Reality
of the Invisible
Strong's Greek: 517. ἀόρατος (aoratos) -- Invisible -
Bible Hub
Context: The Greek word ἀόρατος appears in the New Testament to convey the concept of invisibility, particularly in relation to spiritual or divine entities. It is used to describe the nature …[i]
Strong's Greek: 3707. ὁρατός (horatos) -- Visible, seen -
Bible Hub
Here, ὁρατός is used to refer to the temporary, visible world, encouraging believers to focus on the eternal, invisible realities of God's kingdom. The use of ὁρατός serves as a reminder of the …[ii]
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Rom. 1: 20.
The human race is guilty before God in
our deed of ungodliness and unrighteousness. God created both the heavenly
bodies and the earthly bodies. We begin to understand the heavenly things by
seeing the earthly things. Earthly things are image of heavenly things.
The universal character of this
revelation and the clarity of it leave man without excuse for
rejecting it. “Men cannot charge God with hiding himself from them and thus
excuse their irreligion and their immorality.” (Lenski)
And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven
as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Acts
1:10.
These 2 men are the angels; and also many have reported they had seen angels in their lives and reported that they look like men. Here the point is, the invisible and the visible are very close and separated only by a thin layer. In fact, one can move from one to the other through a very thin corridor. God created the visible and the invisible world at the same time and the separation is only a very thin border!
The cloud that received Him is suggestive of the cloud of glory (called the Shekinah) that is associated with the presence of God in the Old and New Testaments; (Ref. Lk. 24: 50-51).
And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven; Lk. 24: 51.
If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe
not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man
hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of
man which is in heaven; Jn. 3: 12-13.
“The ascension differs radically from Jesus’ vanishing from the sight of the disciples at Emmaus and similar happenings. There is an air of finality about it. It is the decisive close of one chapter and the beginning of another.” (Morris)
That is the reason, when people pass
off, it is a quick transition from this world to the other world. That is the
reason, the Lord can appear and disappear, and angels too. So, the humanity
cannot deny the invisible, because both are very close to each other. We try to
understand the heavenlies by looking at the visible, earthly things.
There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the
celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another; 1
Cori. 15: 40.
There are different kinds of bodies
in God’s creation, including celestial bodies. Humans created in the image of
God, at resurrection will have heavenly body. While our present bodies are
adapted for the environment of time and earth, our resurrection bodies will be celestial
for the environment of eternity and heaven. So our life does not end in this
planet earth.
There is one glory of the sun, another
glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from
another star in glory:
Some take this to mean there will be different degrees of glory for believers
in heaven. “Whether there are degrees of glory, as it seems probable, so we
shall certainly know, when we come to heaven.” (Trapp)
