In Their Image: Spiritual

We Are (Much) More Spiritual Than Physical

Do we think and talk enough about being spiritual? Spiritual is our principal mode of being; we are spirit, soul and body (Thessalonians 5:23), (although this thought feels very odd to us 21st Century people who are used to being the centre of our physical world and constantly aware of our senses, and our place in the world).

The story of humankind begins by introducing God, who before the Creation, was all that ever was. God is spirit (John 4:21-23). 

NOTE 1: He is also love and the essence of relationship; Father, Son and Holy Spirit, eternally loving, sharing and giving as one. This is vitally important to us all, and to the whole universe; it's where love and empathy and ethics come from. Good and bad and conscience all come from God, where else? Even the animals and plants recognise His sovereignty (Genesis 7:9; Psalm 104:21; 148:7-10).

The Creation

God spoke and the Creation came into being (Isaiah 45:12) 'It is I who made the earth and created humankind on it. My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshalled their starry hosts'. 

Genesis, the first Bible book, tells us that on the very FIRST DAY God created the heavens and the earth and water. Then He spoke and light came, as well as the darkness, these He called day and night. 

NOTE 2: There's no mention of land until DAY THREE .. the sun, moon and stars were not created until the FOURTH DAY, so I believe that the light seen on DAY ONE was Jesus (John 1:4-5; Revelation 22:5). The whole of creation was brought into being supernaturally according to a previously established design, plan and purpose by God who is spirit. 

On DAY TWO, God spoke and created the sky, it lay between the expanse of water that covered the entire earth, and another watery expanse, above ..

DAY THREE, God's words created the land and seas, and vegetation of all kinds.

DAY FOUR, God spoke and created the sun, moon and stars to give the light we see all around us, and introduced the reality of days, years and sacred times. (Genesis 1:17) God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.

DAY FIVE, God filled the waters with creatures and the sky with birds of many kinds, He blessed them all with fruitfulness. From this we know that gender of male and female was a reality from the outset, and all the vast complexity of attraction, reproduction, family and genetics.

Every thing was declared to be ‘good’ at this time. But Genesis 1:1-23 tells of no purpose to the Creation. I believe that this was because only physical elements had so far been created; there was no being with a spirit with whom God could form relationship and no being to share the 'sacred times' of DAY FOUR with God; what God had done was create a beautiful, safe, fruitful environment where He could fulfil His planned purpose.

Then came DAY SIX. God formed livestock and wild animals of all kinds, big and small.

Then God said, 'Let us make humankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground' (Genesis 1:26).

Then He took dirt from the ground and made a human man who we know to be Adam. To give Adam life, God breathed into his nostrils, and he became a 'speaking spirit' (most English language Bibles translate Genesis 2:7 as 'living being' which implies that we are like cougars, or cockroaches, or cows, or cockatoos, but the original Bible language says 'speaking spirit', in the image of God, and unique in creation). God immediately formed relationship with the man and asked him to assist Himself with the work of stewarding and running the Creation. Humankind was immediately included into God's eternal relationship. Spirit to spirit. 

You And I - Every Person

You and I are very special.

God did not stop there, He gave a mate to Adam; Eve, a perfect compliment, giving them together an all encompassing, intimate, personal relationship, (a relationship in the image of what God already knew within Father, Son and Holy Spirit?) The man and woman would be fruitful; they would have children and form a family. As life multiplied throughout the earth, so humankind would grow to fulfil the charge God had given, to be God's ambassadors and agents on Earth.

At this time God knew His Creation to be ‘very good’. His purpose had been established.

We are part of a spirit-created Creation; everything we've ever seen came from the God who is spirit!

It's no wonder that it all works so well together, despite the greed, aggression, and waywardness of sinful, fallen humanity! 

Every day almost all the 7½ billion of us on our lovely planet get food and water, we enjoy children and families, work, study and play, and most are also free to enjoy the God who created us.

When we stop and think, we see that our own spirituality is uniquely real and alive:
•  We pray.
•  We seek the Lord and receive help every minute, especially in times of trouble or doubt.
•  Many of us have been healed supernaturally by a miracle, beyond what any doctor or medicine could do.
•  Many too will have seen a person supernaturally healed after prayer. Spiritual healings! Miracles! Physical, relational, emotional, mental, spiritual healings!
•  Our very salvation was a miracle. Millions testify that Jesus came and took us to Himself, although we were weak, unfit and soiled by sin. Amazingly we can always remember this spiritual event, it is etched in our memory as our name is carved on our Father's hand (Isaiah 49:16). 

And God's peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding, shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7 Amplified).

Here is a true scene; here Jesus and you are sharing about your life together, in the Spirit, and in truth:
'Like a lily among thorns is my darling among the young women'.   
'Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved among the young men'. 
'I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste.  Let him lead me to the banquet hall, and let his banner over me be love.  Strengthen me with raisins, refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love.  His left arm is under my head, and his right arm embraces me' (Song of Solomon 2:2-6). 

Jesus and you are betrothed. Regardless of how your life seems to be going it will have a very, very good outcome, eternally!

Praise Jesus.

NOTE 3: You may ask; what about the Big Bang and the billions of years and evolution of the species? Well, none of these concepts are more than theories, there is not one shred of real evidence that any of these theories are true despite all the professors and books and TV shows. Every theory describing these ideas has fatal flaws in its foundation, and without the foundation they are all just ideas. The Creation and Noah's Flood are very well evidenced by science but denied by most scientists and most popular media; the Flood changed the whole world, gave us our continents and poles and weather and seasons. Many of the fossils were formed during the flood event, they are found all over the world and tell of a single-climate planet.

Bless you, bless us all. Amen.

Permalink

https://www.psalmsofjohn.com/2014/09/their-image-spiritual.html

Praise Jesus.