We are, as the psalmist declares, “fearfully and wonderfully made.” The birth of a natural-born baby in this third dimension of space and time is a marvelous wonder. In this realm of our existence, this brand-new person begins life ready to be crafted and molded by its natural surroundings. This natural world, which shapes our outward and inward identity, becomes the be all and end all of existence for many of us.
Our mind is a sponge that absorbs all the natural, soulish, and spiritual influences surrounding us. From birth, the human mind is subject to the structure and pattern of its DNA. Natural surroundings develop and form the tapestry of our soul. The beauty and destructive influences of this natural world help dictate our thoughts of sadness, happiness, and every other human emotion woven into the mind of humanity throughout our time on earth.
Perhaps the biggest influences on the formation of the human soul are the people and places that connect us. At the point of conception, Adam’s creation is still at work to shape and form the newly placed spirit and soul in its natural redemptive body. The mind of the Antichrist still works to form humanity into its image and likeness under the influence of Adam’s creation of animal spirits yearning to realize their presence in a body of flesh.
This is how it appears, but all these influences work together to conjure the biggest deception of our existence: an identity separate from Christ.
God battles for our attention. God declares this natural dimension has little to no value (John 6:63). Its purpose and existence is twofold. First, to place in a temporary body the spirits and souls that God created in previous dimensions, in order for us to seek and find our identity in Him (Acts 17:24–31). Second, for the Word made flesh to sacrifice Himself in obedience to the will of the Spirit, and to reclaim His own identity in the Trinity of God, which the first Adam forfeited to the enemy through one horrendous act of disobedience.
The first Adam questioned his God-identity, whereas the last Adam, Jesus, recognized His God-identity and called God His Father. He is a God in both spiritual and human form, whose spirit, soul, and body are one with eternity. Not only did Christ restore our identity in God, Christ also intentionally restored His own identity in Himself as a spiritual and natural God who walks within and among His creation. Being born-again connects us, once again, with our Creator—spirit, soul and body—we in Him, and Him in us.
Sadly, the world, in its unwitting identification with the first Adam, remains disconnected to the living God. Nevertheless, God hopes that the brightness of Christ, the Light in a dark world, is called upon to ignite His original spiritual seed in the heart of humanity and to rekindle that measure of faith, allowing Christ to once again form our souls into His image and likeness by means of the Light living within each believer. The spirit and the soul were always created to be mirror images of one another. The spiritual seed created in the spiritual dimension of perfection was planted in a body to reproduce the mind of God by creating a soul in its image and likeness. Our soul was fashioned to become a replica of our spirit, an activity enabled by the Spirit of the living God. This is a descriptive and accurate reason for the number of created spirits matching the number of created souls.
I’m aware that these conclusions about our previous existence may shout science fiction, fantasy, or even heresy to some, but consider it all in the context of God’s Word. Christians don’t believe that our existence ends at death in this natural realm. We have the mind of Christ to help us understand that our true identity sits in heavenly places with and within Christ Jesus. Therefore, our resurrected spiritual existence is at home beyond this natural realm, in a spiritual place where death has no authority or power. Albeit, God’s Spirit has made us aware that death is a defeated foe for Christians in the here and now as well as in the yet to come.
These multidimensional existences are something we all readily believe, according to God’s faithfulness as written, shared, and inspired by God’s Holy Spirit throughout our human history. In creating His holy book, the Bible, God reveals spiritual and soulish dimensions beyond our carnal existence. Well, then, why find it hard to believe in our previous existence before our natural birth? Does our existence begin at conception in this natural realm? What about the created spirits and souls before the fall of humankind?
If we believe, as God’s Word declares, that God created us in His image and likeness, then, just as Christ was, is, and is to come, so too are we. Our existence was, is, and is to come.