This is a correction to the invitation to visit the two new blogs that the pastor has started.
The addresses for the blogs are:
www.sharingjesustogether.blogspot.com
and www.godsplanforsharing.blogspot.com
Thanks for visiting…and commenting.
In the creation account we have a picture of the pattern of our being: soul, body, and spirit. This design of our being is pattern after the image of the triune God. The corresponding inage is Father/soul; Son/body/Spirit/spirit.
In the death that came upon mankind the soul was cast into darkness. Man cannot find his way through life and into eternity. He is drifting toward hell and destruction. The death to the soul takes place at the judgment when all who have rejected God’s salvation will be cast into hell. The Bible calls this the second death. It is the day that the soul dies. It is future.
The soul searching for the ultimate experience in life … love is the story of the Song of Solomon.
The physical bodybegan to detoriate immedately. Time tells the story. All die and are placed in the grave. It is a present experience with us. It is the suffering of the soul through the physical body and this physical world. That is the story of Job.
The spirit, which has the essence of life in it, cannot be destroyed. The spirit does not die. Upon the point of physical death the spirit returns to God who gave it as a gift to man. The human spirit is restless. It is the soul searching for meaning in life. The spirit does not find rest until it finds God through His word. That is the story of Ecclesiastes.
An analysis of how that triune being processes information and deals with life is found in the Book of Proverbs. One of the themes in Proverbs is how the triune being self-distructs. It also shows how to prevent that process and rebuild itself and enter into fellowship and dialogue with God.
Tell me what you think of this bit of theology.
God bless,
Harold
In Genesis 1 & 2 God’s word shows our individual creation pattern. It begins on the fifth day of creation when God created all creatures with a soul. Then on the sixth day of creation He created man. It does not specifically state that He created the soul of man on the sixth day. It does specifically state that He created male and female on the sixth day. It also specifically states that He created man in His image according to His likeness.
Man was not yet in a physical form for in Genesis 2:5 it states that there was no man upon the earth for it had not yet rained on the earth. Then in 2:7 God creates a physical body for the male from the dust of the ground. Next, He breaths into the nostrils (face) of this physical body the breath of life (plural: lives) and man becomes a living (singular) soul (singular). At this point we have a male with a soul, physical body, and a spirit.
The phrase “breath of God” thoughout the Old Testament represent the “Spirit of God.” This breath of God which is the Spirit of God becomes the spirit of man giving him life. At the point of death this spirit returns back to God.
When the physical body of Eve is created, her soul had already been created in Genesis 1:27. All she needed was a physical body. That was given to her through the rib taken from Adam. God did not need to breath upon her to impart the spirit of life unto her. That spirit of life was in the rib from which her physical body was created. This is probably the inference in 2:7 when it is stated that “God breath into the nostrils of the man the breath of lives.” Modern day man has seen the reality of this truth in cloning from DNA.
From this brief and simply picture of man’s creation we see the pattern for the creation of man: soul, body, and spirit. This pattern remains true to form throughout scripture. The structure of this pattern will be manifested in the tabernacle, which becomes a physical model by its threefold structure of outer court, inner court, and holy of holies. This structure represents the triune being of man. The ministry in the tabernacle will demonstrate how this triune being is designed and created to function.
The pattern of man’s being is precise and orderly. God placed in His word how the three entities of being (soul, body, spirit) impact each other. The message in the Song of Songs is the struggle of the soul to find its ultimate fulfillment in love. The message in Job is the struggle of the soul against physical pain in the body. The message in Eccleseiastes is the struggle of the sould to find rest in its spirit. The Book of Proverbs is a textbook on the interaction of all three entities that make up our being. Proverbs reveals how this triune being is broken down and how it can be rebuilt. The need to understand emotional, mental, and spiritual breakdowns is revealed in Proverbs.
My question for you in this blog is do you see this pattern running throughout the Bible?
I want to invite you to check out these two new blogs.
What is the source that you turn to for help? Who is your counselor?
It can be costly to go to a counselor. And even if you have the money, it is not easy to find a competent counselor. There are counselors whose orientation is secular without any god or soul in the picture. There are counselors whose orientation is Christian Psychology where they integrate the research of secular psychologies with the Bible. There are counselors whose orientation is Biblical Counseling who focus just on the Scriptures and will not take from secular psychologies and Christian Psychology findings. Then there is the back-fence counselor whose orientation is home grown folklore.
In the midst of the flourishing different approaches to psychology there is another way out. You can counsel yourself with the aid of God Himself. The Bible is clear that our first and primary teacher is the triune God. God has promised to come to us and counsel us. However, He requires something from us. He requires that we read His textbook on counseling … the Bible.
The Bible is critical for God counseling us. It is God’s word. The Bible’s way of doing psychology is to allow God to place us in a particular situation and then let God address us about Himself, ourselves, the relationship of the two, and the situation we are in. I call it Hebrew Psychology for it was the Hebrew’s way of doing psychology. It is written out in narrative form and illustrated in the lives of those recorded. As the story of the biblical character unfolds, the theology and psychology of God, yourself, and your situation is interspersed into the story.
The Bible is critical for you counseling yourself and allowing God to counsel you. It describes God ways and judgments. It reveals the design of how God created you and how that design was intended to function. It reveals the physical model of your being based upon that creation. The tabernacle given at Mt. Sinai is that model. We know that the tabernacle is a physical model of psychological, physical, and spiritual truths, because the New Testament writers used tabernacle imagery to convey spiritual truths about God, the Christian, and the relationship of the two.
Basic to you counseling yourself, you need an understanding of the tabernacle and its spiritual applications. We begin by looking at the tabernacle in Exodus 25. The tabernacle is patterned after something that is in heaven. The message in Hebrews builds upon this spiritual pattern. An offering was required for the construction of the tabernacle. The offering was specified by God Himself. Which offering to give was the individual’s choice, but it had to be given with a willing heart.
In the spiritual applications of the tabernacle we find that God has specific structural and functional patterns, which the individual must move in. The writer of Hebrews identifies the Christian as God’s house. It is a reference to the tabernacle. The Christian is God’s dwelling place. He lives within us. He wants to be our Teacher and Counselor.
The question remains, “What is the source that you turn to for counseling?“ In the next blog we will look at the steps in ministering in your tabernacle as it is revealed in the tabernacle in the Old Testament.