The word of God says,
“Can a virgin forget her ornaments,
or a bride her attire?
Yet my people have forgotten me
days without number.” Jeremiah 2:32ESV
As a bridal gown glorifies a bride and her jewelries beautify her, God is His people’s “ornament and bridal attire;” God is His people’s glory and beauty. With God, God’s people have a radiating glory that the enemy fears and runs away from. Let me show you in one example.
Balaam, who was supposed to be “the prophet of God,” got hired by Balak, the King of Moab, to curse the people of God. God’s people didn’t have any idea about this. They were minding their own business, surrounded by the presence and peace of God.
Listen:
“Then the people of Israel set out and camped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho. And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. And Moab was in great dread of the people, because they were many. Moab was overcome with fear of the people of Israel. And Moab said to the elders of Midian, “This horde will now lick up all that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field.” So Balak the son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor at Pethor, which is near the River in the land of the people of Amaw, to call him, saying, “Behold, a people has come out of Egypt. They cover the face of the earth, and they are dwelling opposite me. Come now, curse this people for me, since they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them from the land, for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”” Numbers 22:1-6ESV
So, King Balak sent his messengers with a fee to the prophet of God. Balaam heard the king’s message and how much the king was willing to pay him for cursing the people of God. Then Balaam said to the messengers, “Lodge here tonight, and I will bring back word to you, as the Lord speaks to me.” Verse 8
Of course God said to Balaam,
“You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.” Verse 12
So, Balaam refused to go with them. Then King Balak sent more dignified officials to Balaam with more lucrative gifts and promises if Balaam cursed the people of God.
This time too, Balaam replied to those people,
“Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the Lord my God to do less or more. So you, too, please stay here tonight, that I may know what more the Lord will say to me.” Verses 18-19
That night God said to Balaam,
“If the men have come to call you, rise, go with them; but only do what I tell you.” Verse 20
(You can read the whole of the story in the Book of Numbers later) but after going back and forth with King Balak, Balaam got up and went to King Balak to curse the people of God (Numbers 23:7b-10; 18b-20):
“From Aram Balak has brought me,
the king of Moab from the eastern mountains:
‘Come, curse Jacob for me,
and come, denounce Israel!’
HOW CAN I CURSE WHO GOD HAS NOT CURSED?
How can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?
For from the top of the crags I see him,
from the hills I behold him;
behold, a people dwelling alone,
and not counting itself among the nations!
Who can count the dust of Jacob
or number the fourth part of Israel?
Let me die the death of the upright,
and let my end be like his!” Numbers 23:7b-10ESV (capitalization added for emphasis)
“Rise, Balak, and hear;
give ear to me, O son of Zippor:
God is not man, that he should lie,
or a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Has he said, and will he not do it?
Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
Behold, I received a command to bless:
he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.
He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob,
nor has he seen trouble in Israel.
The Lord their God is WITH THEM,
and the shout of a king is among them.
God brings them out of Egypt
and is for them like the horns of the wild ox.
FOR THERE IS NO ENCHATMENT AGAINST JACOB,
NO DIVINATION AGAINST ISRAEL;
now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel,
‘What has God wrought!’
BEHOLD, A PEOPLE! AS A LIONESS IT RISES UP
AND AS A LION IT LIFTS ITSELF;
it does not lie down until it has devoured the prey
and drunk the blood of the slain.”” Numbers 23:18b-20ESV (capitalization added for emphasis)
Did you read that??????
It’s amazing how the enemy sees the people of God, people who dwell in the presence of God. I wish the story of Jacob/Israel ended like this but it didn’t. The people of God disobeyed and rejected their God and the consequence of their evil deeds was incalculable, many were slain. (You can continue reading to find the whole story.)
But for this particular post, I wanted to use the above passages to show you as an example how a woman who knows her God and lives in His presence has an irresistible beauty that glorifies her God but scares away all her enemies from her. And the opposite is also true as Moses accounted the story of Jacob in the Book of Numbers. If God her glory is not with her, her enemy will be her “spouse.”
God made Adam in the image of the Last Adam, Jesus Christ, as Paul writes, “Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.” Romans 5:14b
You see, God is God. He is not man. He is an eternal God and everything He does has an eternal significance, purpose and meaning. So, God made Adam in the image of who was yet to come, Jesus Christ. As I told you many times, all the books of the Bible talk about Jesus Christ. The Bible is a book of one man and one woman; in the Old Testament, God and His people and in the New Testament, Christ and His people.
So God created Adam in “the type of Jesus.” Then God said,
“It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” Genesis 2:18NASB
Why is it not good for the man to be alone? He has no one to cook for him, to wash his clothes and clean his house? For that reason, God fashioned Eve? Even those some men wished this to be true and some women unfortunately took this as the truth of God and curse their womanhood, the truth of God tells us something else.
At the end of the Universe, what are we hoping to see or what does God plan to do?
Listen,
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:4-7NASB
Did you see that?
At the end of everything, God lavishly show “the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
Okay, so an eternal God does everything in eternity and as God made Adam, He made him looking at Christ. But the story of the end doesn’t show complete picture of the end by Adam being alone.
For that, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” Genesis 2:18NASB
This “helper suitable for” Adam was found from Adam. God put Adam to sleep and “He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.” Genesis 2:21-22NASB
Did you see that?
Remember, the first Adam was made in the likeness of the Last Adam (Romans 5:14b).
As God put Adam to sleep to take out Eve from Adam’s side, God put Jesus to “sleep” on the cross to take out the Church from Jesus’ side (John 19:31-37).
So, Paul writes:
“Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. . . Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her” Ephesians 5:22-23; 25NASB
So, a man/a husband represents Christ in a one-flesh relationship called marriage; and a woman/a wife represents the Church, representing all the people of God.
Isn’t that beautiful?
It is but the story of Adam and Eve didn’t continue perfectly. Adam neglected his role of being “the head of” his wife and the savior of her and Eve carried one a conversation with the serpent. The “serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made” Genesis 3:1ESV and he successfully deceived Eve to eat the forbidden fruit and “she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.” Genesis 3:6bESV
Where was Adam while Eve was talking to the serpent? He was with her.
Did Adam get deceived by Eve or the serpent to eat the forbidden fruit? Nope! Adam was not deceived. He knew what he was doing. It was Eve who got deceived. So, the Bible says,
“Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.” Genesis 3:14ESV
From that day until this day, this dark world, the devil and our fallen flesh tell the story how Adam was holy and got defiled by Eve. Because of this twisted narration, the woman lost her dignity in the society and the society made her accept this distorted story. Some believe that a woman is nothing but “a piece of Lucifer.”
Very sad!
And a woman can only find her God-given honor and glory in Christ alone because Jesus is the only One who put the woman back to her rightful and God-given place, cleansing her from her sin. (God willing, I will continue in this next week. Thank you for reading!) ///