This photo is not of anyone I know but it is a very familiar image to me, being a birth attender for so many years. I found myself meditating on creation and the awesomeness of God. Several things caught my attention in reading the account in Genesis of man's beginnings.
"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."Genesis 2:7
I was looking up the meanings of the words in Hebrew and found some interesting things. It literally says God formed man from the earth, then blew into his nostrils the breath of life and he became (the original Hebrew says) an alive, breathing creature. He created this world for us, a world where the atmosphere supports our life. Then gave us His life, His breath and we became breathing beings. We are made in His image: body, soul, spirit. The word for breath here is not the word for God's Spirit as I had thought but it is as it says "the breath, spirit, that makes us alive".
I was in a nursing career for 33 plus years. In that time I witnessed and attended many births and deaths. The first thing you want to hear when a baby is born is their cry, their breath, then immediately their color begins to change to pink. In the hospital we actually do what is called an Apgar score which is indicative of their response. Everyone is waiting in anticipation of that cry and there is an immediate tangible relief in the room as soon as it is heard. I realize there are more peaceful births where maybe the cry isn't quite as vigorous but there is always breath and change in color. What a wonderful experience to witness a new life coming into the world. Even when it is not the best circumstance it is always a miraculous event.
The end of our days of living can also be a struggling process. I have also been present for the transition of the departure of souls into the next dimension of eternity. God has placed in us a tremendous will to live. Even with those who are ready and want to pass on due to suffering or anguish will struggle against the throes of death. This is a subject of which we don't really want to face, that of death. The departure of a soul (living breathing person) comes with the cessation of breathing. That breath leaves the body in which the spirit and soul have wings. The heart often keeps beating for a while after the breath stops because it acts on its own accord to keep going until there is no oxygen left to support it. During my father's last days my brother and I were attending him. We had been with him for some days and I was needing to go home to my own bed for a night to get some much needed rest. We had a person watching him that night so my brother and I could rest, my brother being nearby as well as my mother. When we left the house it was snowing the most beautiful big flakes. I hesitated thinking the weather might hinder my return if something should happen but decided to leave with my husband. I did not want to miss my father's passing. We had no more arrived home when I received a call from my brother saying my father had passed. Feelings of disappointment washed over me for a second, then I began praising God and weeping. He was a wonderful servant of God meeting his Savior and going to his reward. We went immediately to my folks house. I knew Mom would be having a rough time and I wanted to be there. When we arrived the hospice nurse, my mom and brother were gathered around my father who lay on the hospital bed we had brought to the house. I leaned over his body to kiss his face and felt the breath leave him with a soft sigh. Even though his heart had stopped I felt he had waited for me to be there for his departure.
Now let's get on to the rejoicing part. When we leave this temporary tent or body that our spirit, soul (soul being our mind, will, emotion, personality) lives in we move into the MOST REAL part of eternity. If we have experienced the new birth by receiving Jesus as our supreme sacrifice for our sin, our spirit/soul goes to be with our Father God, Jesus and all believers who have passed on. If we have not received the new birth we go to eternal damnation and separation from God. We must get this message out.
As we see from the story of creation and fall of man, death came when Adam and Eve decided they didn't need God to rule their lives. Their bodies were still alive, their souls were still alive, they were living, breathing humans but....their spirit had died to the kingdom of God. This is a mystery that is difficult to understand. Jesus, talking to Nicodemus explained the new birth experience.
“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ John 3:5-7
Then comes the famous verse, my dad's favorite.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16
We are born again by the Spirit of God. He draws us to the Savior, reveals who Jesus is to us and pricks our heart to receive. When we do, we are born into the kingdom of God, a new creation. We are a made over creation. Hallelujah! The word for Holy Spirit in the Hebrew is Ruach HaKodesh, or Holy breath, wind. In the Greek the word for spirit is pneuma or breath. So Holy Spirit conceives in us the new birth. He is the breath of God.
Let's look at what Jesus said after his resurrection to the disciples. Remember, they were not yet born again.
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said unto them, "Receive the Holy Spirit". John 20:22
The Greek word here (breathed) is employed nowhere else in the New Testament but is the very one used by the Septuagint translators of Gen. 2:7 " And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." There, man's original creation was completed by this act of God; who, then, can fail to see that here in John 20 on the day of the Savior's resurrection, the new creation had begun by the Head of the new creation, the last Adam acting as a 'quickening spirit'. (Blue letter Bible commentary)
And so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. I Corinthians 15:45
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. II Corinthians 5:17
Have you received the new birth experience becoming a new creation in Christ? I pray this has blessed. I realize there are differing theological explanations about the new birth experience but wanted to share what the Holy Spirit has quickened to me: The miraculous transforming power of the breath of God in the new birth experience.
