The Legacy of the Soul

Isaiah 64:4: "For since the beginning of the world, men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside Thee, what He hath prepared for them who waiteth for Him."

"Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
was not spoken of the soul."
(Longfellow)

Somewhere... somewhere... somewhere... the human soul will ever exist. The soul of us is the real us... the person - though not visible to the human eye - is who we are. We are not primarily a physical body, for it is limited by time and physique.

And every cemetery declares it to be true.

The real person is (1) what he thinks, (2) what he decides, (3) what (or who) controls him, (4) what he is and does when no one else can see him, (5) what (or Who) determines his values, and (6) what (or Who) determines his actions.

The Bible declares the soul of humankind (SEE Genesis 2:7) to be a distinct, unprecedented, totally new entity. "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground (physical body), and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (the spirit of humankind); and man became a living soul." There never had been "a soul" before. None of the myriad heavenly creatures God had previously created "had a soul". It is an entity peculiar and specific to humankind.

When God said in Genesis 1:26, "Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness..." the inference is strong that He was saying, "Let Us do something different from any previous creature we have created. Before, none has been created in Our image, after Our likeness. This being will have a soul...none before has had a soul."

Any grade school student knows that there is something amazingly unique about earthlings. As far as we know, earth's human inhabitants are the only universal creatures like us.

This strongly infers that our Creator has a unique and specific plan for us. What is the legacy of the human soul? (The Bible being its own best commentary), it is that we should be in His image.

Before there were creatures of any kind, or matter of any kind, God planned for His human creation to be like Him, and this likeness can be explained in dozens of ways. What is critical is that this gracious, benevolent Creator carved out of Himself a place, a niche, a specific and personal place for each one of us. It is reserved of and within Himself just for each human soul. He planned for each human soul to experience a personal, different, specific, eternal relationship with Him that no other human soul would or could have.

He provides this very personal experience to each of us by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world...to life life just as we do...and offer Himself a once for all sacrifice for our sins. By a simple act of totally trusting in that Calvary sacrifice by His Son, each of us can enter in to the legacy of our souls.

I invite anyone reading these lines to call, e-mail, or write me, and I would be happy to explain God's plan of salvation.

W. L. Boone
P.O. Box 2487
Orofino, ID 83544
lesboone @ juno.com
(208) 746-5327