On the sixth day of creation, the Godhead made man in their image. Genesis 2:26: “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness….” The Godhead shaped and formed Adam out of the dust of the earth mixed with water. Adam was a full-grown, holy, man when the Godhead shaped and formed him. What the Godhead creates is holy and perfect because they are One and holy and perfect.
God blessed Adam and gave him dominion over all living
beings. Then God said that all the creatures of the earth were to be “fruitful
and increase in number.” When God realized that all the creatures of the
earth had mates to reproduce like kind but Adam, God put the Man/Adam into a
deep sleep, cut a wound in his side and removed a blood-soaked rib to form
Woman. God made a helpmate and partner for Adam—Woman—who is bone of Adam’s
bone, and flesh of his flesh. The Woman was holy because she was shaped and formed
out of the bone of the holy Man/Adam’s side. She was called Woman before sin
entered God’s holy place. Both Adam and
the Woman were covered with God’s glory and standing in the presence of God on
holy ground. Adam and the Woman were naked and unashamed because they were
without sin. As Adam’s holy Bride, she was the crowning glory of Adam who would
rule and reign with Adam over all creation.
For the Man and Woman in Genesis to be all that the
Godhead intended them to be, they must be joined together as one, holy and
without sin. This, of course, is true before sin entered God’s holy garden. If
they were not joined together as one, they could not be fruitful and multiply
as God instructed Adam in Genesis 1:22.
Because the
sixth day was when Man was created, the number 6 in scripture represents
mankind. The number 6 is one number short of 7, the number of God’s holy, full
and complete creation. On the 7th day of the Godhead’s creating, God
rested because all was holy, full, and complete including Man. The number 7 in
scripture is the number of spiritual fullness, perfection, and completion.
The Second and Last Adam – Jesus
1
Corinthians 15:45: And so it is written,
“the first man Adam became a living being. The Last Adam became a life-giving
spirit.” Unfortunately, through one
act of disobedience to God’s Word in the beginning, all was no longer holy and
perfect. Since the Godhead’s ways are perfect, God must remedy this in the same
fashion as the original sin is committed – by a Holy Man and His Bride. The
Holy Spirit of God will plant His Seed in the womb of a Jewish, virgin woman to
take on the flesh of humanity and be birthed so, in remaining sinless (holy)
in human flesh, Jesus will die for the sin of the whole world to
restore us back to holiness in Him and restored to Holy God once again for
eternity. God’s love, grace and goodness is demonstrated in this. The Woman in
Genesis is the one who disobeyed God in the beginning, but God will use a woman
to birth the Savior of all for all. A love like this cannot be measured! God’s
love and goodness knows no bounds for those He created in His image and
likeness. This Woman who just transgressed against God’s instruction put God’s
action in place to remedy her transgression. How can humanity ever totally
understand God’s agape love. Not only did God set His plan in place to reverse
the sin of the Woman, but He will also have Jesus born through a woman. God was aware of
the spiritual being who enticed the woman. Jesus will use His Bride to help
defeat the deceiver of all – the devil.
Throughout scripture, God painted a picture of His holy
Son Jesus and His Bride from the beginning of scripture to the end of
scripture. The first Adam and His bride are a foreshadowing of the Second and
Last Adam Jesus—and His Bride. Romans 5:15 in the New Testament says
that “Adam is a type of Him who was to come.” Jesus is the Second
and Last Adam – holy, perfect, and complete. There is no human other than Jesus,
who was, is and remains holy. He is the Son of God, not man. No seed of man was
involved in Jesus’ birth. God planted
His Seed in the womb of the woman, Mary. Jesus is one of a kind – God-Man. 1
Corinthians 15:22: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made
alive.” As Adam shared in the transgression of His Bride so they could
remain together and be fruitful and multiply, Jesus took on the penalty of
death for sin for His Bride so we could be made spiritually alive once again
and be restored to God in His holy, perfect, spiritual place for eternity.
Adam was still holy when the woman ate of the forbidden
tree. The Woman is now a sinner. She will
have to be removed from God’s holy and perfect Garden which would separate her
from Adam who is still holy. So, Adam willingly ate from the forbidden tree because
of his love for his bride so he and the woman could remain together and be
fruitful and multiply as God had originally commanded. Unfortunately, Adam and
Eve’s offspring will now be both good and evil – dual-natured.
The Woman in Genesis has a name change. She will be
called Eve. A change of name indicates a change of character. She is the only
female in scripture who went from a higher name given when she was holy to a
lower name because of sin. What was lost with Adam and the Woman, Jesus will
restore. When Jesus changed the name of one of His disciples, the name went
from an earthly name to a spiritual name in Christ because He is God in the
flesh.
God painted the picture of His holy Son Jesus and His
Bride in the beginning of scripture in the account of Adam and His Bride--Woman.
Jesus too willingly died on the cross for the sin of His Bride made up of those
who love and believe in Him. Jesus’ death on the cross reversed the curse of
death for sin and the subsequent fall of humanity throughout the ages. Once
Jesus paid the penalty for sin, He, His Word, and the Holy Spirit are now
shaping and forming His Bride out of His Body of believers. Jesus paid the
price of all sin by His shed, sinless blood. In Matthew 26:28, Jesus
says to His disciples, “This is My blood of the New Covenant, which is shed
for many for the remission of sin.” And Hebrews 9:22 attests to this,
“And according to the Law almost all things are purified with blood, and without
the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin.” First the shedding of
blood, then new spiritual birth, then spiritual maturity and finally His
glorious Bride who will be wedded to Jesus for all eternity.
After sin had
been atoned for by the shedding of His blood, Christ will send the Helper (Holy
Spirit of God) to His body/bride and His Word of Truth to teach and help us
walk in God’s ways and be shaped and formed into a holy Bride to the glory of
His Name. This, of course, is an ongoing process while we walk the earth. As
Adam and the Woman were connected spiritually as one being before sin entered,
Christ’s Bride is to be connected to Him and each other spiritually as one in Him.
The more we allow the Godhead to shape and form us into His image and likeness
through obedience to God’s Word, the more fruitful for His Kingdom we will be.
It is in doing His Word that we are spiritually shaped and formed. The Godhead
will use Christ’s Bride to draw others to His Son, so we are fruitful and
multiply. Humanity was created for God’s glory, just as the original Man and
Woman were. We have been chosen by God and Jesus to bear the fruit of God’s
love and glory to bring forth new, spiritual life to ourselves and others.
Before sin entered God’s perfect place, the man and woman
walked in perfect openness with God and each other with no sin or shame. They
shared a close bond and were one in two persons – holy, open, and unashamed.
Nothing was hidden. They were naked and without shoes because they were
standing in the presence of God on holy ground. You might be reminded of the
account of Moses standing in front of the voice and presence of God in the
burning bush. God told Moses to remove his shoes because he was “standing on
holy ground.” (Exodus 3:5) Where God’s presence is makes the ground
holy. Stephen in Acts in the New Testament while reminding God’s people of all
that God has done for them also reminded them that God said to Moses Acts
7:33, “take off your sandals; the place where you are standing is holy ground.”
As a mother labors in pain to give birth to a child, Christians are to labor to birth new converts to the Body of Christ. Our labor is to be a labor of love for both God and mankind. As an earthly husband stands by his wife’s side as she suffers to give birth, our Heavenly Father shares in the labor and suffering of the Body of Christ through every pain and every victory. Romans 8:22: We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Christ is slowly and progressively being birthed in us and then through us to others. The Spirit of life is in the “seed” of the Word of God/Jesus. When the seed (Word) is planted in the right soil and environment, the seed grows and eventually bears fruit. We must have open and submitted hearts
Another Voice is Heard in
God’s Garden
God spoke His
Word to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil directly to Adam
before the Woman was shaped and formed. The Woman heard the command secondhand
from her husband Adam. This made the Woman more susceptible to the devil’s
trickery and cunningness.
Another voice enters God’s Garden in the form of the serpent.
Both God and the devil are spiritual so they must have a body through which to
work. The serpent in Genesis will tempt the Woman into disobeying God’s
commandment to Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The devil who is in the spiritual realm knows that the Woman didn’t hear
directly from God, so he perceives that she may be the weaker vessel. The devil
will work through the serpent to deceive and manipulate the Woman. A snake
crawls on the earth seeking those he can spew its poisonous venom on. God had
given the command to Adam before the Woman was shaped and formed and given the
breath of life. Because the devil is a spiritual being in the spiritual world, he
must find a body through whom he can work. Jesus who is also spiritual and is
now in the spiritual realm with God must also have a Body through whom He can
work.
The serpent began by lying to Eve to get her to disobey
God. She was more vulnerable than Adam to the devil’s trickery and cunningness
because God didn’t speak His commandment directly to her making her more
susceptible to the devil’s cunningness and manipulation. Knowing the Word of
God and having the power of the Holy Spirit will help us know God and His ways
so we will not transgress against God. The serpent put doubt in the woman’s
mind about what God said by twisting it. “Did God really say, ‘you must not
eat from any tree in the garden?’” 3:1 He puts doubt and question in the
woman’s mind. God didn’t say this. He said Adam could eat from every tree in
the garden except one—the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (see
Genesis 2:16) The serpent has turned God’s Word around making it seem that
God is being unreasonable by not letting Adam and the Woman eat from any tree
in the Garden. He is also testing to see if the Woman heard and understood
God’s Word correctly. She responds, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the
garden, but God did say, “You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the
middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will surely die.”
Genesis 3:2-3 The Woman didn’t hear God’s Word from her husband correctly.
She added to it and deleted from it. God warns us at the end of Revelation not
to do this. Why? Because when we do, we are deceived and will deceive others.
Next the serpent wants to take away the penalty for
disobeying God’s Word. “You will not surely die! For God knows that when you
eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and
evil.” 3:4 The serpent said some truth here. Until now, Adam and the Woman
only knew the good. But, when she disobeys God’s instruction, she will know
both good and evil. God knew about evil because it began in the spiritual
realm. God wanted the Man and Woman to only know the good. Unfortunately, the
woman listened to the wrong voice! Before we are tempted to point the finger,
we are all both male and female guilty of doing this because we have the
weakness of sinful flesh! When we listen to God’s voice –His Word—and do it, we
are listening to the right voice. When we disobey His Word, we are listening to
the voice of God’s and our adversary—the devil. We have two choices—good or
evil. One brings spiritual life, the other spiritual death.
God will never tell us to do something against His Word.
Therefore, we should know His Word, so we too will not misunderstand God’s
Truth and disobey God. Scripture interprets scripture. Doing things God’s way
brings blessing. There is no blessing in sin. The devil tricked the woman into
going against God’s will and Word. Then Adam willingly joined in the Woman’s
transgression so he would not have to be separated from God’s gift to Adam –
his bride. Had Adam not joined in the Woman’s transgression, they would have to
be separated because Adam is still holy. Sin and holiness cannot live in God’s holy,
spiritual place. Adam who is holy willingly took on his bride’s sin and ate of
the forbidden tree so they could continue to be together and be fruitful and multiply
as God had commanded. The Second and Last Adam—Jesus—did this for us. Jesus left
His holy place with God’s glory and took on the sin of the whole world
willingly so we could live with Him, God, and the Holy Spirit forever. Once sin
entered the Man and Woman, they had to be removed from God’s presence. Not only
were they changed, but they also did not hear God’s voice with clarity anymore.
Now there was another voice. The voice of lies, confusion and chaos. Even their
spiritual sight changed. They got mixed messages! They must be removed from
God’s presence in His most holy place.
When you know the Word of God and rightly-divide it, you
will not follow a liar because you understand who is working through him or her
– the devil. God is Truth and only speaks Truth. God not only revealed His ways
and character in His Word, but also the ways of the devil and the result of
following him instead of God—spiritual death. Knowing this should encourage each
of us to follow the Truth –Jesus—the Word of God from beginning to end. God
will never ask you to do something contrary to His Word. To do so would make
Him a liar because He is pure truth. Numbers 23:19: God is not a man, that
He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will
He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” God is pure, as
Jesus is pure Truth and the Holy Spirit is the pure revealer of Truth. We are
to listen only to the Word of God – rightly dividing it and then doing it. If
we follow a liar, destruction will be the result. There is no blessing in sin
and untruth.
Satan through the serpent wants the woman to believe that
God was withholding something good from her. The serpent put doubt in the
Woman’s mind about God’s goodness making it seem that God was withholding a lot
from her. When the woman ate of the forbidden tree, God’s beauty and glory in
the Woman became marred. Instead of continuing in God’s righteousness, she took
the path of the serpent independent of God. She now has both good and evil
within her. The serpent twisted God’s simple command to Adam. The Woman will
complicate God’s command by adding to it and subtracting from it.
The progression
of the serpent’s seduction of the Woman is as follows:
·
She listened
to the serpent
·
She misunderstood
God’s Word
· She saw that the tree was good for food
· She desired it to make her wise
· She yielded her will to the will of the serpent
· She took instead of resisting
· She ate the forbidden fruit that opened her
eyes to evil.
Now Adam is in a dilemma. Because the Woman disobeyed
God’s Word, she must be removed from God’s holy Garden and will be separated
from Adam who is still holy and in God’s presence. If they are separated, Adam
and the Woman will not be able to be fruitful and multiply as God had
commanded. So, Adam willingly joined in the transgression of His bride to
remain with the Woman and multiply. Had they remained holy, they would have
reproduced holy seed. Unfortunately, their seed will now be a mixture of both
good and evil as all humans are because we all descend from Adam and Eve. This
one act of the original Man and Woman changed the world forever. God’s act
through His Son Jesus reverses the curse of sin and death brought on through
the original sin for all of humanity and changes the world forever. To have the
curse of sin broken in us, we must accept and believe in Jesus. Jesus the Word
and the Holy Spirit will rebirth us spiritually and progressively as we seek
His ways and will, so we love and obey God and love others. God wants to
establish Jesus and His ways in us making us new spiritual creations. He wants
to put our fleshly, sinful ways to death and establish Jesus and His ways in us
so others will see Jesus in and through us and be drawn to His eternal life
also.
The Woman now has a name change. A change of name in
scripture represents a change of character. As Woman she is holy but as Eve,
she will birth those who are a combination of good and evil. As Eve, she is a
sinner saved by God’s grace. She went from a higher name to a lower one. Jesus is
always calling us higher spiritually.
Prior to the entrance of sin, Adam and the Woman walked
naked before God and each other. Now they are exposed and are shamed by their
nakedness. They no longer have God’s glory covering. Like Jesus, Adam will leave His glorious
place with the Father and walk among the sinful with his sinful bride. Jesus too
left His place with God in glory to come to earth to walk among sinners. Then
He hung naked on the cross of suffering to pay the price of the sin of the
whole world. Although sinless, Jesus was beaten, ridiculed, tortured, condemned,
lied about, and died a horrible death out of God’s love for sinful humanity. Jesus
showed how great a price sin has upon humans. But He also showed how great a
love God has for those He created in His image and likeness--humans. We are
accepted as His beloved through the shed blood of His Beloved Son.
As we study God’s Truth in Christ who is the whole Truth,
He and the power of the Holy Spirit will open our spiritual eyes and spiritual
ears once again. Love for mankind is God’s motivation. Love for God is to be
our motivation. Love is the very substance of God. God wants us to understand
the breadth, length, height and depth of His love and ways. It was Christ’s
love for His Heavenly Father that compelled His righteousness. Jesus said to
His disciples three times in John 14, “If you love Me, you will obey My
commandments.” Obeying His Word shows Jesus our love for Him and others.
The Older Covenant was between God and mankind. The New Testament is between
God and God – Jesus. This covenant is an eternal covenant between God and God
so it cannot be broken. A Covenant is a
mutual agreement or oath. In the New Covenant of Jesus, God is making a way back
to Him through His Holy Son. Only a sinless, Holy One could bring us back to
relationship with Holy God.
As a mother labors in pain to give birth to a child, we
are to labor to birth new converts to the Body of Christ. Our labor is to be a
labor of love for both God and mankind. As an earthly father shares in the
woman’s suffering by her side as she suffers the pain of childbirth, our
Heavenly Father shares in the labor and suffering of the Body of Christ through
every pain and every victory as He births new, spiritual life in us and through
us. Romans 8:22: We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the
pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Christ is slowly and
progressively being birthed in us and then through us to others. The Spirit of
life is in the seed in both the “natural” and the “spiritual.” When the seed of
God’s Word is planted in the right soil and environment, the seed grows and
eventually bears good fruit just as earthly seed does.
2 Corinthians 3:18: “But we all, with unveiled face,
beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the
same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
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