LIFE-STUDY OF GENESIS MESSAGE SEVENTEEN: TO WORK GOD INTO MAN AS LIFE

In this message we come to the last part of Genesis 2. Although Genesis 1 and 2 are quite brief, they contain many basic items. We have previously pointed out that nearly every item in these two chapters is a seed of divine truth, and that these seeds require the entire Bible to expound and develop them. The divine revelation in the Bible unveils spiritual things, and these spiritual things are mysterious, abstract, and, humanly speaking, unsubstantial. Due to our limited ability to understand them, God was forced to disclose His divine revelation in the way of picture and allegory. Genesis 2 was written in a figurative way, and all the items found therein are figures. We should not understand them merely according to the outward letters, but probe into the inner sense of the figures. Both the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil are figures. What is the tree of life? It is difficult for people to understand. Nevertheless, it is the tree of life. In Genesis 2 we also find a river, and at the flow of this river we have gold, pearl, and onyx stone. What do all of these things signify? What do they mean? As we have seen in earlier messages, all of them are figures and compose an allegory.

Humanly speaking, the end of Genesis 2 is easy to understand because it relates the story of a marriage. Adam was created, but he had no wife. Thus, God provided a wife for him. This does not sound allegorical. If we only read Genesis 2 we will not recognize it as an allegory. However, if we read through the whole Bible, we will realize that the marriage found in Genesis 2 is indeed an allegory. Why do we say this? Because later in the Old Testament God told His people, "For thy Maker is thine husband" (Isa. 54:5). Man's creator is his husband, meaning that in the universe the unique man is God Himself. The man created by God actually is not a man, but a woman. I have a question to address to all the men reading this message: are you male or female? I am a female. I am a female because I am part of the wife. Firstly, God was my creator. Secondly, He became my redeemer. Now He is my husband.

This concept is thoroughly developed and expounded in the New Testament. Although many people think of Jesus Christ as a great teacher and others regard Him as their Savior, the four Gospels also reveal Him as the bridegroom. Undoubtedly He is a teacher and the Savior. However, He is also the bridegroom come to receive the bride (John 3:29). One day the disciples of John came to the Lord Jesus, asking Him why His disciples did not fast (Matt. 9:14-15). In His answer the Lord Jesus revealed Himself as the bridegroom. The Lord asked them, "Can the sons of the bridechamber mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?" Furthermore, Paul, the greatest apostle, told us clearly that the church is the wife and that Christ is the husband. In 2 Corinthians 11:2 he said, "I betrothed you to one Husband, to present a pure virgin to Christ." Thus, we are a wife to Christ. Moreover, in Ephesians 5 Paul speaks of marriage, saying that when a man is joined to his wife the two become one flesh. In Ephesians 5:32 Paul says that marriage signifies the great mystery concerning Christ and the church.

Adam in Genesis 2 was a type, a prefigure of Christ. Speaking figuratively, we may say that Adam was Christ. When we see Adam in Genesis 2, we see Christ. What then does Eve signify? Apparently she was only a woman, Adam's wife. However, if we have the spiritual vision from Ephesians 5, we will see that Eve in the garden was a prefigure of the church. If we have this perspective, we will realize that whatever happened to Adam in Genesis 2 was an experience of Christ and that whatever happened to Eve was related to the church. We must understand Genesis 2 in this way. In figure, Adam was Christ and Eve was the church.

This is similar to the photograph of a person. Suppose I have a photograph of Brother John. If I show you the photograph and ask you who it is, you will be correct if you say that it is Brother John. However, we must be careful, for although it is a picture of Brother John, it is not the real person of Brother John. It is simply a photograph of Brother John, depicting his appearance and giving you some idea of what he is like. Likewise, in Genesis 2 we see a figure or picture of Christ and the church in the types of Adam and Eve. When we examine the picture of Adam and Eve, we understand how the church comes into existence. It will be difficult to understand this if we simply talk about Christ and the church; however, if we look at the picture, we will be very clear. The picture saves a great many words. If I describe Brother John to you, using many words, it would still be difficult for you to picture what he is like. However, if I show you his photograph, you will immediately be clear about him. Although the photograph is not the real person, it does afford you some understanding of the person, relieving you of the need to guess. God uses the picture of Adam and Eve in Genesis 2 to give us a definite revelation of Christ and the church. Without this chapter we could never understand the relationship between Christ and the church so exactly. This picture shows how the church came into being.

Please remember that Genesis 1 and 2 unveil two main things. Genesis 1 reveals God's eternal purpose, which is to express Himself through man and to exercise His dominion with man. Man was created to express God and to represent God. Genesis 2 continues by showing the way to fulfill God's purpose. Although God has a purpose, He must have a means of fulfilling it. What is God's divine way of accomplishing His purpose? As we have seen, His way is life. God desires to come into us as life. In order to accomplish His purpose, God wants to come into man to be man's life and life supply. Furthermore, Genesis 2 reveals that God's procedure involves three steps. The first step was for God to create man as a vessel to contain Him as life. Since man was made as a vessel to contain God, man can live by Him, express Him, and represent Him. As the second step, God placed man in front of the tree of life. We have seen that the tree of life represents God Himself. In placing man before the tree of life, God was indicating that He wanted man to take Him into his being that he might be transformed into the precious materials for the building up of the church.

 

 

4. The Third Step—To Work God
into Man as Life—2:18-25

Now we come to the third step. The first step was to make the vessel, the second was to put this vessel in front of the tree of life, and the third is to work God into man as life. How can God work Himself into man as life? Praise the Lord that we have an allegory to help us understand. We need to have a clear view of this allegory. Although you are familiar with the story of Adam's marriage, perhaps you have never been impressed with its significance.

 

a. The Background—2:18-20

God created the heavens, which are for the earth, and the earth, which is for man. Then God created man, who is for God, with a spirit to receive Him. Man typifies God as the real, universal husband who is seeking a wife for Himself.

 

1) Not Good for God to Be Alone

After man was created, God said of him, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his complement" (Gen. 2:18, Heb.). Although man was perfect, he was not complete. For example, a human head is perfect, but without the body it is incomplete. Every person resembles a half of a watermelon. Since he is just a half a watermelon, he is incomplete. Although he is perfect, he needs a counterpart to complete him. It takes the two halves of a watermelon to make a whole melon. Likewise, a man and wife, resembling the two halves of a watermelon, together make a complete unit. This is why I frequently tell the young people to get married. If you are unmarried, though you may be a perfect person you are incomplete. Thus, as God looked at Adam, He seemed to say, "Adam, you are perfect, but you are only a half a unit. You are too lonely. I will make a complement for you. I will make you a counterpart."

Man is a type of God, the real, universal husband. Before God had secured the proper man, He was alone. It was not good for God to be alone. Although God is absolutely and eternally perfect, He is not complete. To say that God is imperfect is to speak blasphemy. Our God is eternally perfect. Nevertheless, without the church He is incomplete. Without the church He is like a husband without a wife or like a head without a body. Therefore, when God said that it was not good for Adam to be alone, it meant that God Himself was incomplete and that it was not good for Him to be alone. Adam's need for a wife typifies and portrays God's need to have a complement. If we see this, every aspect of Genesis 2 will be clear.

 

2) No One Like God to Be His Complement

Out of the ground God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air and brought them to Adam (Gen. 2:19). When God brought a horse to Adam, perhaps Adam said, "This is a horse. This animal can never match me because it has four feet and I have two." When God brought a cow before Adam, perhaps Adam said, "This is a cow. It has two horns. It does not resemble me and it cannot be a complement to me." God brought item after item to Adam, and Adam gave names to all the cattle, to all the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field, but he did not find among them a complement for himself (Gen. 2:20), one that could match him. Although Adam, having wisdom, named all the creatures, he seemed to say, "All of them are far removed from me. They don't look like me. How can I have any of them as my counterpart?" After fulfilling the task of naming all the creatures, Adam, in a sense, was disappointed. Among the entire creation he could not find one to match him, to complement him. However God knew exactly what He was doing.

Then out of a rib taken from Adam's side the Lord God builded a woman and brought her to the man (Gen. 2:22). When Adam awoke from his sleep and looked at Eve he said, "This time it is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh" (Gen. 2:23, Heb.). Adam seemed to say, "This is not like the former times. Before it was a lion, a horse, a dove, a turtle...This time it is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. Certainly this is my other part, my second part. This is my counterpart that fully matches me." When he and Eve, the two parts, are joined, they become one flesh, one complete unit. By this we can see that the wife, Eve, was the complement to the husband, Adam. Without Eve, Adam was incomplete. Eve was taken out of Adam and returned to Adam that the two of them might become one flesh. If we see this, we have the basic understanding of the significance of the allegory in Genesis 2.

In the same way that Eve was the complement of Adam the church is the complement of Christ. Figuratively speaking, so many things in Christianity are just "horses, cattle, turtles, doves" because they are not out of Christ and cannot match Christ. Only those who are regenerated of Christ and who live by Christ as the church can match Christ and complement Him. When Christ sees this He surely says, "This time it is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh" (Eph. 5:30).

 

b. The Process—2:21-24

Now we need to consider the process. What did God do in order to produce a complement for Himself?

 

 

 

1) To Become a Man—Adam Created

One day God became a man (John 1:14). This man was born of a virgin in the town of Bethlehem and was named Jesus. God becoming man was typified by the creation of man. Before creation there was no man. By God's sovereign creation a man suddenly came into being. Likewise, before the birth of Jesus in the manger at Bethlehem, God was only God. However, through the incarnation God became a man. This man was the real Adam. The Adam in Genesis 2 was a photograph (Rom. 5:14); with the birth of Christ in the flesh, the real Adam came. According to the Bible, Adam in the garden is called the first Adam, and the Lord Jesus as the real Adam is called the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45). As the last One He is the real One.

 

2) To Pass Through Death—Adam Sleeping

One day the real Adam was put to sleep on the cross where He slept for six hours, from nine o'clock in the morning until three o'clock in the afternoon (Mark 15:25, 33). This was signified by the phrase in Genesis 2 which said that "God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam" and that "He took one of his ribs" to build him a wife (Gen. 2:21). That sleep of Adam's was a type of Christ's death on the cross for producing the church. This is the life-releasing, life-imparting, life-propagating, life-multiplying, and life-reproducing death of Christ, which is signified by a grain of wheat falling into the ground to die and to grow up in order to produce many grains (John 12:24) for the making of the loaf which is the Body, the church (1 Cor. 10:17). By producing the church in this way God in Christ has been wrought into man as life. Firstly, God became a man. Then this man with the divine life and nature, was multiplied through death and resurrection into many believers who become the many members to compose the real Eve to match Him and to complement Him. It is through this process that God in Christ has been wrought into man with His life and nature that man in life and nature can be the same as He is in order to match Him as His complement.

 

3) To Flow Out His Life—Adam's Rib Taken Out

At the end of Christ's crucifixion, the Jews, who did not want the bodies of the crucified criminals to remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day, asked Pilate to have their legs broken (John 19:31). When the soldiers came to Jesus to break His legs, they found that He had died already and that there was no need for them to break His bones. This fulfilled the scripture which said, "A bone of Him shall not be broken" (John 19:32-33, 36; Exo. 12:46; Num. 9:12; Psa. 34:20). Nevertheless, the soldiers pierced His side and blood and water came out (John 19:34). The blood was for redemption (Heb. 9:22; 1 Pet. 1:18-19). What does the water signify? In Exodus 17:6 we find the type of the smitten rock (1 Cor. 10:4). After the rock was smitten, it was cleft, and living water came forth. Jesus on the cross was smitten with the rod of Moses, that is, by the law of God. He was cleft. His side was pierced, and water came forth. This water was the flow of His divine life signifying the life which produces the church.

This life was typified by the rib, a piece of bone taken out of Adam's opened side, of which Eve was produced and built. Hence, the bone typifies the divine life that is signified by the water flowing out of Christ's side. None of His bones was broken. This signifies that His divine life cannot be broken. His physical life was killed, but nothing could break His divine life which flows out to produce the church.

 

 

 

4) To Be Resurrected—Adam Wakened

After God finished the work of producing Eve during Adam's sleep, Adam awoke from his sleep. As Adam's sleep typifies the death of Christ, so his waking signifies the resurrection of Christ. After waking, Adam became another person with Eve produced out of him. After His resurrection Christ also became another person with the church brought forth out of Him. As Adam eventually awoke from his sleep to take Eve as his counterpart, so Christ was also resurrected from the dead to take the church as His complement.

 

5) To Bring Forth the Church—Eve Builded

When Adam awoke from his sleep, he immediately discovered that Eve, who was builded with His rib, was present. Likewise, when Christ was resurrected from the dead (1 Cor. 15:20), the church was brought forth with His divine life. Through His death the divine life within Him was released and through His resurrection this released, divine life was imparted into us who believe in Him. So, the Bible says that through His resurrection we were regenerated (1 Pet. 1:3). He was the grain of wheat that fell into the ground and died and produced many grains (John 12:24). We are the many grains who have been regenerated with His resurrection life. As regenerated ones who have Him as life and who live by Him, we compose His church, the real Eve in resurrection.

When Adam saw Eve he said, "This time it is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh" (Gen. 2:23, Heb.). When Christ saw the church He might have said, "I have seen the cattle, lions, turtles, fishes, and birds, but none of them could match Me. This time it is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, for the church is produced by My death and resurrection. The church comes out of Me. The church and I can be one."

Many Christians are talking about the church. Some say that the church is a material building and speak of going to church. After seeing the significance of the type of Adam and Eve in Genesis 2, we can never again refer to a physical building as the church. A material building is not a church; it is a house built with wood and brick. Other people, somewhat improved, say that the church is a group of genuine Christians. However, a group of genuine Christians may not constitute the church. They may still be the natural man, so many Americans, Chinese, Japanese, and Mexicans. Such a gathering of the natural man is not the church.

What is the church? The church is a part of Christ; it is nothing less than Christ Himself. The church is the element of Christ in the believers. When this element in so many believers is added together, it equals the church. The church is not a composition of Americans, Mexicans, Japanese, and Chinese. The church is the totality of the Christ in all His believers. Although we are regenerated people, if we live and act according to our natural disposition, we are not in reality members of the Body of Christ. Only in a shallow sense can we say that we are members of His Body. When we behave according to our natural disposition we may be typical Americans, Jews, or Chinese, but we are not actually the members of Christ. What actually is a member of Christ? It is a person produced with the element of Christ who is the life-giving Spirit in our spirit. Christ as the life-giving Spirit indwells His believers. When this Christ in His believers is added together, the sum equals the church. Therefore, we all must put off our old man. We need to put off all the natural life until the living Christ can be expressed from within our spirit. Then we will be the church in reality. In the church, the new man, there is no Jew, Greek, or barbarian, but Christ is all and in all (Col. 3:11). To live out anything other than Christ is not the church. "It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me" (Gal. 2:20). "For to me to live is Christ" (Phil. 1:21). This is the church! "This time it is" bone of His bones! All things that come out of man's natural life, such as all man's organizations and all kinds of human activities in Christianity, are not the church and cannot be the complement of Christ to match Him. Figuratively speaking, these things should not be considered as Eve, but as all the other things named by Adam.

Consider the picture depicted in the four Gospels. When the Lord Jesus came as the last Adam and looked at the Jewish religionists, He seemed to say of them, "This is a horse and that is a turtle." In Matthew 16 He turned to Peter and said, "Satan." The Lord seemed to be saying, "These are not My counterpart. They do not match Me. They can never be My complement." Thus, the Lord Jesus had to die. He had to sleep on the cross that He might release His life to produce His real complement to match Him. After He awoke from death in resurrection, He saw the church. At that time, especially on the day of Pentecost, He could say, "This time it is bone of My bones and flesh of My flesh."

Only that which comes out of Christ can be recognized by Christ. Only that which comes out of Christ can return to Christ and match Him. Only that which comes out of the resurrection life of Christ can be His complement and counterpart, the Body of Christ. Only that which comes out of Christ and which is Christ Himself can be one with Christ.

The Epistles reveal that after the day of Pentecost many negative things crept in. The animals, such as the horse and the turtle, appeared once again. Thus, the Lord Jesus had to say again, "This is not and that is not." Now He is waiting for the coming wedding. At that wedding day He will look at the overcomers and say, "This time it is bone of My bones and flesh of My flesh."

As we are on our way toward that wedding feast we must cast off all the natural things, the things of the natural man, the things other than Christ. I have passed through many things. I was born in Christianity and raised in Christianity. As I passed through and considered many things, the resurrection life within me said of them, "This is not and that is not." One day I touched the right thing and the resurrection life within me said, "This time it is!" Many times, even among us, the life within says, "This is not," but even more times the resurrection life says, "This is it." We need to hear the voice of Christ, the resurrection life within us, and to go along with it all the time.

 

 

 

6) To Be One with Man— Adam and Eve Becoming One Flesh

In typology, Adam and Eve became one flesh (Gen. 2:23-24). In actuality, Christ and the church are one spirit, because he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). Figuratively speaking, all the believers of Christ are "members of His Body." The marriage union between husband and wife is a great mystery "with regard to Christ and the church" (Eph. 5:29-32).

If we have such a vision as we read the Bible, we will understand the Song of Songs: Christ is our love and we are His beloved. Also, we will understand the whole New Testament in the way of life, not in a natural way or in the way of knowledge. We will realize that we have all been reborn and recreated with Christ, that we are now one spirit with Him and with one another, and that on earth today we are living a marriage life with our husband, Christ. We are not just waiting for the future; we are living a corporate marriage life today. In one sense we have the marriage life already and we are living with our husband. In another, fuller sense we have only the foretaste today and are awaiting the full taste of the marriage to come. This marriage will be carried out in Revelation 19. Following that, the church will be consummated as the New Jerusalem, which will be the completed bride of Christ for eternity. Christ and the completed wife will enjoy a marriage life for eternity. This wife, of course, will not be an individual person, but will be a corporate, builded expression, the New Jerusalem.

In Genesis 2 we see the creation of man and the tree of life which denotes God as man's life and life supply. As God works Himself into man, man begins to experience the flow of life, and at the flow of life there are the precious materials—gold, pearl, and onyx stone. At the end of Genesis 2 we see the building of a woman. All the precious materials mentioned earlier in this chapter are for the building of this woman. If we only have Genesis 2, we cannot understand this matter adequately and clearly. However, at the end of the Bible we also find a woman, the New Jerusalem. This woman is a city built with gold, pearl, and precious stones. In Genesis 2, these materials were found at the flow of life, but were not yet builded. At the end of the Bible all of these materials have been built up into a city, which is the ultimate and eternal woman. In Genesis 2 we can see the New Jerusalem foreshadowed by Eve and in Revelation 21 we can see Eve consummated in the New Jerusalem, the corporate bride of the Lamb built with the three precious materials. Thus, we see once again that nearly everything found in Genesis 1 and 2 is a seed that grows throughout the Bible and ripens into a harvest in the book of Revelation.

Today we are neither at the beginning nor at the consummation—we are on the way. I am not even satisfied to be in Ephesians 5. I want to be in Revelation 19:7-9, at the marriage supper of Christ. In order to get there we must put off all the natural things—the cattle, the turtles, the horses, etc. Perhaps your natural disposition is like a strong horse. We must put off this natural life. Praise the Lord that within us we have another life, another element—Christ as the life-giving Spirit. We must live by this life, day and night putting off the old man and putting on the new man. In this way we will be transformed and conformed to His image, prepared for the wedding feast at the time of His return. Eventually, we will be the New Jerusalem, and God's eternal purpose will be completely fulfilled.

 

c. The Result

 

1) A Bride Gained—Eve Gained by Adam

The result of Adam's sleep in which his side was opened to release a rib was that he gained Eve as his complement to match him. This signifies that the result of Christ's death with His side pierced to release His divine life was that He obtained the church as His complement. Henceforth, God is no longer alone. Christ has gained a bride to match Him. Revelation 21—22 unfolds that in eternity the New Jerusalem as the consummation of the church will be the bride of Christ for God's full complement to match Him eternally.

 

2) One with Man—Adam and Eve Becoming One Flesh

Adam and Eve eventually became one flesh, one complete unit. This was a figure of God and man being joined as one. God's desire is to be one with man. He has reached this goal through Christ's death and resurrection which produced the church, representing the proper humanity to match Him as the husband. In this union humanity is one with divinity; this union will last for eternity. The coming New Jerusalem will be just the unity of God and man, a living, complete unit composed with divinity and humanity.

 

3) Living with Man—Adam Living with Eve

Adam and Eve, being one, lived together. This portrayed that God, the universal husband, will live with regenerated humanity forever. The universal marriage life of God and man is fully revealed in Revelation 21. In eternity, God in Christ will be the center, reality, and life of man's living, and man will live by God in Christ as life. Man will express God's glory and will exercise God's authority over the new earth. God and man, man and God will live together in a marriage life forever.

So, Genesis 1:1—2:3 is a picture of God's purpose, and 2:4-25 is a portrait of the way to fulfill God's purpose. These two sections may be considered as a blueprint of an architectural plan. Genesis 3 through Revelation 20 may be considered as the building process, and Revelation 21 and 22 as a photograph of the finished building.