The
mystery of the Kingdom of God can be illustrated in the creation of man.
When man was created by God, he was formed out of the dust of the earth
(Gen. 2:7). Then, into this lifeless body the breath of life was
given. Consequently, man became a living soul, a breathing creature
(literal meaning of the word translated "living soul."
Thus, it can be said that man, when he was created, consisted of body,
soul, and the breath of life. With the breath of life being the Spirit of
God (Isa. 42:5; John 1:4,9; Acts 17:25,28; Dan. 5:23; and John 5:26,27),
man was body, soul, and Spirit. In other words, when Adam was
created, there was not a spirit of man as an entity unto itself. He
was a body and a soul. He had no spirit. He simply experienced the
Spirit of God.
However, when man consumed the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil (Gen. 3:1-7), his eyes were opened to a "separate"
identity from God. Consequently, a spirit of man was born. Like the
darkness of the night, it is not an entity in and of itself. It is a way
of thinking or perception of the fallen mind of man "removed"
from experiencing the Spirit of God.
Subsequently, when the spirit of man is awakened, within man, he will
begin to perceive that the experiencing of life is actually the
experiences of his mind. He will now attempt to live by the thrill of his
senses (tasting, touching, seeing, hearing, and smelling). Although God is
still the life-source of his existence for there is no life but God (John
5:26.27), man, in his mind, will now perceive himself as the essence of
his life. He now thinks that he makes life happen by the activities of his
mind.
Living by the activities of his mind "separated" from the Spirit
of God, man finds himself attempting to experience life only in the
fleshly, earthly realm. He has lost his sense of the Kingdom of God,
the realm of the Spirit. Living in his mind, man has to be actually
overwhelmed by the Spirit to experience the Kingdom of God. The tapes of
this series explore how the Spirit breaks into man and then takes him to
experience life in the Kingdom of God.
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