Sunday, February 03, 2008

The Profound Mystery

More on the Redemption of our Bodies – see ‘Who was Adam? Who are we?

In his writing to the Ephesians about marriage (natural and the Christ-marriage), Paul says: "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. (Eph. 5:32) Another reference to this ‘profound mystery’ was made by Jesus in Matthew 19:4-6 and Matthew 22:29-30.

The point I was trying to make in my post about the original form of Adam was that he was a perfect copy of God (image and likeness…) prior to the creation of Eve. I made the point about Adam being made ‘good’ (ie. perfect), and for some unspecified reason, one day Adam was ‘not good’, and something had to be done about it. The solution was a change to Adam’s body and a creation of Eve. I gave several quotes from Jacob Boeme about the cause, and also stated that Adam had broken the ‘image’ of God, and had become fashioned after the beasts of the earth (with all their faculties and instincts).

Paul says in Romans 8:23: We ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

Paul also refers to this mystery in 1 Corinthians 15:50-52: I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. Hebrews 2:14-16

Paul clearly states that our bodies, as they are (flesh and blood), cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven. Jacob Boeme says that prior to the creation of Eve, Adam was not a beast with a spirit, instead his ‘life fluid was heavenly’. Paul also states that the hope we are saved for is the ‘redemption of our bodies’ and says that at the resurrection ‘we will all be changed’. What needs to be redeemed in our bodies? Why is it part of salvation to have our bodies changed?

You see, salvation lives to bring us back to the fullness of our original form, the original intention for us. That was not to be like animals.

‘The desire of a beast is only to nourish itself and to multiply itself. It hath no understanding of any higher thing. It hath its own spirit, whereby it liveth and growth and consumeth itself. If God had intended that man should live as the beasts, He would have created him in the similitude of, and with the beasts.’ *

There is a ‘profound mystery’ in the declaration that after Eve was created ‘for this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh’. The mystery is that the ‘one flesh’ was simply whole Adam before! The creation of mankind into sexes was a fall!

‘Adam was given that which he would have, the terrestrial woman, in place of the celestial virgin; for Adam’s treachery toward his heavenly consort, disqualified him for her, and left him only fitted for an ‘Eve’. During his sleep, the woman was made out of Adam, and the image of God was destroyed. The man and the woman were made into creatures of this outer world, fashioned into mortality. Adam and Eve had still a paradisiacal consciousness, but mixed with terrestrial desire. They were ‘naked’ although ‘not ashamed’ until they had eaten of the earthly fruit.’ *

So we know that part of salvation is a redemption of (and change to) our bodies. I’m just trying to prove the reason for that. The consequence of eating from the tree did not bring about any changes to their bodies. The curses that came afterwards did not bring about any changes to their bodies. The only place we see changes to the bodies is when Eve was created. Apparently, this was wrong, because it is reversed by the completion of salvation in us.


It is good for us to learn from the salvation of the world (see ‘Save the World, Save Me!’). Just before an end is brought to all wickedness and 'ungodliness' (ie. being unlike God, as animals, living out the desires of ‘the flesh’, our bodies) on the earth, the one who reigns over every single human being is called 'the beast'. It is 'the beast' that is thrown into the lake of fire along with all his adherents, and this is the culmination of salvation.

‘The Beast’ reigns with the ‘False Prophet’ at his side, the one who deludes and distracts. The ‘false prophet’ is thrown into the lake of fire forever as well.

Let it be in us as well, that a kingdom and reign is given to 'the beast' in us, so that all the parts of us that would belong to it would be destroyed simultaneously. And let everything we believe that is untrue be given over to one head, the ‘false prophet’ in us, which deludes us about God, and also be destroyed in one fell swoop.

The final nail in the coffin for humanity is the destruction of ‘the beast’ and his kingdom. Salvation of the world is just like our own salvation - 'the beast’ in us must die. God gives 'the beast' and ‘the false prophet’ their kingdom, and God destroys that kingdom forever, and brings about his own salvation in us.


* Jacob Boeme: The Image of the Heavenly

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