Introduction

There are many mysteries about the unseen world of the Spirit. As we proceed in these studies we will run into many mysteries. We accept these mysteries by faith. However we will also learn many things that will help us to look forward to heaven and its glory. We may not understand how God made us from the dust of the ground.

But we know that all things are possible with Him. The body is not in the image of God although we have been made in his likeness. Some have supposed our physical image is like the spiritual image of God. Jesus said, “A spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have” (Luke 24:39)

Jesus said that “God is a spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”

Spirit would not have the appearance of flesh.

Paul speaks of being caught up into heaven and heard words which are inexpressible. (See 2 Corinthians 12:1-4.) We will never know in this life the fullness of the glory that is prepared for us until the end of all things here on earth. One thing for sure God has worked out all things for our glory.

God uses our earthly words to paint a picture of what is beyond this world. Thus we have to use caution not to be too dogmatic. (See Ecclesiastes 5:2.) Also, God often speaks in metaphors. A metaphor is a figure of speech where it’s ordinarily use is applied to another. It is a figure of speech in which one thing is likened to another.

For example God told Moses “You cannot see my face; for no man shall see Me, and live” (Exodus 33:20)

Too often we miss the metaphor in Moses’ statement. A Spirit does not have a face. The word face is used as a metaphor by God to emphasize His presence. God said, in verse 22 “So it shall be, while My glory passes by.”

Then in 23 he says, “You shall see My back; but My face should not be seen.”

Moses then was privileged to see only a glimmer (back) of the presence of God and not his total presence. He did not see a physical being as one would see a man, for God is spirit. Man has always had a tendency to make God after his physical image.

We must be careful not to bring God down to our level of understanding. God is far greater than our physical bodies which he created. A study of the soul, the spirit and the spiritual world is a challenging study.

We are venturing into the realm of the unseen, the untouched or un-encountered. Not only is our vocabulary insufficient for such a study, our perceptions of what is real concerning the soul and spirit must be by faith in what the word of God reveals.

However, what is essential for us to know has been revealed to us in God’s word. At the same time we must be careful not to go beyond what is revealed or formulate theories that we cannot substantiate from the Bible. The Scriptures say that man is “Fearfully and wonderfully made.” Man was God’s crowning act of creation (Genesis 1:26)

Since the beginning men have wondered about their origin and at the same time have stood in awe and fear of physical death, pondering all its mysteries. There has always been a universal desire to know what happens after death.

Unfortunately men who have gone to the Scriptures have not always given the right answers.

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