Breath of God

Genesis 2:7 (KJV), “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

Here we have the birth of mankind and his very origins. It is plain to see again the divine inspiration, that is the breath of God to create something most intimate out of dust. It is humbling and at the same time honoring to think that the God over all of creation would take something as lowly as the dust of the ground and breath His very life into it so that man could be a living soul. And an extra added to note to this is that God then entrusts His creation to the man made out of dust. Wow! Such an honor, to be thought of so highly by the One who created him.

Psalm 8:3-5 (ESV), “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon, and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.”

From the very first breath to the final breath You have given meaning and purpose to mankind which You made out of the dust of the ground. O the depth of the wisdom of God! There is no searching His ways or comprehending all of His paths. For this very reason, the intimate breath of the Almighty is to be our guide in this life along with its creative force. But the most important part of this teaching is that of knowing God and what He is really about. All through the Scriptures, we see a most kind and gracious and loving Father. It is exposed in His dealings with His creation. God never intended for people to get along without Him after He created them. Thus the breath into the nostrils of His creation. With no other creature did God choose this most intimate method of birth. How much more in awe of Him should we be now after hearing of such a marvelous truth. The point is assuredly this, to know Him who has known us from the very beginning. And to grow in our confidence in Him

From this choice passage of Scripture, we get a real close look at the One behind all of this that we see and touch in this life. But more pointedly, we see that only through this breath can we even live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). Now, in the grand scheme of everything, we see also that God’s most intimate creation fell from Him in the Garden of Eden. Simply put, mankind fell into sin and disobeyed the most simplest command as found in Genesis 3. This consisted of God telling mankind to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. However, we see a crafty serpent known as the devil come into the garden and tempt Eve. She then eats of this forbidden tree and we have the fall.

The fall meant that mankind fell from God’s original intention from being an eternal being to being one marred by the effects of sin and death. The one who has the power of sin and death even now is the devil. Note this Scripture in 

Hebrews 2:14 (ESV),

“Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil.”

So to simply put it, the devil came in and tempted mankind to in a sense forfeit God’s original intention. 

Now, in God’s love for His creation, He never wanted that His creation which He most intimately created would fall in this way. He has ever been striving with man since to redeem them back to His ways.

The way we see this redemption is through the death of His Son Jesus Christ which broke the power of sin and death. In other words, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ literally won a battle for victory to free everyone who has been in bondage to what Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden.

Something amazing happened when Jesus rose from the dead. He made a way for mankind to return to His eternal state by being born again. It was as if God revisited His original way of creating mankind by breathing in them the breath of life. Only this time, He, through His Son, which is God manifested in the flesh (John 1:1; 1 Timothy 3:16) after He was raised from the dead and where He destroyed the power of sin and death, again breathed into the nostrils of His creation His very breath once again. 

John 20:22 (ESV),

“And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

This is absolutely remarkable to see Jesus Christ, God manifested in the flesh, revisiting the most profound moment for mankind with an up close and personal breath. This breath was the new creation. To really summarize this lesson, we need a clear view of Jesus as the Creator of everything that we see, who upon losing His greatest and most honored creation desired to re-create them so as to have fellowship with them again. Thus granting them access to heaven through the glorious unfolding plan.

The application here is certainly for the one who has tried and tried in their own strength to be what they believe God is calling them to be. I’ve got to tell you, I have tried and tried to no avail when it came to godliness.  All of my best efforts have fallen away like chaff in the wind but yet drove me to the throne of grace to find mercy and receive grace in my time of need (Hebrews 4:16).  This can only come from the Holy Spirit known as the breath of God. In your struggle to adhere to Scriptural truth about godliness and holiness and to abstain from the sinful desires of the flesh just note in Galatians 5:16 (ESV), “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Spirit is known as breath or wind.  In the Strongs, the Greek, is ‘pneuma’ for wind, breath, or spirit. And Jesus Himself said to Nicodemus in John 3:8 (ESV), “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” In this passage, the word for wind is the same word used for Spirit. Its context proves what Jesus was talking about in saying the wind blows, and then born of the Spirit. But the most important take away for us is to come to the throne of grace for a fresh breath. Through faith enter in and receive from God the glorious and most intimate breath so that He can make you into what He has called you to be. Let me tell you, the way to go deeper into Christ is to literally visualize this breath coming into you and changing you as you pray with faith to receive. 

O Lord, by Your mighty Spirit, the Ruach Ha Kodesh (Hebrew for Holy Spirit), breath on us, that most intimate creating breath. I pray that the Word You have spoken and are speaking will continually blow away all the chaff in us and bring Your Word to life in us. Let all that we are do more than mirror Your image. Let us be transformed into it. In Jesus name. Amen!