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03 -- Are you a living soul?
GENESIS 2:4-7
4 These are the beginnings of the heavens and the earth when they were created, on the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens. 5 No tree of the wilderness was yet on earth and no grass of the wilderness had yet grown. For the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the earth. And there was no man to work the ground. 6 Then a mist was going up from the earth and was watering the whole face of the earth. 7 And the LORD God formed Adam as dust from the earth and breathed into his nose a breath of life. So Adam became a living soul.
In the first chapter of Genesis the creation of the first human being was described in the context of a first revelation about the creation of the world, in which the heavens and the sea played a prominent role. In that chapter the holy God reminds the Sons of Jacob, for whom Moses recorded these revelations, of their miraculous salvation from the army of Pharaoh, when God split the waters of the sea before them through a wind from heaven and they were able to walk on the floor of the sea to safety on the other shore, while Pharaoh with his pursuing chariots and soldiers were drowned in the returning floods.
In the second chapter of Genesis we read a complementary revelation about the creation of the first human being, Adam. In this second revelation the wilderness plays a prominent role, with no mention of the heavens or the sea. This reminds the Sons of Jacob of the many years they spent wandering in the wilderness before they were able to enter and settle in the land of Canaan, which God had promised their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In this complementary revelation about the creation of Adam, God is called the LORD, as he had announced himself to Moses in the burning bush. Here the LORD God showed himself with fatherly care and in close fellowship with humans, in that He does not destroy the sinners, but concludes a new covenant with them and bears with them in patience and tenderness.
We notice that in the first revelation humans are described as being created in the image of God according to their outward form. In the second revelation, however, we get insight into the inner essence of man, presenting his living soul in a temple of perishable dust. For God's breath of life brought to life the dead matter in him, and gave to the glorious outer form a spirit and life and strength and thoughts and movement. It is true, we have a body, which is similar to the bodies of animals (see 1 Corinthians 15:44-50). But our mark of distinction is our living soul, granted to us by God, which can be perceived in its living conscience that convicts of sin, in its affectionate heart sympathizing with others in words and deeds, and in its faithful attitude taking responsibility no matter what the cost. So honor and will and goodness and mercy are all gifts from the breath of God in us. The secret of your life is the soul that God has made to lodge in you.
When Christ breathed on his disciples (John 20:22) and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit”, he with this breath applied the method of the first creation. With his breath Christ began his new creation in his disciples, himself being the head of it. On whomever the Son of God breathes his Holy Spirit, he will never die, but will live forever, because in Christ he has become a child born of his heavenly Father. So who are you? Have you lost your living soul in your animal-like body, or did the Spirit of Christ fill you with God's eternal life?
MEMORIZE: And the LORD God formed Adam as dust from the earth and breathed into his nose a breath of life. So Adam became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7)
PRAYER: O Father, I thank you, because you created me with the breath of your mouth. But I have forfeited my soul through my disobedience. Forgive my pride and open my heart to the breath of Christ so that my heart will heal and become filled with your Holy Spirit. Then I will praise you with all your children in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, the Holy Land and among the refugees.