Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. This is study #7 of Genesis, chapter 2 and we are continuing to look at Genesis 2:6-7:

But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And JEHOVAH God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

In our last study we were looking at the spiritual picture of the man (Adam) being formed and created. We have already discussed how Adam can be a picture of Christ because He had Eve “in” him and Eve represents the body of believers. In our last study we also looked at Adam as a type and picture of the elect because he is a new creation. He had just been made by God and he was made “good.” We went to Isaiah 43 and we saw that God spoke of forming Jacob or Israel and creating him. God used some of the same language that we found in this account in Genesis. In Isaiah 43 God was describing the formation of his elect people.

So, yes, Adam is a figure of Christ, but the body of Christ can be a figure of all the elect people of God. We read in 1Corinthians 12:12-14:

For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized 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. For the body is not one member, but many.

Then if we skip down a few verses, it says in 1Corinthians 12:27:

Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

This is speaking of all those God has saved. They are all part of the one body of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are different members, just like the body has different members like the hands, feet or eyes and, yet, they are still part of one body. The elect are all part of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is one of the levels of spiritual meaning God has in view in Genesis 2:7:

And JEHOVAH God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

What is interesting about the creation of man is the order or steps by which God created him. First of all, “JEHOVAH God formed man of the dust of the ground.” We have the man Adam that has been formed, but he does not have life breathed into him and he has not become a living soul or spirit. There is just a body. In our present day if someone’s breath of life leaves their body, what do we call it? We call that “death,” do we not? When you go up to your grandfather’s room and there is no answer and you see him lying dead on the bead, his body is there but there is no more spirit or breath of life. The soul has departed. If he was saved, then his spirit went to be with the Lord. If he was unsaved, then his breath is just gone and he is now dead and will be dead forever. Yet, this was the condition of Adam at the very first. God formed man from the dust of the ground and Adam was a body without a spirit or soul and without the breath of life. God tells mankind in Acts 17:22-25:

Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;

God gives to all “life, and breath, and all things.” When God takes away the breath of a person, the person dies. That is the definition of death. They body could lose an arm or leg and could continue to live. Someone could have a heart transplant and continue to live. The body may experience much hurt and damage and continue to live, but life is defined by the breath of life that God has given by the spirit or soul He has placed within.

God has also placed a breath of life within animals. Of course, there is a big difference between the breath of life God gives to animals and the breath of life God gives man. God only gives animals the physical aspect of the breath of life, but to mankind God gives the physical life as well as the spiritual life.

Again, here is the man Adam and he has a body. He has been formed, but without life. Does that remind you of anything? Yes, it does. In Ezekiel, chapter 37 we find that God commanded Ezekiel to prophesy upon some dead bones. It so happens that in Genesis 2, verse 7 the Hebrew word translated as “breathed” is Strong’s #5301. It is not found too often, but one of the places it is found is in Ezekiel 37, but before we go that verse, let us look at the context. It says in Ezekiel 37:1-3:

The hand of JEHOVAH was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of JEHOVAH, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, there were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord JEHOVAH, thou knowest.

The word “live” is a related word to another word that is in Genesis 2, verse 7, where God said that He “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” The word “life” Strong’s #2716 which is derived from Strong’s #2421 which is the word translated as “live” in Ezekiel 37, verse 3 where God asked the question, “Can these bones live?”

Then it goes on to say in Ezekiel 37:4-7:

Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of JEHOVAH. Thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am JEHOVAH. So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.

This is a vision that God gave the prophet Ezekiel, a faithful man of God, long ago. There was a valley full of dead, dry bones and it is really picturing the unsaved of the world, including the unsaved elect that had been predestinated to salvation. Yet, they were born into the world as children of wrath (even as others) until the time appointed when God determined to bring His Word into their lives. Through the prophesying of the Word of God, they would live and this is the picture here, so the bones are coming together to “his bone,” not “bone to bone.” This is a giveaway that they are coming together to form the body of Christ. We are members of His body and, therefore, we are His bones.

When a man marries a woman, they become one flesh. The Lord uses this picture of marriage to illustrate the spiritual relationship between Christ and His eternal church, the company of the elect. It says in Ephesians 5:28-30:

So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

This was why not a bone of Christ was broken when He was on the cross. God was very jealously protecting the body of Christ. The wrath of God was poured out upon the Lord Jesus as He experienced the wrath of God, but His bones were not broken because they were a type and picture of those that Jesus died for and we are “bone of his bones.” Then it says in Ezekiel 37:8:

And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.

Let us think about this. We see that God commanded Ezekiel to prophesy and he prophesied as he was commanded and, as a result, the dry bones rose up and bone came to bone and sinews covered the bones and flesh came over the sinews. Therefore, there would have been new creatures or new men standing before him and, yet, they did not have the breath of life. That was exactly the case when God first formed Adam. God made him of the dust of the ground and formed his physical body, so Adam would have had bones, sinew and flesh and, yet, there is still the final touch. It was the wonderful part of God’s creation of man to make him a “living soul” in the image and likeness of God.

Again, it said in Genesis 2:7 that God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” This reminds us of at least a couple of passages. It says in John 20:21-23:

Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

Jesus breathed on them in order for them to receive the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of God and it is that Spirit that brings life. In this case, this was the sending forth of the Gospel into the world, but when the Gospel would go out into the world many “dry bones” would hear the Word of God and be “formed” and come to life and become new creatures in Christ.

We are also reminded of a verse in 2Timothy, chapter 3. It is a different word than the word “breathed” used in John 20, but it carries the same idea. It says in 2Timothy 3:16-17:

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

All the Word of God in the entire Bible comes via “inspiration of God.” The Greek word translated as “inspiration” is a compound word that literally means “God breathed.” God “breathed” and gave the Scriptures and then the Scriptures were sent out and entered into the lives of people. The Word of God has travelled in many different ways: in written form, by word-of-mouth, by the airwaves, and so on. By whatever method God caused it to travel, the Word of God found its way into the lives of the people that were chosen of God from the foundation of the world. These people had their sins paid for by the Lord Jesus Christ and Jesus rose again to justify them and guarantee that they would become children of God and experience the resurrection. They had become “dead” in sins through the fall and, spiritually, they had been like Lazarus who had been dead for four days and then Christ came and said, “Lazarus, come forth.” Spiritually, they were like the “dry bones” and you cannot get any deader than having your flesh rotted away and eaten of worms until there was nothing left. Then the hot sun beat upon the bones in the valley to remove whatever moisture there was left until there was nothing but dead dry bones. That is about as dead as anyone can be and this is the spiritual condition of man as God sent forth His Word to save His people from their sins.

Returning to Ezekiel, chapter 37, God commanded Ezekiel to prophesy a second time. The body was now formed and the dry bones had become bodies of men once again. They were in a better condition, but they still lacked one thing. It goes on to say in Ezekiel 37:9-14:

Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am JEHOVAH, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith JEHOVAH.

This is a beautiful illustration of God’s salvation program from the beginning when we were nothing but dead in trespasses and sins until God formed the “body” and then completes it by breathing the spirit of life and raising up the dead out their graves and placing them in the spiritual land of Israel, the Promised land of the new heaven and new earth.

In Genesis 2, verse 7, we can see God’s salvation program, can we not? JEHOVAH God formed man out of the dust of the ground, but he lacked life. He lacked the breath of life, so God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul.

Yes, it is a historical record of the creation of the first man Adam and the human race. We know that, but, at the same time, it is a wonderful historical parable pointing to God’s formation of the “new creatures” that He would create through the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ that had already been finished from the foundation of the world. The people of God will “live.” These precious souls and blessed individuals that God selected will live. He chose certain ones on which to bestow His grace and extend the sceptre of His mercy and to grant them eternal life. Already with the creation of the first man, God is looking ahead to the creation of the “new man” and that creation will be forever.

Lord willing, in our next study we will look more carefully at some of the words used here. I learned much of this from Mr. Camping and he had gone into detail in his book “Time Has an End” regarding Genesis 2, verse 7. One of the interesting things he pointed out was that the word “life” in this verse is Strong’s #2416 and the ending reveals a plural word, just as the word “el-o-heem” is a plural word for God. The Hebrew word translated as “life” is “khah’ee” and it is a plural word, so literally it is “lives.” So it literally says that God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives; and man became a living soul.” It is interesting that it is a plural word and we will look at that when we get together in our next Bible study.