God Comes in the Cool of the Day
...to Communicate with Those to Whom He Has Given Life and Hope
Ed Corley
IN THE PRECEDING ARTICLE we saw the Spirit of God brooding over the face of the waters. There was a darkness there, but the “fluttering ” of the Spirit —as though with wings of a dove —was warming the dark waters in preparation for the Light of Creation. This was primitive light, not like that of the sun or of a lamp. Sunlight came later in the week. The light of that first day became the energetic force to bind together the molecular components of all else God would bring forth by His Word.
There are two accounts of the creation of man in Genesis, the height of God’s creation. One is in Chapter 1 another in Chapter 2 .The first gives God’s Statement of Determination for Adam. The second reveals the Process of His Creation. The name Adam is from the Hebrew adahm .It means “mankind,” irrespective of gender. It bears close relation to the word dam, which means, “blood.” God made a man whose life was in his blood. This fact will be of major significance when we study the atonement, which is by the blood of Christ. In the Statement of Gen 1:26 we come upon God (Elohim, the plural of elohe) saying, Let Us make man (from adahm) in Our image (resembling Who and What We are), after our likeness (according to the way sons are like their fathers). The word image, from the Hebrew tséhlem, has the meaning of drawing so close as to cast a shadow. God began His work with Adam, never to be far from him —until rebellion brought a painful separation. Then God, in His love, brought forth another Man resembling Who and What He Himself was. This Man came from so close to God’s heart that when we beheld Him; we knew He was a Son in the image of His Father. The Apostle John had this to say: No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him (He has made Him known)—John 1:18. In Rom 5:19, Paul had this to say about The first man Adam and the last Adam… For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous. In I Cor 15:45, he said, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening (life-giving) spirit.<![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]>
IN GEN 2:7 WE FIND the Process of Adam ’s Creation. This is not another account taken from some other source. It is, rather, a statement telling how God made this man in His Own image. And the LORD God formed man (He fashioned Adam as a potter would form his work of art) of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (lives); and man (the man Adam) became a living soul.
The word, translated life in the above verse is in its plural form. It means the fullness of life. God breathed into His creature the breath of His Own Life. What a fullness! I believe this Holy Breath was the same Holy Spirit that moved over the dark waters in the dawn of creation (Gen 1:2). What God did with Adam was replicated when Jesus breathed on His disciples. See this: He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit —John 20:21. The Greek word translated breathed on, emphusáo, was used only one time in the New Testament, and only one time by the *Septuagint translators, in Gen 2:7 where we see God breathed on Adam. The original creation of Man was brought to completion by the breath of God, so the new creation of which we are a part comes to completion by the breath of His Son.<![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]>It is interesting to note in the John 20:21 passage that there is no Definite Article before Holy Spirit. It is as though Jesus drew His disciples close to Himself and said, “Here, let me breathe into you a Spirit of Life that is holy. It will make you into persons useful for carrying forward the Redemption I have completed.”We will discover that the commission laid on the first Adam was for government, while for the last Adam; it reached toward both reconciliation and government.
THE EARLY APOSTLES connected Jesus with the Genesis creation. This helps us see why God said, Let US make man in OUR image .See what John reported in his Gospel: all things were made by Him (Christ); and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was Life; and the Life was the Light of men —John 1:3,4.
Peter, a disciple who was there when Jesus breathed on them, after the Holy Spirit had taken hold of him, stood on the day of Pentecost and declared a powerful Word about the Spirit of God. He said, The promise (of receiving the Holy Spirit) is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call —Acts 2:39.Paul had these compelling words recorded in Col 1:14-17. He told of God’s dear Son …Who is the image (the exact similitude) of the invisible God, the Firstborn of every creature, the One Who is prior in His generation to all of creation. For by Him, that is, by Christ Jesus, were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.The words by Him all things consist, means all things have been permanently formed to have a continuing existence and bond in Christ, and because of Christ. He is the “bonding Agent ” that holds the world and us together. Another awesome statement regarding Jesus and His continuing work of creation comes from Paul in the second chapter of Ephesians. He declares that Jesus is making out of all earth’s peoples one new kind of person. See this: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh (brought close into a Covenant relationship with God and one another) by the blood of Christ. For He is our peace, Who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us (between the Jews and the Gentile nations); having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the Law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain (out of two kinds of people, Jew and Gentile) ONE NEW MAN (a new kind of person), so making peace —Eph 2:13-15.In Eph 3:9 Paul introduces us to the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, Who created all things by Jesus Christ.God the Father was there, His Son was there, and His Spirit was there when God said, Let US make man in OUR image. Those Three were as inseparable in the work of creation as our spirit; soul and body are inseparable in us today as we have our part in the new creation.
AFTER “THE MAN ADAM” was formed, God put him in a Garden called Eden, a name meaning “pleasant.” God had made every provision for Adam to continue living —indeed, living quite well. From Gen 2:9 we see that out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; •the Tree of Life also in the midst of the garden, and •the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Note the two trees. They were metaphors, or types, of what mankind and womankind could take into their beings for the ongoing of life. But, we will see that one tree was forbidden by the Lord —with a fateful warning.
And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it (Gen 2:15). That Adam was to dress the garden was indication he was to take God’s provision and give it continuance and improvement. That he was to keep it was indication that he was to “guard” it lest it be invaded.Then God gave this charge to Adam: Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat (eating, you may go on eating): but of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die (Gen 2:16,17). The phrase thou shalt surely die is from a Hebrew way of expression: “dying, you will die”. God was telling Adam that if he disobeyed, he would be giving up his right to eternal life. And, it meant the death process would be released for all his descendents. Even though Adam lived many years according to our reckoning, he died within the day as God promised and as He reckons a day. II Pet 3:8 tells us, One day is with the Lord as a thousand years. All the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died —Gen 5:5.In Eden Adam had all his needs provided, except for a help meet (a helper correspondingly suited to him). To meet this need, the Lord God took bone and flesh from the man himself and made a woman. The Hebrew word for “woman ” is simply the feminine form of the word for “man”—ish and ishah. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called woman (ishah), because she was taken out of man (ish).The chapter concluded with this: And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed (from Gen 2:23,25). A precious innocence rested on those first two. But it was about to be lost because Adam failed to keep the garden.
ADAM CLARKE, eminent theologian of early 18th century Britain, in his commentary on the Bible regarding Genesis 3, says, We have here one of the most difficult as well as the most important narratives in the whole Book of God. The last chapter ended with a short but striking account of the perfection and felicity of the first human beings, and this (chapter) opens with an account of their transgression, degradation, and ruin.
We need understanding in this present matter. It will prepare us to open ourselves to the Spirit of Truth of which Jesus speaks three times in the three chapters that contain His marvelous teaching about the Holy Spirit —John 14:17, 15:26 and 16:13. What a contrast with the liar that came to Eve in the Garden!
Genesis 31. Now the serpent was more subtle (cunning, given to crafty, devious dealings), than any beast (living creature) of the field, which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden! We have no introduction to the serpent. He simply appeared on the scene with an attitude against God that he was all too ready to impart to Adam’s wife. What he said to her meant, “Is it indeed so, that God has said you shall not eat from every tree of the garden?” This was an insinuating question meant to cast reproach on the Lord God, that He was depriving the man and woman of what was rightfully theirs.2. And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:3.But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die (“lest, perchance, you might die ”).
Eve was not careful with what the Lord God had said. Maybe blame should go to Adam for not adequately communicating the precise Word of God that came to him when he and God were alone in the Garden. When Eve was communicating to her sly assailant what she supposed God had said, she weakened His Word. He had said, …in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Eve said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die (“lest perchance you might die”). This would have had God saying that in their disobedience there would be a possibility that death might set in —and also a possibility of escaping it. But, what God said indicated there would be no possibility of escaping death. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye hall not surely die —Gen 3:4. “For certain! Death will not set in upon you!” Here we have the father of lies with his original lie. The writers of the New Testament called it “the lie.” He spoke the opposite of what God had said. He insinuated to the woman that God would deprive her and her husband of what was rightfully theirs. The serpent was not attempting to make our Parents “ungodly.” He was simply setting his standard by which they might become “godly.” What he presented to Eve has become the basis of all occultism, and has infiltrated many so-called Christian movements. We must remember this; Satan is not anti-religious. He is anti-Christ.
THE OBJECT OF THE TEMPTER appears to have been this: to persuade our first Parents that they could, by partaking of the tree of knowledge, become as wise and powerful as God and be able to exist for ever, independent of Him.
And when the woman saw (as the serpent wanted her to see) that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat (Gen 3:6).Then see what follows: And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons —Gen 3:7. This was their pitiful and vain attempt to cover their nakedness, their shame and their sin. But, it provided no balm for what had happened to their inner beings. And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden —Gen 3:8.
GOD CAME in the cool of the day. This seems to indicate He came at the close of the day as the sun was withdrawing its heat. But, the word translated cool is from ruach, the same word translated Spirit in Gen 1:2. I believe we should see that the Lord came into the Garden in a visitation of His Spirit. His Spirit was brooding there in the Garden, hovering near the man and woman He had placed there. Who knows what marvelous work might have been accomplished had that couple not given in to the seduction of the serpent.
Through the ages, there have been movements of the Holy Spirit in which God has come to His people to bring them further into the purpose for which He placed us on the earth. He is brooding now over the Church, preparing it for the release that will come to it with the Word of the Lord God.Not only is the Holy Spirit hovering near us, but also there is a longing in creation itself for its latter day. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain (in birth pangs) together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption (our placement as mature sons and daughters in God’s household), to wit, the redemption of our body (all the freedom obtained for us in Christ’s death and resurrection)—Rom 8:22. God is drawing us near Him in the cool of this day. And the wonder is, we are not afraid.
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