Skilled in the word of Righteousness (Hebrews 5:13) Part 19

SKILLED IN THE WORD OF RIGHTEOUSNESS (Hebrews 5:13)

Part 19

Written by Yeow Chin Kiong

There’s no reason for anyone to reject the existence of the supernatural beyond our human, material existence. It is also not unreasonable for these two realms (i.e that of what can be detected by our human senses, unaided or aided by man-made instruments AND that of something beyond such detection at present) to interrelate in some ways.

We cannot dismiss the existence of the supernatural simply because our natural senses cannot yet readily acquire evidence of that realm. After all, we now have the technology of electron microscopy and subatomic particle accelerators to see, or at least detect, the smallest, invisible entities imaginable as well as the technology of ground and space telescopes to capture images of space multiple light-years from earth, further beyond even our galaxy. In a sense, even our understanding of what is “natural” is being expanded beyond what we could have imagined mere decades ago.

Today’s theoretical physics (especially quantum physics) has begun to theorize about Black Holes in deep space as highways to other dimensions existing alongside ours. It is no longer engaging in science fiction to talk about the possibility of detecting non-human intelligent life-forms in other planets. Even with our limited knowledge, the line separating the “natural” from the “supernatural” is thinning and it is unfair to utterly dismiss all suggestion of the supernatural as unworthy of our attention or consideration.

The Bible does affirm the existence of the realms of the “seen” and the “unseen.” But it also affirms their interrelatedness. For instance, Hebrews 11:3 says, “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” We now know this to be true because we understand that everything that exist,- from the largest galaxies, stars and planets to the smallest cells of all life-forms, flora or fauna,- is made up of elements of the periodic table and compounds of these elements. The elements themselves comprise subatomic particles that are held together by invisible forces subject to laws of physics (or not, according to quantum phtsics!). In astrophysics, it is now theorized that the emptiness of outer space itself (within which stars and planets exist) is not “empty” but consists of invisible “dark matter” and “dark energy.”

About the “supernatural” having come into contact with the “natural,” this is affirmed in Hebrews 1:1-4 which says that the initiative to communicate across the supernatural-natural divide was taken by the Supernatural. A similar point is made by Romans 1:18-20 which states that the Invisible made Himself known through His works of creation which are perceived as “natural” by humans (if only they were open to the evidence around them).

The Bible tells us that the invisible Supernatural has come into the natural world in Deity’s incarnation (Galatians 4:4). John 1:14, 18 declares “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth ….. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father; He has declared Him.” The Son explained that He was the messenger from the supernatural realm sent to reveal something of that realm to humanity in our natural realm (John 3:11-13).

The Bible, then, claims to be a communication of the supernatural addressed to humans in the natural realm (2 Timothy 3:16-17). There is no reason to reject Deity’s supernatural work within the natural realm (as recorded in the Bible, such as Jesus’ miracles and His resurrection) if we accept that all that exist in the natural universe had been supernaturally created by Deity in the first place. As far as the four gospels and Acts of the Apostles are concerned, all of their contents ought to be accepted as reliable and trustworthy records based on eyewitnesses’ testimony, including as regards the supernatural reported therein.