Regarding Jesus mission in Two Realms, seen and unseen
The verses you asked about Wednesday night are found in Matthew 17:10-13
10๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ช๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ช๐ฎ, “๐๐ฉ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ด๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ญ๐ช๐ซ๐ข๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต?”
11๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ, “๐๐ญ๐ช๐ซ๐ข๐ฉ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด. 12๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ญ๐ช๐ซ๐ข๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐จ๐ฏ๐ช๐ป๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ถ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด.”
13๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ช๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐๐ฐ๐ฉ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ด๐ต.
It was originally prophesied in Malachi 4:5&6, which probably has a double fulfillment (the spirit of Elijah will/may be a forerunner for both the first and second coming of Jesus).
The gospel of Mark references this, but with less detail, 9:12&13.
Luke 1:17 talks about Malachi's prophecy from a spiritual, rather than physical point-of-view.
And somewhat related, after 'Palm Sunday' but before His arrest, Jesus was preaching one of his final messages in the Temple courtyard when the chief priests and elders challenged his authority to do that. (They were likely looking for a way to arrest him right then on the spot and save the 30 pieces of silver) Jesus answers them with a question His accusers cannot answer, but the reader can determine that the answer is: Both! This is another instance when the spirit/heaven parallels the physical/earth. This is found in Matthew 21:23-27, Mark 11:27-33, and Luke 20:1–8.
The point we hope came across during the devotion was that both spiritual and physical were aligned when (time) and where (space) Jesus made His confrontational declaration, "On this rock I will build MY church..." (taking authority back)
The gates of hell will not prevail against her, His bride.
More Notes Added
How could we possibly know what the Spirit realm is like?
Paul tells us we can presently see a hazy outline of it. At the time he was writing, mirrors were polished metal; his analogy was that we have a reflection here of what the spirit realm is (1 Corinthians 13:12). We can know, at least in part, because God created us in His own image (Genesis 1:27). There is similarity. The concept is repeated in Ephesians 4. Even though we cannot know it completely; we can know in part because we are God-imagers; we were damaged by rebellions, but the potential for restoration/reconciliation still allows a limited view.
The Bible never says that the Earth is a copy of what God has in heaven. Where did you get that?
That's not completely true. Hebrews 8:5 tells us that the plan for the Tabernacle is a copy of Heaven's Temple AND that the duties/service performed by the priests were a typical representation and a shadow of the heavenly things. When they were on Mt. Sinai God commanded Moses, "See that you make all things after their pattern." The heavenly sanctuary is the archetype, the earthly one a copy. There's definitely a pattern being copied as regards the temple, plus, all the festivals and feast days were Earth-provisory shadows of God's Spiritual plan for redeeming mankind, Colossians 2:17, and there are also many other examples where Earth copies Heaven. Spread throughout the Bible, one could construct a lengthy list of similarities: from musical instruments, to gardens, to horses, to rivers and trees, to streets and houses….
Two assignments/instructions that Jesus gave his disciples show a close connection between Heaven and Earth—that God's intent is to have them reflect each other. They were to pray "On Earth as it is in Heaven" Matt 6:10, and "whatever you may bind on earth will already be bound in the heavens, and whatever you may loosen on earth will already be loosened in the heavens," Matt 16:19.
More patterns and copies? The marriage covenant is an earthly picture of the heavenly reality of God’s relationship with his people.
Of course there are differences, (a) Heaven worships One God while on Earth there are "many “gods” and many “lords” 1 Cor 8:5. And (b) some Roles in the Spirit Realm are carried out only on Earth. For example, Exodus 15:3 "The Lord is a mighty warrior. Jehovah is his name," and Zephaniah 3:17 "The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves." This spiritual warfare is carried out on Earth, because that is where the enemy of God is. But the similarities are great: Earth is to reflect God's Glory.
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