Man is a Vessel to Contain God
To fulfill His plan, God made man as a vessel
(Rom. (:21-24). This vessel has three parts: body, soul,, and spirit (1
Thes. 5:23). The body contacts and receives the things of the physical
realm. The soul, the mental faculty, contacts and receives the things of
the psychological realm. And the human spirit, the innermost part of man,
was made to contact and receive God Himself (John 4:24). Man was created
not merely to contain food in his stomach, or to contain knowledge in his
mind, but to contain God in his spirit (Eph. 5:18)
Because Man Fell, He Could Not Receive
God
Before man could receive God as life into his spirit,
sin entered into him (Romans 5:12). sin deadened his spirit (Eph. 2:1),
made him an enemy of God in his mind (Col. 1:21), and transmusted his body
into sinful flesh (Gen. 6:3; Rom. 6:12). Thus, sin damaged all three parts
of man, alienating him from God. In this condition, man could not receive
God.
But There is a Solution: Christ's Redemption
for God's Dispensing
Nevertheless, man's fall did not deter God from
fulfilling His original plan. In order to accomplish His plan, God first
became a man called Jesus Christ (John 1:1, 14). Then Christ died on the
cross to redeem man (Eph. 1:7), thus taking away his sin (John 1:29) and
bringing him back to God (Eph. 2:13). Finally, in resurrection, He became
the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:34b) so that He could dispense His unsearchably
rich life into man's spirit (John 20:22; 3:6)
Therefore, Man Can Regenerate
Since Christ has become the life-giving Spirit,
man can now receive God's life into his spirit. The Bible calls this regeneration
(1 Pet. 1:3; John 3:3). To receive this life,man needs to repent to God
and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21; 16:31).
To be regenerated, simply come to the Lord with an open and honest
heart and say to Him: