Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
The verse belongs to a description of old age, decline, and approaching death, completing the picture of life's end. It warns the young to remember their Creator while young, before life's pleasures and strength pass away. At death the body as dust returns to the earth as it was, while the spirit returns to God who gave it.
The spirit that so returns to God is the character of the person, which is preserved with Him after death. Personal identity is kept by God through that preserved character. This keeping does not require the same particles of matter or material substance that went into the grave, since no law in nature obliges the giving back of the identical particles.
In the resurrection God in His own time calls forth the dead, giving again the breath of life and bidding the dry bones live. Each person comes forth with his own character, in the same form and individuality of features so that friends will recognize each other. Yet all come forth free from disease and every defect, with finer material as a new creation and a new birth.
The verse belongs to a description of old age, decline, and approaching death, completing the picture of life's end. It warns the young to remember their Creator while young, before life's pleasures and strength pass away. At death the body as dust returns to the earth as it was, while the spirit returns to God who gave it.
The spirit that so returns to God is the character of the person, which is preserved with Him after death. Personal identity is kept by God through that preserved character. This keeping does not require the same particles of matter or material substance that went into the grave, since no law in nature obliges the giving back of the identical particles.
In the resurrection God in His own time calls forth the dead, giving again the breath of life and bidding the dry bones live. Each person comes forth with his own character, in the same form and individuality of features so that friends will recognize each other. Yet all come forth free from disease and every defect, with finer material as a new creation and a new birth.