LightGrams
February 22, 2017
Volume 22, Number 8
Water covers 70% of earth’s surface; most of us have heard that. A glance at a globe shows far more blue than any other color. One statistic about oceans that is not as familiar is that “95 percent of this realm remains unexplored, unseen by human eyes”. That figure is from the web site of the National Ocean Service, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. I suppose they would know.
An exhibit will soon open at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City entitled “Unseen Oceans”. Featured in this exhibit will be sea creatures not seen by most eyes. Many of them are bioluminescent, and live at depths that require specially designed seacraft to film them.
Who doesn’t enjoy gazing into an aquarium? Yet in the unseen realms of the ocean there are creatures far more amazing that any we’ve seen in most fish tanks. One creature that caught my eye in a story about “Unseen Oceans” was the sea butterfly, otherwise known as the sea angel.
I don’t expect to ever board a craft that will take me miles beneath the ocean’s surface, but I do anticipate a journey like the one Paul described in 2 Corinthians 12:3,4: “I know such a man … who was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.” Paul almost certainly was relating a personal experience, and it was in a different unseen realm – the spiritual realm.
Hebrews 12:22 speaks of this realm as a present reality: “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels.” If we had the right kind of eyes, we could see that band of angels. They are as real as the sea angels that inhabit the oceans’ depths.
“But I don’t see any angels!” someone might object. That’s because they are invisible (usually) to mortal eyes. Colossians 1:16 affirms that truth: “For by [Jesus Christ] all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers …” The same claim is made for Jesus Himself: “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen” (1 Timothy 1:17).
I’ve never personally seen a sea angel, but I don’t doubt their existence. There are credible witnesses who have affirmed that they are real. The same can be said for the angels of God and other spiritual realities; though we don’t presently see them, we know they are real. The Bible is an absolutely credible witness.
As Christians we live by this principle: “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). For us “believing is seeing”.
Come to the light God offers! Study His word, the Bible. Worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Get in touch with us if you’d like to discuss these ideas further.
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Copyright, 2018, Timothy D. Hall. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the New King James Version (Copyright, 1990, Thomas Nelson, Inc.).
“LightGrams” is produced by the Central Church of Christ, 2722 Oakland Avenue, Johnson City, Tennessee, 37601, and is written by Tim Hall, minister. It is sent free of charge every Thursday to all who request it. To subscribe or to receive more information, write to “[email protected]” (our E-mail address), to the U.S. mail address above, or call (423) 282-1571.
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