Part 6 of 7
Our sixth theological element which forms the theological context for business ownership is understanding and leveraging how our physical world is connected to the unseen realm. Our discussion about presence in the previous section will both help us understand this section and also make fuller our understanding of the Biblical concept of presence.
In the Bible, physical geography matters. It needs to be part of our understanding of our roles as business owners. Let’s start learning about this by looking at the Lord’s appearance to Moses in Exodus 3.1-5:
Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”[1]
Why was the ground holy? Because God’s presence was there. It’s really that simple. Ground is either holy—meaning it is dedicated to God, owned by God, or God is present there, or it is unholy—meaning it is dedicated to another god who is not Yahweh, is owned by a lesser god, or God’s presence is absent from that place. Heiser writes.
This worldview is reflected in many places in the Bible. For instance, in the Old Testament the book of Daniel refers to foreign nations being ruled by divine “princes” (Dan. 10.13, 20–21). Another example. When David was running from King Saul, he was forced out of Israel into Philistine territory. In 1 Samuel 26.19, David cried, “They have driven me out from the LORD’s land to a country where I can only worship foreign gods” (GNT). David wasn’t switching gods. He also wasn’t denying that God was present everywhere. But Israel was holy ground, the place that belonged to the true God. David was stuck in the domain of another god…My favorite Old Testament story that makes this point is found in 2 Kings 5. Naaman was a captain in the Syrian army. He was also a leper. After he followed Elisha’s instructions to wash himself seven times in the Jordan River, he was miraculously healed of leprosy. Naaman told Elisha, “I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel” (5.15). The prophet wouldn’t take payment, so Naaman humbly asked if he could load a mule with dirt to take home with him. Dirt? Why ask for dirt? Because that ground belonged to Israel’s God. It was holy.[2]
Wherever we find God’s presence, we’ll find holy ground. The presence of God sanctifies that which He inhabits and by extension, He inhabits that which His disciples inhabit because the Holy Spirit physically indwells every believer (1 Corinthians 6.19, 2 Timothy 1.14, 1 John 3.24, 4.13).
In the New Testament, we find geographically-based language which we tend to gloss over. For example, the places where believers are gathered is considered holy ground because Christ is there with them (Matthew 18.16). The fact that Christ dwells within us—making our physical bodies temples of the Lord (1 Corinthians 6.19)—is as much a physical geographical statement as it is a theological one. Where we physically go, God physically goes. When we go the grocery store, God is there. When we go to work, God is there. When we go to a conference, God is there. When we enter our churches, God is there. And in each of these places, where we go makes that ground – that place – holy for the time we are there because God is there too.[3]
Since we are God’s temple and His dwelling is within us, then where we are becomes sanctified, holy ground. This means that we advance the Kingdom of God physically as well as spiritually by understanding that where we are and what we own are under the rule of God. Furthering His Kingdom on this earth is not a metaphorical concept; it is a real, spiritual theology that connects to our physical world and physical bodies.
Furthering the Kingdom of God means working under the power of the Holy Spirit to spread the knowledge and rule of God everywhere. We do this by introducing others to Christ while understanding that it is the Holy Spirit who brings them to Christ. Under His power, we replace the authority from the demonic with the authority of God, even though the demonic have been given authority over this earth.[4]
We solidify God’s rule by discipling believers and helping them become more mature. And we defeat the evil forces by living and speaking the truth into their dark and deceitful worlds.[5]
If a place or person isn’t under the authority of God, then they or it is under the authority of the forces who oppose God. For example, in Matthew 4.8-10, Satan offers Christ all the nations of the world if Christ would merely worship him:
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” [6]
Satan could only make this offer if he first had real, legitimate, territorial authority over the nations. If he didn’t have this, then his offer would be illegitimate and not constitute for Christ a real temptation to sin.
Sacred spaces exist in the Old and New Testaments. They are not metaphorical—they are real. Heiser continues:
The notion of sacred space gets brought into the New Testament in a dramatic way. All we need to ask is, “Where is the presence of God right now?” While God is everywhere, he specifically dwells within each believer. Believe it or not, you are sacred space. Paul very clearly wrote that “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 6.19). The same is true of the ground where believers gather as a group. Writing to the church at Corinth, Paul told them collectively, “You are God’s temple” (1 Cor. 3.16). He told the Ephesian believers they were “members of the household of God … a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (Eph. 2.19, 21–22). The implications are startling. Most of us are familiar with Jesus’ statement, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matt. 18.20 LEB). But viewed in the context of the Old Testament idea of sacred space, that statement means that wherever believers gather, the spiritual ground they occupy is sanctified amid the powers of darkness. Yahweh’s final chosen dwelling place in the Old Testament was Israel—the temple in Jerusalem. Israel became holy ground because that’s where God’s presence resided. But that holy ground was threatened by the nations that surrounded it and their hostile gods. In the same way, believers today are in a spiritual war. We are now God’s temple, the special place God’s Spirit resides, points of the light of his presence—and we are scattered throughout a world in bondage to the powers of darkness.[7]
As John said. “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the authority[8] to become children of God.” Satan has no claim on the children of God because He has no authority over them.
But let’s be realistic: not all will be smooth sailing. We will struggle against these evil forces, even though they have no authority over us. Paul writes:
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.[9]
Our struggle is real and occurs in both the physical and spiritual realms. Christians sometimes tend to look at these terms—rulers, authorities, powers, forces—as somehow floating in the heavenly realm, disconnected from our physical world and presence. But this is not true. The enemy’s rule is on this earth. Disciples of Jesus Christ are behind enemy lines. This is both physical as well as spiritual.
Hence, as Christians who own businesses, it is important to note that what we own is under our rule and by association, is under God’s rule.[10] What we own is holy. When we buy a business, that business comes under the rule of God and the Kingdom is expanded. When we sell a business, that business comes under the rule of the one buying it. But the cash we gain from the sale comes under the rule of God. When we buy a house, that house and its land (if land comes with it) are brought under the rule of God. When we rent a hotel room, that room is brought under the rule of God for the time we have legal right to that room. That to which we legally own or have license is under God’s rule and is, by definition, part of the Kingdom of God, even if the use is only temporary.
One reason this becomes important is because we have unique authority over the demonic in physical locations which we own or rent. For example, if the oppositional forces are creating havoc on your management team, as the owner of the business, you have unique authority to command them to leave. While your team members may be able to pray against them, only you have final authority over your business in the spiritual realm. When God entrusts a business to you, you have unique authority in the spiritual realm over that business. This is true in ministry too. when God calls one to pastor a church or to serve as an Elder, for that period of service, pastors and elders have unique authority over the activities of the demonic which their parishioners do not possess.
A second reason this connection between the spiritual realm and our physical ream is important is because God’s rule is not partial. His rule is either all or nothing. Nowhere in the Bible is God’s rule portrayed as minimal, partial or diffused. His rule is either fully there or fully not there. His rule Hence, when it comes to our money, He owns all of it. You and I own nothing. It’s not as if God gets 10% and while we get the rest. Nope. He gets to tell us how to spend 100% of the money we have. That money is holy. It is all dedicated to God. Few Christians grasp or understand this truth. Even fewer live it out in everyday life. Hence, I’ll assert that Christian business owners have unique stewardship opportunities and responsibilities which employees don’t have because God’s entrustment of business ownership is to us, the business owners, not to our employees. These entrustments are given to us within our covenant relationship with God and they serve the dual purposes of furthering God’s Kingdom on this earth while preparing us for reigning with Him in eternity.
[1] ESV Exodus 3.1–6
[2] Heiser, Michael S.. Supernatural: What the Bible Teaches about the Unseen World And Why It Matters (pp. 52-53). Lexham Press. Kindle Edition.
[3] This isn’t to say that God is not omnipresent. He is, of course. But there is a sense in which His presence in time and space makes that place holy for the time He is there.
[4] Heiser writes: “Since the Serpent’s deception led to Adam and Eve’s sin, he was expelled from God’s home (Ezek. 28.14–16) and banished to earth—“cut [or cast] down to the ground” in biblical language (Isa. 14.12)—the place where death reigns, where life is not everlasting. Instead of being lord of life, he became lord of the dead, which meant that the great enemy now had claim over all humans since the events in Eden meant the loss of earthly immortality. Humanity would now need to be redeemed to have eternal life with God in a new Eden.” Supernatural: What the Bible Teaches about the Unseen World And Why It Matters (pp. 38-39).
[5] I discuss spiritual warfare in Chapter 6, Engaging the Unseen World and overcoming distorted thinking with the truth in Chapter 2, Gaining Freedom from the Bondage of Sin.
[6] ESV Matthew 4.8–10
[7] Heiser, Michael S.. Supernatural: What the Bible Teaches about the Unseen World And Why It Matters (pp. 138-139). Lexham Press. Kindle Edition.
[8] ἐξουσία right, authority. This is the common word for “authority”.
[9] ESV Ephesians 6.12
[10] This is one reason why atheism flourishes in a socialistic system: without private property rights, Christians cannot place much physical goods under the authority of God. Without the ability to create wealth and personally own that wealth, it becomes difficult to fund kingdom activities. Socialism is more of a godless system than it is a political system.
