Son of Adam, Son of God

     For centuries Adam has been the butt of jokes how he disobeyed God and then blamed his wife.  Many make him out to be a noodle-spined nitwit who definitely needs to be constantly supervised by his wife.  I think we are not careful to realize who this man is and what his relationship is to God.

      This verse, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” (Gen 2:24), is very curious if you think about. Why does it start with “Therefore”?  It is drawing a conclusion.  The common usage of this verse is to apply it to men getting married but really, it is an introduction and conclusion to the following incident.  In fact, I would say it is the crux.

     In Gen.3, we read about the exile of man from the garden of Eden.  We do not know what Adam was doing during this fateful interview between Eve and the serpent, but we know that he was with her at the time (Gen. 3:6).  Did he necessarily hear this dialogue or was he clueless until he saw Eve take the fruit and eat.  How exactly did the conversation occur?  Do serpents talk?  Could they communicate telepathically?   I think it likely that Eve took a bite before Adam even knew what was happening.

     Here we find Adam with a terrible decision before him.  His wife has just chosen for herself exile from God.  Adam now needs to choose God or his wife.  “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife.”  Adam chose death to remain with his wife.

     Afterward is this heart-rending dialogue between Adam and God.  Of course, God knew what happened but asks questions of Adam to get him to sort out his thoughts.  Here are two who love each other with the deepest love and know that they have parted ways.  The agony leaves Adam numb and nearly speechless.  With broken heart, knowing he no longer will walk with God, barely utters his confession, “It was the women.  She gave me the fruit and I ate.”

     This is why Paul says, “Adam was not deceived but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.” 1 Ti 2:14.   “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife.”  I begin to see parallels with Jesus in this.  Jesus, Paul says is the last Adam, “The first man Adam became a living being: the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.” 1 Cor. 15:45.  Adam gave up his inheritance and chose death to cleave with his wife.  Jesus took on humanity and chose death to cleave to his bride (Eph. 5:31, 32)

... To be continued...
   


 

The Older Son

Luke 15:11-32
You all know the story how the younger son asked for his inheritance early and left his father.  We see from this story God's undying love for one who falls away into sin.  We wrap up the story by contrasting the younger with the older.

The older, we say, is unforgiving, bitter, perhaps we can throw in legalistic.  We use the older as an example of the hypocritical self-righteous christian.  But a closer look at the story gives us a different conclusion.

First, the father comes out to his older son just like he went out to look for his younger son.  He loves this son dearly. He listened to his son's complaint and explained why it was right to celebrate his brother's return.

Look carefully at the next part:  "Son, you are always with me."  This son is not dismissed in any way by his father.  This is the son who has always been loyal and never complaining.  He worked hard and I think he increased his fathers wealth.

"And all that is mine is yours."  Think on that.  God's law allows a double portion of inheritance to the eldest son.  That means that at the time that this father would have given his younger son his share, he got 1/3 of all his father's worth at that moment.  The older son  continued to serve his father faithfully and helped to increase his father's wealth.  His inheritance will be far greater than double the amount his brother got.

Can a son who has been so faithful and obedient be so far from his father's desires that he would hold unforgiveness in his heart?  This son never disobeyed his father's command (vs 29).  Is he going to start now?

Jesus spoke this parable to teach his disciples about his first work:  that which would bring life to the dead.  He ended the parable by just telling us about the younger son's redemption.  The unspoken part of this parable speaks of Jesus' second work:  the manifestation of the sons of God who will participate in bringing the lost sons back to their Father.

More than meets the eye

Line upon line.
Precept upon precept.

What you take away from the scripture today is not all there is to understand.
There is always more than meets the eye.