How Important is the Breath of Life? – Bible Study4 min read

How Important is the Breath of Life? – Bible Study4 min read

The Breath of Life is just one of the themes that run throughout the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. So, let’s pick up the thread of the breath of life and see where it leads.

Source of all Life

In the book of Job it is written, the breath of gives life to all creatures and sustains them, Job 33:4. The Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, Gen 2:7.

The Word was there from the very start and is the source of all life, spiritually and physically. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God, John 1:1. The Word became flesh and dwelt among men, John 1:14.

The Power of our Breath/Words

I recently watched a video of the young Russian Elisey Mysin, eight-years-old or younger, competently play Mozart’s Concerto No 3 in D Major accompanied by a full orchestra. It was totally awesome, but did Elisey arrive at that place on his own or were there supportive adults who encouraged him? Mozart himself began composing at the age of four.

Words have the power to inspire and transform people’s hearts and minds. Tell a child enough times he/she is no good at something and that child will inevitably fail. Encourage a child and that child will reach unimaginable heights. Our words can tear down or build up. Jesus said, “The words I speak to you are spirit and are life, John 6:63.

The power of our words/breath is also a vital ingredient of any relationship. If you are always told it is your fault, you will firmly believe that to be true. The power of life and death are in the tongue, Proverbs 18:21.

Paul instructed believers in Eph 6: 17 to take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. We must never underestimate the power of our words, our voice.

Breath and the Holy Spirit

The psalmist David equated the breath of God with the Spirit of God, Where can I go from your Spirit? Ps 139:6. In numerous Bible references the breath of God is the Holy Spirit. We should never underestimate the power of the breath of God.

Jesus Breathed on His Disciples

The disciples were in the midst of the most traumatic valley of the shadow of death. They had just witnessed the arrest and life-threatening scourging, the religious leader’s judgement on their leader and hope for the future, and finally His crucifixion. This was the cruellest form of death man could inflict on man and used only for the most violent offenders.

On top of all that, on the third day there was the empty tomb, followed by visitations of a resurrected Jesus. To say the disciples were traumatized is to wildly understate where they were at.

In John 20:22 the resurrected Jesus breathed on His disciples, and they received the Holy Spirit. It was a foretaste of what would take place in Acts, when the disciples would be empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Breath of Judgement

The breath of God is far from finished. Just as the breath gave life, it is also a source of judgement.

Psalm 50:3 speaks of a God with a fiery stream issuing from Him in judgment. In 2Thessalonians 2:8 we see this same righteous judgement when the Anti-Christ has run his race through the 7-year tribulation, and the King of Kings and Lord of Lords returns with the host of heaven, Revelation 19:14. The returning Messiah will consume the man of iniquity, the Anti-Christ with just the spirit/breath of His mouth.

Fiery Stream

Daniel 7:10 shows the King of Kings and Lord of Lords with a fiery stream issuing forth from before Him. Thousand thousands minister to Him and ten thousand times ten thousand stand before Him. The judgement is set, and the books are opened.

This is where those who have rejected God’s way of salvation will receive eternal judgement. Followers of Christ do not go under this judgement, they had already received their rewards.

Breath Theme

So, from Genesis to the end of time and into eternity the breath is a major theme. It is the same sun that melts butter but hardens clay, so it is with the breath of God. For those who accept Christ as the Saviour of the world it is the breath of eternal life. For those who reject so great a salvation it is an eternal breath of death.

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