Having considered “the heavens” to some degree, let’s now consider the realm of “the earth” specifically as it relates to man. The earth obviously is the center of man’s activity.

In this key verse below we see the sequence of God’s creation of “the heavens and… the earth” and then “the spirit of man within him.”

Zechariah 12:1b…Thus says the Lord, Who stretches out THE HEAVENS and lays the foundation of THE EARTH and forms THE SPIRIT OF MAN WITHIN HIM:

The eternal Lord is entirely purposeful in all that He does and in every word that He gave us through those He inspired to write the books of the Bible. What can we learn from this verse?

As we note the sequence of the creation elements listed in this verse we may come to realize man’s position in the creation. I conclude that the heavens were made… for the earth, and the earth was made… for man. Considering the instrumentality of the heavens and the earth in benefiting man physically, we can say man is the focus or center of God’s physical creation. In fact, as the verse notes, I would say the precise center of the created realm actually is “the spirit of man within him.”

In the physical realm the heavens are clearly necessary to sustain all life on the earth. Man needs the light of the sun and also the atmospheric and oceanic control of the moon, with their cycles, seasons, and rains (Gen 1:14) to sustain his physical life on earth. We know sun lights the earth and the clouds water the earth. These are necessary for man’s daily sustenance and nourishment on earth. Our physical bodies are made of “the dust of the ground” (Gen 2:7) and everything we eat comes out of the mineral laden earth. The milk we may drink comes from the cow that eats the grasses or grains that grow out of the earth; they received the vital life-nourishing light and water of heaven. Psalms 115:16 (AMP) The heavens are the Lord’s heavens, but THE EARTH HAS HE GIVEN TO THE CHILDREN OF MEN.

Then also we may consider man as the center of creation metaphorically. Man’s human spirit is the precise center of creation because it is the intended ultimate abode of the resurrected “Spirit of Christ” for all eternity. Paul tells believers they are “the temple of God.” 1 Corinthians 3:16 Know ye not that YE ARE THE TEMPLE OF GOD, AND THAT THE SPIRIT OF GOD DWELLETH IN YOU? Today, it is the believer’s regenerated “spirit” (Titus 3:5) that is the real “Holy of Holies.”

The Biblical hermeneutic device of “dual meaning” permits us to say “flood waters” or “waters standing still” are representative of judgment and death. Such was the flood waters that covered the earth in the days of Noah. After the Genesis 1:2 flood we note that in the course of the Genesis account of the re-creation of the earth, it was on “the third day” (Gen 1:9-13) that “the dry land” appeared out of the flood waters. The dried out land then brought forth the first forms life, vegetation. Note that the record does not say the vegetation was created. The words “bring forth” grass, etc., means “sprout.” The vegetative seeds must have already existed under the waters that covered the face of the earth.

Can this account of “the third” day’s newly dried out physical earth that sprouted life, be a metaphor, having an added interpretation? Yes, I think so.

It also was “the third day” when Christ who is the “Seed” (1Peter 1:23) and “our life” (Col 3:4a, John 1:4, 1John 5:11-12) was raised from the dead, after being judged for us. Jesus rose from the dead as “the life-giving spirit” (1Cor 15:45b) so fallen mankind might freely receive His resurrected, eternal, “Spirit of life” (Rom 8:2a) to be their new life (Col 3:4a).

1 Corinthians 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the LAST ADAM (CHRIST) WAS MADE (BECAME) A QUICKENING (LIFE-GIVING) SPIRIT.

Romans 6:4 (NASB) Therefore we have been buried WITH HIM through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so WE TOO might walk in NEWNESS OF LIFE.

Jesus is the real eternal life-birthing “Seed” (1Peter 1:23). He also is the real “light of life” and the real “water of life” that nourishes “the life” that He gives to “as many as received Him” (John 1:12).

The KJV Bible says Adam was “made a living soul,” but more correctly Adam “became a living soul” (Gen 1:26). Adam’s clay-formed body “became” fully alive, animated by the one “breath” of the living God. God thereby imparted “the spirit of man within him” (Zech 12:1 above). Paul wrote “… the spirit giveth life” (2Cor 3:6), and James wrote “the body without the spirit is dead” (James 2:26). Adam, by God’s “breath.” received his human spirit and “became” fully enlivened in his whole three-part being – his “whole spirit, soul and body” (1Thes 5:23).

God’s intention was that man would ultimately become partaker of the resurrected “Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:2a, 1John 4:13). The “spirit of man” and the “Spirit of Christ” were meant to become “one spirit” (1Cor 6:17) in the union of the “one body” (Eph 4:4) of Christ.

John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is BORN OF THE SPIRIT (CHRIST’S) IS (MAN’S) SPIRIT.  

1 Corinthians 6:17 But he that is joined unto the Lord IS (becomes) ONE SPIRIT (with Christ)

1 John 4:13 Hereby know we that WE DWELL IN HIM (Christ), AND HE IN US, because HE HATH GIVEN US OF HIS (CHRIST’S) SPIRIT.

The resurrected “Spirit of Christ” (Rom 8:9-10) comes to dwell within “the spirit of man” when a man is “born of God” (John 1:3, 3:3, 6, 7). It can then be said that a believing man on earth who has received Christ’s “Spirit of life” has also received the eternal heavenly “light of life” and “water of life” to sustain that man on earth and in eternity.

God has two differentiated families of believers who will possess Christ’s “Spirit of life.” These two will ultimately reign as vice-regents in their respective spheres; Israel on earth, and “the body of Christ” in heaven, both by the life and authority of the “Spirit of Christ” within them.

• The believers who are of the nation Israel will ultimately recognize Christ as Messiah (Zech 12:10, 13:3) and receive God’s “one Spirit” (Eph 4:6), which is now the resurrected “Spirit of Christ” to dwell within them (Ezekiel 36:25-28, 37:14). They will thereby be empowered to co-reign with Christ on earth. They shall bless “all the families of earth” (Gen 28:14) in the coming “kingdom of heaven” on earth. Until that day, Israel remains in “blindness” (Rom 11:25a).
• Today, God is saving and indwelling the members of the predominantly Gentile “body of Christ,” till the day that “body” is completed (Rom 11:25b) and raptured to heaven. These are destined to co-reign with and “in Christ” in the heavenly places, as noted in earlier installments (see Eph 1:21, Col 1:16, 2Tim 2:12, etc.)

Concerning those saved today, at the moment of their salvation they uniquely become members of the “the body of Christ.” Israel is never a body, but rather Israel is a “Nation” and a “people.” The church today is the unique one, invisible, living, “church, which is His body” (Eph 1:22b-23a).

You might ask; how exactly do I get into “the body of Christ”?

Here is how it occurs. During this day of “the dispensation of the grace of God,” without knowing it, every believer participates in the only Pauline sanctioned baptism or immersion. It is a baptism that is dry – an entirely waterless immersion. Unlike the “water baptism” of the Jewish tradition under the time of “the Law” that extended up to the early Acts period, the medium into which the believer today is baptized, set, or placed is not water, but rather it is… the “one body,” which is “the body of Christ.” Paul describes this one applicable baptism for today in this verse below.

1 Cor 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all BAPTIZED (placed) INTO ONE BODY, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

Notice also that with this baptism into Christ’s “one body,” the believer simultaneously also “drinks into one Spirit.” That “Spirit” is the “Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.” So, at the moment of salvation a believer becomes partaker in a most intimate union – a union with the eternal creator God by Christ’s Spirit coming to dwell in him. So there is a dual or mutual union – the believer’s life is hid in Christ (Col 3:3) and at the same time… Christ’s Spirit is taken into the believer’s human spirit. Paul wrote of “the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles.”

Colossians 1:26-27 THE MYSTERY WHICH HATH BEEN HID from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: ²⁷ To whom God would make known what is the RICHES OF THE GLORY of THIS MYSTERY among the Gentiles; which IS CHRIST IN YOU, the hope of GLORY:

It is by this dual union that the believer today is fully equipped for reigning in “glory,” in the heavenlies.

As we proceed in this series we will continue to see that every grace believer today, as a member of “the body of Christ,” is fully equipped by Christ’s life within him. Each believer then has a key role to play in God’s eternal plan and purpose in “GLORY,” in “the heavens.”