This post is extremely short and to the point. As we understand the word “substance,” it is something real. Basic matter is real. Substance has solid qualities. That would seem to disqualify anything that is spiritual as having substance. Not so. The best example of spiritual substance is the God who made the universe out of nothing physical (spiritual substance). That is the Almighty God many of us put our faith in. Of course, atheists, etc. believe life ends when we die; they believe genuine Christians are having delusions. If they only knew what they are missing out on: life at its best.
Also, good evidence of spiritual substance is our thinking process. Although our ability to think in cognitive ways originates in our mind, thoughts and memory, etc. are the workings of a physical instrument which encases the mind, our brain. A better definition of the mind: thoughts, perception, feels, wills, intellect and the seat of our consciousness. None of these attributes are physical. Therefore, the workings of the mind are spiritual, yet they all exist. What I am attempting to say is that invisible attributes do exist which have spiritual substance.
Another aspect of the spiritual realm is sin. What is sin? A condition of being guilty of continued offenses against God, religion or good morals. Sinners may forget or not be aware of their sins. People may be forgiven of their sins by the one offended, and yet those sins are spiritual stuff that does not go away. Therefore, at death, the sins we committed—whether they are forgiven or not by God or man/woman—still cling to the sinners (complete and detailed files compilied on every individual that always did and always will exist). They are in the hands of the creator, God Almighty. We will all be judged according to what those files tell the Judge on the last day, the judgment day.
All the good a person does is also spiritual substance. Whatever good Christians have done, which is also part of the spirit world attributed to the Holy Spirit, even if forgotten, at death, they still cannot be taken from our files. As it says in Galatians 5:22, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." ------ All of these are evidence of our love, belief and obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ. These virtues are all part of the spirit world, which display themselves with action. This is also the place where God and all His angels abide, along with Satan and his evil angels. Ephesians 6:12. "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."
All that has ever been done or thought of since the beginning of time is recorded in the spirit realm for eternity. No one can keep any secrets from this Godly spirit world. Therefore, if you desire to please God and be obedient to His will, before you think of or do anything that is contrary to what is good and holy, think again. It is being recorded verbatim for all to see when the time comes.
Now the question comes up: What is going to happen to the sins of those who belong to God and will live for eternity? This is the wonderful part of God’s plan. There is a way to remove the wrongdoings of God’s saints. All the sins of genuine believers were taken by Jesus Christ and became a part of Him. For our sins, He was killed and sent to a spiritual prison in hell. 1st Peter 3:18-20. But because of His perfection, that eternal death could not hold Him. He had to be freed; death had no power over a sinless person. [Paraphrased]. That was the only way to obliterate our sins for all eternity.
A nice part of being freed from our sins is that we will never be reminded of them, since they won’t exist anymore. We will be in that spiritual place we have been longing for: God’s presence, where even the thought of sins is eradicated. We will be given spiritual amnesia concerning the evil that was so prevalent on this earth.
As you can tell, the spirit world of God is eternal and invisible, which we cannot see with our earthly eyes, and is made up of invisible substance, while the physical world is inferior and temporal. Scripture is silent, to a large degree, as to the spirit world, other than calling it heaven. The little we may have learned from this post can help us to realize that even though we are continually surrounded by the physical world, it should not be the primary realm of importance for us to strive for. We worship a God who is invisible; therefore, let us dwell, pray and meditate on things that will make the invisible substance as real—which it is—as the material world. I am sure there is so much more to the spirit world which is not mentioned in this post. But possibly this post may give us food for thought and action.
In ending, when it comes to what does and doesn’t have substance, physical substance—with which we are well acquainted—will be abolished and everything will be made new. Revelation 21:5. "He who sits on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’" That “new”’ stuff is made of spiritual matter, our new home, and will be with us forever. Amen.
This next paragraph is taken verbatim from post # 210: "Forty Interesting and Shocking Notes." I thought it would add a few thoughts to spiritual matters.
42) Thoughts are a critical component of God’s invisible realm. They have an extremely long shelf life, till the end of time (judgment day). They just hang around waiting to manifest themselves, by making their home in receptive individuals. For that reason, whatever we wish on others will in time come full-circle and we will pay the price/receive the benefits—good or bad—when what we secretly wished on others ends up in our lives. Galatians 6:7. "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows." Actually, this is a universal law. For that reason, and for love’s sake, we should wish good things on all other people, if possible, even our enemies. That also is a variation of this principle: "Love your neighbor as yourself." If we love, we will be loved, if not by humans, by God. This is something to remember: Once a thought is manifested, try to destroy it. It can’t be done! (I didn’t say to forget it.) Have we ever wondered why a certain disagreeable or blessed event may have happened to us? Think back; most likely, we wished that same thing/s on a certain person or persons, possibly years ago. This principle is for real; believe it.
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