Salvation: Repentance and Faith (Acts 20:21)

Hi!
I hope that I’m not flooding your WebSite’s Comment component; I don’t mean to do so. Someone whom I was recently introduced to suggested that I visit this Site and I’ve happily read alot of the published content and thought I should add a few comments when appropriate.

It’s not for nothing that the Bible describes us Christians as “new creatures”, “everything becomes new”. Some think this as like a blackboard; all the past errors and sins become suddenly erased and somehow we get a second chance to make things right.
Well, that’s not the entire truth of the situation.
The Bible says that we are a new SPECIES (literal meaning of the word ‘creature’) never before seen on the face of the earth (before the arrival of Jesus). Jesus, after all, was the first of many; the forerunner of this new species; the fully spiritual man living from out of the kingdom of heaven; as such, the Son of God and we have opportunity to be named ‘sons’ too.
Is it a wonder?
We born again humans are indeed a new species because we walk in the heavens and become acquainted with “things unseen” and express our experience in real-time in this visible world.
So, if I had a suggestion for you, it would be this: investigate the Gospel of the Kingdom throughout the scriptures and make the thoughts about it your own.

It begins with the reading of Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
So, to answer the question: Faith is what?
The answer is: Faith is the evidence of things unseen
So, it’s needful that our faith become preoccupied with “things unseen”; aka: the kingdom of heaven.

Let’s say we tore your physical body apart into a zillion microscopic morsels; what would we find?
Would we find a thought? Would we find the REAL you? (“hidden man of the heart”)
No.

When you watch the nightly TV news; what do you see?
Of course, you see an image of your favorite news anchor.
If you tore the TV apart, would you find the news anchor inside the mess?
No.
We know that the news anchor is seated at a desk in a television studio located 100′s of miles distant.
So, it can be said that what we are seeing on our TV Screens is an image of a distant invisible reality; certainly not reality itself.

This shouldn’t puzzle us too much. After all, both the moon and the sun behave in a similar manner; they are natural images depicting supernatural realities. In a word: the sun and the moon could be said to be “evidence of things unseen”.
The sun is a natural picture of the supernatural reality that God is light.
It’s said of Jesus that He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of His nature.
The moon reflects the glory of the sun; it is a light in the night and “shines in the darkness”.
As such, the moon too can be said to be a visible picture of an invisible reality: Jesus Christ.

Continuing with the metaphor:
Every television has the ability to RECEIVE a UHF signal which it subsequently decodes and displays on the TV Screen.
The physical body of every human behaves in a similar manner as the TV. It too is essentially a RECEIVER.
We have a human spirit which behaves similar to a TV antenna which receives inspiration from out of the kingdom of heaven.
If our antenna (human spirit) is fixated on the Kingdom of Death, we display depression, fear and spiritual injury through our physical body (TV screen).
If our antenna is fixated on the Kingdom of God, we display peace, joy and righteousness through our physical body.

When we put our minds on the Gospel of the Kingdom so many events and narratives of the Bible become alive and vibrant to us. For instance, the Book of Revelation is an incredible array of visible images (parables) each depicting an invisible reality. It’s the Gospel of the Kingdom which causes these images to become the “evidence of things unseen” for us; it removes the veil which covers our minds. While the Old Testament saints spoke about the invisible heavens belonging to God, Jesus spoke of the heavens belonging to us. Therefore we joyfully testify that we are indeed “seated in heavenly places”.

Anyways, sorry for the long narrative here. I merely wanted to encourage you to further investigate the Gospel of the Kingdom. Throughout the Bible we see a persistent thread of parables which in varying ways use natural images to reveal those things which remain invisible. Obtaining knowledge of the Gospel of the Kingdom (keys of the kingdom) is critical to a healthy and maturing spiritual life; it’s the very crucible of our faith.