People picture Adam as a primitive man; but here he named every beast in the world. There is not a scientist anywhere in the world that could do that today.
We have all read that many times. In all of this, consider that the bride of Jesus Christ is to be a true help meet to Him, just as the wives that God has given to us are to be helpmeets to us. This is what the bride of Christ has to look forward to - to be a helpmeet to her husband-to-be.
In all this, consider that this is an extremely important aspect of marriage, with a far-reaching purpose that God had in mind. I hope this helps all of us to take our marriages more seriously and to consider the roles that we have. They do picture the future event of the church marrying Jesus Christ. That is what your marriage pictures. That is why God put it here.
God knew that it was not good for man to be alone. And we can see from the plan of God that God does not wish to be alone. Nor does His Son wish to be alone. You are part of the plan of God. He has a great future planned for you as the bride of Jesus Christ, with much to do. As we heard about in the sermonette this morning, it is just going to be wonderful.
Adam needed a mate, one with whom he might take sweet counsel. Here is one of the things you will do with Jesus Christ as your husband. God further tells us that He would make a helpmeet for Adam, not only one who would be able to respond to his feelings, but also take an intelligent and appropriate part in his active pursuits. In all that Jesus Christ does, the bride will help Him in it.
Among the animals there was not a helpmeet found for Adam. None of the animals could be equal, a companion - a sharer of man's thoughts, his observations, his purposes, his enterprises. So God would have to make someone very special for Adam, just as God has to make somebody very special for His Son, Jesus Christ - and that is you.
God could have formed the woman out of the dust of the ground, as He did Adam. But the Creator's design was to give Adam a helpmeet that would be intimately close with him in every way and who would be, in every sense, a real part of him. When Adam first saw Eve, (I could never picture Adam saying what he did. I always thought the response would be, Wow! but) Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. A more proper translation might be: This turn, or this one who passes in front of me, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. Adam recognized that.
We have to understand that the creation of a helpmeet for a man is indeed one of the most wonderful gifts God could give men. And we must understand that the bride that Jesus Christ is going to marry is going to be a wonderful gift for Him as well.
She had not been created yet. Here Adam was, a lone male among humanity. And all these animals were out there and nothing was like him. I am sure God even brought orangutans and gorillas and other monkeys, primates, and Adam could see that none of these were really like him either, even though they walked perhaps on their two legs and had opposable thumbs and all those things. They were still not human.
They were the same. All he did was give her the female particle there a so that it would be noticeable that they were of the same kind. One was just a man. The other one was a woman. They were very much alike. And even in the English man and woman has a very similar relationship. Woman simply means a man with a womb. They both contain the word man because they are both of that kind. There is just the sexual difference between them.
Verse 24 is very important. This is Moses' commentary on what had just happened. He is giving us a conclusion because these two, a man and a woman, are alike but different. They are both mankind. They are both human, but they are of the two different sexes.
What we have seen here in these two passages is that God's distinction between the sexes is binary. There are two. One of each sex is necessary for procreation. You cannot have two men or two women. There has to be just one man and one woman. That is how it works. The two sides of humanity are to come together as couples, as one in marriage. Not just for reproduction. That is only the most basic reason for the one flesh of the two, but also to accomplish higher, more spiritual goals. And they go from having a conducive family environment to preparing for eternal life. When a man and a woman come together as one flesh and they create the best environment, they can use that environment then for spiritual growth.
The same One who had formed man out of the dust of the earth and then made a perfect helpmate for him who was just like him, the first man Adam, became the second Adam through whom all will be saved.
I propose to you that in Eve we see the first promise from God of the bride of Christ, who will be just like Him. But unlike Eve or ancient Israel, this bride will always be trusted to do the right thing because Christ will have very carefully worked with her to be just like Him.
We have been called to tabernacle with Christ, as Richard has been talking about, to be spiritually as intimate with Him as Adam claimed to be with Eve, bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. We are to be part of Jesus Christ, His bride.
