Passage
Isaiah 43: 2
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you.”
Introduction
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
This is the fourth session of ‘Space and Dimension’.
In the last session, I talked to you about the characteristics of the 3rd heaven.
I also gave you some examples of the space of the third dimension, which is like the third heaven, being opened in the first heaven.
Simply put, for the heavenly host and angels of the kingdom of heaven to come down to the first heaven, they have to be covered by the space of the third dimension.
In this session, too, I will give you some more biblical examples where people received help from angels.
Today’s passage from Isaiah 43:2 says, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you.”
We can see the truth of these words from the Bible in the cases where people have actually been kept and protected from water or fire.
The word of God never changes forever. Once we understand the justice of God through the examples of the Bible, we can also experience the same things.
Through the Word today I hope you will gain life and strength and be protected from the many mishaps of this world.
Main
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, those who have completely cultivated their hearts into spirit as people of whole spirit are completely third dimensional beings.
Therefore, the enemy devil, Satan that are of the second dimension, cannot bring accusation against them or even approach them.
But sometimes, the enemy devil and Satan incite evil persons who are in flesh in an attempt to harm those people of spirit who have no sins.
In these cases, there is always a reversal of the situation.
Just as darkness cannot drive away light, it is impossible for the lower dimension to rule over a higher dimension. Daniel having been thrown into the lions’ den is one such biblical example. When Daniel became the prime minister of Persia, because of schemes of those who were jealous of him, he was thrown into lions’ den.
But Daniel 6:22 says, “My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths and they have not harmed me, inasmuch as I was found innocent before Him; and also toward you, O king, I have committed no crime.”
The ‘angels shutting the lions’ mouths’ indicates that lions were covered by the space of the third dimension.
In the kingdom of heaven, even animals like lions are very mild and gentle. When the lions were covered by the space of the third dimension, even earthly lions became very gentle.
Then, what would happen if the space of the third heaven were taken away? Daniel 6:24 says, “The king then gave orders, and they brought those men who had maliciously accused Daniel, and they cast them, their children and their wives into the lions’ den; and they had not reached the bottom of the den before the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.”
We can see the violence of the lions was able to reemerge in just this way.
The reason why Daniel could be kept completely was because he was sinless.
When the evil people searched through all his life and works trying to find fault in him, there was none.
Also he prayed continually even before the threats to his life.
And all these things were right according to the justice of the third dimension. Thus, the lions’ den was covered by the space of the third heaven and Daniel was protected.
Before, some of our church members gave me testimonies like the one that follows. When they were visiting other houses for evangelism, some houses had big and strong dogs.
But when they showed my picture to those dogs that were barking loudly, they would stop barking, drop their tails down and back off.
We can keep in mind that such things are also possible within spiritual space and apply the principles as needed.
But we must not do it as a test without having the faith. As already explained the spiritual space can open only when it is in accordance with the Justice of the spiritual realm.
It’s the same with the three friends of Daniel. They were thrown into fiery furnace just because they would not worship idols.
The king made the furnace seven times hotter than usual, so hot that those soldiers who went close to the furnace to put the three men in it were burned to death.
Then, what should probably have happened to those three men? They should have been burned to death immediately.
But Daniel 3:24-25 says, “Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astounded and stood up in haste; he said to his high officials, “Was it not three men we cast bound into the midst of the fire?” They replied to the king, “Certainly, O king.” He said, “Look! I see four men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods!”
It’s recorded that when the three men came out of the furnace, “the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men nor was the hair of their head singed, nor were their trousers damaged, nor had the smell of fire even come upon them.”
Three friends of Daniel were protected completely even in burning fire. It was possible because they were covered by the spiritual space.
We can infer this also from the fact that there was another man who looked like ‘a son of the gods’.
There is only one God, but the king Nebuchadnezzar said ‘gods’ since he had worshipped gentile gods.
Then, who was this person who was like a son of the gods in the furnace with the three men? He was God, the Holy Spirit.
God as the Holy Spirit Himself came down to that place and protected the three men. Likewise, if God the Holy Spirit was there, it means that the space of the fourth dimension had been opened in that place.
And there is one more interesting fact. Those three men were thrown into the furnace bounded by straps, but in the fire, those bindings were gone.
It means the bindings that bound them stayed in the physical space and were burned by fire.
Now, aren’t you reminded of the testimonies that you hear very often in our church?
That is, at times cars have been reduced to scrap in traffic accidents, but our members who were in the car were not injured at all.
If the people are those who keep the Sabbath holy, give whole tithe, and do not commit sins that are the works of flesh leading to death, then God protects them even in those dangerous traffic accidents.
Then, what is the reason that God does not prevent the traffic accident itself? It’s because the drivers violate the law or the spiritual Justice in one way or the other. Examples are speeding, violation of traffic signals, or dozing off.
It was the case with the traffic accident of the mini bus of Daegu Manmin church in 1997. It was a 12-seater mini bus, but there were 17 passengers, and it was speeding on the highway.
There was anniversary service in Masan Manmin church where I was preaching, and they didn’t want to be late.
While they were speeding, the right rear tire was punctured.
After bumping into the median strip of the highway, the bus then rolled three times.
In such traffic accident as this, most people are seriously injured or they die.
But only one of the 17 was injured and the other 16 were fine.
One of them was even in the 3rd month of pregnancy.
She was tossed out of the window, but when she fell, she said that it felt like somebody was supporting her and she fell without great shock to her body. The next day she checked into the hospital and the fetus was fine, too!
Even the one who was injured was healed when I prayed for her after the service was over.
The mini bus was scrapped after the accident.
You have heard this kind of testimony very often.
Recently the same kind of testimony came from the United States, too.
The wife and the son of our branch church pastor were in a traffic accident and their car was badly damaged, but none of them was injured.
Brothers and sisters, those who were in those accidents had not accomplished whole spirit yet, so how could the spiritual space cover them?
In the case of Daniel and his three friends, they met the conditions of Justice in the sight of God.
Thus, they were covered by the spiritual space in that moment by the works of God. But our church members are protected even though they have not cultivated the whole spirit. What is the reason?
Even in the Bible, we can see these cases where people are protected in spiritual spaces although they themselves have not yet met the appropriate conditions to qualify for it.
For example, in Genesis chapter 19, Lot and his family members were saved from Sodom’s destruction. When Lot was hesitating, even when the destruction was very close, the angels took his hands and the hands of his family members to bring them out of the city.
What is the reason that Lot could receive such grace from God?
Genesis 19:29 says, “Thus it came about, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.”
Namely, for Abraham who was called a friend of God, God covered Lot and his family members with the spiritual space.
Therefore, the spiritual space that God made for Lot while He was thinking about Abraham was the ‘space of Abraham’. But we can see there was a difference among those who were protected in the same space of Abraham.
God sent His angels to save Lot’s family and told them that the destruction was very near.
Lot also informed both his family members and also his soon-to-be sons-in-law. But the sons-in-law considered it as joke, didn’t believe it, and missed the chance to be saved.
Also, Lot’s wife couldn’t let go of her lingering attachment to the world, knowing that the city was being destroyed. She looked back and became a pillar of salt.
What can we learn from this? Even though spiritual space is opened through a man of whole spirit, those who are in that spirit have to keep the least bit of justice to be protected.
In the cases of our church members, that least bit of justice is to keep the Sabbath holy and give the whole tithe. Also, according to the measure of each one’s faith, God requires Justice from each one differently.
If you are in the third level of faith, you must not commit the works of the flesh leading to death.
Also, even if you are in the 1st or the 2nd level of faith, you must never commit sins of blaspheming the Holy Spirit.
You church members have to keep the minimum Justice this way, so that you can be protected in the ‘space of the shepherd’ even in big accidents.
You cannot be protected if you do not meet the conditions of justice completely according to the measure of your faith.
Let me give you some more examples of our church members being protected in spiritual space.
It is the testimony of Elder Joog Ik Jeon, who is a police officer, when he was relatively a new believer.
He was on an aerial ladder truck, and the truck rolled over, and he took a 15 meter freefall (just over 50 feet).
All the other police officers who fell with him were seriously injured, but he was not.
He also testified that he felt a big hand that gently supported him as he hit the ground.
In April 2005, there was a big forest fire around Yang Yang in Kangwon province.
At that time, the hometown of one of our church members was in that area, and his mother was living there.
This believer came to know about it from TV news, and he hurriedly drove to his hometown. He earnestly prayed to God while driving.
When he arrived at the entrance of the village, the fire had already consumed the whole village and he couldn’t even get near his mother’s house.
The residents there did not even have the time to get anything from their homes. They themselves had barely escaped from the fire.
The fire was put out early morning next day, but the village was already reduced to ashes.
But amazingly, this believer’s mother’s house was not damaged at all!
In fact, that house was the closest to the mountains, so it should have caught fire first.
Also, there was a big propane tank and an oil can in the yard, but they didn’t catch fire either.
Another amazing thing was that the wooden rafters showed traces of catching fire, but it had just been extinguished.
The house of this believer’s mother in his hometown was not burned at all, but all the other houses were burned.
According to a person who saw this scene with spiritual eyes, a big angel covered this house with its two wings.
And the fire didn’t burn this house. Spiritual space is something like this.
Recently a member of Masan Manmin church gave a similar testimony.
He runs a shop, and the building that adjoined his shop caught fire.
The adjoining structure burned down completely, but this believer’s shop was not damaged at all.
Again, the spiritual space covered this believer’s shop and the fire couldn’t burn it.
Brothers and sisters, the latter part of today’s passage says, “When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you.” I think you can sense it more realistically now, can’t you?
The earlier part of today’s passage says, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you.” I experienced this kind of work, too.
Let me first give you biblical examples. Of course, we know about the parting of the Red Sea into two through Moses and the stopping of the flow of Jordan River.
But I would like to talk about those whose lives were spared within the space of the apostle Paul that is recorded in Acts chapter 27.
When the apostle Paul was being taken to Rome, his ship encountered a big storm.
The sailors tried their best to prevent a shipwreck. They threw the baggage and things on the ship overboard. They hadn’t seen the sun or stars for many days, and the storm was still upon them. They were losing hope of being saved.
At that time an angel of God appeared to the apostle Paul.
Acts 27:24 says, “…saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.’
He delivered this message to those who were onboard, and what was said was fulfilled.
The ship wasn’t wrecked or stranded, and none of them died.
The ship went close to an island and everyone landed on that island.
The reason why all of them could be saved even in a great storm was because of the apostle Paul.
Because of Paul, God covered the ship in spiritual space and saved the lives of the others as well.
I experienced something similar. In July 1986, we were coming back from Ulleng Island after we had the Light and Salt Mission summer retreat.
At that time, a typhoon warning was issued, so all the ships were anchored. On the ocean there were waves that were as big as houses. But we had to come back to Seoul that day.
Fortunately, there was a squid fishing boat, and we decided to go to another port at Ulleng Island where we could catch a ferry to Pohang.
As we set out to the sea, we couldn’t see any other boats or ships. We were going through such big waves, and we felt as if we were going through tunnels, for the waves were so big.
In this situation, we were praising God cheerfully hand in hand.
What was amazing was that big waves came towards us, but as they got to our boat, they didn’t hit the boat but they divided in two and changed their directions.
For an entire hour, we could watch the scene where the waves that were the size of a house running towards us but changing their direction just before hitting us.
Now we understand why those waves couldn’t hit our boat. It was possible because it was covered by spiritual space.
In the next session, I will talk to you about the spaces of the fourth dimension.
There is one more thing I have to add.
In the cases of God the Holy Spirit who was with the three friends of Daniel in the fiery furnace, and that of the angels who came to the house of Lot in Sodom, they were clearly seen by men of flesh.
Usually, we can see spiritual beings like angels only when our spiritual eyes opened.
However, although they did not have spiritual eyes that were opened, the people in Sodom and King Nebuchadnezzar and his men saw the spiritual beings.
Also, the angel that saved Peter from the prison was not a vision but he saw the angel with his physical eyes.
As in the above cases, when spiritual beings are seen with the physical eyes, it’s not just that they are covered by the space of the 3rd or the 4th dimension.
There is way of utilizing a higher level of spiritual space needed. And I will also talk about this in the next session.
Conclusion
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as the time for it arrived, God the Father has been telling us about space and dimension.
Furthermore, He is giving us the grace for our church members to experience the spiritual space.
And you will have such experiences more often in the future.
But as I explained, you also have to keep at least a minimum portion of Justice according to your measure of faith.
Also, to the extent that you come into spirit and whole spirit with your love for God the Father, you will receive abundant mercy in the spiritual space.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will receive these graces and blessings as much as possible.
[Amen]
