This school report was done by Christina Hilton based on the video at the bottom of this article:
According to the Bible we all have a spirit and God also has a Spirit, which we most often call the Holy Spirit. We are made in God’s image, but most people would say that our spirit and God’s Spirit are completely different. When our spirit leaves us, we are dead Ecclesiastes 9:6. Originally, when God created man, He breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. A body plus the breath equals a living soul, if our breath or spirit leaves us, we are just a dead body and that breath (spirit) goes back to God. Is God different? Can He separate from His Spirit? When Jesus was crucified, He really died. His Spirit didn’t go to heaven as a conscious living entity. That would be spiritualism. Certainly, when we die, something does return to God, that is our breath or spirit, not a conscious entity. In John 3 Jesus compares the Spirit to wind which is similar to the idea of breath. That chapter brings out an interesting concept. If there is no moving in your life; there is no Spirit active in your life. In 1 Corinthians 15:45 Paul says that Christ was made a quickening spirit, but Luke 24:39 says that a spirit does not have flesh and bones which Jesus clearly had. How do you reconcile that? Christ was not made a disembodied spirit, but He gives us His life giving mind. Notably this is how Christ is omnipresent; through His Spirit.
So what really is the Spirit, and what is the Spirit not? Significantly in John 6:63 Jesus said that His words are spirit and life. If we receive Christ’s words, and do them, then we have Christ dwelling in us. In John 20:22, Jesus breathed on His disciples and said, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” Was He telling them to receive a third god? No, He was telling them to receive the words which He had just spoken to them. As I said before, Jesus was made a quickening spirit, but clearly that doesn’t mean He was made a disembodied spirit. You are not going to get any ideas of disembodied spirits from reading the Bible alone. Jesus has given us a holy mind, not a holy being. So, what is the Spirit? The Spirit is a life giving mindset which comes from the mind of God. When we choose Christ’s will above our own, the angels will keep us in that mindset as we daily seek to do what Christ commands through His Word.
Is there a connection between the Spirit and the angels? The answer is definitely yes! Ultimately we can see in Zechariah four that the Spirit comes to us through angels. Throughout the Bible we can see that angels communicate from heaven to earth and from earth to heaven. When we observe what the Bible says about the ministration of the angels, we see clear illustration of their ministry in Jacob’s dream about the ladder, and in Ezekiel’s visions. We can see in Revelation that our prayers go to heaven through angels. Notably, the angels who are compared to fire in Hebrews one, were involved at the out pouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. As we look at what the angels do, we see that they do many things that we commonly think of as the work of the Holy Spirit. For example, in EW 39.1, we see that angels comfort us and show us God’s love. If we are willing to be led by the Holy Spirit and submit ourselves to Christ, angels will work through us, making us much more effective in witnessing. Angels have been trained in heaven with Christ Himself as their commander, and they saw the fall of Lucifer, the fall of man, and have watched the human race from that time until our current day. Angels have an education and experience which far surpasses that of any man on earth. Ultimately, everyone in the world is either under the control of the angels of God or evil angels. While God’s angels will never control anyone without their consent, the evil angels are eager to control anyone who doesn’t surrender themselves fully to Christ. In CTr. 306.2 we find that angels will expel sin from our hearts, although, they will do this only if we allow them to. It is essential for us to be careful, and not carelessly forget that Jesus is with us through these heavenly guests, for if we forget about Christ and are careless and irreverent in our daily life; the holy angels will not continue to accompany us and bring to us all the blessings from God.
Leave A Comment