[Darris McNeely] One of our Beyond Today viewers wrote in with a request that we explain a verse out of the book of Ecclesiastes 12:7 that talks about what is called in the Scripture the spirit of man or the spirit in man, and the very nature of man, something about that. Verse 7 of Ecclesiastes 12 says, "Then the dust will return to the earth as it was." And it's in the context of life and death, and what happens after human death. And then it concludes here in verse 7, "And the spirit will return to God who gave it." Now, Scripture doesn't talk about men being or having an immortal soul, something that existed prior to his birth and lives on consciously after death. That's not what Scripture is talking about. And yet, Scripture, in several places, talks about something called the spirit in man or of man. All right?

We see this in 1 Corinthians 2, another reference where the Apostle Paul says that we are able to understand the things of this life as human life because of the spirit in a man. And we also see a reference in 1 John, or in John 19 at the time when Christ died. And in one of His last words, He said to the Father, "It is finished." And then it records that He gave up His spirit. And so, His spirit went back to God, the Father in heaven. And so, what is it that we are talking about here and what is it in Ecclesiastes 12:7, where it says, "The Spirit will return to God who gave it"? Every human, every single human who draws the breath of life, and is conscious, and is aware, has what is called in Scripture here, a spirit, a spirit in man. It is, and interestingly, even science has been able to discern that there's something beyond the physical about the human mind that is spiritual.

Scripture gives us a bit of an outline and a sketch about this. But there is a spirit that makes us human, aware of the fact that we are, that we are human, that we can think, we can create, we can plan. We can build civilizations. We can do all that we do as human beings. And it separates man, humanity from the vast animal realm. There's a difference between animal brain and human mind. And that's what is talked about here in Ecclesiastes 12:7, in 1 Corinthians 2, and also in John 19, where Christ gives up His spirit back to God. There is that nature, that part of human life that goes back to God at death. And that is the character. That is what can be, have expressed upon it the very image of God, along with the Spirit of God at conversion. That is something that God then can put into a resurrected body and allow life then to have the memory of the past and to be in that glorified body in the future. It is not conscious. It's not aware of being with God or in heaven. It's not anything like that at all, but it is a part of the great design that God has given to us and a great understanding that we can have that makes us human, and more importantly, allow a relationship with God as He brings many sons to glory.

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