Updated 9/2/2013
Man in His Creation in the Flesh
Genesis 2
In the book of Genesis, the first
book of the Law written by Moses for the sons of Israel, we have a record of
God creating the heavens and the earth and all that is in them. The Book of the
Law was written for the generation who would go into the land with Joshua.
The Book of the Law would be of
great encouragement to Joshua. It was a guide to Joshua, that he might prosper
in the work that Jehovah had given him to do. In The Book of the Law
Joshua meditated day and night, that he might be strong and very courageous (see Josh.1:1-9). But on Joshua’s
death, The Book of the Law, which ends with the Song of Moses, would be a
witness against the sons of Israel, as were the words that Joshua added (see Josh.24:14-27; Deut.32:1-45).
This book is a witness against
anyone who refuses the witness of God as to His creation of mankind and his
environment. Man is responsible to His Creator God. Man is dependent upon his
Creator for his very breath, though he refuses to believe that to be so (see Dan.5:23; Is.42:5; Ac.17:28).
In the beginning God called into
existence that which before did not have existence: time - space - matter.
After the first three days in which God had set His creation of the heavens and
the earth in order for the habitation of man, God said, “‘Let there be lights
in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night, and let them
be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years. And let them be for
lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth,’ and it
was so. And God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and
the lesser light to rule the night, the stars also. And God set them in the
firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day
and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that
it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day”
(Gen.1:14-19; see Neh.9:6).
The luminaries, the light-givers
in the heavens, declare the glory of God (Ps.19:1-6; see Is.45:5-12; Job 9:6-9; 26:13a; 38:34-33; Ps.8:3; Hab.3:3-6).
In them is written the silent gospel of the coming Son of God - the Savior of
the world (Ps.97:6; Rom.10:14-18). The gospel of the righteousness of God which
is through faith in the coming Anointed Son of God can be read by men on earth
wherever they dwell. He has now come (Gal.4:4).
There in the heavens above in
“The Heavenly Revelation of the Son of the Covenant,” the silent preachers
declare the word of truth, which man must hear and obey to be born again. To
live forever man, born of the flesh in a body of human flesh, must be born from
above of the incorruptible Seed, the Word of God, who lives and abides forever
(1 Pet.1:17-23; see Jn.3:3-8). The
silent preachers of the constellations were preaching of the One who is the
Way, the Truth and the Life before there was a man to hear or to see the glory
of God in the face of the coming Anointed Son (Jn.14:6; 2 Cor.4:4-6).
On the fifth and sixth days
creatures in bodies of flesh were created (Gen.1:20-25; see 1 Cor.15:38-39). On the fifth day fish and birds of all species
from seed of their kind were created. On the sixth day the earth brought forth
the living creatures after its kind. Seed for each species was in the created
earth. Each species of the animal creation which would dwell upon the earth
after its kind was brought forth from the earth.
The Hebrew word for “creature” is
nephesh. Nephesh is usually translated “soul.” In itself, nephesh
or soul implies conscious life as distinguished from plants with unconscious
life. Creatures of flesh bodies after their kind have souls, conscious life, to
have thoughts and intents and affections and a will. The creatures of different
species of flesh would be recognized by the body of their flesh. These
creatures would serve as object lessons to man. “And God saw that it was
good” (Gen.1:21, 25).
Then in the next verse, verse 26,
we read, “And God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, and
let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air,
and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that
creeps upon the earth.’ So God created man in His image, in the image of God He
created him, male and female He created them” (Gen.1:26-27).
Since God had made all of this
for His creation of man and gave man the dominion over the works of His hands,
God did not just suddenly, after creating the other flesh creatures on the
sixth day, say, “Let Us make man in Our image,” as an afterthought. He had
written of the means of man’s redemption in the signs and constellations and
the stars He Himself named (see
Ps.147:4; Is.40:25-26; Job 38:31-33). All had been planned and purposed
before the eternal ages (see
Is.45:11-46:11; Eph.1:3-4; Tit.1:2; 2 Tim.1:9-10; 1 Pet.1:18-20; Rev.13:8).
Moses closes the subject of
creation with that which God had purposed for His creation of mankind for whom
He created a habitable environment. Chapter 1 ends with “And God saw everything
that He had made, and, behold, it was very good” (Gen.1:31a).
And Moses saved the details of
man’s creation until after the record of the seventh day, which “God blessed,
and sanctified,” and set apart as a day of rest, “because in it He had rested
from all His work which God created and made” (Gen.2:3).
Later Jehovah would make
the sabbaths a sign between Himself and the sons of Israel (Ex.31:12-17).
Israel was a nation set apart unto Jehovah through His Covenant of hope
of eternal life established in Abraham and in Isaac and in Jacob (see Gen.17:1-14; Ps.105:1-11; Rom.9:4-5).
Through the descendants of these forefathers, Jehovah Elohim would make
Himself a nation and establish His Son’s Kingdom in the nation Israel (see 2 Sam.7:8-29; Mic.5:2; Lk.1:3-33).
In the Covenant of the Law, which
witnesses to the righteousness of God through faith in Christ, there were more
sabbaths than the weekly sabbath. In addition to the weekly sabbath, there were
the appointed seasons declared by the signs in the heavens and the new moon
sabbaths of the lunar calender. All are witnesses to the salvation of God’s
Covenant Son.
With the forming of the body for
man, a more personal name for the Eternal is introduced and added to God, Elohim
[“the Mighty One”]. It is Jehovah Elohim who forms the body of man. Jehovah
is the One into whom we believe. God told Moses to make known the One who had
sent him by the name I am that I am,
first person identification (Ex.3:13-15).
Jehovah - He who is - is the name of the
covenant-keeping God. “He that comes to God must believe that He is, and that
He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him,” but “without faith it is
impossible to please Him who is”
- Him who has being, eternal being - the God of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham,
Joseph, Moses, Joshua, etc. (Heb.11:6-40).
In Genesis chapter 2 Moses
records the details of man’s creation. In the details we see that only the male
was created on the sixth day. In verse 7 we read, “And Jehovah Elohim
formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life, and man became “a soul of life,” a living soul.
Moses gives a brief account of Jehovah
Elohim bringing forth His first man. We see that Jehovah Elohim was
more personal with man. He Himself took dust of the ground and formed a body.
Man’s body was not brought forth from the ground. Man’s body did not come from
a seed with a life germ to bring forth a flesh body after its kind. God did
put seed in man’s body to reproduce bodies of the flesh of humanity. Other
bodies of the flesh would come from man’s seed.
When Jehovah Elohim had
formed man, He personally breathed His breath of life into the nostrils of the
formed body, and man became a soul of life - a living soul (Gen.2:7). The
Hebrew word for “breath” can also be translated “spirit,” which we see in
Proverbs 20:27.
God is spirit being - spirit
life. Ultimately breath signifies activity and life. One must have life to
activate the soul. One must have breath to animate the body.
Jehovah Elohim blew His breath - the life of His being -
spirit - into the nostrils of the created body sharing His life of spirit being
with the soul - the personal being whom He had brought forth to live in
the created body of flesh and bone.
When Jehovah Elohim had
breathed the “breath” of life into the nostrils of the body which He had formed
from the dust of the ground, man “became” - that is, man came into being - a
soul of life (Hebrew), a living soul. The personal being who lives in the body
is called a “soul.” In Scripture “soul” and “person” are used interchangeably.
The personal being - the soul -
has intellect with which to think and to reason. The personal being has
emotions with desires and feelings, and the personal being has a will and
freedom of choice as to what he wills. There are two wills to be considered.
There is God’s will and purpose for bringing a creation of mankind into being
and there is the will of the personal being who - chooses to obey the will of
his Creator-Redeemer and submit himself unto his Lord and God - or - chooses to
will for himself and be self-serving and self-loving.
In having a Kingdom of sons of
God, Jehovah Elohim must begin with a creation of sons of man. God could
not share with a creation the very essence of His being, which is Deity. Deity
is eternal - without beginning or end. But He could and did share with each
soul of the personal being the life that He is - a quality of life in which
death has no part, a life that forever is. This is seen in the fact that once a
soul of personal being has come into being though the life of the spirit of
God, he will forever be a soul, a personal being.
The “soul,” the personal being,
is designed to become a son of God and live forever in the Kingdom prepared for
the new creation of sons of God. The personal being - a soul of spirit life -
begins his being birthed in a body of flesh and blood. The life of the birthed
body is in the blood. The birthed body of human flesh is of the seed of man. It
is a creation of Jehovah Elohim.
The seed of man to bring forth
after his kind - a body of flesh and bone with the life in the blood - is
planted in the womb of an earthy body of a female of the creation of mankind.
The body of flesh and blood is mortal. Becoming lifeless is possible. Death is
absence of life to animate the body.
Jehovah Elohim Himself purposed
His personal beings should be given the life of spirit being and be
forever. He also purposed to put them in a mortal body with life being
manufactured in the blood. Man will only need the temporary body for a time.
Each person brought into being was purposed to become a son of God and make his
exodus out of the body of flesh and blood through death.
Eternal life for the body is a
gift to be received. Eternal life for the body is given to the creation of
mankind in the person of God’s Anointed Son. Each personal being brought into
the world birthed in a body of human flesh and blood must personally choose to
unite with God’s Covenant Son and be placed into His death and of His
resurrection (see Jn.1:9-13; 5:24-29;
6:38-59; Rom.6:3-5).
In the body of flesh brought
forth from the seed of man one hears the gospel of the Anointed Son giving
eternal life for a body of flesh and bone of eternal life to be raised up out
of the mortal body of flesh with life in the blood (Jn.1:9; Col.1:23;
Tit.2:11). Hearing the good news of the Gift of eternal life to be born again
in a forever living body one must make a decision to believe into God’s Son and
receive the eternal life being offered. When one believes God and receives the
Gift of the Son, one is born from above and passes from death - absence of
eternal life - to eternal life for the body. One is born of the incorruptible
Seed, the Word of God (see 1
Pet.1:17-23; Gal.3:26; 1 Tim.2:3-6). At birth from above one is registered
in The Book of Life as living - born again - and one enters the Kingdom
of sons of God (Jn.3:3-21; 20:30-31).
The first man was created a full
grown man with intelligence. He came into being in the very environment which Jehovah
Elohim had created for his life in the earthly tent of his physical body.
The man knew nothing of who he was or what he was or for what reason he was on
the earth or anything of the purpose of his having being.
The body of human flesh was
designed as an avenue for man’s understanding of the world in which he lives.
In a body man can learn much about the physical environment in which he lives.
The physical universe is patterned to reveal spiritual realities.
In the body man is given five
senses. He sees and hears and smells and tastes and he has a sense of touch. It
is interesting that four of the five senses are in the head, the thinking part
of man. The fifth sense, that of touch, is in the hands. In Scripture, the
“hands” are used as a metaphor for “doing,” the things which we “handle.”
The soul of spirit being has the
mind, emotions and will to be activated by the personal being of spirit life.
The body is an avenue to the mind. Through the body man learns about life on
earth as he takes in information through his senses. The information taken in
through the senses goes into the mind and through the thought processes, the
information is theorized and philosophized. To man’s thinking, if a thing can
be seen and touched, it has reality.
The senses play a vital role in
man’s decision making. When one has processed the information taken in through
the senses, judgments are made concerning that taken in according to the way it
is seen to be by the individual, or by the way it has been heard, or on how one
feels about the information taken in. Then the individual responds according to
the judgment made and acts upon his own judgment and carries it through into
his life in the body.
The natural man is a man of time
and sense. He lives for the here and now. The body is given to the inner man
for his keeping. He will live in it for his earthly time. He must not think of
it as his. The body is given man for a purpose. It is the seed coat for the
body of a new birth, but man must be taught the purpose of the body. Until he
learns the purpose, man thinks of his body as him.
In the meantime, the soul, the
inner personal being, puts the body into action. The soul is responsible for
the actions of the body. As we of mankind are apt to think of the body as us,
as our person, it has mistakenly been taught that, when the apostle Paul speaks
of “the flesh” in his teaching, that “the flesh” is also psychological. That is
thought to be so, as the personal being, who lives in the body and puts the
body into action, chooses to mind the things of the body of flesh rather than
the things of the spirit of his very being. Until one learns the purpose of his
being, he does not know better.
In choosing to do so, the
personal being becomes more one with the life acted out in the body of
flesh than with the spirit of his very being. This does not allow for the Holy
Spirit to use the sharp two-edged sword of the word of God to discern the
thoughts and intents of the heart in the choices made in minding the things of
the flesh (see Heb.4:12).
The personal being of spirit
life, not only has the body in his keeping, he also has the life of the soul,
the spirit of his very heart, in his keeping. There is the constant choice
between the things of the flesh and the things of the spirit. The personal
being will choose between fleshly desires or desires of spirit life and will
put the body into action accordingly.
Apart from the discernment of the
word of God to divide asunder soul and spirit, one will deceive himself in
thinking the things of the flesh will satisfy his soul. Man is spirit being and
only the things of spirit will ultimately satisfy. The things of God’s
thinking, and the desire to grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus, and
the understanding of what the will of God is and to will to do His will, and to
receive the reward of obedience, these are the things which satisfy the very
soul.
The mind of man must be
captivated and made to see that he is not his own and that he was created for
one purpose - to be born again a son of God - a high calling. The body of
created human flesh is temporary. It was purposed to be born again (see Jn.3:6-7).
The soul is precious. The life of
the soul has no end. If one does not disown himself and take up his cross and
follow Jesus through death to eternal life, his flesh body will die and the
soul of life of spirit being will be lost forever. There will be no body born
from above to put into action, but the soul does not stop being.
With no body in which to go into
the Kingdom of God as a son of God, that one has nowhere to go and has nothing
with which he can buy back his lost soul. He is forever lost. Jesus said so (see Ps.49:16-20; Dan.12:2-3; Mt.16:25-27;
Mk.8:34-38; Lk.9:23-26).
All of this must be learned by
man through life experience. Man comes into the light of this world through
birth as an infant. As his body gradually grows in stature through being
nourished, so his mind develops understanding through taking in the things he
sees and hears and savors and tastes and touches. He grows in wisdom through
experience.
Imagine being Adam and coming
into the world full grown and everything around you is totally unfamiliar. You
did not grow up in it and gradually become familiar with it. You do not know
what to call anything you see. You do not even know what you are called. You
have never heard words.
This was the first man. When Adam
opened his eyes, all around him were physical realities, all unknown to him. He
could not call anything which he saw by name. Was his Creator yet leaning over
him, waiting for His breath to take effect?
Jehovah’s face and only
His was the first face seen to the man God named Adam. Adam could not see his
own face. Did he feel his face to feel if he had the same features? He could
look down at his torso and arms and legs and see that his was such a body as
the One whom he faced. Did Adam look around to see if there were others? If so,
he did not see any others. He was alone with his Creator, purposely so.
Jehovah had much to teach
His first man, and He had him separated unto Himself alone. From the record we
are given to understand that Adam was created fully mobile and with speech for
the means of communication. He and his Creator God walked and talked together. In
this way, Adam learned as all was made known to him by his Teacher and the
Creator of all things to which Adam must be given understanding.
All the physical, material
realities to be seen and heard and savored and tasted and touched had been made
in the pattern of spiritual realities, that they might provide object lessons
for understanding unseen spiritual realities. How much the first man learned in
the waning light of the sixth day we are not told.
In the beginning the earth was
formless, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And God said, “‘Let there
be light,’ and there was light. And God divided the light from the darkness.
God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night, and the evening and
the morning were the first day (Gen.1:2-5).
There is nothing wrong in
darkness in its very nature. Darkness has been used as a metaphor for “death”
and for “sin,” but darkness is merely absence of light. Darkness furnishes a
contrast to light. This is a great teaching tool.
Man’s days are divided by the
contrast of the darkness of night and the light of day. Until God allowed man
to discover an artificial means of darkness, there was a great contrast of
things that can only be done in the light of day, and the darkness was for rest
and sleep.
In the absence of the daylight
provided man by his Creator God, man would be in the dark and he would be blind
to all of the physical realities of his environment. Man was given eyes to see
and he has been given the sun for the greater light of the day (Gen.1:16).
The light of day makes known to
man the material realities all around Him, all the things which can be seen
with the eyes and can be touched. Some have sound and some have fragrance and
some are good for food. All are visual representations of the spiritual
realities to be seen through the eyes of the understanding having been
enlightened.
It was likely towards evening of
the sixth day, when the seventh day would begin with the sunset, that Jehovah
Elohim breathed life into the body which He had formed of the dust of the
ground. The physical realities made in the pattern of spiritual realties, and
seen in the daytime, could wait for the morning light of the sun and the
seventh day.
For the man, the most important
light was for the understanding of the purpose for which he had been brought
into being. The eyes of his understanding must be enlightened to his holy
calling to become a son of God (see
Tit.1:2; 2 Tim.1:9-10; Jn.1:1-13).
The light of that understanding
was written in the night sky. There in the heavens, stretched out around
the earth, the glory of God is seen in
the many faces of the One who Himself enlightened His first man as He shared
the Person of the Covenant Son and the work given to Him by His Father to do (see Is.42:5-9; 49:1-8; Jn.17). There
in the twelve signs known as the Mazzaroth (Job 38:32), or the Zodiac, with
their constellations, is seen the outward appearance of the one personal being
of God who became flesh to show God forth and save His creation (Jn.1:14-18).
There in the luminaries of the
heavens is the textbook for the Covenant Plan of the Eternal God. And there on
the sixth day of creation is the Word Himself, the One who would be coming to
earth in the flesh to consummate the Eternal Covenant and to ratify it in His
blood (see Heb.13:20; 1 Tim.2:3-6).
The Word Himself is the Teacher
of the first man. He personally would share with His man the many faces of
Himself as the coming Anointed Son of God, the faces which are to be seen in
the gospel of the redemption to be accomplished in His first coming to
earth and also seen is the Kingdom to be established upon earth at His second
coming to earth. There to be seen in the luminaries in the heavens is the
coming Prophet and the King-Priest (see
Deut.18:15; Ps.110:1-4; Heb.6:13-7:28). In that first night on earth, the
man would be given a basic understanding of God’s Covenant Plan. The next day
as they two rested together, Jehovah could discuss further details with
His man.
After the brief details of bringing
man into being, Moses goes on with his narrative to tell about the sanctuary Jehovah
prepared. “And Jehovah Elohim planted a garden eastward in Eden, and
there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground Jehovah
Elohim made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for
food. And the Tree of Life also in the midst of the garden, and the Tree of
Knowledge of Good and Evil. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden,
and from there it was parted, and became four heads” (Gen.2:8-10).
Jehovah had purposed the
garden, which He planted in Eden [Delight] in the east, as a sanctuary where
His man could be set apart unto Him while he was being taught the things he
needed to know. In the garden, the man would be taught horticulture, the
science of growing and the cultivating of living plants and fruits and
vegetables from seed. The understanding of life and living, which is seen
through the growing of living things, would be very important to Jehovah’s
man’s understanding of the truth of the way of God’s Covenant Plan.
A tree is a very important
physical reality and is a great figure of spiritual realities. The tree can be
used as a representative figure of man. A tree is rooted in the ground. It has
an outer layer of bark, like skin, covering the flesh beneath. The leaves
produced on the branches are the clothing or the covering of the tree. In the
leaves the life of the tree is manufactured and carried by the sap for the
health and well-being of the tree. The tree is planted by rivers of water.
Water is necessary for hydration, that the leaves not wither.
Here is a picture of man, who is
planted on the earth and rooted to the ground by the law of gravity. He has a
trunk with its appendages and skin, the outer layer of the flesh. The body is
the covering, the clothing for the inner man. The bone marrow is a
manufacturing plant for living cells for the life carried by the blood to all
parts of the body. Man in the flesh is ever in need of water for hydration.
The spirit of man is in even
greater need of the rivers of living water of the Word of God, that the body
not wither and die. He must become rooted and grounded in the very spirit of
his being in the Word who became flesh. In Him only is the water of life
eternal - a constant source of life eternal.
Concerning the trees of the
garden, two special trees are named and their location is given. In the middle
of the garden, Jehovah Elohim made to grow the Tree of Life and the Tree
of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The
middle of the garden would be a prominent spot to capture one’s attention.
God’s Anointed Son is life eternal.
The two trees in the middle of
the garden had a special purpose as a visual representation of two crucial
spirit realities. The names of the trees make known the truth represented. The
one tree, identified first, represents the life eternal to be shared with man
in the coming Son of God’s Covenant. In the Son is the hope of life eternal -
the hope of real life - the life that God is - the life of spirit being for the
body of flesh to be born again and live forever (see 1 Cor.15:44).
Eternal life is sent from heaven
that, through death in Christ, the temporary clothing of the flesh body with
the temporary life in the blood might be put off. And through having received
the germ cell of eternal life in the Son into the very being of the heart, one
might be born again of the incorruptible Seed, the Word of God, who abides
forever (1 Pet.1:17-23; see 2 Cor.1:22;
Eph.1:12-14).
In His Covenant, Jehovah
Elohim had provided a way for His creation of mankind to become born sons
of God. Jehovah had a way for man to be born again, born from above. The
temporary flesh and blood body, born of the seed of man, would furnish a seed
coat for a permanent, deathless body of flesh and bone of spirit life.
For the forever living body, the
seed coat must contain the germ cell of eternal life to bring forth the body of
the new birth. God’s way would include death as a way out of the
temporary body, a mere creation of God, and burial of the seed coat of
the body of human flesh, and resurrection of the new body from the Seed
of the Covenant Son, who is eternal life (see
1 Cor.15:35-44; Jn.12:23-27; 1 Jn.5:11-13).
Each person born of the flesh of
humanity must hear the gospel of the Covenant Son in whom is life eternal and
is also the light of men (Jn.1:4; see
Is.42:6-7; 49:5-8). Life eternal and the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God is sent down from heaven to be freely received (see
Jn.5:38-56; 2 Cor.4:4-7). A new body of
flesh and bone enlifed through the Seed of eternal life will be a deathless
body with eternal life of spirit being - the life Jesus is (1 Jn.1:1-2).
Eternal life for man is from
above - for a new birth. One must be born again to have a deathless body raised
up out from the dead and glorified. It is the only way to live forever. It
is God’s Way. The Way is the Truth and the Life (Jn.14:6). From the fourth
day of creation, the heavens have been declaring this reality.
There was no life eternal in a
fruit on the Tree of Life in the middle of the garden. That is not possible. No
created tree could possibly have seed with eternal life. Eternal life is
something God is (Jn.1:4). Jehovah has one way of sharing His eternal life.
Life eternal is in the
incorruptible Seed, the Word of God. The Tree of Life, represented the Way
Man’s Creator had provided for His creation of mankind to personally receive
the germ cell of life eternal into the seed coat of his flesh body to be born
again and one day have a deathless, glorified body raised up out from the dead
to live forever. In personally receiving the germ cell of eternal life into his
seed coat, one makes a choice to go God’s Way, and to believe into the Anointed
Covenant Son, whom we know as Jesus.
What then does the other tree in
the middle of the garden represent, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil?
Since Jehovah has offered man the choice of going His Way, there must be
an alternative to going the Way provided by Jehovah, an alternative to
the One Way to be pleasing to Jehovah God and to be accepted as a son of
God and enter into His Kingdom and live forever.
Since there is an alternative to
God’s Way, whose way would that be? Man’s way. What way does man have? Take in knowledge
through his senses, come to his own conclusions, believe in his own
understanding. Will man’s way put away man’s sin once for all? Can a man attain
the righteousness of God and be acquitted of all charges of sin and guilt
through his own understanding, his own doing, works of the flesh?
“And Jehovah Elohim
commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but
of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, you shall not eat of it, for in
the day that you eat thereof, you shall die die’” (Gen.2:16-17).
The Hebrew word for “die” is repeated
for emphasis. You will die die assures the consequence of eating of the Tree of
the Knowledge of Good and Evil will be carried through. You eat - you die - no
doubt about it. You will most surely die the day you eat.
Moses’ record then brings before
us the female created by Jehovah. “And Jehovah Elohim said, ‘It
is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helpmeet fit
for him,’” a helper suited to him (Gen.2:18). It is time for the “female” of
the “male and female” of God’s purpose to make man in His image (Gen.1:27).
In Genesis chapter 1 Moses spoke
of God’s purpose to make man in His image and then gave the brief account of Jehovah
carrying out His purpose. Moses recorded the blessing of God for His first pair
of beings in human flesh. “God said to them, ‘Be fruitful, and multiply, and
fill the earth’” (see Gen.1:26-30).
Adam was to be the progenitor of
a race of mankind, beings in bodies of human flesh. Alone Adam could not
fulfill his purpose. Alone he could not multiply. He had the seed for bodies of
human flesh, but children are the fruit of the womb (Ps.127:3). Adam needed a
helper fitted to bear children. He needed a womb-man.
Just before Moses wrote the
record of making a helper for Adam, Moses wrote of Jehovah bringing of every
beast of the field which He had brought forth out of the ground on the sixth
day and every bird of the air which He had created on the fifth day to see what
Adam would call them (Gen.2:19-20).
Jehovah Elohim had named
His man Adam. Three Hebrew words have the same root. They are “man,” ground”
and “red.” Adam was given his name by Jehovah. To Adam Jehovah
gave the naming of the animals with flesh bodies after their kind
(Gen.2:19-20). Later the first pair would be naming children of human flesh. We
have Eve naming Cain, Abel and Seth (Gen.4:1-2, 25). In Scripture, names are
meaningful and significant.
Why would the naming of animals
be inserted in the record of Jehovah making Adam a helper? Adam gave
names to all the birds of the air and beasts of the field, but for him there
was not found a helper. There was a helper for all other kinds of flesh to
reproduce after their kind. God had brought them forth male and female to
reproduce after their kind, birds and beasts, mere animals of different kinds
of flesh (see 1 Cor.15:38-39).
Humans are not mere animals, nor
are they a higher form of animal. Humans were not created to come into being
and live out their lifetime on earth and die, to be no more (see Eccl.3:21). Humans are brought
into being to become sons of God - a high calling (Jn.1:12-13).
The body of flesh of humanity is
precious to Jehovah Elohim. For the one born in the flesh body, he has
been given the earthly body as a seed coat for the new body to be born again.
To be born again, the seed coat of the flesh body must contain the germ cell of
eternal life. The germ cell of eternal life must be shared through the Word,
who is eternal life. God’s Anointed Son was clothed with a flesh body in the
likeness of man (Rom.8:3; Heb.2:9-17). In that flesh body dwelt eternal life -
Himself - Deity (Col.1:19; 2:9). The germ cell of His eternal life raised His
dead, mortal flesh body out from the dead - glorified and deathless (Rom.8:10).
The germ cell of eternal life must be put in the seed coat, that a forever
living body can be raised up out of the dead seed coat (see 2 Cor.1:22; Eph.1:12-14;
Tit.3:3-7).
Eternal life is in the Anointed
Son of God (Rom.8:9; 1 Jn.5:9-13). The Son is given to man as a Gift (Rom.5).
God purposed an eternal destiny for His creation of man. This makes man other
than an animal. Man was created to be redeemed and ransomed from sin and death (see 1 Tim.2:3-6; Rom.4:25-5:11; 1 Jn.2:2;
4:7-10).
First each one brought into being
to become a son of God must bear the image of the earthy. Adam, the progenitor
of the race of human flesh, must have a woman. And Jehovah Elohim caused
a deep sleep to fall upon Adam. While Adam slept, Jehovah took one of
his ribs and closed up the wound He had made in Adam’s side. From the rib which
He had taken from Adam, Jehovah built a woman. The Hebrew word
translated “made” in Genesis 2:22 is an architectural term.
Jehovah took a living bone
from Adam. The bone is the part of the human body where the life of the blood
is manufactured. Jehovah Elohim had life from a body of human flesh to
build a human body with a womb so that Adam, with the help of his woman, could
fill God’s desire that they multiply and fill the earth with potential sons of
God for His planned Kingdom.
Jehovah Elohim brought the
woman He had built from Adam’s rib to Adam, and Adam said, “This is now
bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called Woman, because she
was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother,
and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh’” (Gen.2:23-24).
When Jehovah brought the
woman to Adam, we have this record of his one simple statement concerning two
vital elements of married life. With the woman built of the seed life of Adam’s
bone, Jehovah had a male and female of human flesh to reproduce after
their kind - bodies of the earth, earthy - human flesh - seed coats for sons of
God. The earthly body is to be born again in the image of the heavenly (1
Cor.15:44, 50-57; Col.1:12-23; Phil.3:21). Through the gospel of the glory of
God declared in the heavens in “The Heavenly Revelation of the Son of the
Covenant,” Adam understood this truth.
When a man has been given a woman
helper to help him fulfill God’s purpose for him, he becomes the head of a new
household of sons of man. It is the beginning of a new family unit. It is a
separate household. The man and his wife are in it together. They must cling to
one another and trust their God together. They must learn of marriage and child
rearing. For each one, and also together, instruction is needed from the One
who created them to be redeemed and ransomed through being born again, and
which they would teach their children (see
Rom.3:22-26; 1 Tim.2:4-6).
Before continuing the narrative,
Moses gives us one other statement of fact: “And they were both naked, the man
and his wife, and were not ashamed” (Gen.2:25). Why is this simple statement
given after having shared of Jehovah forming of the one body from the
dust of the ground and then of the building of the woman’s body with life from
Adam’s body?
Emphasis has been put on each
body, but nothing has been said of clothing being made for the bodies or of
clothing being worn. The emphasis is on the body itself as clothing for the
inner man of spirit being. Each one, the body formed for Adam, is naked, and
the body built from life from Adam’s body is naked.
Neither the man or his wife is
ashamed. They are temporarily clothed with the mortal body of human flesh. They
are naked, as neither one has yet put on immortality (see 2 Cor.5:1-4). Neither one has been clothed permanently sharing
the image of God through having been born from above. Each one is clothed with
the seed coat of human flesh, but neither one has received the eternal life in
the Son.
The Anointed Son is the Seed Life
for a deathless, glorified body to be raised up out from the dead seed coat
(Jn.12:24-33). The inner man, the personal being, is not complete without a
forever living body (2 Cor.5:1-4). When the earthly body becomes lifeless, it
will go back to the dust of the ground (Gen.3:19). Unless the one who lived in
it and was clothed with it has chosen to receive eternal life in Christ and be
born again, the inner man, the personal being, will be left unclothed forever.
Neither the man or his wife is
ashamed before their Creator God. There was no need to be. He is the One who
had covered their being with a body of human flesh. They would not have thought
of themselves as naked. The natural body was the only clothing they had ever
known. Clothing for the body was not an issue for them.
Each one had learned of the hope
of eternal life in the gospel. They had believed the facts of what was taught
them by Jehovah, their Teacher. Each one had the facts of the body to be
raised up out from the dead through birth of the incorruptible Seed, the Word
who is God, but the eyes of the understanding had not taken the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God into their very being to understand the true
meaning of the absolute imperative of being born from above. Understanding is
in the very spirit of one’s being.
With their mind each one had
taken in the facts being taught them by Jehovah. The time had come for
the proving of the heart of a mere creation of man in the flesh. Man must be
made to see the difference between desiring to know for himself - the mere
desire for knowledge - and the desire to grow in grace and knowledge of the
Lord Jesus Christ and know the deep things of God - His ways - which are only
seen when the eyes of the understanding are enlightened by the Spirit of God.
All comes through the mind, but with wisdom, one must get understanding
(Prov.4:7).
The man and his wife had been
shown the wisdom of God. Jehovah had a way to bring it home to them
in understanding. In Genesis chapter 3 Moses records for us how
Jehovah Elohim purposed to enlighten the eyes of their understanding.
This concludes our lesson.
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