Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 20 October 1994 — Page 32

The Muncie Times, Thursday, 20 October 1994, Page 32 RELIGION I -

Adam and Eve, a type Christ and the

The mystery of His will is in the hidden things in God that are now revealed to us. The mystery of His will takes us into the foreknowledge of God, the eternal purpose of God, the things He determined before the foundation of the world, such as the church were in the mind of God before the world began. "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love." Eph. 1:4. He has set a time to bring all things into one that is in Christ Jesus. "That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things is Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are in earth: even in

Bishop

W.J.

Duncan, D.D.

and mother, and shall be came to redeem his creation, joined unto his wife, and He came to die as the testa-

they two shall be one flesh, tor, to release the will or This is the great mystery, but promise made to Abraham I speak concerning Christ and his seed. John 1:14;

and the church." Eph. 20:28.

5:31,32.

The church is part of God’s eternal purpose. Eph. 3:11; Rom. 8:29. There are many types and foreshadowing of the church. Adam and Eve is a type of Christ and the church. This is presented in our basic

As you enter into the court you see the brazen altar, where the sacrifices were offered. Christ's death takes that altar for his wife and there dies for her. Eph. 5:25,25. The brazen laver that we approached, represents his burial. There the

stituted and ordained marriage. "There-fore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh." Gen. 2:24. When God saw that man did not have a mate. He said; "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him an help meet for him." Gen. 2:18. When Eve was made, man said, this is bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, therefore her name shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh. Gen. 2:23,24. The man and woman become one in marriage. Marriage is the joining of the two

Him." Eph. 1:10. "Whom the heaven trust receive until the time of restoration of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." Acts 3:21. God has something that he planned in eternity. "And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ. To the intent that now unto the principalities and power in heavenly places might be known by the church, the manifold wisdom of God. According to the eternal purpose which he purpose in Christ Jesus our Lord." Eph. 3:9-11. When God first began to make the world, he had the church in mind. We can see this in the marriage of Adam and Eve. "For this cause shall a man leave his father

scripture given in Ephesians 5:32. The church is seen in Isaac and Rebekah. Abraham, (type of the Father), sent his servant, Eliezer, (type of the Holy Ghost) to take a wife which was Rebekah (which is a type of the church), from his kindred which is (a type of the world) for Isaac, (which is a type of Christ). Gen. 24. The church is seen in the tabernacle, Exodus 25-38. Its layout and furnishings, the entrance with its four pillars, is the type of the four gospels. Before we enter into the body of Christ. We must hear his gospel. We must see Christ in the four gospels. Matthew shows him as a king who sat on the throne of David. Matt 1:1. Luke shows him as the Son of Man. Luke 3:3, and therefore traces his lineage back to Adam, the Son of God. He is presented as the perfect to the Greeks, greater than the Apollos. John shows him as God who

believer is identified With Him. Col. 2:11,12. We then enter into the Holy Place. This represents His body, which is the church. We get into his body when we are baptized by the same Spirit that raised Him from the dead." I Cor. 12:12,13. This is the abode of the Church of John. 15:7; I John 5:20; Psalm 15. We are now facing the veil which represents the blueness of heaven itself. We wait with rapturous expectation. We see the Church, then and now in the tabernacle. See Hebrews chapters 8,9, and 10. Many other types can be presented on this typical subject. We will now proceed to the analogy of the husband and wife as it relates to Christ. I would like to at this point in our lesson, to discuss what marriage is all about. The biblical aspect of marriage is found in the Book of Genesis. In Genesis the second chapter, God in-

sexes. The male and the female united sexually, makes one flesh. The result is a child conceived and formed or develops into one flesh. The biological science says the father's sex cell has 23 single half chromosomes and the mother has the other 23 single half chromosomes, one half traits of his father and one half traits of his mother. This signifies the oneness of marriage. To divorce is like cutting the new child into halves and sending one half back to the mother and one half back to his father. The child actually dies. That shows the detriment of divorce. From the beginning God did not plan for marriage to be dissolved. Divorcing one's mate is a painful malady. It disrupts your whole life Many times it destroys one's career and scatters one's children. They become drawn to the half chromosomes of their fathers and the half chromo-

church

somes of their mother. He loves them both. He blood related to both, while the mother and the father are related and obligated to their vows only. But God said that the husband is to love his wife as his own body. Adam said: "Bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh." Gen. 2:23. The husband is to love her as such. Eph. 5:25. When the child is conceived into the womb and the male sperm become embedded into the female egg, no other sperm can be embedded. It keeps all others from entering. This signifies no other party is to come in and separate that union. Jesus said; "Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder." Matt. 19:6-8. The purpose of God, is that marriage was to be permanent. 1- As we are joined unto the Lord permanent or it is to be a continuous union. "Know ye not, that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot? For two, saith he, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one Spirit." I Col. 6:15-17. The purpose of marriage is to procreate to continue the human race. God set the law of procreation. In Genesis, God said: "And God said, let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: In itself, and after His kind: and God saw that it was good." Gen. 1:11,12,20-22. ❖