“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” [Gen. 2:7] Do you remember what we learned last week—why it was 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.

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 [He] formed him just what 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.” 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.”

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.” 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,” and with Him is “the fountain of life.” 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 life-giving 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 shalt thou return.” 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.”

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 “hangeth 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,” “the Word” that “was made flesh and dwelt among us,”—“Christ, the power of God.” [Heb. 1:3; John 1:14]

 

“The Air We Breathe”

You know that we keep on breathing every moment of our lives, and if we should stop we should die. But not only is it so important that we should breathe, but also that we should have pure, fresh air to breath. We have inside us something called lungs, made up of a lot of little cells or bags, which swell out when the air is drawn into them. This is why our bosoms are rising and falling all the time.

When we take the air into our lungs we poison and spoil it. The poison from every part of our bodies is carried by the blood to the lungs, where it passes off into the air that fills the lungs, and the good air passes into our blood and is carried all through our bodies.

So the air that we breathe out is full of poison, and this is why it is so important that we should have our rooms well supplied with the fresh, pure air of heaven, especially when there are many people in them. For if we keep on breathing the same poisoned air over and over, our blood cannot be purified by it, and the poison stays in our bodies and makes us ill.

You will perhaps wonder why it is that if men and animals are poisoning the air in this way all the time, it does not all become spoiled, and the life in it used up. Just see what wonderful provision God has made for this. Did you know that the trees and plants are breathing the air in and out all the time just as we are? The leaves are the lungs of the plants, and they breathe in the poisoned air which comes from men and animals, and breathe out again the fresh, pure air that we need to keep us alive.

Man is not the only “temple of God,” but all created things are His dwelling place. He is “the Life,” not of men only, but of all living things. So it is God who through the plant is taking away the poison from the air, and breathing out His pure, sweet life for us. He has made the plants not only to delight our eyes with His beauty, but that through them He may give life to us continually.

“Nature itself as a parable, showing for the law of love. There is nothing, save the selfish heart of man, that lives unto itself. Every leaf of the forest, and every lowly blade of grass, has its ministry of beauty and refreshing. Every tree, and shrub, and leave pours forth that element of life, without which neither man nor animal could live.”

Can we not, then, read in the plants “the Gospel of our salvation”? Does not this teach us how God takes upon Himself The curse and poison of our sin, and destroying it, pours out His life for us instead, that we may be saved by it?

The crowded cities do not have many trees and plants to purify the air for the great number of people who poison it. But God sends the wind to carry the poisoned air to the country, where it is made pure, and carried back by the wind to the cities again.

It was in to man’s nostrils that God breathed. We can learn from this the proper way to breathe,—not through the mouth, but through the nose. In this way the air is warmed and freed from bugs before it reaches our lungs. If we breathe the air out through the mouth, we are likely to take the poisoned air in again, as it is right before us. But the nostrils, when we breathe in the proper way, send the poisoned air down out of our way, so that we can take fresh air at each breath.

Think of the wonderful love and wisdom shown in all the works of God, and you will love and praise Him who “have done all things well.”

The Present Truth – July 28, 1898
E. J. Waggoner

Story in pdf    The Breath of Life