SABBATH THOUGHT 2025-03-22—A NEW & LIVING WAY

May God bless you on His Sabbath day!

In this universe, everything is controlled by physical laws. These are, as far as we know, immutable for all things physical. Among the more well-known laws are gravity, electromagnetism, and thermodynamics. But the physical laws of the universe also affect something completely unexpected—information. Information is simply data (raw facts) that is created, organized, and used for a specific purpose. What is not obvious is that information itself is PHYSICAL, if for no other reason than because it only exists within something that is physical.

For example, information on a computer is stored as binary digits (bits) on a physical hard drive or as writing on a piece of physical paper. Something not as obvious is that information is also contained within every biological cell, whether it is a zygote (impregnated egg) that produces a baby or a simple bacterium. The genetic information in cells is stored in chemical strands called DNA.

Information is also found in the smallest elements of the universe—atoms—in the form of quantum particles (quarks, gluons, and muons). These are the building blocks of electrons, protons, and neutrons, which give an atom its physical properties. For example, iron, lead, nitrogen, oxygen, etc. all have electrons, protons, and neutrons but their number and structure differ. The ‘information’ in the quantum particles differentiates iron from lead and nitrogen from oxygen.

The biggest surprise may be that THOUGHTS are also information, which is created, organized, and stored within our physical brains. Since thoughts cannot exist outside of a brain, they are, at least in that sense, physical themselves. This also includes emotions because they likewise exist within a physical being. They are not only “thoughts of the heart”[1] but also biochemical processes that affect the mind and body. Therefore, emotions are information that is created and stored inside a physical being. The fact that information is physical has only recently been established[2].

While this is likely a sleep aid for most, it provides a better perspective of the vast differences between physical and spirit beings. Understanding that thoughts are information and information is a physical property is one way to think about our spiritual relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The theory that thoughts are physical can be seen in the drastic changes that occur to thinking within the brain of a dementia patient and why thoughts perish upon the death of someone:

PSALM 146:4 His [man’s] spirit departs, he returns to his earth; in that very day his [thoughts] perish.

The Bible provides a vague description of the vast gulf between the thoughts of physical and spirit beings:

PSALMS 92:5-6 O LORD, how great are Your works! Your thoughts are very deep. 6 A [brutish] man does not know, nor does a fool understand this.

ISAIAH 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.

MICAH 4:12 But they [mankind] do not know the thoughts of the LORD, nor do they understand His counsel; for He will gather them like sheaves to the threshing floor.

1 CORINTHIANS 3:19-20 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”; 20 and again, “The LORD knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”

The spiritual realm is so vastly different from the physical that it really cannot be understood by physical beings. For example, from a human perspective one might think that compassion and mercy are characteristics of God, but that falls far short. Scripture says, “God is Spirit” (John 4:24) and “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). Agape love is not just His character, it is the essence or nature of His Spirit—His Being. On the other hand, thoughts of humans reside in a physical brain, which limits our intelligence and is influenced by emotions as well as chemical and biological effects that vary with age, experiences, and health. And that, I think, is why Paul wrote:

1 CORINTHIANS 2:9-16 But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except [by] the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. 13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. 16 For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

Without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God, the thoughts of God cannot be discerned. This is reflected in the strange statement in Romans 8:26 that says the Holy Spirit “makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” No human can understand the complexity of groanings “that cannot be uttered.” What are those groanings and utterances? God only knows but they are much more than simple ‘aids’ to our communications with Him.

And this is why “we are His [God’s] workmanship, created in Christ Jesus.” (Eph. 2:10). For humans to have any comprehension of God, His spirit existence, His thoughts, or His agape love requires being able to think spiritually. So, bridging the gap of between the spiritual and physical with all its limitations cannot be done without God. His work in us is not simply to change the thoughts of His children; it requires CREATING totally new ways of thinking:

EPHESIANS 4:24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

David realized this when he said, “Create in me a clean heart, O God.” (Ps. 51:10). He did not say, “give me a clean heart” or “change my heart;” he asked God to CREATE a “clean heart.” But the new creation God is working requires implanting a spirit element within physical humans so they can have even a basic understanding of the thoughts, emotions, and agape love of God:

COLOSSIANS 3:10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge [thoughts] according to the image of Him who created him,

The word renewed means to make something brand new. The workmanship of God is not repainting an old wall; it is tearing it down and rebuilding it with new construction materials. It is a completely NEW creation:

ISAIAH 43:7 Everyone who is called by My [the LORD’s] name, whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him.

God puts His Holy Spirit in His children because that is the only way a physical mind can think spiritually. The mind of God and Jesus Christ are purely spiritual. The Holy Spirit bridges the gap between the physical and God so we can have SPIRITUAL thoughts of God, His agape love, and the faith of Jesus Christ. Spiritual thoughts CANNOT reside in a physical brain without the Holy Spirit.

One analogy that might help get this across is to think of a dog that has been trained to sniff out illicit drugs. The dog knows how to find them but the dog cannot comprehend the PURPOSE for doing so. It is incapable of knowing of the harm drugs can do or that they are a crime—a violation of a higher moral law. In that sense, humans without the Holy Spirit can keep the Law of God but they cannot begin to understand the spiritual purpose, meaning, and thoughts underpinning it.

This helps explain why “the law is spiritual” (Rom. 7:14). Physical people cannot understand God’s SPIRITUAL Law without the Holy Spirit. The ancient Israelites received that Law but could not go beyond simple obedience even though the spiritual Law is intended to PRODUCE agape love: “Now the purpose of the commandment [the Law] is [agape] love from a pure heart …” (1 Tim. 1:5).

God’s Law may seem like a list of “thou shalt” and “thou shalt not” directives but they are actually a primitive instruction set of God’s very Being. And it is not possible for physical humans to understand the Law and become agape love without a SPIRIT brain or “mind”:[3]

JEREMIAH 31:33 “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

That is the work of God in us. The Holy Spirit IS the spirit mind of God[4] that allows us to develop the SPIRITUAL thinking necessary to begin to understand His Law, purpose, agape love, and mind. The ‘mind’ of a spirit being is not just a repository of thoughts like our physical brains; they ARE those thoughts just like God IS love. Only when our thinking becomes more spiritual is our souls permanently changed.

This happened to Abraham who was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac because his thinking was “spiritually minded.”[5] He knew God and His promises were eternal and that God could resurrect Isaac from death.[6] Because Abraham’s thinking had a spiritual foundation, God could say, “now I know that you fear God” (Gen. 22:12) because his very soul had become the eternal mind of God. This is God’s workmanship—CREATING a spiritual mind in physical beings that never changes because they BECOME like God:

JOHN 16:13 However, when that one has come, even the Spirit of the truth, it will lead you into all truth because it shall not speak from itself, but whatever it shall hear, it shall speak. And it shall disclose to you the things to come.

Scripture says “… the word of God is living …” (Heb. 4:12). His word is His thoughts. However, they are not simply about life; His thoughts are LIVING; there is a vast difference. Hopefully, this leads to a deeper appreciation of scriptures such as this:

HEBREWS 10:19-20 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh,

For many, entering before God “by a new and living way” is mostly a metaphor. Entering before God by a NEW and LIVING way is much more than having the veil of mental dullness or blindness removed. The Holy Spirit is the spirit element that implants the spirit mind of Christ into a physical brain so that our very souls can think spiritually.

Jesus said, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63). His words are LIVING, not simply instructions or directives to follow. The gulf between the physical and spiritual cannot be fully understood because the thoughts of humans are physical, residing in a physical brain. As a result, physical beings are unable to comprehend that the thoughts of God are LIVING because they are spiritual thoughts. But those with the Holy Spirit HAVE the mind of Christ and His words are LIVING in us!

May God’s grace and peace be upon you!

Steven Greene

https://sabbathreflections.org

sabbathreflections@gmail.com