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Mystery
of
Man
(Continuedfrom page 21 )
ated a man out of the dust of the
ground. But God creates in dual
stages. The man was not yet physi–
cally complete. God wanted him to
"multiply and replenish the earth."
But the man could not do that be–
cause he was not yet physically com–
plete. So God put bim into a deep
sleep (anesthesia) and performed an
operat ion, removing a rib and form–
ing a woman from it. They became
one family. The physical creation of
man was completed. They could re–
produce their kind.
But the man God created was
mortal. He had only a temporary
physicochemical existence kept
alive by circulation of blood, oxi–
dized by the breath of air, and
fueled by food and water from the
ground. He did not have LIFE in–
herent- self-containing life. But he
did have a human spiri t that,
united with God's Holy Spirit,
could beget him with eternal life.
lmmortal Llfe Offered
But God offered to him immortal
LIFE through this symbolic t ree of
LIFE. God did not urge or compel
him to take it- he merely made it
freely accessible. Adam could eat
of all the trees of the garden except
the one forbidden tree, of "the
knowledge of good and evil."
What if Adam had taken of the
tree of LIFE? You probably never
heard that question answered. That
symbolic tree is offered today to
those called and drawn by God to
Jesus Christ. There is one differ–
ence between the original Adam
and the called Christian. Adam had
not yet sinned and no repentance
was necessary if he had chosen the
tree of life. Otherwise the repen–
tant and believing Spirit-begotten
Christian is in the same position
Adarn would have been had he
taken of the tree of life.
Adam would have received the
Holy Spirit of the immortal God
to join with bis human spi rit. Of
course, since Adam was required to
make a choice, he would have re–
jected the way of Satan by taking
tbe tree of life.
But again, what would have hap–
pened, had Adam taken the tree of
life?
January
1986
He would have received the
Holy Spirit of God to unite with
bis human spirit. The man was not
mentally or spiritually complete
unti l receiving the Spirit of God.
This would have united him, men–
tally and spi rituaJly, with God. He
would bave been begotten as a
child of God, just as is the con–
verted Spirit-begotten Christian.
He would have received the
Holy Spirit of God to join with bis
human spirit, begetting him as a
son of God, imparting to him the
earnest of immortal life, and mak–
ing hím at ooe with God.
As in the case of the Spirit–
begotten Christian today, where
"Christ in [us is] the hope of
glory" (Col. 1:27). And again, the
mind of Christ is in us (Phil. 2:5),
so the very mind of the Eternal
would have been in Adam. But in–
stead the mind and attitude of Sa–
tan entered into him and worked in
hím, even as ít has in al! his chil–
dren that have composed this
whole world. We read in Ephesians
2:2, that Satan, as prince of the
power of the air, does indeed actu–
ally work within humans.
At this juncture, we explaín a
point that míght be mísunderstood.
In the temptation by Satan, Eve
was deceived, but Adam was not (I
Tím. 2:13-14). Adam disobeyed
God and sinned deliberately. But
even though he was not deceived in
this original temptation, bis delib–
erate disobedience of God's explicit
command cut him off from God,
producing a state of mental perver–
sion and opening bis mind to the
deceptíons of Satan. From that mo–
ment, Adam and all bis children
after him were receptive to the
sway of Satan. Satan began to work
in the mind of Adam, even as God
would have worked in his mind had
he taken of the tree of life.
A World Held Captlve
Thus, from that moment, Satan
had spiritually kidnapped Adam,
and all his human family has ever
since been held captive by Satan.
God would have revealed to
Adam God's way of life-which is
God's spiritual law. That law is tlte
way of outflowing love- but it
would have been "the love of
God ... shed abroad in [human]
hearts by the Holy [Spirit)" (Rom.
5:5). Human natural carnal !ove
cannot fu lfill God's holy law.
But, even as a human embryo
has been begotten by human par–
ents, and just as the embryo must
develop through the process of ges–
tation before being born, so is the
Spirit-led Christian, and so would
have been Adam.
But he would have experienced a
direct connection and contact with
God.
I like to compare this to the um–
bilical cord connecting the newborn
baby with its mother. Its human life
and physical nourishment have been
supplied during gestation from the
mother to the child. God's spirit LIFE
is imparted to the Christian through
the Holy Spirit. Also, spiritual
knowledge is impar ted by God but
through the indwelliog of the Holy
Spirit ( l Cor. 2:·10). Full compre–
hensíon of God's LA
w
(bis way of
life) is imparted by God through the
Holy Spirit. But the law of God re–
quires action and performance, and
LOVE is the fulfilling of God's law
(Rom. 13:1 0), and it can be fulfilled
only by the love of and from God
(Rom. 5:5).
So Adam would have had the
in-depth spiritual knowledge to live
God's way, and also would have
been suppl ied with the divine love
that, only, can fulfill that perfect
law of !ove and put it into action.
He would also have received by
the Spirit of God the very FAITH of
God. He would have received
knowledge, guidance and help from
God. He would have had reliance
on God to intervene in matters be–
yond his control. In such matters
God supernaturally does for us
what we are unable to do for
ourselves. In other words, God
fights our battles for us.
Rejectlng God's Law and
Government
But instead Adam chose a different
kind of knowledge- he took TO
HIMSELF the knowledge of good as
well as evil. He relied wholly on
himself- both for the KNOWLEDGE
as well as power of performance of
good as well as evil. He REJECTED
reliance on God and chose the
course of SELF-reliance. The only
righteousness he could acquire was
SELF-righteousness, which to God
is like filthy rags.
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