Project Description
2017/01
A Word To Women
God always provides a way to escape. Let us use that escape and save ourselves much shame, sorrow and pain.
A New Year: No better time to turn our thoughts to the very first woman! Most of us cherish a very close bond with our mothers. Eve had no such bond, no other woman to turn to for advice or friendship. Yet she had blessings that we cannot have on this earth. Created perfectly sinless, she had perfect fellowship with the Lord. Sadly that life of unmarred bliss would be shattered by the action of our first mother!
Eve was the last creature to be created by the Lord. The Lord made Adam out of the dust, breathing into him the breath of life. The name Adam simply means man, and woman is the feminine version of Adam (Genesis 5:2). Of all God’s creation, mankind was uniquely made in the image of God, with a spiritual dimension, a soul (Genesis 1:27). Matthew Henry observes, “The woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.” Eve was to be the perfect companion to Adam. She was beautiful and Adam recognised her as part of himself (Genesis 2:23). This relationship between husband and wife typifies Christ’s relationship with the Church (Ephesians 5:28,29).
Life could not have been better for Eve. However, while alone, she encountered an alluring creature, and she entered into conversation without realising she was exposing herself to danger. Satan blatantly contradicted God’s word and subtly accused God of denying
mankind something beneficial. Eve looked with longing at the forbidden fruit. Reckoning that the fruit was nutritious and desirous for wisdom, she took it, later giving it to Adam also. Both discovered that Satan is a liar while God is truth. New emotions assailed our first parents: shame, guilt and sorrow. Fellowship was broken and joy gone. Temptations will come to us in similar ways, when, like Lot, we might ask, “Is it not a little one?” (Genesis 19:20) Sin is sin and will always have consequences. It will hinder our fellowship with God and may cause others to stumble. God always provides a way to escape. Let us use that escape and save ourselves much shame, sorrow and pain.
Aware of their nakedness Adam and Eve tried to cover themselves with fig leaves sewn together. Warned that death would result from disobedience, immediately they saw the finger of death and decay enter the fallen world. How thankful we are that the Lord is a “God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth” (Psalm 86:15)! He graciously sought out Adam and Eve. The Lord dealt justly with each offender and gave the first promise of the Saviour – the One who would bruise the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15). He also shed the first blood so that Adam and Eve could be clothed in skins. That bloodshed must have reinforced the dreadfulness of their sin. We likewise should attempt to grasp the cost of the remedy for our sin (1 Peter 1:18, 19). Only the blood of God’s sinless Son can atone for our sins.
Adam named his wife Eve; she would be the mother of all mankind. Motherhood would bring joy, but later acute pain when one son murdered the other. Life will bring us joy tempered by sorrow but we look for “new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Peter 3:13).
Olive Maxwell.
