Radiance Bible Studies Lesson Three
“THE FIFTH DIMENSION”
Song Lyrics
Words & Music by Keith Lancaster
©2005 Anthony K. Music ASCAP
I have lived among you here on earth
I have shown you love
I have shown your worth
Now it's nearly over you will find
That the Spirit will remind you
Of all the things I had in mind
Now I want you to remember
All men will know
All men will find
All men will see
That you are Mine
All men will know
All men will find
All men will see
That you are Mine
Now the time is coming I must go
But the Comforter will guide you
In the things you need to know
No it won't be easy you will see
They will hate you and despise you
All the same they did to Me
Now I want you to remember
Chorus
Very soon His own disciples found
The testing quickly came around
To share their faith with boldness, without fear
Now today we face an equal test
Divinely called to do our best
To share with the world -- What will they hear?
Chorus
Scripture Source:
Read John Chapters 13, 14, 15, 16
In the passage under consideration, Jesus addressed his disciples as He prepared to go back to the Father. “My children, I will be with you only a little longer” (13:33.) The disciples would be left on the earth to carry on the work for which they had been trained:
“Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later” (13:36.) These men and all the others that touched by the life and work of Jesus would remain in the world to serve His purposes.
PART ONE: SERVING GOD IN THE WORLD OF FOUR DIMENSIONS
1. Jesus called the disciples to serve in the world of four dimensions:
height, length, width-- and the fourth dimension of time.
Despite the passage of years, these are the same four dimensions in which we all live today.
2. But Jesus knew that it would take special, non-natural help for these servants to function effectively, so He promised the coming Holy Spirit, the other Counselor that He promised would be with them “forever” (14:15.) He lovingly promised, “I will not leave you as orphans” (14:18.)
3. The Holy Spirit would come to them and add another dimension to their world and to their work; a dimension not defined by, nor confined by, height, width, length nor even time. “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (14:26.)
4. The work of the Spirit takes place within, and using, a FIFTH DIMENSION! This is the eternal dimension, without which the apostles cannot complete their work, and without which the church cannot survive.
5. Unlike dimensions of substance and of time, this FIFTH DIMENSION cannot be quantized—that is, it cannot be gauged nor calculated. Nor is it subject to formalization in mathematical terms. It is eternal and therefore not measurable. Eternity is, by definition, not quantifiable in human terms; and this fifth dimension partakes of eternity itself, from whence it comes.
6. Because of the presence of the Holy Spirit, the church of the apostles’ time –and the church of today -- live in an environment or context consisting of five dimensions. Four of these of these are temporal; that is, they have to do with earth and time.
7. But the Fifth Dimension is unique. It is invisible and eternal. Even more than that, it is determinant. It has the ability to affect and change any one – or all—of the other four dimensions. Thus ours is a universe of dimensional hierarchy: The fifth dimension is at the apex of the hierarchy and the four temporal dimensions are at the bottom.
8. This Fifth Dimension doesn’t just affect the other four dimensions, it is actually
causal. This ability of the eternal to cause results here on earth is demonstrated in the miracles of Jesus. He said: “Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves” (13:11.)
9. According to Jesus, this Fifth Dimension will be the cause of the apostles’ ministry, the basis for the church, and the explanation for Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. It’s true that resurrections occur in the world of the four dimensions – but those dimensions can’t explain a resurrection! Only the Fifth Dimension does this.
10. Jesus warned the apostles that the world is highly resistant to the Fifth Dimension. Unbelievers will try to explain it away or dismiss it altogether. When that won’t work, they’ll turn to hate, persecution, and even murder. The apostles, Jesus said, should expect this kind of reaction (15:18-25 and especially 16:1-4.)
11. Furthermore, people who are mentally locked up in the four-dimension world will have a distorted view of the Fifth Dimension (14:15-17.)
PART TWO: THE CREATION OF resonance
resonance occurs when two entities vibrate at the same frequency. For instance, when someone blows on a pitch pipe or strikes a tuning fork to begin an a cappella song, the corresponding replication of that sound by vocal chords is a type of created resonance. This concept of resonance helps us demonstrate the interactions between the dimensions. We begin to understand it first of all by seeing the role of the Holy Spirit:
The Holy Spirit links the Fifth Dimension to >The world of the Four Dimensions
Such a linkage creates a resonance between the Fifth Dimension and earthly things. For instance, the action of the eternal God performing miracles caused people and events to resound in response to His power. However, it’s equally true that an inferior resonance is created between unaided human intelligence and the world of the four dimensions:
Human intelligence -----resounds with --------------the four earthly dimensions
In contrast, the Fifth Dimension does not resonate with the four earthly dimensions unless they are linked by the force and power of God. Thus these results:
The Fifth Dimension ---------- resounds with ---------------Holy Spirit
The Fifth Dimension ----------- resounds with ---------------the Word of God
The Fifth Dimension ------------- resounds with ------------------ the believer
All of the above lines of resonance pull the Lord and a believer together
Love—the kind of love that Jesus talked about in the passage we’re studying-- is a manifestation of resonance between the Word of God and the believer: . . .
