What is Man?

In the beginning, God created man to be like Him. –

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” – Gen. 1:26

Later, in the New Testament, Paul reveals what man entails – “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thes. 5:23). God is three in one and man is also three in one. But something tragic happened, Adam and Eve sinned by eating of the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which God had commanded they do not eat of. God had commanded, “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Gen 2:17). The issue was not so much eating as it was if they would obey God’s command and they failed, and something in man died that day. Now they continued “living” for many years, so what died? Man’s spirit. Adam used to walk in the garden and talk with God, having close fellowship, but now he would be cast out of the garden. But God in His mercy made a way for man to return through Jesus Christ who paid our debt on the cross as He suffered and died in our place. He who had no sin became sin for us and suffered our death.

And so, it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.” – 1 Cor. 15:45

Adam was the first man and Jesus came to earth as the Son of Man. He became “a life-giving spirit” to all who would believe in Him, as He told Nicodemus, “You must be born again”, meaning through faith in Jesus you must receive a new spirit.

“that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,” – Eph. 3:15-17

As the prophet Ezekiel told backsliding Israel, “Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh” (Ezek. 11:19). God, who created man in the first place, can certainly give him a new spirit, one that can once again commune with God, and this is exactly what will happen when we choose to believe in Jesus and invite Him into our hearts. We then begin to walk by faith in Jesus. He often is knocking at the door of man’s heart as Revelation says –

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” – Rev. 3:20

If you answer, He will come in and dine with you and give you a life-giving spirit so you will be the human you were meant to be. You will be able then to truly worship God for Jesus said, “God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24). You will be able to comprehend the truth and that truth will set you free. As the Psalmist wrote, “Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven.” (Ps 85:11). You must love the truth and obey it, then God will send His righteousness to you. The great tragedy is that because of the lawless one’s deception, some do not receive the love of the truth and they are “condemned because they did not believe the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2 Thes. 2:12).

So today I set before you the way to become a true human being again, one whose spirit is alive and functioning. Jesus is the way for He said “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

If you are thinking about Jesus for the first time or if you are a prodigal son coming home, I have a song just for you. It is sung by some of my Grandchildren, Day of Eternity Micah Cooley lead singer. I hope you have made the wise choice.