(Ver 1.3)  In the last blog on this subject we talked about a covenant being a marriage.  Before that, I talked about a woman being a nation of people and a city.  We have been building our scriptural knowledge base to understand the identity of the bride of Christ and today I want to talk about the Law of Marriage.  I hope you realize that the Old Testament holds the law of God written down by Moses.  In these books God has established principles, concepts, definitions, and laws concerning every subject you can think of.  So today I want to establish what happens when God enters into a marriage blood covenant with a group of people.  If you have not been following this series from the beginning I would strongly recommend that you go back and start reading from Part 1, The Introduction.

I know this is a very new advanced study of a complex subject.  I know that it will be difficult for some to see and understand.  Based upon your current spiritual level of maturity, that alone will determine if you are able to fully grasp what is in this lesson series.  Many times I know people read my stuff and think it is not true.  It is funny how Jesus would go around and tell people “let him who has ears, hear”.  Jesus was not talking about just hearing sounds with their ears, he was talking about them understanding with their hearts and that is something completely different.   Too many people know how to read, but do not know how to see what was written.  Getting understanding is the key to growing in spiritual maturity.  Just as you cannot hand a first grader a college calculus book and say learn this, if you are struggling with the things that I have been saying you are probably not ready for this lesson.  I would recommend that you either go back and study the basics some more until you fully grasp the foundational truths before you attempt to tackle any of the advanced subjects found in the Bible.

Let’s get into the second chapter of Genesis and see the account of the creation of woman and the first recorded marriage covenant and what happened to all of the participants.  After all, we are talking about the identity of a woman called the bride of Christ, so where did the woman come from?

Gen 2:21  And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;

Gen 2:22  And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

We can clearly see from these famous well known verses where God says woman came from?  You’ve read this before I’m sure, but I doubt if you really fully understood what you read.  You see these verses declare that woman was taken out of a man.  That is representative of a mathematical operation of division or subtraction.  You could say God took one and made two.  One divided by 2 gives the same answer as one subtracting one half.  Using either division or subtraction the result could still be two halves.  But here is another perspective of division and mathematics.  If you divide one by one you get one.  Isn’t that an interesting concept.  The reverse multiplicative principle would be to multiply one by one and you would still get a result of one.  One male times one female equals one flesh and here is why I say that.  Look at the next verses in Genesis in what Adam has to say about his wife:

Gen 2:23  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.

Gen 2:24  Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Since the woman was taken from his body, Adam then declares that she was his body.  Did you see that?  What is flesh and bones?  His flesh and bones is the same as his body.   Adam’s body consisted of flesh and bones.  God took a portion of his body and made her body.  Flesh and bones are the primary parts or pieces that make up his body.  I hope all kind of light bulbs are going off in your mind based upon this revelation.  Flesh and bone and the body are different terminology for the same thing.  There are so many ways to describe, label or name the same things that we have to be smart enough to know when they are the same and when they are not.  When Adam looked at his wife he called her the body of Adam.   This is a pattern for another New Testament marriage we will see later.  If God took a part of man out and created a woman who became the mother to all the natural living descendants on the planet earth, then you might say it would be legal for God to put back a woman into his son Jesus Christ.  I’m sure you are wondering how I came to that reasoning and conclusion.  It starts with this fact, did you know that Jesus is called the “last Adam” in the New Testament?  Read this verse:

1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

Not only is Jesus called a quickening spirit in contrast to a living soul, but Jesus is specifically called the “last Adam”.  Meaning there is a direct and specific relationship and connection to the “first Adam”.   The distinct parallels and patterns between the two Adam’s are quite profound.  I hope you are grasping this concept.  2 different Adams, one natural and one spiritual.   If it was legal for God to take one man or as we have seen one Adam and create one male and one female, then the reverse logic would be to take one male and one female and multiply them together giving you one flesh again.  Multiplication and division of 1 and 1 always results in 1.  It is the only set of numbers that I know of that you can do this with.  2 times 2 doesn’t equal 2.  2 divided by 2 doesn’t equal 2.  This is of course, very basic math truths, but it is amazing how God does things.  Sometimes it is the really simple things that God uses to confound the wise.

When Jesus is called “Adam” in the New Testament, this of course is the same Hebrew word that we looked at earlier.  This Hebrew word can be translated either as “man” or it can be translated as “Adam”.  Both translations originate from the exact same word and this makes understanding the Bible much more complex.  It is a puzzle of sorts, but that is the way God works.  God is much smarter than we are and he could have chosen any words that fit, but he specifically selected these words to describe a man/Adam.

So, what other relationship do these two Adams share?  I’ll probably lose some of you right here, but here goes.  Both Adam’s were sons of God and therefore they are natural brothers.  Both Adam and Jesus had the same Father.  If you don’t understand that, don’t throw it away because it does have significance.   There are things in the Bible that are difficult to grasp and understand at first because they are so different.  The more religious you are the harder it will be for you to grasp certain things in the Bible and this is probably one of them and there are many others.  I did not say Adam was God, but I will say Jesus was.   Jesus the Last Adam was also the son of Adam.  Jesus walked the face of the planet and constantly called himself the “son of man”.  You lose the meaning and significance of that statement by reading an English translation.  Jesus being a Hebrew and of the house and lineage of David was saying I am a son of Adam.  The Hebrew word for “Adam” can and is translated as “man” several times.  It’s the same word “H120” and “H121”.  Sometimes translated as “Adam” and other times as “man”.  How can the Son of God also be the Son of Adam?  The Son of Adam and the brother of Adam?  It’s pretty tough to grasp, but nevertheless this is what the Bible says.  Nobody ever told you that the Bible was easy to understand.  If they did they lied to you.  If you look at the family lineage of Jesus given to us in Luke you will see that it goes all the way back to Adam and then to God.  There is a clear implication that Adam was also called a “son of God”.  Not God, not “The Son of God” either just a “son of God”.

Luk 3:38  Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.

Reading this verse is very informative, even if the words “son of” are added by the translators.  Some say since these words are not in the original Greek we can explain away what actually is being conveyed.  However, I believe the words “son of” do assist us in correctly interpreting the meaning.  The clear implication is that Adam is called a son of God.  You don’t go through a long list of names in a genealogy and every named pair represents a father and a son relationship except the last one.  That would be idiotic to attempt such reasoning.  I’ll say it again, be consistent a list is a list and every entry in the list should be treated the exact same.  I know I got off of the subject for a side trip, but I believe it was important.  Let’s get back to the original husband and wife.

We can sometimes ask questions that help us in our discussion.  When God formed Adam’s body from the dust of the ground as it says he did, why didn’t God also make the female’s body from the dust of the ground?  He wasn’t out of dirt or dust?  It is of course an interesting puzzle?  Why take out a part of something you already made to make another complementary piece of work?  That of course is a hard question.  Obviously God had a good reason, or He wouldn’t have done it.   Let’s figure out why he did it?

Believe it or not the verses that we read in Genesis 2, gives us an established foundation of how we the church became the body of Christ.  If the first Adam has a wife, God is saying it is Ok, for the “last Adam” to have a wife.   The first Adam’s wife was a physical woman, the last Adam’s wife is a spiritual woman.  Let’s go back and reread verses 23 and 24 in Genesis 2, because these are absolutely critical to understand.

Gen 2:23  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.

Gen 2:24  Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

We see again in verse 23 that Adam declares his wife’s body to be his body and obviously that is where it originated from.  God purposely selected this way to create the woman.  This was a prophetic event of Biblical proportions.  Again I will reemphasize that “flesh and bone” is the same terminology for the “body”.  In other words a human body consists of both flesh and bones.  Jesus actually confirms this with words in the New Testament when he used this terminology in the Gospels, he told his disciples, “handle me, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones”.(Luke 24:39).   So Jesus confirms that he has flesh and bones and the clear implication is that is also called his body.   If Jesus says “touch me” where would a man put his hand on Jesus to see if he was real?   It seems obvious to me that Jesus is referring to his body as being flesh and bones.  This is not rocket science, and you should be seeing something new by now.

Moving on to verse 24 in Genesis 2 we see God’s law of marriage being established.  This is the first reference in the Bible of the marriage covenant relationship between a man and a woman.  This again sets the “type” or “pattern” for every marriage relationship between a man and a woman in both the natural and the spirit worlds.  I call this God’s “Law of Marriage”.  God gives us a rule or a law for a blood covenant marriage.  God said that a man in this case Adam would leave his father (God) and his mother (the earth) and would cleave unto his wife (the woman).  I probably lost some of you again by including explanations in that preceding statement.  I’ve already dealt with who Adam’s father was so you should already understand that.  Since Adam did not have a birth mother and God formed his body from the dust of the ground I consider “the earth” to be his mother.   That of course is my opinion, since I don’t have a Bible verse for that statement.  You’ve heard the common term “mother earth” before haven’t you?  Then the verse finishes up with the most critical thing that you should learn on the subject of marriage with a woman and that is it says the two (the male and the female) would become one flesh (body).  This reveals how the church became the body of Christ, it was by marriage.  You can obviously still reject everything I’ve said up to this point and say I don’t believe it.  However, I’m not through though and I have many more scriptures that confirm what I just said.  Is this what God really meant?  Did Jesus believe this?  Well guess what, I think so, because here is what Jesus said to us on the subject.  If you notice these words are in Red, meaning Jesus in person spoke them directly.

Mat 19:5  And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?

Mat 19:6  Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

Again we see a clear reference to the exact same words spoken by God in Genesis 2.  Within the context of these scriptures you will find that the subject being discussed is divorce and is it lawful?  Jesus’ attitude toward divorce is the same as it is today, he says “can’t you read?”, “didn’t God create them male and female in the beginning?”  “Aren’t the two joined together and are they not one flesh.”  How can a man cut off a part of his own body and get rid of it, isn’t that what he is really saying?  Are they not the same body?   Jesus said there should be no divorce if it was done right.  Jesus is saying that the man and the woman were two, but after they are married God considers them to be one body.  This is the Biblical law of covenant marriage.  Two people have become one body.  This is why Jesus when he married the church with the New Covenant has become one body with her.  We can now begin to see how the church became the body of Christ.  Just as Eve was the body of Adam, so the church is the body of Christ.  These are very important truths to learn and remember.  We will continue this study of the identity of the bride of Christ in my next blog.  I hope you are beginning to see and understand these important spiritual concepts.  We have now laid a foundation for getting into the subject of the identity of the bride of Christ using scriptures we can search for in the New Testament.  We have discovered that a covenant is a marriage.  God when in covenant is always the male in the relationship.  The people that God is in covenant with is always the female.  A female in covenant with God is a nation of people consisting of males and females and is always associated with a city named Jerusalem.  Then we discovered the law of marriage that states when they are joined together, they become one body.  I have another lesson that might be good to go read now that might help clarify some things or give you more information on the subject.  This lesson is called “How did the Church become the Body of Christ“. Within this lesson I actually answer many questions that I have presented in this series.  I hope that you are learning and we should be able to move into the identity of the bride in the next lesson in the series.

If you would like to continue reading this series, please go to “Part 6“.