Down By The Riverside

… [A]s we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. -- 2 Corinthians 4:18

All that is seen is temporary.  I look at photographs that captured the images of a moment.  Perhaps I can go back to the spot and some of the same things are there, but nothing is the same.  That moment in the stream of time has moved beyond us. 

The Missouri River is not the same water traversed by Lewis and Clark.  Why do we call it by the same name?  The water is seen, the stream bed may even be seen.  The water in the river changes constantly as does the exact course over which it runs.  That which is much more lasting is this great and vast drainage, these many watercourses coming together and pouring into this channel. 

Spiritual reality is much like that.  The experiences, events, and existences that we see in time are but the current manifestations of that which underlies and creates.  The present is always pouring out of and over eternity, being created and shaped by the eternal which may not now be perceived directly.  Just as the water’s surface can tell us something about what lies below, we may learn much about the nature of unseen reality by that which is manifest to us.  In addition, like a topographical map of terrain or a depth chart of a body of water, special revelation gives us greater insight into truth. 

The unseen is not invisible; it is not yet visible.  Scripture tells us that the elements will be consumed by fire and the heavens will roll back like a scroll.  There will come a point where the temporal and the eternal will converge and the veil of transience will be put aside and cast away. 

The wise will not ignore the visible but will look through it to that which lies behind.  They will see the impermanent for what it is and be neither seduced nor intimidated by it.  We will know the Truth, and we will be free.

The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place (Revelation 6:14).

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed (2 Peter 3:10).