is another parable. Mark 4:13 points to such a key, “Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?” It has been placed within our own powers that we can see these things for ourselves. Luke 21:29-31, “And He spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.”

Fiery Serpents

 FIVE

The Classic Pattern:

Fiery Serpents

A pattern is a representation of a reality. If that reality must be built, the pattern is a representation of something in the future. The classic pattern is that of the ‘fiery serpent’. Normally, we associate ‘serpent’ with the devil. Yet, our aspiration is to view the ‘bigger picture’. We deal with shadows. This is a pattern that represents Christ.

It is a physical healing that indicates a spiritual healing, and it is by no means chance that a snake on a pole is the physician’s symbol.

Numbers 21:6-9 begins thusly: “And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that He take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.”

Now, of course, many things must be taken into account. First, however, let me forestall the conclusion that Christ and Satan are somehow one and the same. This serpent, in no wise, represented the enemy in its foreshadowing of Christ.

It represented the sins of the people.

The people had set themselves up for calamity; God delivered.

The brass snake on a pole was a pattern for sin crucified. The serpent does not represent Christ, but the sin He became on our behalf. The Hebrews had to look upon the serpent to live: they had to look upon their own sin. An interesting undertone to that scenario is that the thing they ran afoul of was the thing that saved them.

This may also be applied to our spiritual salvation. John 3:14-15 says, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

It is a step forward to go from recognition to belief. But, here we are. A man must do more than simply see Christ on the cross.

Man must learn not to downplay the communications God sends our way. Today, we are very much like the men in Christ’s day. We look at the Bible and say, oh, that’s just written by man. Our backs are turned on God. Should we, like the men of old, ever turn back around and look into the mirror, we would see God in man.

I have written that the image in a mirror reenacts our every posture. Christ communicated that His actions were the reflection of God’s actions. John 8:28 shows that. “Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father hath taught Me, I speak these things.”

Christ pointed to connections between God and man. Man would not see. Likewise, modern Christians reject the deeper connections between Christ and Man. (“In the third day He will raise us up.”)

This study is not about simple directions a man may go in, but more aptly about transitions of the nature of man. We are the image and glory of God, but we have turned away. If we should turn back, the underlying formational transition implied in the word “unto” from the next scripture reference makes perfect sense. John 12:32 tells us, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”

Just what if: this is not the directional up to heaven ‘unto’, but a spiritual upgrade in present man, so that each of us can be a Jesus. Check out Psalms 68:18, “Thou hast ascended on high (attained a spiritual state), thou hast led captivity captive (a dead end no more): thou hast received gifts (light) for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them.”

Chapter Four: Patterns and Shadows

FOUR

Patterns & Shadows

In the evolution of communication, man first had to work through what he saw and what he knew. With that level attained, he then went on to express the more abstract by way of comparison to the familiar. Matters of a higher order had to be bodied forth using low end language. Spiritual issues were described by words heretofore used for the corporeal. Thus, examples and indications, hints and clues, became ‘patterns’ and ‘shadows’. Shadow came first, I think: it was a part of their reality, like the shadow of a high rock, or a tent: as in Isaiah 32:2 for example, “the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.”

Whereas a shadow originally might reference an object able to cast that shadow (as something needful or useful), the language soon associated the shadow with the expectation of it, as in whatever gave relief, refreshing, or revival. Job 7:2 says this, “As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow.”

Man then was able to use the fact symbolically as an example (a pattern) of higher forms of relief, refreshing, and revival. Even the saving of one’s life could be used as a pattern for something higher. If a great rock may cast a saving shadow, it is easy to step up to the next level: thus, symbolically, the great rock in a weary land becomes a savior; the shadow becomes a spiritual salvation. A ‘shadow’ now speaks of heavenly things, as says Hebrews 8:5, “Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith He, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.”

It is in the same manner that Isaiah 4:6 becomes a reference to our Lord, “And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat.”

It is familiar to the well read that spiritual patterns are realized in the corporeal world. The Tabernacle that was carried for so long by the tribes of Israel is a prime example. Exodus 25:40 speaks of this, “And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount.”

There is a spiritual, or heavenly, alter. God gave a blueprint to Moses in the mount. Joshua 22:28 says, “Behold the pattern of the altar of the Lord.” That altar was the mirror image of something that really existed in Heaven, a reflection of a spiritual object that was composed of God particles: a reality.

Not only the Tabernacle is a reflection, but all the lesser objects as well. Numbers 8:4 speaks of a candlestick that existed spiritually, “According unto the pattern which the Lord had shewed Moses, so he made the candlestick.” All the accouterments were included. Exodus 25:9 says, “According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.”

As to whether or not the spiritual objects still exist in Heaven while there is no corporeal reflection, I will not venture to guess.

The word ‘shadow’ came to use as an indication of the unseen ‘ghost’ or ‘spirit’. This may be seen to stem from such application as is found in Job 17:7, “And all my members are as a shadow.” Job’s application is of what ‘is not there’, for he had withered away as a corporeal being. While the language still struggled, man was getting ever better at abstract thought. By way of comparative symbolisms, man could point to the spiritual. Man gave words to the invisible, and expanded the scope of his reality.

Symbols such as ‘fire’ and ‘light’ sprang to the lead position, indicating that of the highest order. God is light, and in Him is no darkness; His only begotten son is the light of the world. Words may at any point be symbols. If the Holy Spirit speaks through the written word, then it behooves us to pay closer attention to such words. Is Jesus a spiritual pattern realized in a single man?

Matthew 4:16 says this, “And to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.”

Here, ‘shadow of death’ is used in the same manner as ‘shadow of a great rock’. One initially imagines that a shadow is cast due to a light source from behind it. It could well be that God is the light that causes both shadows, for God claimed that He also creates evil. Else, shadow may here be used simply to identify a ‘region’ without light. Could be the world. If a light is sprung up in the world, it must be the light of the world.

To continue in this vein, James 1:17 tells us, “Every good gift and every perfect gift (light) is from above, and cometh down (to the region and shadow of death) from the Father of lights

(individuals like Jesus), with whom is no variableness, neither shadow (indication) of turning.”

Psalms 91:1 continues, “He that dwelleth in the secret (unseen or spiritual) place of the most High

shall abide under the shadow (protection or authority) of the Almighty.”

I get ‘shadow’ as authority from Judges 9:15 “Then come and put your trust in my shadow.” This, of course was the Old Testament parable of the trees seeking a king (albeit, their heads were already in Heaven).

Christ, then, may be seen in a pattern. The pattern of His work in our lives may also be seen. To which pattern do I refer? I refer to the corn of wheat that must fall into the ground and die. The pattern is of bearing fruit as shown us in 1 Timothy 1:16, “Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting.”

Likewise in Titus 2:7, “In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works.” This, unlike prior patterns, works in reverse. The former pattern worked from the spiritual to the corporeal, the latter pattern works from the corporeal to the spiritual - as an extension of the former. The whole work, thus being finished, may be called perfect.

God looks through the mirror to man and sees Himself; He gives man a gift (the pattern working from spiritual to corporeal). That perfect gift: that light, being planted, bears fruit and is given to God, the pattern now working from corporeal to spiritual. Now, God, His image and glory being man, is magnified. This theme will receive more attention later; suffice it to say, it is one of the truths that the writer of the book of Hebrews saw and wrote of. Hebrews 10:1 explains, “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.”

Shadows may be things that are, or things hoped for. Faith has no color; faith has no texture. One may not hold the certainty of their faith in the palm of their hand to test its weight. Everything that is exists within God, made of the stuff that God is made of. Within that framework is a river of communication. The head of that river is Christ. Anything that is in us, first passed through the head, by way of communication, to the ocean that is us. We are not separate from the river, for the communication continues in circuit. Everything we are given, we return again, as the pattern of communication turns around upon itself.

Colossians 2:16-17 puts it before our eyes, “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”

Chapter Three

THREE

God with man

I wrote earlier that certain corporeal acts amounted to ‘turning away’ from God: rebellions which God took seriously; acts through which early man delivered himself over to perils, calamities, and plagues. Remember: God also creates evil. Perhaps these outcomes may be viewed as boundaries, beyond which man is not able to extend his will. And, mankind is definitely a rebellious lot; he seeks to extend his will. But God is willing, it seems, to work with us when some acts of ‘turning away’ are needful.

Witness Exodus 30:11-12, “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them.”

Early concepts of man’s connection to God placed a division between God and man. Such primitive concepts still abound. It is like saying the island is separate and different from the ocean floor that surrounds it. The Hebrew view of God set Him at a distance (in the heavens), watching. God was big and scary; He could sneak up on you and was just as apt to drop the hammer as do a favor. As they saw Him, God was either for you or against you; He was either with you or with the other guy. The Hebrew psyche revolved around a responsive lifestyle meant (hopefully) to keep God on their side.

Numbers 14:9 points to this, “Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not.”

Deuteronomy 1:42 also points to this, “And the Lord said unto me, Say unto them. Go not up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest ye be smitten before your enemies.”

Likewise, Judges 6:16, “And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.”

Between man and God, there is an interface: it is, if you will, a mirror. God stands on the one side while man stands on the other. Each looks through to their reflection. Man looks at God and sees himself; God looks at man and sees Himself. The next verse shows that God is not as far away as man has placed Him.

Numbers 17:5 shows us how close God really is, “And it shall come to pass, that the man's rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom: and I will make to cease from Me the murmurings of the children of Israel, whereby they murmur against you.”

To most it was, and still is, enough to hope that God was with man; it was enough to know that God was with certain special individuals. These individuals exemplified the general consensus of the greater qualities of God. Not only was greater power seen in the lives of these individuals, but they seemed to be in possession of the very nature of God. Great characters of the Bible (Moses, David, Samuel, etc.) were often and highly praised for ‘higher’ attributes usually associated with God.

1 Samuel 16:17-18 points to some attributes praised in David, “And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me. Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, that is cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the Lord is with him.”

More follows in 1 Samuel 18:14, “And David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and the Lord was with him.”

These attributes, usually of a mental nature and having a relationship to ‘communication’, will later be seen in abundance. It must be said that the relationship between God and man has never been static. There has always been communication; in fact, that is one of the most visible hallmarks of the relationship. There was, of course, communication from man to God, usually a formal or ritualized prayer. There was also communication from God to man. The most normal and acceptable to the mindset of the time was a pronouncement from a priest. Certain individuals, however, could be seen speaking to God. These men were rare and spooky, for God’s answer could be seen. Moses was such a man; Elijah was such a man; and Samuel was such a man.

1 Samuel 12:18 shows this, “So Samuel called unto the Lord; and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day: and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.”

Communication is the issue here, and the image of God is that part of a man that can be communicated with. This is the reasoning: if an invisible God looks into the mirror at man and sees Himself, is the reflection corporeal or spiritual? It will be asserted that our cognitive abilities are spiritual; that ‘spiritual’ and ‘communication’ go hand in hand; that there is no action without communication.

Numbers 14:20 states, “And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word.”

Take a close look at 1 Samuel 3:19. “And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none of His words fall to the ground.” Such a verse as this one indicates the personal nature of the relationship between God and mankind. To what do I draw your attention but the phrase “fall to the ground?”

The reference in this verse is to a seed, but how are we to interpret it? Of references that involve seeds, the mind might go toward sayings of Jesus, such as mustard seeds that grow big in a good way, or wheat seeds that fall to the ground and die (a reference to Christ’s work). However, in regard to a personal relationship, one’s attention should be drawn to the childless widow of the Old Testament. The brother was responsible for taking her to himself. He was called upon to have a relationship with her, to communicate seed to her, that she could produce heirs in her husband’s name.

In a similar manner, God has taken man to Himself. Indeed, our relationship with God is often couched in intimate terms: for instance, Christ referred to Himself as the ‘bridegroom’. What is the point of this study? It is to investigate the ‘mirror’: that interface between God and man. Man looks into that mirror, yet struggles to make sense of it. Man’s language struggles too, for how does one describe an invisibility? Such a burden! - and yet, volumes have been written. Man’s approach to the invisible has normally been by way of comparison. Among man’s many writings on what he cannot see, two words stand forth to bear the weight of his attempts.

Chapter Two

TWO

Images

Let’s talk about images, then. In the early history of the Hebrews, the ‘graven image’ was a

big deal. I think most of us have at least a passing familiarity with this: God really had a thing about

graven images. The Hebrews lived among nations that regularly crafted images for worship, and they were sometimes drawn in. Aaron’s golden calf is a good example. Such things, back then, were the norm. But God had called the Hebrews apart from the norm; He sought to make a nation better than all the others, and a people peculiar unto Himself, a treasure. God wanted a people that lived closer to the truth. With that in mind, one can see that the Lord’s commands were more than just arbitrary restrictions.

Exodus 20:4 shows such a command, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”

We today have images all around us; we have fine art and we have cheesy home interior. They are things to look at, and so we wonder: ‘what was the big deal about images?’ Deuteronomy 16:22 shows us God’s very human opinion toward them, “Neither shalt thou set thee up any image; which the Lord thy God hateth.”

The next question, necessarily, is why does God hate the image? Surely, they’re no threat to God - they are inanimate objects, but the next verse will give us several important clues in this regard. They are important because they lead us beyond the obvious.

Deuteronomy 5:8-9 says, “Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me.”

This is actually quite a famous verse. It is famous for its use by nonbelievers. They use it to point to what they see as cruel and arbitrary in God - that the children must pay for the sins of the fathers. The word ‘sin’ is of a different flavor than the word ‘iniquity’. ‘Iniquity’ points more toward double-dealing than toward simply breaking the law, as implied in the word ‘sin’. This comes from the Spirit. Therefore, the word ‘iniquity’ speaks of agreements and covenants. To answer the nonbeliever, the iniquity perpetrated by the fathers is not an isolated thing, but a thing taught and perpetuated down through the generations. The children are actually punished for their own iniquity.

When the father makes and worships a graven image, more goes on than meets the eye. First, the

Hebrew, having entered an agreement with God, breaks it fully knowing that God will take it as a

hostile act ( . . . Them that hate Me . . . ). Second, by the very act of worshiping a corporeal object,

a man turns his back on his spiritual God. With all the effort God invested in the Hebrews to lead

them from slavery, and take them as His own, such an act may be viewed as theft ( . . . for I the

Lord thy God am a jealous God . . . ). One can only be jealous of what truly is in His possession.

Third, on top of the iniquity of covenant breaking; on top of the sins of rebellion and theft, to teach

your own children to be the enemies of God is simply ignorant and uncaring of the good of others.

The above verse gives us a beginning clue of how directly related the corporeal is to the spiritual.

We can see then that there is a connection, from our actions, that crosses over into the spiritual realm. It anchors into something: does scripture give a clue as to what?

See Revelation 19:20, “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.” The 'false prophet' is a flesh and blood image of a spiritual 'beast'.

I had mentioned a covenant. The Hebrews made an agreement with God; promises were made on both sides. Terms were set. This was the agreement by which the Hebrews were exalted above all other nations; they belonged to God and would bask in His favor so long as they kept their end of the bargain. For the Hebrews, there were only two places to be: with God as God’s own, or with the other nations, who were at that time out of favor with God for such things as idol worship.

God warned His possession, His “peculiar treasure,” in Deuteronomy 4:23-24 “Take heed unto

yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which He made with you, and

make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the Lord thy God hath forbidden

thee. For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.”

A ‘consuming fire’ is a thing that spreads in direct relation to the fuel offered to it. If you put a fire in a field of brush, it will consume everything that is dry and dead.

This study is currently exploring ‘images’, both corporeal and spiritual. It has looked at the corporeal image; taken note of God’s stand on the issue, and examined some of the reasons involved. We have gained an understanding of man’s relation to a spiritual God - that God has attempted to lead His people toward a proper relationship. We have seen that idol worship is a relationship toward the other end of the spectrum. Now we need to place our gains in a framework. When we put our previously studied ‘reasons’ within the framework of a higher reason, a new level is attained. It is like knowing where you live by way of daily familiarity, but then to stand on a hilltop and see where you live within a more concise context and from the vantage of an overview.

Leviticus 26:1 reminds me that man is the image of God, “Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the Lord your God.”

Man is the image of God; perhaps that is why Christ said that seeing Him was seeing the Father. Perhaps that is why scripture called men gods (John 10:34-35). However, the artisan took rocks and trees and carved things that looked like corporeal flesh, and bowed to that.

Now, the next verse to be cited may seem to cast an unrelenting barrier between God and His image on earth, but it does not. Those who might try to assert that it does are comparing apples to oranges. No, the verse merely contrasts the corporeal with the spiritual.

Romans 1:23 says, “And(the workman) changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.”

Man, not man’s image, is the image of God: the ‘likeness’, to put it in another familiar term. Yes, to see a man is to see God - but not so much the flesh (and here I add another level to our vantage point) as the part that can be communicated with: the mind: (. . . If He called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture can not be broken . . . ).

That is why God has such disdain for the crafted image, as we see in Hosea 8:6, “The workman made it; therefore it is not God.”

We know that God did not prohibit all graven images. 2 Chronicles 3:10 says, “And in the most holy house he made two cherubims of image work, and overlaid them with gold.”

Only those images that will, through ignorance, cause a man to turn away from God are proscribed. Why would God ever want or need us to craft images of God? He did that, Himself, when He made man. Romans 1:23, above, spoke of the ‘glory’ of God. With the next verse, I add again a level to our comprehension of man’s relation to an invisible and uncorruptible God.

1 Corinthians 11:7 says plainly, “man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God.”

In being the ‘image and glory’ of God, man is still, nevertheless, corporeal (a shadow of what he can be). On this issue the Christian faith, though prominent, is not the only faith to hinge upon an aspiration for spiritual evolution. Man, as a being, has studied his spiritual nature since time immemorial. That the corporeal is a mere marker along our way has never been a ‘what if’ scenario.

1 Corinthians 15:49 puts it thusly, “And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also

bear the image of the heavenly.”

The Christian hope for this is a lively hope; it is a well-defined concept upon which millennia of serious thought has been dedicated, and a topic of interest voluminously recorded. The pivot on which our understanding of these matters swings is the life and death of God as a man.

Romans 6:5 states, “If we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.”

We have seen that man is the ‘image and glory’ of God. Pre-eminent of all men is God as a

man: Jesus Christ. After all, when one looks into a mirror, the reflection is one’s own. In putting

such things together within a framework, as this study attempts to do, a higher vantage point for

perception is attained.

Things may now be seen in a new light; as part of a bigger picture, and sweet as that is, greater discoveries are still to come. We look into the mirror for a glimpse of God; we find that the reflection is not God but us. Then the realization hits home that the mirror, and all else as well, is God.

Colossians 1:15-17 astounds us, “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.”

We consist of God. We are made of God particles. Both the spiritual and the corporeal consist of God. We, ourselves, are a level (powers) in the cosmic order created by Christ. Strong meat, indeed! But here, we must stop and take a step back. In order that all may realize the truth, a reasonable effort must be applied to the gradual transition upward, building level upon level.