October 16

PHYSICAL DEATH / PART 3

THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE SPIRIT

According to Dr. Stephen Jones:

-“Man’s spirit has a consciousness that is distinct from the consciousness of the soul. The fact that spirit has a conscious mind should not come as a surprise. The Spirit of God (i.e., the Holy Spirit) possesses a conscious mind. God is spirit (John 4:24) and needs no physical brain or soulish mind in order to function consciously. Gen. 6:3 says, “My Spirit will not always strive with man.” Such striving would require conscious behavior. Isaiah 11:2 speaks of the Spirit of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. Such things also require consciousness. In 1 Cor. 2:16 we are admonished to put on the mind of Christ. In Eph. 4:23, 24 “the spirit of your mind” is identified with the “new self” (NASB) or the “new man” (KJV) … and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth … It is obviously a spiritual mind and an inner self that has consciousness. Unclean spirits also have a consciousness, as we read many times in the scriptures. For example, Mark 9:26 says of an unclean spirit, “after crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out.” Man is made in the image of God. Therefore, it seems reasonable to say man’s spirit also has a consciousness. Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 2:14 that divine matters cannot be understood with the natural (literally “soulish”) mind, but must be understood with the spiritual mind. So what does this mean? Where does the spirit go when it “returns” to God? To answer that, one must stop trying to think carnally. Heaven is not “located” somewhere in or beyond the stars. The spirit does not have to travel anywhere. It does not take a certain amount of time to go from heaven to earth or from earth to heaven. Ezekiel 44:17 speaks of it figuratively as changing clothes. Paul uses the same terminology in 2 Cor. 5:2-4. When Jesus appeared to His disciples after His resurrection, He demonstrated His ability to move from flesh to spirit form in an instant (Luke 24:36). When a person dies, his spirit remains in the realm of spirit, where there is neither time nor distance. It is always in the realm of “I am.” It is not “I was” or “I will be.” It is not “I am here” or “I am there.” All time is one. All space is one. In the spirit, all things simply are. It is only in the earthly realm that we are bound by time and space. To understand spiritual existence, we must think “outside the box.” ( The Judgments Of The Divine Law, Dr. Stephen Jones )

-THE SPIRIT RETURNS TO GOD WHO GAVE IT!-