The spirit of man
By Ivan Ho 18 Nov 2017
We hear some people talk about ‘out of body’ experiences i.e. the soul/ spirit of man departs from the physical body after a person dies. But where does the spirit of man go? Does it wander around the earth? There are people who talk about their experiences in heaven/ hell when their spirits depart from their bodies for a while and afterwards return to their bodies to tell us their testimonies. Can we believe in these stories? Not all stories are true but some are true testimonies.
The bible does mention out of body experiences of believers when their spirits leave their bodies to be present with the Lord:
So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
II Corinthians 5:6-8
Every man, whether or not he or she is a believer, has a human spirit given by God residing in his body. His spirit allows him to make contact with the spirit world. However, due to our sins before we become born again, our spirit was dead in the sense that it has no connection with God. The spirit man may want to reach out to God but it can’t, due to sin. God has to reach out to us instead to make the connection. Our sins need to be dealt with and the only way is through the redemptive work of Jesus on the cross.
For any man to worship God in spirit and truth, he must first and foremost receive the Word of God who is Jesus into his life, repent and allow the blood of Jesus to cleanse him from all his sins, so that he may be made alive in his spirit. When he does that, the person becomes born again in his spirit. He now becomes a new creation in Christ, not because of his good deeds or any religious things he does, but purely because of what Jesus did on the cross about 2000 years ago. In the past, the man was hostile to God because of his sins, now through the blood of Jesus, he becomes reconciled to God through Christ!
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
II Corinthians 5:17-19 NKJV