The Book of Genesis
Part 8
In our study we have noticed that man was not only a responsible being before God, but that on earth he was the representative of God. We must, before we pass on to another section of this chapter, consider him as a type, a type of Christ.
There have been previous hints that man may be viewed as a type of Christ the Sovereign Lord, the Head of the New Creation ( 1 Cor. 15:45; Heb. 2:13; Col. 1:15-17; Heb. 2:8). Let us now think of Adam as a type of Christ as the Heavenly Bridegroom.
The Glory Of The Sovereign Lord
HIS INHERENT GLORY: As we have learned, man is a tripartite being, a trinity, fashioned in the image and likeness of God. That through sin he has lost the image, we know, but he still retains the likeness. This actually is man’s inherent glory. It is this which makes him differ from the beast over which he ruled. Man possesses a spirit that transcends his soul and body, and makes him conscious of God.
HIS POSITIONAL GLORY: Not only did God say, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness,” but He said, “And let them have dominion” (Gen. 1:26). That Adam willingly renounced his positional glory in order to continue his relationship with Eve, appears from a comparison of Scripture. “Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression” (1 Tim. 2:14). Our blessed Lord Jesus, the Last Adam, out of infinite love, and not through a circumstance, renounced His positional glories in Heaven and stooped down to redeem for Himself a bride. “Christ Jesus: Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Phil. 2:5-8).
The Bride Of The Sovereign Lord
THE DESIRE FOR COMPANIONSHIP: As sovereign, all animals were subject to Adam; he knew them all, had named them all, but among them there existed no creature his equal, “For Adam there was not found an help meet for him” (Gen. 2:20). “And the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him” (Gen. 2:18).
It would appear that the man, Adam, had now discovered the fulness and superiority of his personality, and that his association with the animals had produced in him a desire for human and personal companionship. Is there here a hint that our blessed Lord likewise yearns for companionship, desires fellowship? As Adam discovered the need for Eve before she was created; even so, “Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for her,” before ever she had been formed (Eph. 5:25).
THE CREATION OF HIS CONSORT: “And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs… And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made He a woman” (Gen. 2:12-22). From out of that deep sleep, from the incision in his side, from his very person, Eve was derived. Adam might well say of her, “This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.”
To this very experience the Holy Spirit makes an allusion when speaking of the union between Christ and His Church. “Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it… We are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones” (Eph. 5:25 and 30).
Adam’s sleep with its natural darkness and the incision with its results are a foreshadowing of the deep darkness and the dreadful pain of Christ at Calvary.
THE COMPLEMENT OF HIMSELF: Adam said of Eve, “She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.” Immediately follows the statement, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh” (Gen. 2:24). Similarly we read of the Church that she is the fulness (the complementary part) of Him that filleth all in all (Eph. 1:23).
THE PRESENTATION OF THE BRIDE: When the Lord God had built the woman, we read that He brought her unto the man (Gen. 2:22). Eve was presented to Adam in all her lovliness, innocence and perfection. We know that eventually “Christ … will present to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing … holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:27). The Church will appear faultless before the presence of His glory (Jude 24). Of that wonderful day we read, “Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Rev. 19:7, 9).