WITH A SPIRIT CREATED BY GOD
The second striking point in the creation of man is that God created man with a spirit.
The Breath of Life Breathed by God
into Man’s Body Formed with Dust
Genesis 2:7 says that God formed man of the dust of the ground. No doubt this refers to man’s body as the framework of man’s being. We do have a body formed with dust. Science tells us that our body is just a composition of the elements of the earth, just like dust. Whatever is in the dust is in our body. However, this is not all in God’s creation of man. After God formed a body for man, God breathed the breath of life into man’s nostrils. Dust does not have any life, but the breath of God has life. Therefore, God’s breath is the breath of life.
In Genesis 2:7 the word for breath in Hebrew is neshamah. It is used also in Proverbs 20:27, which says, "The spirit of man is the candle [lamp] of the Lord." This indicates that the very breath of life breathed into man’s body became man’s spirit. This is confirmed by Job 32:8, which says, "But there is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives them understanding." In this verse a spirit in man and the breath of the Almighty are in apposition, indicating that the spirit of man and the breath of God are one. The spirit of man is the breath of God, and the breath of God is man’s spirit. God not only formed a body to be the frame of man, but He also produced a spirit to be the very inner organ within man. God has prepared a stomach in our physical body. The stomach is a physical organ for us to receive, digest, and assimilate food. In a similar way, God produced an inner organ, that is, our spirit, for us to use to contact God. This corresponds with the Lord’s word in John 4:24: "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness." Only spirit can contact Spirit. Only spirit can worship Spirit. God is Spirit, and we have a spirit so that we can worship God, we can contact God.
If we stay away from our spirit and remain in our mind, the more we think, the more we consider, the more we will feel that there is no God. But if we turn to our spirit in the inmost part of our being, we will spontaneously worship God, saying, "God, I thank You." To attempt to substantiate God by using our mind is like trying to smell a fragrance by using our eyes. Our eyes simply cannot smell the fragrance. Therefore, to us there is no fragrance, because we cannot see it. However, if we would cease trying to use our eyes and instead use our nose, we would surely smell the fragrance. God is a Spirit, and He prepared for us a spirit that we may worship Him, contact Him, receive Him, and even contain Him as our life and our everything. We Christians are no longer persons without God. Today we have God in our spirit. Therefore, we are not lifeless but are lively, full of life. We are organic. In this organic life God and we, we and God, have become one.
This Spirit of Man Being Ranked
with the Heavens and the Earth
in the Holy Word of God
We need to realize how important and crucial our spirit is. The spirit of man is ranked with the heavens and the earth in the holy Word of God. In Zechariah 12:1 the prophet Zechariah said that God stretches forth the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him. According to this verse three things in the universe are crucial: the heavens, the earth, and our spirit. The heavens are for the earth; the earth is for man to exist; and the spirit of man is for God, to worship God (John 4:24), to be regenerated by God (John 3:6b), and to be joined to God (1 Cor. 6:17) that man may walk and live in the organic union with God (Gal. 5:16; Rom. 8:4b).
(The Organic Union in God's Relationship with Man, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee)
