Bone of my bones
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Genesis 2:23; Zephaniah 3:14-17
It was not good for the man to be alone. The beauty of the garden, its endless delights, the challenges of work, the excitement of exploration were not enough for Adam. And swans, dolphins, baboons, wombats, poodles – none of them solved this ‘aloneness’ either.
Creation in and of itself is not a suitable counterpart for Adam. It’s just not good to have a whole creation under man, but no-one alongside man.
Think about that for a minute. This God-like creature called man has the whole world under him. He rules the visible universe. Isn’t that a good image of the divine life?
It’s many people’s image of God – lonely ruler. But it’s not a good image of the living God. The living God does not create in order to have creatures below Him. Fundamentally He creates in order to have a counter-part alongside Him. Now there’s a challenging thought!
But it makes sense when you realise that the living God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. These Persons have always been counter-parts alongside each other. And they create a universe where this kind of unity and difference abounds.
In Hebrew “the heavens” are masculine. “The earth” is feminine. The stage is set for a love story. When we see ‘the heavens and the earth’ we’re meant to say “Those two should really get together.” Well yes. They were made for each other.
Same as humanity. The LORD Christ forms man first. But then comes the woman out of Adam’s pierced side. She is completely equal but delightfully different. And the whole point of it – the consummation if you like – is union.
So when Eve is presented to Adam he bursts out into history’s first love-song:
This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. (Genesis 2:23)
When he sees Eve, Adam sees himself. But different. She is from him. And is him. But different. But the same. But… How do you express this? Actually you have to break into poetry. Here is the beautiful otherness of the ‘opposite sex’ – and yet this is the ‘opposite’ that truly completes me. Bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh.
A life of pure dominion was not good for Adam. He needed a bride to share life with. And when he gets his bride he cannot contain his joy.
Well keep that image in mind and think about the LORD Christ and His bride, the church. He has always desired us alongside Him – as bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh. And so He took our flesh and endured the ultimate pierced side to win us. Now the goal of both our lives and His will be face-to-face fellowship on a day of singing. Not only will we sing in praise of Him. He will sing in rapturous joy to us.
He will rejoice over thee with singing. (Zephaniah 3:17)
Astonishing!
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