THE FIRE OF GOD

THE FIRE OF GOD

                When God created Adam He named him “Adam” because he was taken from the ground Hebrew “Admah.” But then when God breathed in Him “The breath of life” Adam is called “Ish” the fire of God. The Hebrew letter yod is in the center of the word “ish” showing that God was in the midst of Adam. God breathed a part of Himself into Adam and Admah became Ish a living soul… a man from the ground in which dwelt the ish, the fire of God and it was this fire that rendered Adam immortal.

                When God then created Eve He took some of this fire (Ish) from Adam and she became “Isha.”

                So when Adam and Eve sinned, the Ish departed from them and that which had made them immortal departed. Adam and Eve died spiritually instantly and they began on that day to die physically as well.

                Likewise when God sent Yeshua into the world He prepared a body for Him in the likeness of sinful flesh, from the ground Admah, but He had within Him the Ish, the fire of God that Adam and Eve had lost in the fall. Jesus had to be made Admah in order to die, but He was also Ish so that He could take up His life again. Yeshua too was put into a deep sleep so that a Bride could be taken from His side.

                On the day of Pentecost then, Jesus sent down to the believers His “Ish” in cloven tongues of fire. Jesus restored to His Body the Ish, the fire of life that Adam and Eve had lost. This “Ish” or fire renders those who believe immortal. And though the body is dead because of sin, our soul, or spirit is alive because it contains the Ish of God and cannot die. This is why when Christians die, their soul, or Ish goes back to God who gave it.

                IF we understand this then we will understand what Jesus said to Martha just prior to raising Lazarus from the dead. “Jesus said to her. ’I am the resurrection and the life; (Ish) he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

               
This is to say that even though our body goes back to the ground from whence it came, our Ish filled soul cannot die, but goes back to God who gave it. This also explains what John 3:34-36 literally means when it says: “He that has the Son has life (Ish) and He who has not the Son has not life (Ish.)

                It says: “For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for He gives the Spirit (Ish) without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has eternal life (Ish); but he does not obey the Son shall not see life Ish) but the wrath of God abides on him.”

                The curse of the fall remains on him because without the Son man cannot receive the Ish, the fire of God that results in eternal life.

                This truth I am learning from Steven Benoon who is fluent in Hebrew and has studied these things out in depth, being a Messianic Jew who is seeking to win many Jews to Christ.  He says that the word “Life” as in when God breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life is a plural word. (Chayim) And the rabbis not in the Torah commentaries; “One who blows, blows from within himself indicating that man’s soul is a part of God’s essence.

                So when Paul says in 2 Cor. 4:7 “but we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves, he is saying that we carry this “Ish” of God within our Admah, body from the ground and as such we have eternal life. And on down in verse 10 he explains this further by saying: “…always carrying about in the body Admah) the dying of Jesus that the life of Jesus (Ish) may be manifested in our body. (Admah: made from the ground)

                Now in chapter 5 of 2 Cor. 5:1, 2 Paul goes on with this theme saying: “For we know that if the earthly tent ( Admah) which is our house is torn down, we have a building from  heaven, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house (Admah) we groan longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven inasmuch as we, having put it on shall not be found naked. (As Adam and Eve were found naked when the Ish had departed from them.)

                Paul also says to us in 2 Cor. 4:16: “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man (Admah) is decaying, yet our inner man “Ish” is being renewed day by day.

                This is why Paul could say in Philippians 1:21-23: “For me to live is Christ (Ish) and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh (Admah), this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard- pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart (from this Admah) and to be with Christ, for that is very much better, yet to remain on in the flesh (Admah) is more necessary for your sake.

                We who have received of the Holy Spirit have the very life of God in us. We HAVE eternal life. WE HAVE the Son, therefore we HAVE the life.

                With this perspective in mind it becomes a wonder why we spend so much time pampering and feeding and dressing that Admah” (this body made from the ground) even as we ignore that invisible part of us, the “Ish” or fire of God that contains in it our eternal life. We spend so much time investing in the Admah that will go back to dust while neglecting our soul that is filled with the ish (fire) of God that will go back to God when we die.

                We subconsciously know that this is true. We may say: “This is my body; I can do with it what I want to. Well, who is the “I” and the “my” that lays claim to this body? By saying this we agree with the Bible for it says that this body is a tent in which we dwell.

                My body is not the real me. I reside in this body and God me to take care of it while l live on this planet, but when this body dies, the real me, the inner man, the new man made alive by the ish of God, goes back to God who gave it.

                We may argue over whether the real us is conscious or unconscious when it goes back to God, but if the bible is an authority on the subject, Jesus said that the rich man and Lazarus were both conscious in their post death realms and both Paul and John speak of being caught up into heaven and not knowing whether they were there in the flesh or only in the spirit, but they imparted to us the knowledge that they received from these experiences and since we know that heaven is a spiritual abode into which Admah cannot pass, we must conclude that they were there in spirit only and they were conscious and they could see and hear and what they saw and heard were things beyond mortal kin… things that they could not express.

                At any rate, I am not here to argue doctrine and tradition, but rather to emphasize that we have this treasure in earthen (Admah) vessels that the surpassing greatness may be of God and not of ourselves and as we draw closer and closer to the end of all things, we need to learn how to live by that (Ish) which God has placed in us when we were born again.

                This is the whole thrust of Romans 8. When we were born again, God placed His Spirit (Ish)in us, the spirit that Adam and Eve lost in the fall that rendered them immortal. Through Jesus Christ, the second Adam, He has restored to us the ish of God, the fire of God, the very life of God who is Spirit. And though we live in these bodies made of dirt, we have this treasure in these earthly vessels and that is why Romans 8 is so important. Romans 7 asks who will deliver us from this Admah, this body of death and then Romans 8 answers the question by saying: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life (Ish) in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death (the curse that resulted from Adam and Eve losing the Ish, fire of God) for what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh (Admah without the ish) God did; sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh (Admah) and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh ( Admah) in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh ( the Admah) but according to the Spirit, the Ish/fire of God)

                So Paul says: “For the mind set on the Admah is death, but the mind set on the Ish is life and peace.”  “For all who are being led by the Ish of God, these are the sons of God. Romans 8:6, 14

                Remember that Adam was called the son of God, before he fell and we, when we receive the ish that He lost in the fall, become once again sons of God. And just as all of creation was subjected to futility when Adam fell, so will all of Creation be renewed when the sons of God are revealed, when this Admah is exchanged for our glorious resurrection bodies… bodies filled with and fully empowered by the (Eternal Spirit and life) of God. Until we are glorified we can only carry an earnest of what is to come.

                And we know that our inner man, the ish goes back to God when we die because Paul also explains to us in 1 Thess. 4:14 saying: For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. The Admah must die, but we, the real me and the real you have eternal life and that life will go to be with God awaiting the resurrection of the Admah that will once again be like the body of Adam before the fall and we are told as well that we will be like Jesus, the second Adam for we shall see Him as He is.

                What does this mean exactly? Well we cannot see Jesus as He is right now because in our Admah we cannot see that which is spiritual with the eyes of flesh, but upon the resurrection we will see Jesus in all of His dimensions and we will be like Him. Let us therefore invest more time in those things that are eternal.