Then we have the spirit. What is the spirit? It is hard to tell. If you check with the thoughtful people, every one realizes that there is an emptiness within man. What is this emptiness? It is the appetite. The appetite is a kind of hollowness. We have such a hollowness within us which is the desire for eating, and this desire is termed the appetite. Every thoughtful person realizes that besides the physical appetite there is another kind of appetite. After a man is filled up with the best food, he feels strongly that something within is still so empty. Regardless of whether we are old, young, rich, poor, high, or low, with every human being there is the sense of emptiness. After animals fill up their hunger, they go to sleep; they do not have any other appetite. When all the monkeys, tigers, and lions in the zoo are filled up, they are satisfied.
But the more human beings are filled up physically, the more they become hungry within. This is the very reason why religions have become so prevailing. Strictly speaking, on this whole earth among the human race there is not one atheist. All the atheists are self-deceivers. In their mentality they say that they do not believe that there is a God. While arguing with you that there is no God, deep within they ask, “Suppose there is a God, what should we do?” When they return home to their bedroom, they would think that probably there is a God. They would think, “I should not run the risk to say so strongly that there is no God.” This proves that there is not one real atheist. All the atheists are liars. They lie to themselves because, in fact, every human being has an appetite other than the physical appetite. What is this appetite? It is a deep desire after God. Every human being has something within him. Whether we call that the spirit, the appetite, the receiver, or the hollowness, whatever we call it, there is such a thing.
There is such a thing called the human spirit within every human being. God created us in this way. Genesis 1:26 says, “And God said, Let us make man in our image.” God did this in the way of forming a physical body with the dust. Our physical body is just dust. It is a composition of chemical elements such as salt, sulfur, copper, iron, and other things. God formed a physical body with the dust. Then God did something which He had not done with any of the animals. God breathed something into man. Here we have two kinds of materials-the dust and God’s breath. The dust was used as material to form man’s physical body.
Besides this, He breathed the breath of life into man. We need to be clear that this was not God’s divine life. This was just some breath out of God’s mouth. After this breath entered into man’s dusty body, man became a living soul. So in Genesis 2:7 we have the body formed with the dust and the soul as an issue that came out of the combination of God’s breath and the physical body. Now we have the body and the soul. No doubt the breath of God which was breathed into the physical body is the human spirit.
In the original Old Testament text, the word for breath in Genesis 2:7 is the very word in Proverbs 20:27 which is translated in the English version as spirit, the spirit of man. The spirit of man is just the breath out of God’s mouth. The dust with which our body was formed is a material matter, but the breath which is the very element for our spirit is spiritual. So we have two kinds of elements. One is the material element, the dust for the body; the other is the spiritual element, the breath of God for our spirit. When this breath comes into the dusty body, the issue is the human soul. In this one verse (Gen. 2:7) we have these three things-the body, the soul, and the spirit.
So the Apostle Paul told us clearly in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 that a human being is composed with three parts-the spirit and soul and body. We have a body, a spirit, and a soul. God created us this way with a purpose. Just as a jacket was designed to fit the physical body, so man was made, not by accident but according to God’s design. Man was made according to God’s fashion with a soul, and the soul is of three parts: the mind, the emotion, and the will. How wonderful is man’s mind! The mind can remember so many words and syllables. The mind also works with the will to make decisions and choices. The emotion, being our inner organ to love, to hate, to be happy or sorrowful, goes along with our mind as well. These three-the mind, the emotion, and the will all go together. However, man has a deeper organ called by the Bible the spirit. This organ is solely, wholly, and simply for us to receive God. The little receiver within a radio is made purposely for one thing-to receive the electrical waves in the air. We also have such a single-purposed organ within us. That is our spirit to receive God as the spiritual waves from the heavens.
After we were born, we did not use our spirit. We used our body in bodily exercise and our mind for education and schooling, but we were never taught to exercise our spirit. This is a new language, yet this has to be used in our daily life. Sometimes a brother and his wife quarrel and exchange words. Both should just be quiet and exercise their spirits! Do not charge the other party to exercise their spirit; you just do it.
The Bible says that the very God is the One who stretched forth the heavens, laid the foundation of the earth, and formed the spirit of man (Zech. 12:1). This word shows us that three things are crucial in this universe-the heavens, the earth, and the spirit of man. The heavens are for the earth, the earth is for man, and man with his spirit is for God. This is altogether for God’s economy, so the Bible says that there is a spirit in man. It goes on to tell us that the spirit of man is the lamp of God (Prov. 20:27). We all know that the lamp here refers to an oil lamp. The lamp itself does not give light; it is the oil that burns within the lamp. God is the oil, and our spirit within us is the lamp. As the oil burns to shine through the lamp, so God shines through our spirit.
Home | First | Prev | Next