Adam and Eve Day 3

To be completely honest I have really been struggling with writing this lesson. There are so many things we could address in Genesis 2, but in light of our theme (God, us and our relationship) the most obvious would be marriage. The problem is I don't want to talk about marriage today. Don't get me wrong, I've been married for 14 years and God has overwhelmingly blessed me in my husband. I am a big fan of marriage, but have you ever read through a passage and just felt that there was something else there, something you were missing, something that was just a little bit bigger then what you could see?
Today we are going to talk about marriage but not about a man and a woman, we're going to talk about Christ and the Church.
If we believe that God is all knowing, which Scripture proves to be true, then it wouldn't be much of a stretch to believe that even before He created Adam and Eve He knew what was going to happen. Perhaps if He knew what was coming, He actually planned for it, and placed tiny hints of His great Redemption in place even before there was the need.
Paul tells us in Romans 5:14 that Adam "was a pattern of the One to come. In 1 Corinthians 15:45-49, Paul refers to Adam as the "first Adam" and Jesus as the "last Adam." He's not saying they are the same, but that Adam was a pattern, a type of Christ. Adam's story gives us hints and insight into Jesus' story. Paul is also saying that what began with Adam was finished with Christ. (I don't want to give too much away, but the pattern becomes more clear in light of the Fall, which we'll be looking at next week.)
Luke 3:23-38 is one of two genealogies of Christ. Matthew traces Jesus' lineage only as far as Abraham*; Luke, however goes all the way back to Adam and then one step further.
"the son of Adam, the son of God." Luke 3:38b
Who did Luke say was Adam's father? God! Just as Pinocchio was the son of Geppetto, so Adam was the son of God. It wasn't about biology, Luke is not implying that Adam was divine, it was about relationship, God created and cared for Adam, he was His son (This is really the equivalent to the New Testament idea of being adopted into God's family**). Jesus is the true Son of God (to say biological doesn't quite fit).
"In the beginning was the Word [Jesus], and the Word was with God and the Word was God." John 1:1
"And the Holy Spirit descended on him in the bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: 'You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." Luke 3:22
While Adam was created as a pattern for Jesus, Eve may be a pattern for the Church.
We will not be making any doctrine out of what we are going to look at but I believe that the Holy Spirit never misses a detail in Scripture. When specific details are given (or left out) I think the Holy Spirit planned it that way and when patterns seem to appear, I believe it's on purpose.
"So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping , he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man." Genesis 2:21 & 22
When God created all the plants, fish, birds and animals He made them each according to their own kind. God then tells the creatures to be fruitful and multiply, clearly He had made boys and girls of every kind right away. Yet when it came to Adam, He did not make Eve immediately. He instead showed Adam that there was no one suitable for him and then in a separate act God created Eve and presented her to Adam, as his bride. In the first wedding God presented his son with a bride, in the last wedding once again God will prepare a bride for His Son.
"Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear. (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints)" Revelation 19:7 & 8
Paul's model for a strong and healthy marriage in Ephesians 5 is actually Christ and the Church.
"Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church- for we are members of his body. 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.' This is a profound mystery- but I am talking about Christ and the church." Ephesians 5:24-32
When God presented Adam with his bride, He was hinting that marriage was a symbol of what was yet to come. Christ would leave His Father to claim His bride. He would sacrifice His very life so that she could be His perfect wife, and He has loved and cared for her throughout the ages (Again next week when we talk about the Fall this will become even more evident).
The last hint we have that Eve may be a symbol of the Church is where she came from.
If you have a Bible that adds notes you might find a little mark next to the word rib in Genesis 21 &22. The note at the bottom of the page might read "part of the man's side"*** The Hebrew word does not explicitly mean rib, it simply means side. Eve was taken from Adam's side. God put Adam into a deep supernatural sleep, and took from his side to create his bride.
Thousands of years later, our Savior would hang, lifeless on a cross, and a wound in His side would give birth to His bride.
"But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water." John 20: 33 &34
With the out pouring of blood and water (Christian sacraments) salvation was made available for all people. Within a very short period of time, a ragtag group of believers would grow to become a changing force in the world, the Church.
In God's infinite power and knowledge, is it so far fetched that He planned it all from the beginning? Is it crazy that He may have not only prepared a pattern for the Redeemer before one was needed, but that He might also hint at a bride long before there was a Bridegroom? I don't know for sure, but what I do know is that believing that nothing in all of Creation has ever been outside of His hands gives me peace, and reminds me how AWESOME my God is. Sometimes the Bible isn't about doctrine, or do's and don'ts, sometimes it about showing God for who He is. Showing us His glory and reminding us that He alone knows the end from the beginning.
"Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand and I will do all that I please." Isaiah 46:9 & 10

* Matthew 1:1-17
** Romans 8:23, 9:4, Ephesians 1:5
*** Life Application Study Bible NIV. Wheaton, Il. Tyndale House Publishers. (Note j at the bottom of pg. 9)