The Human Ear
I was reading this morning about the human ear. Each ear has a very tiny organ, like a harp, with about 10,000 strings. When a sound is heard, the corresponding string of this little harp vibrates in sympathy, and conveys the impression to the brain!
But these little harps are not always fully developed, are sometimes defective, even malformed, therefore the sounds the ear hears are not accurately conveyed to the brain. So people are spoken of as not having "an ear for music.”
When we relate these thoughts to ourselves spiritually, we can see the similarity. No one, by nature, has an ear which can distinguish the things of God (1 Cor. 2:11). The spiritual ear is the direct gift and planting of God. Psa. 94:9 says, "He [the Lord] that planted the ear," but then we also read in Rev. 3:13, "He that hath an ear, let him hear.”
So if we have the gift of eternal life, we have that "spiritual ear," for only the believer in Christ can hear the things of God. But just as some natural ears are not trained or developed to relay the perfect sound to the brain, so our spiritual ears need developing and care, in order that we may discern the messages which the Lord wants to send us. Otherwise we miss His mind and make mistakes in judgment.
The ear has another important function—to give us balance. There are three fluid-filled canals and two sac-like organs which are the organs of balance, also sending nerve impulses to the brain. Infection in these causes us to lose our balance. Moral or doctrinal sin allowed in the believer's life is spiritual infection and causes him to lose his spiritual balance, that is, his discernment.
The Lord loves us and desires to fill our life and heart with Himself. There is no other true happiness on earth. Even as God has created that marvelous instrument, the human ear, to hear, so He has given us spiritual ears to hear what He desires to convey to us. In listening to His voice, then putting into practice what we have heard, we learn more. But when we "turn a deaf ear," then we not only cease to learn more, we lose what we seemed to have learned before (Luke 8:18).
N. Berry
The things of God knoweth no man,
but the Spirit of God.
Now we have received...
the Spirit which is of God;
that we might know the things
that are freely given to us of God
1 Corinthians 2:11, 12
Questions and Answers
QUESTION: I was taught by my parents that when we die, we go to be with the Lord. Now I am told by others that all go to sleep in death till the resurrection. If you can, please enlighten me about this. What does Eccl. 9:5 mean, "The dead know not anything"?
ANSWER: The death of the Christian is often spoken of as sleep. (See Matt. 27:52; Acts 7:60; John 11:11; 1 Cor. 11:30; 15:6, 18, 20, 51; 1 Thess. 4:13-15; 5:10.) But being asleep refers to the bodies, so that they know not anything; they are away from all that is going on here on earth. Ecclesiastes is wisdom under the sun. We need what the Lord Jesus and His apostles tell us, to know the full truth.
We find clear evidence from them that neither saved nor unsaved are unconscious as to the spirit. Death in Scripture is NEVER ceasing to exist. There is no death to the soul or spirit.
Man, the highest of the animal kingdom, is a responsible being, and his existence is for eternity. The body decays at death, but the soul or spirit has gone either to be with Christ in paradise, or to the prison under chains of darkness, awaiting the day when the body will be given again to stand at the Great White Throne to receive the sentence—the wages of the sins of which the person was guilty The saved are seen in Luke 16:23; 20:38; 23:43, 46; Acts 7:59; 2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:21, 23; Rev. 14:13, and another picture of the martyrs in Rev. 6:9-11.
The unsaved are seen in Luke 16:23 and 12:5.
They are warned to "fear Him, which after He hath killed hath power to cast into hell." Notice it is after He has killed. We see the unsaved, who would not listen to Noah's preaching, are now in prison (1 Peter 3:19).
When the Lord Jesus comes for His own, the dead in Christ will rise first, then the living ones changed (Phil. 3:20, 21) will be caught up together to be with the Lord (1 Thess. 4:15-18). These will also stand at the judgment seat of Christ, now glorified in their resurrection bodies, to receive their reward, and be appointed to the place each one is to fill for Him.