What and How You Observe Changes the World

Behold!

— The Bible, throughout

God often tells us to “behold.” It is an opportunity to engage in a divine vision, for many times, what God is directing us to see is not yet visible in the natural, but only in the spirit. That is how God works, calling “those things which do not exist as though the did” (Romans 4:17). He framed the world with His Word, “so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible” (Hebrews 11:3).

God calls us to see things first in the spirit so that we will be able to manifest them, by faith, in the natural. The apostle Paul said, “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). That is, we are not to go by what our natural eyes see, but by what we see in the spirit, what we see by faith. As many have said, “If you can see the invisible, you can do the impossible.” What we can see by faith, we will see in the natural.

The nature of physical reality is that what and how we observe things changes the world.

The “double-slit” experiments in the field of quantum mechanics theory reveals some very puzzling phenomena. In these experiments, when electrons are fired at a screen through a panel with a single slit in it, the electrons act like particles. When they are fired at the screen through a panel with two slits, the electrons act like waves, not like particles. Even when the electrons are fired one at a time, they eventually reveal a wave pattern. So which are they — waves or particles? Depending upon how you decide to test, they show up as either one or the other.

Now, here is a real kicker. When detectors are set up in the “double-slit”model to see which slit individual electrons go through, they act as particles, even though the double slits would otherwise show a wave pattern. The very act of observation causes the wave function to collapse, with the result that the electron acts like a particle. The head-scratching question is this: How did the electron know that it was being observed?

For more on this unusual quantum behavior, see Double-Slit Experiment at Wikipedia. Or check out this cartoon animation of the experiment which helps guys like me understand.


Perhaps the ancient Celtic Christians were way ahead of quantum science when they prayed:

Bless, O Christ, my face,
Let my face bless everything;
Bless, O Christ, mine eye,
Let mine eye bless all it sees.

Learn how to behold the things of God in the spirit, then what and how you see will bring the world into divine order.

Invitation to a Vision

BEHOLD!

We find this word in the Bible often, but many times we don’t recognize the significance of what it means when God tells us to behold.

It is an invitation to envision — to enter into a vision — with God.

Our God is the God who sees. He is called Yahweh Yireh, the LORD Who Provides. The word yireh comes from the Hebrew root ra’ah, which means to see. Even the English words “provide” and “provision” mean to foresee with the purpose of making supply. When God sees a need, He extends Himself to supply what is needed.

Time and again, God tells us to behold something, to focus our attention and gaze intently. Often, what we are called to behold is something which has not yet manifest in the natural dimension — God is telling us to see it in the spiritual dimension.

The very fact that God tells us to behold it is the evidence that it really is true in the spiritual realm. Our job is to learn how to see it in the Spirit and lay hold of it by faith. Then, with the power of divine faith at work in our heart, we can call it forth into manifestation in the natural realm. (See Mark 11:22-24, about speaking to mountains).

How About an Epiphany?

Today is the first day of Epiphany. Here is what I wrote about it in my article The Reason for Every Season:

Epiphany means "appearing" or "manifestation." In this season, which begins on January 6th, we celebrate the ways Christ has made Himself known as the Messiah and Savior of the whole world, revealing Himself by many divine miracles and teachings. We think of the Babe made known to the wise men of the East; the Son made known at His baptism; Christ made known at the wedding feast in Cana. We also watch for the ways Jesus is making Himself known in the world today through His Church.

Jesus is the "Light of the World." In Advent, we celebrate the promise of the Light. In Christmas, we rejoice in the coming of the Light. In Epiphany, we wonder at the shining of the Light, just as the wise men marveled at the Star which led them to Jesus.

Is it time for an epiphany in your life? “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

(See also Getting a Revelation of Jesus)

Behold, a New Creation

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

In this portion of his letter to the church at Corinth, the apostle Paul is speaking of things in the Spirit. In v. 16 he declared, “Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh.” The actual order of things is that the natural comes forth from the spiritual, so it is now to the spiritual that Paul focuses his attention.

Just what is it that Paul sees in the spirit? A new creation. If anyone is in Christ — received new life from the Spirit of God by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ — he is a totally new creation. Brand spanking new! The things that belonged to the old man, the man he used to be, no longer pertain to him — he is new. All things have become new for him — they do not pertain to the old man that was. In his letter to the Galatian believers, Paul put it this way:

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. (Galatians 2:20 NKJV; the KJV has “by the faith of the Son of God.)

The old man is dead — crucified with Christ. This is not something we do ourselves, but something that happened at the cross. We simply receive it by faith. The old man is dead, and there is now a new man in residence — born from above, from heaven, by the Spirit of God. This new man of the Spirit is activated and energized by Christ, by His faith and love.

Notice that Paul says, “Behold, all things have become new.” We have some beholding to do. To behold, in this context, means to see in the spiritual realm, to appropriate by faith what is being declared in this passage.

It may not yet be apparent in the flesh. Look at my 50 year old body and you might not discern that I am a new creation. But as Paul said just a chapter earlier in his Corinthian letter: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16).

Regardless of how I look in the natural, I am now a new creation, fully equipped and capable of living on this planet as a new creation of God. As Paul says, I have “put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created [me]” (Colossians 3:10).

In Romans, Paul exhorted the believers to "not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Romans 12:1-2).

Transformation and the renewal of our mind and our inward man does not come by our own work and initiative. They are the work of the Holy Spirit which we receive by faith. Discussing the whole matter of salvation, Paul said that it is

Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration [the new birth which is from above, John 3:3] and renewing of the Holy Spirit. (Titus 3:5)

From beginning to end, this transformation and newness is the work of God. Our job is to behold, to see it in the Spirit and lay hold of it by faith.

As you contemplate the new year take your eyes off the natural and behold in the Spirit that, for those who are in Christ, all things have become new. You no longer have to live like the old man of the flesh, you can live as a new creation in the spirit.

Behold, New Things Springing Forth

Thus says God the LORD,
Who created the heavens and stretched them out,
  Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it,
Who gives breath to the people on it,
  And spirit to those who walk on it:

“I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness,
  and will hold Your hand;
I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people,
  As a light to the Gentiles,
To open blind eyes,
  To bring out prisoners from the prison,
  Those who sit in darkness from the prison house.
I am the LORD, that is My name;
  And My glory I will not give to another,
Nor My praise to carved images.
  Behold, the former things have come to pass,
And new things I declare;
  Before they spring forth I tell you of them.”

(Isaiah 42:5-9)

Behold, I will do a new thing,
  Now it shall spring forth;
  Shall you not know it?
I will even make a road in the wilderness
  And rivers in the desert.

(Isaiah 43:19)

Isaiah prophesied a new thing that would spring forth. It is a messianic declaration—Messiah called forth in righteousness and given as a covenant to Israel and as a light to the nations. It is a time for healing and for setting free, a time for the glory of the LORD to be uniquely manifested in the Anointed One. This is Jesus, and His blood shed for us is the cup of the New Covenant for all who receive Him.

The Hebrew word for “spring forth” literally means to sprout, as a plant. A seed is sown. It germinates. Soon a shoot pushes up through the soil. It grows and develops, rapidly multiplying in size. It prospers and flourishes.

Isn’t this what Jesus said the kingdom of God is like?

The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. For the earth yields crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come. (Mark 4:26-29)

To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it? It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade. (Mark 4:30-32)

When the seed is sown, we might not understand how it sprouts and grows — it is a God thing. But there is a steady progress from the first shoot to the ripened fruit, and then it is time for the harvest.

God has declared and is doing a new thing which is now springing forth. It is the kingdom of God. It started as a very small seed, but it is continually growing, shooting out large branches with shade for all.

In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to pray, “Kingdom of God, come! Will of God, be done on earth as it is in heaven.” In the Greek, the tense is continuous: “Kingdom, keep coming! Will of God, keep being done on earth as in heaven.” For it has already broken into our world and is continually increasing at a greater and greater rate. We are now in the time prophesied so long ago in the book of Amos:

“Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD,
  “When the plowman shall overtake the reaper,
  and the treader of grapes him who sows seed;
The mountains shall drip with sweet wine,
  And all the hills shall flow with it.”

(Amos 9:13)

Notice that God says “Behold.”

• Behold, the former things have come to pass and new things I declare.
• Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth.
• Behold, the days are coming …
  

To behold means to see, to appropriate or take hold of, as with the eyes. It is to gaze intently, to focus upon with great attention. When God says “behold,” it is a command to see in the spirit that which cannot yet be seen in the natural.

God is doing a new thing that is now springing forth. Our job is to behold, to look into the spirit realm and appropriate it. We may not understand how it shall all come about, but God will somehow bring it about. So we sleep by night and rise by day, all the while beholding the promise of God in the spirit, believing in our hearts, and calling it forth by our prayers. In this new year, therefore, watch and be ready to put in your sickle for the harvest.

Behold the New

Many people are already starting to put away their Christmas decorations. Which is a shame, because the season of Christmas has only just started. Today is the second day of Christmas, yesterday being the first. The Twelve Days of Christmas are not a count-down to Christmas day, but a celebration which begins on Christmas day and runs all the way through to January 6, which some celebrate as Three Kings Day, and shows on the traditional church calendar as the beginning of Epiphany (for more about this, see Jesus is the Reason for EVERY Season).

Culturally, we are also getting ready for New Year, widely recognized as a time for new beginnings. How appropriate that it should smack in the middle of Christmas, because if Christmas is about anything, it is about the new beginning we have in Jesus Christ, the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us. Everything has changed since He came into the world.

At the Nativity, the event we celebrate at Christmas, the angels could not keep silent, but cried out:

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. (Luke 2:14)

The earth has always been filled with the glory of God — as the angels in Isaiah’s vision proclaimed (Isaiah 6:3). All that was needed was a revelation of His glory, something God promised in Habakkuk 2:14: “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD.”

That is what happened at the first Christmas:

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

In other words, it was a revelation of the glory of God. That is indeed what the angels were singing about: Glory to God in the highest — “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). It was this announcement which jolted the angels so that they could not contain themselves anymore, and they pierced the silent darkness with loud, powerful praises.

Glory to God in the highest — it has now been revealed! Not only glory, but peace as well, the peace of heaven coming into the earth. For Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and at the Cross, “the chastisement for our peace was upon Him” (Isaiah 53:5) In other words, He took our chastisement and gave us His peace. This would be the Hebrew understanding of peace, the shalom of God: wholeness, restoration, oneness — nothing missing, nothing broken.

The glory of God was revealed that night in the city of Bethlehem. The peace of heaven entered the earth that night, for all who trust in Him, for these are the ones upon whom His favor rests, the ones in whom He is well-pleased.

The Bible says, “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). This began on that Christmas night and was completed thirty-three years later at the Cross.

The revelation of God’s glory and the peace of heaven entered the world at Christmas — and they have never left! They are not absent, but are fully present in power. The only problem is that we have so often failed to appropriate them.

Now is the time to lay hold of the revelation of the Word of God and the things announced by the angels at Bethlehem. Now is the time to give ourselves over to the Lord Jesus Christ, to receive the peace He came to give us and experience the favor He came to show us, to walk in the glory He came to reveal to us and live in the victory He came to give us. That is where our all our new beginnings lay.

“Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Behold the new!

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Let Earth Receive Her King
Advent, Christmas and the Kingdom of God
by Jeff Doles

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Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.