"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life." (Genesis 2:7)
Why was it that God formed man from the dust? It was that he might be "the temple of God, [with] the Spirit of God dwelling in him." (1 Corinthians 3:16)
When one has the privilege of making his own house, he thinks and plans carefully to have everything as perfect and convenient as possible for his own use. He is careful about the doors and windows, and all the entrances to the house, and every room is made just suitable for the use for which he wants it.
And so in making man for His own dwelling place, God formed him just what He needed for this purpose. Every part of his body was planned for the special use of the Spirit of God, to do the work that He wanted to do in and through him. Think of this often, and "Yield ... your members as instruments of righteousness unto God." (Romans 6:13)
Remember that:
I am His house, for Him to go in and out;
He builds me now, and if I cannot see
At any time what He is doing with me
'Tis He that makes the house, for me too grand.
The house is not for me, it is for Him;
His royal thoughts require many a stair,
Many a tower, many an outlook fair,
Of which I have no thought, and need no care.
--George MacDonald, The Diary of an Old Soul: July, 1880.
Now think again how God enters into the temple of the human body; for what He did for the first man, He has done for every child of Adam who has since come into the world,--first formed him from the dust of the ground, and then "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life." (Genesis 2:7)
We learned last week that all the organs of our body are useless, until the breath of God, the Holy Spirit, takes possession of it and fills it. So we will think of this a little while, before we talk any more of those wonderful powers that the Spirit brings to the body in which He dwells. Jesus said, "I am ... the Life," (John 14:6) and, "With Him is the fountain of life." (Psalm 36:9)
Not a fountain, but the fountain; the only fountain of life is Jesus. All the life that there is in God's great universe comes from God through Jesus Christ. Then when the breath of life is breathed into us, it is the spirit of Jesus, who is "the Life." Every moment of our lives we are receiving, in the breath that keeps our bodies alive, life from the fountain of life.
Sit still a little while and think of this, as you draw in the lifegiving breath,--that the great God, your Creator and Father, is still breathing into your nostrils the breath of life, and that if He should stop doing this for a single moment you would die, for remember that you have no life of your own.
While you are at your work and play, and not thinking of Him at all, and when you are asleep, and have forgotten all about breathing, He is thinking of you every moment, and gently breathing His life into you.
The life that comes into our lungs in the air, is taken up by the blood as it passes through the tiny blood vessels that cover the lungs, and then the life of God is carried by the blood to every part of our bodies.
You know that what makes the difference between a living and a dead body, is that the dead body does not breathe. God's life no more enters into it, and what very soon takes place? Just what God said, "Unto dust shall you return." (Genesis 3:19)
Strange and wonderful as it may seem to us that these bodies of ours are really formed from the little particles of the dust of the ground, just like that over which we walk every day, this is very clearly seen when the breath of life is taken from them; for they soon fall to pieces, and drop back into the dust out of which they were taken.
What is it then that holds our bodies together in their beautiful and wonderful form? Perhaps you will answer, "the breath of life," but remember that the breath is God's Spirit, and the life is Jesus. So it is the Spirit of Jesus that knits together all the tiny particles of matter that form our bodies, and holds them in their shape, and fills them with His life. And this is just what the Word of God tells us: "In Him all things hold together." (Colossians 1:17)
His Spirit holds together not only our bodies, but all the dust of the ground, and so makes the solid earth for us to live upon, and keeps it also in its shape. And not only in its shape, but in its place, for "[He] hangs the earth upon nothing." (Job 26:7)
And what He does in this world, He is doing in all the worlds that He has made, "upholding all things by the Word of His power," (Hebrews 1:3) "The Word [that] was made flesh and dwelt among us," (John 1:14) "Christ, the power of God." (1 Corinthians 1:24)--Present Truth, July 28, 1898--A children's companion to: The Everlasting Gospel, Chapter 6, "The Power That Draws".