RELIGION: How God Gave Us Life | Westside Eagle Observer

"Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being." Genesis 2:7

The Scriptures tell us that, when God created man, He formed man's body of the dust of the ground, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.

While few would question today that our bodies are made of dust -- the very elements found in the ground -- there are many who are unwilling to believe the second part of this passage: namely, that life -- both physical and spiritual -- was given to man's earthly body by the breath of God and that, as a result, man became a living soul.

The naturalists and evolutionists of our day have come up with explanations (though unfeasible to the sensible) for the physical formation of organisms, but they have no answer as to the source of life or its complexity. How is it that the physical elements became complex living beings?

Those who believe the Bible know that the physical elements which make up our bodies are God's creation and that the formation of our bodies is God's design. But we also know that life was given by none other than God Himself! "For in Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28).

When the Prophet Daniel was brought in before King Belshazzar to interpret the writing of the fingers upon the wall (Daniel 5), he told the foolish king that he had lifted himself up against the Lord of heaven and not glorified "the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways" (Dan. 5:23).

Not only did the LORD God breathe into Adam's nostrils the breath of life, He formed each of us in our mother's womb and gave us life, and He holds that very life in His hand (cf. Psalm 139:13-16).

What a great difference there is between the teaching of the Bible and the doctrines of evolution and meaningless fate! The LORD God who created the heavens and the earth specifically formed and created our bodies and breathed into us the breath of life. He holds our very lives in His hand. When He gives the breath of life, we live. When He takes the breath of life from us, we die and our bodies return to dust (cf. Eccl. 3:18-22).

Were it not for man's sin and disobedience to the LORD God, the breath of life would not be taken from us; but, because of the sin which corrupts our hearts and minds and keeps us from wholly loving, honoring and walking in harmony with the God who made us, He takes His breath from us and our bodies return to dust.

Yet, in His love and mercy toward us in Christ Jesus, He has provided a way for us to live together with Him in righteousness and true holiness forever. He sent His only begotten Son into the world a true man (with a body made of dust like ours).

Jesus Christ, God the Son in human flesh, fulfilled with perfect obedience the righteous demands of God's holy commandments; and He took the guilt and punishment of our sins upon Himself, suffering and dying upon the cross, and being condemned and forsaken of God the Father in heaven because of our sin and the sins of all. And Jesus, though He yielded up His breath and spirit unto God upon the cross, was raised to life again on the third day that He might give us life -- everlasting life with Him in heaven!

Though the day will soon come -- unless Christ first returns -- when God removes from us the breath of life and your body and my body return to the dust from which they were taken, Jesus Christ paid for your sins and mine -- indeed for the sins of the whole world -- and God offers and extends to you, to me and to all people, through faith in Christ Jesus, a full and complete pardon and forgiveness, and a life which will never end.

"Jesus Christ the Righteous One ... is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2:1,2). "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16).

Through faith in Christ Jesus, we live. And, though we may die, our bodies will be raised up again on the Last Day from the dust of the ground, and God will again give us life -- life without end!

Dear Father in heaven, thank You for forming me of the dust and giving me the breath of life that I might learn of You and the glorious salvation You have provided for me through the innocent sufferings and death of Your Son, Christ Jesus, my Savior. Create and sustain in my heart faith in You and Your mercy, and grant me the gift of life eternal in Christ Jesus. In His name, I pray. Amen.