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Genesis 1:26-27 tells us that we are created in God’s image. By this we mean that we are created with a soul in which God communes with us. The sorry state of sinfulness into which humanity has fallen threatens to defy that fact. Indeed, the beautiful soul, the image of God within is in need of redemptive restoration. And it is being restored in a myriad ways each day throughout the world but the redemptive presence of Jesus Christ.
I remember seeing a video clip of Pope John Paul II on a news program quite a few years ago. It must have been sometime around 2003. He was quite advanced in years, moving slowly at that time because of his age. And for an instant, just a moment, something quite wonderful occurred and I will never forget witnessing it even though it was for just a brief moment. That moment touched me so very deeply. He was passing through the crowd and came very near two young women, probably tourists judging from their dress. I do not know what he said to them, but there was a brief personal exchange. And I shall never forget something so beautiful that it touched me deeply and has remained crystal clear in my memory, the amazing change in the appearance of the two young women’s faces. It was almost like a transfiguration. What I saw in their faces was more than a sense of awe at finding themselves face-to-face with the leader of their church. It was an expression of awe that transcended the physical. The only way that I can explain it is that what they were experiencing, I believe, was the realization that they were in fact children of God. They were seeing their soul, if for only a moment. They were seeing themselves as Christ saw them—holy, cleansed, without blemish, blameless, radiant. This was a miracle. And, may God be praised, such miracles happen every day because humans have a soul created in the image of God, a soul capable of responding to the divine light, a soul capable of communing with God. When this fact is realized, even if momentary, it is one of the most beautiful things in the universe to witness. I believe that this religious leader was mirroring the image of the divine that is within us, and even if forgotten, lies within us all.
In this secular world today the inner light has been all but extinguished. The extent of brutality of every kind has all but dehumanized society. In this darkening world, there are persons who are longing to be healed, longing for significance, longing for the image of God within them to be affirmed. People everywhere are desperately asking, whether consciously or not, “Was I really created in the image of God? Is my soul valued by my Creator? Am I loved by God?
We no longer live in a Christian culture. Today, religion is thought of as an illusion, and Christianity as an oppressive rather than liberating influence in people’s lives. Even among those folk who are not hostile to Christianity, and, even among those persons who regularly participate in Christian worship, there are many who consider Christian worship to be uplifting in the same way a work of art, an inspiring novel, a great play or movie can be uplifting, but just “make believe”. And they just play at it as if it were real to them.
Many persons become inured to the existential question, “Who am I, and why am I here?” Most of us put this question out of our mind, turning instead to false Gods and distractions to fill the void in our soul. But for many, when the void and the pain become too great and the illusions are broken down, life becomes meaningless, and the question breaks with full force into consciousness: “Do I have a soul, am I more than a bit of dust shaped in this form by chance? Is my life in any way significant?”
The decline of Christianity is not because humankind has outgrown it. The real problem is that truth is being systematically expunged from the consciousness of entire nations, and indeed, from the world as a whole. Satan is doing his very best to extinguish the light of Christ through deception, and as result, vast multitudes of people living today do not know the answer to that question.
Does man really have an eternal soul? Many, perhaps the majority of philosophers and social scientists and perhaps even some theologians today, would say, “No”. Others might say, “Maybe not”. And secular society as a whole seemingly could care less one way or the other. Not having been taught otherwise, the vast majority of persons unconsciously go through life thinking, behaving, acting, living as if there is no such thing as an eternal soul, yet alone a soul created in the very image of God.
Think of the implications! If there were to be no such thing as the human soul, then there is no Christ, and if there is no Christ, then is no Holy Spirit, and if there were no Holy Spirit, then no natural law, and if no natural law, then no distinction between good and evil, helpful and harmful, good and evil, truth and falsehood, morality and immorality, and ethical and unethical. There would be no push toward justice and nothing to restrain evil. Whether consciously recognized or not, it is the reality of the human soul working together with the Holy Spirit which gives us a conscience and allows civilized society to exist at all. The proof of the human soul, then, is civilization itself.
From the beginning of time philosophers and poets, whether knowing it or not, have been giving testimony to the existence of the human soul. For example, in Psalms 8:3-5 we read, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor”. Human society has built enduring civilizations upon the shared perception of basic justice and right and wrong, all of which is evidence not only of God but also of the human soul which is capable of communion with God through the Holy Spirit. “We hold these truths to be self-evident…” wrote the signers of the American Declaration of Independence. Without the human soul, no enduring concept of right, wrong, and basic justice would be possible. The human soul exists!
Every time I delve deeper into the scripture, I realize that something within me has always known the truths I find there. In this I find confirmation both of the human soul and also of the work of the Holy Spirit. It is my soul that recognizes the truth found in Scripture, truths which lie latent or only dimly recognized become conscious as fully developed understanding through the illumination of the Holy Spirit. How could understanding of God’s Word be possible if there were nothing there in the soul upon which to write that understanding and cast the light, a prior knowledge or memory of the Creator awakened by the Word and the Holy Spirit? Jesus said, “…the sheep hear (the shepherd’s) voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out…. And the sheep follow him, for they know his voice (John 10:3b-4). And I believe this to be true from experience. How could anyone know the Lord’s voice if we have no soul? How else would those who follow the Lord recognize His voice if there were not something planted within, a prior knowledge of that voice planted before birth in the human soul!
In 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 Paul writes: “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” What does one see when looking into this spiritual mirror, of which Paul speaks metaphorically, but one’s soul! That which has been forgotten has been reawakened. We see in ourselves a communion with God that testifies that we indeed have a soul, and that that soul is precious to our Creator!
In Galatians 1:15-16 NIV Paul writes: “when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was…”. We might think that this passage should read “revealed to me” rather than “revealed in me”, but the original Greek text reads “in me”, as noted in the margin note of the RSV. “In me” is the correct translation of the Greek. Jesus was communing with Paul “in” him. Where might that be taking place if not within his soul!
(If you found this sermon to be helpful, please visit us at www.HeritageRestorationProject.org)
