What is Space?
That is the first question we need to solve. If you took away all the physical matter like stars, planets, comets, asteroids, and man-made junk from space what would be left?
The answer is obviously…NOTHING. There is nothing there. No Air. No light. No heat. No time. Nothing. Between the objects in space there is nothing, but still we know it is real because we can fly spacecraft through it and do space walks in it. There is nothing there but it’s real. That realm of our creator is real, but then he created the physical things in it. The vastness of that realm is beyond human comprehension. We only know what we can see and touch…which are all physical things.
The air we breath is composed of matter. It is mostly oxygen and nitrogen which are compounds of physical matter that are warmed by the Sun and the air acts like a blanket around our planet blocking the Sun’s rays in the daytime and holding in the heat at night. Our light and heat come from our Sun, and the stars are distant burning spheres like our Sun. The heat from these stars does not warm space. The heat only warms the physical object that their light hits. Space is real. But we also know from scripture that there are things we can not see or touch in space. We will examine the spiritual realm below.
Time
We base time on the movement of physical objects; like two wags of a dog’s tail. Time is a relative term, meaning that it has to be connected and compared to something. One earth day is one rotation of our planet. One Earth year is the relationship between the Sun and how long it takes the earth to travel once around it. A car traveling 30 km/hr on the road is going about 1000 km/hr around the sun. It’s a relationship between physical objects.
But there is no way to measure time in nothingness. Time travel is only possible in science fiction movies. Mankind has found ways to travel faster but time doesn’t change. Going back in time is an interesting concept but totally ridiculous if you accept that the physical universe actually is real and space is real. Warp drive and worm holes for future travel are not beyond comprehension. 100 years ago few people could believe we would have cell phones and jet engines. But time travel is a real stretch of the imagination. Nowhere in all of scripture is there any evidence to support past or future time travel. Time always moves forward and the rate we move forward through time is the only thing that changes. Time will always be relative and constant for all physical things.
The scriptures tell us that the Creator has a specific time frame worked out for Earth and our solar system based on the cycles of our planet’s rotation around the Sun. What we call a day is one spin of Earth on its axis. Many places in scripture make it clear that what we call a year our Creator calls a day. The Creator considers one spin of Earth around the Sun as a day. And a day can be a 1000 years as in the creation story when the Hebrew word translated as “day” referred to a period of time that had a beginning and an end. The Hebrew word we translate as “day” signifies a period of “activity”.
The Hebrew word translated as “night” signifies “rolling up” like finishing an activity. We still use the word “day” in the same way. Did you ever say, “back in the day…”? We use the phrase often in our common speech to refer to a period of time rather than an actual day. Stay in context. We just have to be aware of the context in which it is being used in scripture so we can understand which way it is being conveyed. It always amazes me how folks can be so rigid in there traditions and beliefs that they miss all the facts. How can anyone possibly claim that the Creator’s day was 24 earth hours? It could be in the blink of an eye or a million years from our perspective.
Consider this:
On the sixth day animals were created, a garden was created to be his dwelling place, the animals were all named by Adam, he got a wife, and they learned how to work in the garden. All in 24 earth hours?
Who can say how much “earth time” the Creator used to create our physical universe and our world? How long did the galaxies of stars swirl in space before the Creator chose the planet Earth to be the place he would call home for his family? Does it matter? According to the scriptures recorded in Genesis chapter 1…the heavens and earth were created long before the first day occurred. Please don’t get hung up on this “how-long-was-a-day” issue and miss the whole reason why you exist in the first place…because the Creator wants to share it all with his children. Be thankful you exist and have the choice to accept his gift.
The Physical Realm
We know our Sun was dark until the Creator lit it up. Were the other stars shining long before he did that? We can accept that as being absolutely plausible. Our star, the Sun, is considered to be a young star. I have a theory that Black Holes are just stars that were never lit. How about that for a wrench in the astrologer’s gears? The creation story for mankind begins with the Earth being a cold dark formless mass covered by water. When the time was right it that was chosen by the Creator to be a place where life could exist and grow. All he had to do was light up this dark star we call the Sun to get the process started.
When the Creator decided to create a physical dimension in this vast nothingness it was for only one reason. He wanted a physical family to love and hold and share with. If he wanted a purely spiritual family he could have made us like angels and not had to go through all the drama. The physical existence of mankind to be his children is whole reason it was all created. There is no indication in scripture that mankind will ever dwell in the spiritual realm. If you believe that you have been deceived. Just look up all every reference you can find from the prophets and apostles and see if you can find a single human being in the spiritual realm other than Jesus.
The creation of the physical universe we live in began with the creation of a physical human form (a suit or costume if you will) that the Almighty Creator of all things would use to physically communicate with his physical family and children on earth. He walked in the garden with Adam and Eve, and ate breakfast with Abraham and Sarah, etc. According to John 1 all things were created through, and by, this special form that Jehovah created for himself. It is this same special form that became truly human in the Jesus we know and love, and this Jesus is the physical person of our Creator that will dwell with his children forever.
It was revealed to John that the time will come when this physical earth and cosmos we live in today will dissolve away and a new physical earth and universe will be our home forever (Rev 21:1-4). We call that wonderful new place Paradise. The day will come when the throne will be on earth and the angels will gather there with the children to praise our Lord and King.
The Spiritual Realm
Jesus told us that the physical universe where we live in is not the only place in the Realm . We know there is the special place of Jehovah’s throne where all the angels gather to receive instruction and praise the Creator. Satan used to stand there as our accuser until Jesus paid our debt (Rev 12:7-12). The scriptures tell us there is also a special place all souls go when they die. The word used is Sheol (Hebrew: She’ohl) and described as a dark pit where some souls rest in blissful sleep, and some in nightmares. Solomon says that for all mankind, “there is no work, planning, knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave” (Ecc 9:10), and “the dust returns to the earth, and the spirit returns to the Creator who gave it” (Ecc 12:7). That place of the dead is sheol. The baddest of angels are also bound there in darkness. Jesus said there are many places in the realm of his father and he is going to prepare a new place for us and come back to get us (John 14:1-3).
What is different is that in the spiritual realm there is no family. From scripture we learn that the spiritual beings, we call angels, were created to serve the Creator and are also required to serve the children and family of the Creator. That fact is what started the conflict with Satan and 1/3 of the angels. They refused to serve the children of the Creator. They took the stand that they were above mankind. The angels and other spiritual beings were created as eternal servant creatures that dwell in the space of our Creators realm…a non-physical spiritual dimension if you want to call it that. These beings are not physical but could take on a physical appearance in the physical realm when needed to assist the children.
Before the flood many rebellious angels took advantage of that capability and were a very bad influence on the people of earth. We know from scripture that they were imprisoned in sheol until their day of judgement (2Peter 2:4). In 1Peter 3:18-20 we see that Jesus’ human soul went to sheol as a testament to these fallen spirits of his humanity (it is improperly translated as “preached”) but he didn’t stay. The Creator’s design is that his servant angels will also serve his children. But Satan and 1/3rd of the angels refused to serve the children of the Creator. They took the stand that they were above mankind.. Their purpose was to serve their master and do their assigned duties…forever…or be condemned to suffer for eternity in the Lake of Fire. They chose badly. They will have dominion over nothing.
Why We Exist
In the gospel of John we learn that all things were created for, and through, the physical person of the Creator that he was going to use so he could physically interact with his children. The Creator sacrificed his own son so we could live and not be condemned to the fate of all other life on the planet. Adam’s choice to disobey lowered us to the standing of all other life forms that just die and cease to exist (ICor 15;35-38, John 3:16). Our choice it to follow Jesus and trust that we will live forever with him, or just perish. The children of the Creator will be changed to have bodies that will never die. If you want to call it a spiritual everlasting type of body you can, but it’s still a physical body that will dwell in a physical Paradise with our Lord and Savior, King Jesus. We will not be able travel between the spiritual realm and the physical realm like some want to believe. There will be no need or desire to leave Paradise.
All the killing and death described in the scriptures takes on a different light when you realize that all persons, communities, and nations are really nothing but animals if they reject the Creator of all things. Every human that every existed was given the choice of good or evil. The life we are given is our only chance to choose righteousness (doing right) and eternal life. Some individuals choose wisely and many do not. Unless our Creator has a use for them in his plan, those who choose badly are simply exterminated like a virus or a pack of rabid dogs.
The human race was never created to exist in this spiritual realm of the Creator. We do not become like him…HE BECAME LIKE US. We have faith that Jesus will return and the dead will rise from their sleep and the living will be raised up by the angels to the first judgement (1Thes 4:15-18, Rev 20:4-6, Daniel 7:9-12, Mark 13:27). All dominion will be given to the Lord Jesus forever. And that kingdom will never end. All others will be raised to stand in judgement when the last trumpet sounds. The second death will be our Creator’s revenge on those who rejected him and harmed his children. They will be burned alive in the Lake of Fire and this is called the second death from which they will never return. Then death and the place of the dead (sheol/hell) will be cast in also and cease to exist. There is no eternal life of suffering. Only eternal life with Jesus.
You have to read The Story to know what really happened.