Being in two places at the same time
Third angle or approach
Can a person be in two places at the same time? This is the question at the heart of Stephen King’s (I prefer John Grisham) bestseller, The Outsider. King’s story begins with the public arrest of Terry Maitland, a popular small-town baseball coach, for a murder committed a few days earlier. Maitland is placed at the scene of the murder by multiple witnesses, fingerprints, and DNA evidence but has a cast-iron alibi to the extent the police must consider the possibility Terry Maitland was in two places at the same time!
Curiously, bilocation – the phenomenon of one person being in two places at the same time – also featured prominently in one of the big box office movies of 2017, the Last Jedi. At the end of the film, the audience sees Luke Skywalker fighting Kylo Ren on the planet (Crait) while simultaneously meditating on another planet, (Ahch-To).
As surprising as it may sound, bilocation has intrigued and exercised philosophers, scientists, and theologians for centuries. The Roman Catholic version of the Eucharist suggests that the actual body of Christ is present at all locations everywhere the mass is celebrated at the same time.
Interestingly quantum physics suggests it is theoretically possible to exist in more than one place at the same time. There are some interesting parallels between quantum physics and faith!
So what relevance, if any, has the idea of bilocation to each of us as Christians?
What I mean is that our lives are lived and governed in two places (which are) firstly in heaven and secondly on earth. We need to walk in both places. Some believers are so earth-bound that they are not aware of the spiritual realm in heaven. They forget that they need to believe, walk in, and live out the heavenly realities as well. Let me demonstrate this by giving you an example.
Ephesians 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Spiritual truth may appear to contradict natural truth. Right now you are seated here in our local church (put your right hand up and keep it up), but you are all also seated in heavenly places in Jesus Christ (put your left hand up and keep it up). If you have both hands up say Praise The Lord that I am bilocated, I am in two places at once. Amen.
Here is another biblical example of bilocation (seeing both the natural and the spiritual dimensions at the same time) from Elisha and his servant
2 Kings 6:14 Therefore he sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city. 15 And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”
16 So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17 And Elisha prayed, and said, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire [1] all around Elisha.
Elisha was walking in two dimensions, but the servant’s eyes could only see the natural circumstances. Elisha had been reading the Psalms, particularly Psalm 91. The servant lacked the information that Elisha had. Who are you more like in this this respect Elisha or his servant?
You might not be able to see the angels guarding the people of your church right now, but they are with you right now. Lord open our eyes that we may see all your protection and provision.
We get our facts about the spiritual realm from the bible. We need to realise that the things that the Lord says about the spiritual realm in the bible are just as true, if not more so than what we can learn from our five senses. We need to be real about the spiritual realm as well as the natural realm.
Here is a final example involving Moses, Aaron and Hur where the battle was fought in two places, one natural but the other supernatural.
Exodus 17:8 Now Amalek [2] came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. 9 And Moses said to Joshua, “Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.” 10 So Joshua did as Moses said to him and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 And so it was, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands became heavy; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 So Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
Moses knew that the battle being fought in the spiritual realm (dimension) was affecting the outcome of the physical battle in the earthly dimension.
Another way of understanding being in two places at the same time is the example from the clean animals of the Jewish Law which both chewed the cud and were cloven footed. So with clean Christians; chewing the cud means meditating on the Word and cloven-footed means that the hoof stands on two separate places on the ground.
We need to realize that we live in two places at once and that both the heavenly truth and earthly truth are necessary to live our lives in a good balance.
Which is more real do you think, our natural life on earth or our spiritual life in heaven?
Well my guess is our heavenly life because it will last forever, our natural earthly life will pass away.
[1] Remember Eric Liddell and Chariots of fire. [2] Many rabbis in Jerusalem still refer to God’s enemies as Amalekites e.g. a former Iranian president...
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Amen
Personal Prayer