ELTB TT 8-9
ELTB TT 8-9 [∞]
There was a mist [] from the steaming ground. Before God created Adam, he made sure that there was already something for Adam to learn about God from.
Before the birth of Christ, the whole world knew something about God.
God formed Adam from the dust of the ground. God loves word play. The Hebrew 'ground' is 'adamah. Adam came from the adamah, which is also 'the man that doesn't understand'. The ground represents those who do not know God. Jesus was formed in Mary. Mary was part of the 'adamah' ground. Jesus is called the second Adam.
God breathed his Spirit into Adam. The Holy Spirit descended on Jesus.
Then maybe God poked Adam in the belly and said "You're done!" to give him a belly button. Maybe not, but when Adam was finished, God said that everything was very good. [] God did say to Jesus, "This is my Son, and I am pleased with him."
mist ed אד - God's command
God created the garden with Adam watching. Adam would know that God was doing good things for him.
When Jesus read the scriptures, he understood the prophetic riddles. He knew they spoke of him. He had confidence that the Father was doing good things in his life as well.
God put all kinds of trees in the garden which bore fruit good for eating. There were many things God wanted Adam to learn. Jesus learned many things from the OT scriptures. Since he chose to be a baby and learn things from scratch, he had to learn who he was, and what he was to do. The Dietary Law told him about character. The history told story after story of the cross. Everything he needed to fulfill his purpose was hidden in the prophetic riddles.
One stream of water was split into four rivers. The word of God was divided into four voices: prophet, judge, priest, and king. People in these roles told us of God. The prophetic riddle also has the same four voices. The prophet always speaks of Jesus; called 'doctrine'. The judge confronts sin; called 'reproof'. The priest fixes sin; called 'correction'. The king teaches us how to live; called 'training in righteousness'. [] Jesus learned from them all.
When the garden was ready, God put Adam in it to dress and keep it, or serve and preserve it. Adam was allowed to eat from all the trees but one. If he ate from that one tree, he would die. When Jesus came into his kingdom, his garden among the Hebrews, he came to serve and save them. He was allowed to learn from all the pictures of the cross. When he learned the final picture, he had to die.
But God saw that Adam needed a helper. God loves word-play. 'Helper' etser עזר is also ' bride ז wrapped in flesh ע()ר. He and his bride were naked, or in skin. But later God made clothing of skin for them. Jesus also needed a helper. The word 'marriage' in Hebrew also means 'doctrine'. The bride is a symbol for those who are taught by Christ. He would teach people to help him.
Before God made Eve, he let Adam discover that there was no one who could help him. God brought all the animals to him and let him name them. If the garden had time, it would have taken a long time for Adam to observe the behavior of the animals and give them names, or reputations. But there was not time, so he had all the time in the world.
Jesus spent 30 years observing men. He found no one to help him. Jesus judged us all, or gave us our reputations, by living a perfect life, and removing all our excuses.
We may think that we could not resist gluing all the pages of the telephone book together. But Jesus never did that, so we are without excuse.
After Adam saw that there was no one like him, God made him a wife.
After Jesus saw that there were none like him, God gave him a bride through the cross.
To make a wife for Adam he put him to sleep. Jesus received his bride through his death on the cross.
The serpent was trickier than the other animals. The other animals first tempted Eve. They had been eating from the tree and not dying. It was easy to see that they were animals and Eve was not an animal. God made her for Adam.
Then the serpent unhinged it's jaw. Oh that has to hurt. It swallowed the fruit whole. Eve stared in amazement thinking it must choke or suffocate. But the fruit traveled the length of its body until digested. Maybe it gave a big belch.
"Now Eve, see what a good job God did in making me? If I see something that looks good and smells good, I eat it. I glorify God by living any way I want. Tell me, did God really tell you that you couldn't eat the fruit? It must be easier for you to eat than for me."
When we are born, we are just like the serpent. We do whatever we want. If we see a blob of something on the bottom of a shoe, we may stick it in our mouth. Yuck!
ELTB TT Adam had not taught Eve well [∞]
The woman told the serpent that she was allowed to eat from all the trees, but one, and she couldn't even touch it. That is not what God told Adam. He didn't say not to touch the tree.
Adam didn't teach Eve very well.
Now this is a hard saying. From the beginning until the cross, men were not taught very well about God. There was a very good reason.
Everything in the Old Testament tells you of the promise of salvation through the cross. If they had been told and taught about the cross enough to get saved, then the cross would not have been necessary. Jesus would not have needed to die. But he needed to die to make the promise.
Jesus said that he taught in parables so that men would not believe and get saved. They had to wait until after the cross to get saved. Today we get saved by being taught of the cross. All the people in the Old Testament had to wait for Christ and us to get saved. It is the greatest privilege to tell others of Jesus.
