Two kingdoms

There is a parallel universe. I live in one, but belong to the other.

Both are illustrated by two books that I read this week. One is State of Fear by Michael Crichton, about the contemporary concern over global warming. It was spellbinding and I could hardly put it down. The author says that the book is fiction, but his footnotes are facts. He did a great deal of research to support the storyline that global warming has been invented for financial ends.

Before I go off on that tangent, the other book is Deadlock by James Scott Bell, a Christian author who spins a yarn about a woman appointed to Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. While she resists the faith of her mother and the pull of circumstances that continually draw her to think about God, the rest of her world reacts to rumors that she is being drawn away from her liberal view of abortion and other issues. The story is about her entering that other universe, the goings on in the kingdom of God, and the strain of what it means to live in one world and belong to the other.

When I started reading Bell’s book, I was still heady with the great writing ability and plot of Crichton’s book. Not having read much Christian fiction, I wondered how Bell could be convincing. I’ve never been able to predict what God will do. Writing a book about His activity in today’s world seemed almost presumptuous. I admit that I was skeptical and feared that it would be one of those predictable stories with a Cinderella ending.

However, Bell did a great job of describing the parallel universe, or rather the kingdom of God as it meshes with the kingdom of this world.

The Bible passage that I read this morning is Paul’s version from Ephesians 2:1-7. It fits in a nutshell and says, “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

One universe is filled with those live their lives apart from God. They assume they are doing their own thing as they follow the dictates of their hearts and minds, but they do have one who rules their kingdom, a realm the Bible calls the kingdom of darkness.

The other universe or kingdom is a spiritual realm but just as real. In that realm are those who have been saved by grace from their self-serving dictates of the heart, and who have been given a new life, the life of Christ. These people are objects of the grace of God and live in the kingdom of light.

God clearly sees both realms. He sees the true ruler of the first one, His opponent Satan (who has already been defeated), and those held in bondage by their determination to do their own thing. That determination actually makes them inadvertently serve the prince of their world who uses their selfishness to his own ends.

God also sees those in His kingdom, the parallel universe. We are, in the mind of God, already seated with Christ in heavenly places. Our destiny is that certain. He also sees our battles as we try to abide in His kingdom while our bodies are actually in the other one. The dichotomy is a continual struggle, yet by the help of His Word and the Holy Spirit, we press on to a guaranteed victory.

My hat is off to writers like James Scott Bell who can present the spiritual reality of a parallel universe that is hidden in this one, hidden at least from the average person who is not walking with God and has no idea (or a false idea) of what it is all about. While I heartily recommend State of Fear to any reader and found it read like a “real” story, Bell’s book goes beyond a yarn based on well-researched facts. It presents an account, even if it is fiction, that tells how the God of truth, the God of that parallel universe, invades this one (because it also is His, was created by Him, and belongs to Him) to grab hold of human hearts and turn them from their self-serving and sinful ways.

As God translates sinners from this darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son, He also uses the struggles and challenges of living in this universe to fit us for an eternal and glorified existence in that parallel reality that we are also already living in.

One day I will leave this world, but because my heart is already in the other one and I have a taste of what is mine in Christ, I anticipate winning all my battles and making that transition, leaving behind the sorrow and struggles to take my seat with Christ, a place where I am already sitting.