Life or Death?
Life’s greatest difficulties are caused by people who didn’t think. How many messes did you get yourself into because you forgot about something? You forgot to pay a bill, or you forgot to make an important call, or maybe you missed a meeting; and the result of your thoughtlessness was trouble.
Thinking is an important activity that many people seldom engage in, particularly when it comes to reading and studying the Bible. Many Christians think “faith” means they don’t have to think about the Word of God or even understand it. But such an attitude runs contrary to what the Bible says. It tells us over and over again to “think” and “ponder” and “meditate” on God and His Word. In fact, the Apostle Paul went to far as to say that a Christian is acceptable in God’s sight only if they study the Word of God.
Asking questions is a good way to learn and study. Throughout the Psalms, for example, David and the other psalmists continually asked questions of faith. Jesus frequently asked questions to help His audience more clearly understand matters of faith.
It is not wrong to ask questions about the Bible or some doctrine, and it is never wrong to study the Word of God seeking a greater understanding of what it says. Understanding what the Bible says always leads to a deeper understanding of God, for God is revealed through the pages of His Word. What is peculiar to Bible study is that the more you read it and study it, the more questions you will have. That’s the way God designed it. God’s Word was written in such a way that it often confronts us, sometimes causing tension and disharmony in our lives. This God allows, motivating us to seek Him and to look for answers, hopefully, in His Word.
It seems that among the most often asked questions by human beings involve life and death. It also seems that no matter who is attempting to answer those kinds of questions, the answers they provide are never quite satisfactory enough. When it comes to issues of life and death, there really is only one Expert. Let’s examine what He has to say.
1. Life comes from God, Genesis 1:27—31; 2:7
These verses continue the 6th day of Creation, wherein God created the domesticated and wild animals. It was during this day that God also created His crowning achievement: the creation of man. That man was created differently from all the other animals is clear, for God endowed man with His image; certain characteristics that separated man from beast; characteristics shared with his Creator. There are six brief but important aspects of this account that bear examination:
- God created man. The Hebrew bara, create, is a word that describes what a craftsman, like a carpenter, does. A craftsman takes a piece of raw material, like a block of wood as a carpenter would take, then proceeds to shape it into a predetermined form. Like a carpenter, God created what He did by an act of His own free will, using all the skill and resources He possessed. God did all His creative acts so that He could have fellowship those He created.
- God created man, and eventually woman, in “his image.” The word used for “man” is the Hebrew adam, which is not only the first man’s name, but a broad term for the human race in general, male and female. It is a word that suggests God created man with divine similarities, though not an exact reproduction or duplicate of Himself. Why did God create us like Himself? So that we could have fellowship with Him and He with us.
- God created both male and female. It is significant that God created man then created woman out of man. God did not use “new material” to create a woman, she was essentially taken out of the man. One man, adam, was created as a plurality, male and female. This is a mark of divinity often overlooked. Because man, adam, was created as a plurality, men and women are created to have the same kind of harmonious relationship as the relationship that exists between the members of the holy Trinity, for God, is also a plurality, being expressed in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Only a man and a woman as a couple are able to have that kind of relationship, which is expressed perfectly in the marriage union.
- God blessed them. As God had blessed all other aspects of His creation, so He blessed this phase of His work. But unlike the blessings on the other creatures, man’s blessing is linked to the charge to procreate and fill the earth. In other words, man must be obedient to God in order to experience God’s blessings.
- In addition with the command to “fill the earth,” God commanded Adam and Eve to subdue the wild animals, giving them each a name. The fact that they were told to “subdue” the earth implies that the submission would not be willing; man would have to work and use his resources to carry out this part of the divine mandate.
- Lastly, God saw what He had accomplished and He liked what He saw.
The seventh verse of chapter two is one of the most interesting verses in Scripture. The writer gives us a little extra detail about man’s creation not mentioned in verse one. Man was created out of dust, and with the utmost concern, God breathed life into him, an act which highlights the fact that man’s vitality and inner strength comes directly from His Creator.
This poses a small problem. Was man created in God’s image, or did God create him out of the dust of the earth? There is no problem; chapter two simply fleshes out what was summarized in chapter one. Another thought is implicitly expressed in 2:7—Man is a special creation, but he is not a heavenly creation; in fact, he was made from the same stuff as the animals were. Man was created from the dust, and because of sin, he would return to the dust. Here is a graphic picture of a striking difference between God and man: in creation, man arose out of the dust, at death he returns to it, but God created life from it.
The two expressions, “breath of life” and “living soul” are common, yet different. Both may be used of animals as well as man. “Breath” comes from the Hebrew nishmat, and is often used of man but occasionally of animals. “Living soul” or “living creature” is used of all the animals throughout the Genesis account.
Nefesh, however, is a much broader term than nishmat. Both can mean “breath,” but nefesh carries with it the ideas of life, self, person, desire, appetite, emotion, and passion. Man is unique among all of creation. Man is what he is because God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” And this is why man is not an animal.
2. The wonder of God’s handiwork, Psalm 8:3—9; 139:13—16
(a) The ever-mindful God, Ps. 8:3—9
The Creator has created all there is; the heavens above and the earth below. God rules over both spheres. As the psalmist reflects on the grandeur of space, he uses some very interesting phrases: the fingers of God set the heavenly bodies in their place. The “fingers of God,” as opposed to the “hands of God” suggest infinite care and sensitivity during the creative process. One commentator has noted, “In contrast to God, the heavens are tiny, pushed and prodded into shape by the divine digits.”
Man, also created by God, was appointed by God to govern the earth. In comparison to the vastness of the universe and the minute details of creation, the psalmist is completely humbled. If the universe is tiny compared to God, then man is positively microscopic! Being so small and seemingly insignificant, why did God bother to endow man with such glory as to bear his Creator’s image? The writer uses a different word for “man” than we saw in Genesis. Here the word is enos, which is a poetic way to describe man in his frail human existence. The psalmist, struck with the greatness of God is forced to admit his own weaknesses. This striking contrast between the immensity of God and the smallness of His creation further serves to emphasize the astounding fact that God continually focuses His attention on him.
Imagine: this great big God is “mindful” of teeny tiny human beings. God demonstrates this continual mindfulness by “caring for” man. God does not just tell man He loves them, He shows them His love in tangible ways, beginning with the fact that He blesses them instead of judging them, as he deserves. As if that wasn’t enough, this care extends to all God creatures, even ones smaller than man, Matthew 5:45.
Despite his sinful state, man is still “crowned with glory.” The verb sequence in verse 6 suggests this “glory” bestowed upon man came about as a divine decree; God declared before all eternity that man would carry a heavenly glory. Francis Shaeffer wrote:
We know something wonderful about man. Man is not only wonderful when he is “born again” as a Christian, he is also wonderful as God made him in His image. Man has value because of who he was originally before the Fall.
As God is the royal Sovereign of Heaven, so He made man the royal sovereign of Earth, yet he is not divine, for he was created to be a “little lower than the heavenly beings.” The literal rendering of “a little lower than” suggests that God created man lacking something. No matter how glorious man may be or how great he may become, he will always lack something. This is how he was created.
(b) The wonderful God, Psalm 139:13—16
The all-knowing and all-present God is personally concerned with every detail of man’s life. If God is concerned enough to oversee man’s development from conception to birth, would that concern end at birth? Of course not! Verse 16, though very difficult to translate, expresses the depths of knowledge God has for every single human being—
All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
God knows about your ups and downs because your life has been mapped out by God. Nothing surprises God. Modern man has a difficult time with reconciling God’s foreknowledge of our lives with our freedom of will and choice. But the psalmist had no such difficulty. He was happy that responsibility for his life lay in the caring hands of his Creator. God is not a cold, mechanical deity made of stone; He cares for those He created. We should find great comfort in knowing that nothing takes God by surprise. He knows the future unknown to us, and He is able to guide us through its sometimes indiscernible ways if we are responsive to His leading.
3. We are God’s offspring, Acts 17:24—28
This group of verses is taken from the Apostle Paul’s speech in Athens on Mars Hill. Here he discussed his faith with and reasoned with many intellectuals. In the first century, Greece was the center of culture and knowledge; this was especially true of Athens. The courtyard on Mars Hill was where many philosophers, educators, and learned men would gather to discuss and debate all kinds of ideas, ranging from history and economics to mythology and religion. The essence of Paul’s Athenian address concerns the nature of God and man’s responsibility to God. In mythology, particularly Greek mythology, there were many, many gods and goddesses. Yet Paul tells these men there is but one God and He alone created the material universe, including man. Paul refers to this God as the Athenians’ “unknown God.” The Greeks, known for building great monuments, statues, and temples to their pantheon of gods, needed to understand the true God did not live in buildings, nor could He be worshiped “by human hands.” God made everything, possess everything; therefore there is nothing a man can give him that he is in need of.
What’s more, the proud Athenians believed they were a special people, created from special soil and were unlike anybody else. Paul confronts their elitist and arrogant attitude by teaching that all humans descended from one man, Adam. What must have galled the Greek intellectuals even more is that this God determined where they should live. This would have shaken their arrogant pride in thinking Athens was the center of the world. When we acknowledge that all people have descended from a common ancestor and that God placed human beings where He wanted them to live, we must necessarily believe that all human beings have been created equal. None is favored over another.
The purpose of this, according to verse 27 is “so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him.” No matter where a man may find himself, it is possible for him to reach out and find God because God is always right where man is.
In support of his Christian teaching, Paul actually quotes from some Greek poets, whom these smart Greek men would have been familiar with. The first quote comes from the Cretan poet Epimenides in honor of his father—
They fashioned a tomb for thee, O holy and high one— The Cretans, always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies. But thou art not dead; thou livest and abidest forever, For in thee we live and more and have our being.
The second quote comes from the Cilician poet Aratus: “It is with Zeus that every one of us in every way has to do, for we are also his offspring.
The fact that two of the most powerful thoughts in Scripture come from pagan poets, might disturb some. However, remember what we have established:
- Man, even unregenerate man, is crowned with glory and bears the image of God.
- All creation testifies to the glory of God, including man, whether he knows it or not.
It is not strange that God would use the deep thoughts of a pagan intellectual to communicate a divine truth. Truth is truth no matter where it is found, and God meets man where he is, both in location and spiritually.
Conclusion
Given the glory and greatness of God’s crowning creative achievement, mankind, how important is it for believers to bear witness to God’s glory in their presence? It is a terrible waste of material for a soul to pass from life to death never knowing the One who created him. Christians owe it to both God and the lost to share the love of God with the greatest of all God’s creation. We are to be good stewards of the Earth and all that is in it, including other human beings.
