Lesson
005
“…Of
His Body, of His Flesh and of His Bones” (Ephesians 5:30)
Psalm
139
God
shared His eternal covenant – the plan for His creation of humanity to become a
universal kingdom of sons of God with the first man Adam. The covenant involves two realms – an earthly
and a heavenly. The heavenly realm is
revealed in some of the star names in the “kingdom” constellations of Aquarius
and Capricorn.
Two
cites from two realms form one universal kingdom of sons of God. The city in heaven is the New Jerusalem – its
inhabitants are the bride-wife of the Lamb. The city on earth is Jerusalem below – its inhabitants
are the remnant of the sons of Israel the “woman forsaken” (Isaiah
54:5-6).
God
explained to the man that the eternal covenant of sons of God involves two
women as well as two men.
As Adam
was a figure of His Creator, so also Adam’s woman figures or pictures the woman
for the Last Adam. The womb-man of the
bone and flesh of Adam is necessary to the man as the helper suited in
procreating. Likewise, the Last Adam’s
woman would be of His flesh and of His bones (Ephesians 5:30, Psalm
139:15). The men and their helpers are
the same flesh, one flesh, respectively.
The
LORD God put Adam in a deep sleep (picturing death) and built Adam’s woman from
the bone and flesh of the man, a body of humanity. The man Adam and his bride-wife are one flesh.
The man “plants” his seed in the womb of
another earthen vessel of his kind, a womb-man to be a “seed bearer” to produce the fruit of humanity; like reproduces
like.
All
earthly bodies – each birthed body of human flesh has one purpose: to be a seed coat for a body to be raised up in
the image of God.
In
terms of the eternal covenant and as a creation of God, Adam’s woman helper has
significance and is important to both the man and her Creator; however, she is
not the source of Adam’s personal happiness. God is the source of the fullness of
joy. The objective is to procreate sons
of humanity who might choose to become sons of God. The issue is the eternal covenant. The objective is a union of love with the seed
Christ.
The
Last Adam, come in the likeness of man, is the seed in the seed coat of humanity. The Last Adam comes in the likeness of man
and is the life everlasting; in Him
is life.
The
woman built from the same flesh and bone of the Last Adam bears the image of
the Last Adam, a body of Spirit being. God
offers life everlasting to all humanity.
Those who accept the offer of life everlasting in Christ Jesus, the Last
Adam, will be raised up sons of God. Like
reproduces like.
The woman of the Last
Adam is of His flesh and of His bones (Ephesians 5:30). The man Christ Jesus and His bride-wife are
one flesh. The Last Adam’s helper suited
is the Seed Sower. Thus, the woman built from the flesh and bones
of the Last Adam is she (sons of God) who will rule with Him in the city in the
heavenlies, the New Jerusalem. This
woman is the Lamb’s wife, the bride, and is identified as the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:9). Therefore, the New Jerusalem and the
inhabitants are the same and in the pictorial of the luminaries are a “mystery
hidden” (1Corinthians 2:7).
In the “kingdom”
constellations is the disclosure of another realm – a heavenly, but it is not specifically
identified as the Lamb’s wife, the bride. No star references indicate the ruling
authority of sons of God in the heavenly realm. The message of the stars primarily reveals an earthly
kingdom of sons of God.
The
luminaries are a heavenly pictorial of an earthly
kingdom. Israel is the primary focus
of God’s earthly kingdom. The earthly
kingdom will be the topic of our next lesson.
However,
because the Lamb’s wife is part of the covenant plan for sons of God, she is
our topic for today. Sons come forth
from seed, sons of humanity and sons of God. The one Seed Christ is Abraham’s Son of the
household of Israel; from this one Seed, a new creation came into being – sons
of God.
One Seed
brings forth a creation of sons of God in two realms – sons of God on earth and
sons of God in heaven. Sons of God are
those who bear the image (glorified body) of the Son of God. All who are born again are sons of God – Old Testament saints (Genesis 5) and
New Testament saints.
As the LORD God presented
the woman Eve, his bride-wife to her husband, Adam, so God presents the bride
the Lamb’s wife to her husband, Christ. As
Eve came forth a body built from the
bone and flesh of the body of Adam out of “death” (the deep sleep), so also out
of the death of Christ, the Seed, the Lamb’s wife was built – a body of sons of God. Like reproduces like.
The body of sons of
God is the church; the bride-wife is built of His flesh and bones and is
comprised of many members – Jew and Gentile. The church forms one body, the household of Christ,
a heavenly creation of sons of God of the heavenly realm.
The regenerate nation
of Israel – (born again) will also be sons of God. However, the nation did not come forth a body from Christ’s death; Israel is a
nation formed from the household of Abraham’s seed.
Paul
addresses the mystery of Christ, the mystery of the kingdom, in his letter to
the assembly at Ephesus. Paul writes
that the mystery was not made known in other ages as it is “now revealed” (Ephesians 3:5). To what mystery of Christ is Paul referring? Paul is not saying that the body built of Christ – the church was a mystery. The mystery is not the mystery of a body
formed. The mystery of Christ concerning
the kingdom is that the members of
the body are both Jew and Gentile (Matthew 13).
Paul
says the mystery is that Gentiles are fellow heirs with Jews. The mystery of Christ is the body,
comprised of Jew and Gentile - one body. This “in
other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto
his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit” (Ephesians 3:5).
When Israel’s Messiah
Jesus of Nazareth came, His people Israel did not receive Him. Jesus knew He would be rejected by His nation
in His first coming and that His promises concerning the Kingdom of God on
earth would be fulfilled in His second coming.
As the Jews of Jesus’
day continued to reject Jesus as Messiah, even after His resurrection and
ascension, the church was primarily Gentile. The mystery is not the new creation of a body,
but that the body includes both Jew and Gentile. This is the mystery of Christ. The truth of this is clearly attested to in
the Old Testament psalm of the “The Song of the Son of Man,” Psalm 139.
The Old Testament Psalms
are Israel’s songbook. Psalm 139 is a
synopsis of the eternal covenant written in the luminaries and speaks
prophetically of the coming one, the Messiah, who would be David’s seed and
heir to his throne.
As
Messiah, the Son of Man sings the song.
He is singing to His Father in heaven.
Music has a structure or form. There
are several structures seen within the psalms, parallel, linear and symmetric
forms (equally proportioned divisions).
Psalm
139 is a four-part symmetric form – four parts with six verses each. The form of the song conveys a message. As with the creation, so the scripture; God
never does anything without purpose or design.
In
numerology – four is the number that speaks of the four corners of the earth
and six the number of man. This song declares
to the four corners of the earth the message of the Son of Man – the song of
the eternal covenant.
The first part is
verses 1-6;
The second part is
verses 7-12;
The third part is
verses 13-18;
And the fourth part
is verses 19-24.
In the
first two parts of the psalm, the Son sings to His Father about His Father’s
all-knowing (omniscience) and His Father’s everywhere-presence (omnipresence). In the third and fourth part of the song, the
Son reflects mainly on the Father’s foreknowledge and His ability to bring His foreknown plans to fruition through the
Son.
The
prophecy of the woman built of His flesh and of His bones for the Last Adam is sung
in part three.
Beginning
with verse 13: “For thou hast possessed
my reins: thou hast covered me in my
mother’s womb.” The Son of Man sings of
the Father’s works – the preparing of a body for the Son, a body of flesh in
His mother’s womb. The Hebrew word
“possessed” means to “form” and means to create or to bring forth. In this context, it is referring to the
forming of a fetus in a womb.
“Reins”
is literally the kidneys and refers to the inner aspect of a man – be it the immaterial,
the soul of spirit being, or the inner organs.
In this context, the latter is implied – inner organs – echoing the
parallel phrase that follows: “You
covered me in my mother’s womb.”
“Covered” means to weave or knit together, describing the Father’s
activity in creating a fetus within the womb – putting the parts together.
The
Holy Spirit came upon Mary, and the power of the Highest overshadowed her. She conceived in her womb and brought forth a
Son, Jesus, the Son of the highest, the heir to David’s throne, the Holy One,
the Son of God (Luke 1:31-35).
Verse
14 reads, “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made:
marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.” The Son of Man continues His song of praise to
His Father; the Son sings of the wonder of His Father’s works. He speaks of His own embodiment on the earth – God come in the flesh in the womb of the
Virgin Mary. The Son praises His Father
for He has been made fearfully and wonderfully.
“Fearfully”
has the sense of awe-inspiring and the word “wonderfully” actually means to be
distinct or set apart – to be different. Conceived in the womb of the virgin body, God
has prepared for His Son, Spirit being of Deity, the life that God is - the one
and only Son - entirely distinctive and unique.
These are the marvelous works of the Father, which the Son knows very
well.
The
word “works” in verse 14 is in the plural. More than one work of the Father is in the
creation of a body for the Son. First, the
Father begins with the body prepared for the Son in the womb of the virgin. The second work is the body of Spirit being raised out from the dead and
the third work is the “body” created from
Him (the church).
Verse
15 says, “My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest
parts of the earth.” The Son moves from
His own incarnation to that which the Father brought forth from Him.
The word
substance, “frame,” literally refers to His bodily frame, His bones. Bones are the skeleton of the body and produce
the cells needed to supply the lifeblood to the body. The bones maintain the structure of the body
and provide the framework for the skin. The
bones of a body are manifest - seen after death, yet the Son is singing praise
to the Father because the death of the seed coat body prepared in the womb of
his mother was not the end.
The Son’s
substance is not hid from the Father; His bodily frame being made in secret in
the “lowest parts of the earth,” “skillfully wrought.” The lowest parts of the earth indicate the
realm of the dead. The word for “made”
means to build or construct – to fashion out of something already made. Was another body built or fashioned from the
Son in the realm of the dead? Yes
another body is built out of the one already made, “skillfully wrought,” in the
hidden place of death. The phrase
“skillfully wrought” in this context speaks in a figurative sense of weaving a
human embryo into existence. The key
Hebrew word in this phrase literally means to embroider or weave. In its only other usage in the Old Testament,
it refers to variegating a garment – weaving multi-colored threads together (Exodus
38:23).
The
Father determined beforehand that the Son should have a bride-wife and that she
should be holy. She is set apart and
consecrated in Jesus Christ. The Greek
word for “holy” has a common root with the word “pure” or “chaste.” The bride is to be without blemish. She, having been baptized into death with
Jesus and raised up together in regeneration, is set apart unto God in Jesus
and is pure. In her regeneration, the
Lamb’s wife is worthy of her calling. She
could not be condemned for anything (Romans 8:1, Ephesians 5:25-27, Revelation 1:4-6).
When
the fulfillment of time has come and all enemies have been put under the feet
of the anointed Son, Jesus, and the last enemy death has been overcome and the
kingdom given to the Father, Jesus will head up the earthly kingdom – the
everlasting kingdom of righteousness and peace.
As the
head of His body the church, the Lamb and His bride-wife will rule over the
earth below. All is according to the
riches of His grace. The Father of our
Lord Jesus has blessed us to live in the heavenlies with His Son and with Him. In His presence is fullness of joy and
pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11). In
His presence, all is life, love and light of Spirit being.
Through
the washing of regeneration, the Lamb has cleansed His bride of all unrighteousness
through the shedding of His blood. The
bride alive out from the dead is raised up together with Him through the
hearing of the word to obey the truth and receive the gift of the begotten Son
in whom is life everlasting.
Verse
16 reads, “Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy
book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned,
when as yet there was none of them.”
The Father’s eyes see His Son’s “substance being yet unformed.” This phrase is one word in the Hebrew, and it
refers to anything that is folded or undeveloped.
In this
context, “substance yet unformed” refers to an embryo or fetus where all the
members of the body are yet folded or undeveloped. They have not assumed their distinct form and
proportions. Therefore, the psalmist inspired of the Holy Spirit makes a bold
declaration of a collective body formed of the creation of sons of God. The body of Christ was formed out of the
death of Jesus. Many members form this
body and many are added to the church body every day. While the body is built of His flesh and bones
until she is received as His bride-wife, some of the members have fallen asleep
in Jesus – their bodies at rest waiting Jesus’ return. Those alive will remain on earth until Jesus
comes.
In the
twinkling of an eye, mortal must put on immortality; corruptible will put on incorruption
(1Corinthians 15:51-54). “Then we which
are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to
meet our Lord in the air…” (1Thessalonians 4:17). The dead in Christ will rise out of their
sleep of death, and those alive will be changed in a moment.
As with
the first Adam so the Last Adam, the consummation is the marriage. The Lord Jesus will present His glorious church,
holy and without blemish, to Himself. The
covenant of the union will be consummated.
A ceremony with guests and marriage supper will not occur. His glorious church meets Him in the air and
shall ever be with Him.
The
last part of the verse, “which in
continuance were fashioned, when as yet
there was none of them” does not refer to the Son but the creation of sons
of God that came from Him. The
italicized words are not found in the original script. A more literal rendering of this phrase would
be “And in Your book all of them were written, the lifespans fashioned, when as
yet there were none of them.” The word
for “continuance” or “days” is plural in the Hebrew – the word for the most
basic concept of time - yom. In this context, the plural means “lifespans.”
God the
Father, who sees the lifespan of each and every son of humanity who chooses to
believe and become a Son of God, writes their names in His book, the book of
the living, the book of life (Exodus 32:32, Revelation 13:8).
The
book of the living is a book of genealogy.
God registers one as living if he is born again. One must be born again in order to be
registered as living. The Father’s book
is the record of His sons of God – all sons of one Father – sons of God in the
covenant plan of life everlasting.
The
overall tense in verses 13-16 is past tense.
Were these things fulfilled when the psalmist was writing? No, they were future. However, it is spoken as if it is accomplished
– because in the plan of God, it is finished.
God who is in eternity works within time to bring forth the eternal.
The
conclusion of the mystery of Christ is in verses 17-18: “How precious also are thy thoughts unto me,
O God! How great is the sum of them! If I count them, they are more in number
than the sand: when I awake, I am still
with thee.”
The Son
sings His praises to His Father for His Father’s thoughts – they are precious,
and they are great in sum and in number.
The Father’s thoughts are more in number than the sand; they are
innumerable. Why are the Father’s thoughts
precious? They are precious because they
are innumerable thoughts of love. The
Father’s thoughts result in many sons coming to glory – glorified sons of God,
who have a relationship of love with their God. That is precious to the Son, precious to the
Father, and precious to those who believe (1Peter 2:7).
The
innumerable thoughts of the Father
knit together His brilliant plan of a
universal kingdom of sons of God – sons of God in heaven and sons of God on
earth. Each realm is satisfied with his
inheritance received from the Father.
Did you
notice the last part of verse 18? “When
I awake, I am still with you.” The word “still”
means more literally, “again.” “When I
awake, I am again with you.” This refers to the Son who left His place in
heaven in order to bring forth many sons to glory and awake to resurrection
life.
He has
awakened out of death into resurrection life to be with the Father in heaven
again. He has been glorified with the
glory He had with the Father before He created the world (John 17:5). “I am He who lives and was dead, and behold I
am alive forevermore” (Revelation 1:18).
In numerology
in the scripture, three speaks of resurrection.
The third part of the psalm conveys the resurrection of the Son of Man. The resurrection of Jesus is the key to the
gospel of Christ; it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who
believes. It is the glory of God
declared in the luminaires.
Although
the mystery of Jew and Gentile as members together of one body was hidden until
God revealed it, the message of a universal kingdom of sons of God in the stars
and this psalm show that it was always in the plan of God.
Glossary for Of His Body, of His Flesh, of His Bones
Book of Life (Revelation 3:5) – is
the record of God’s sons – all of one Father – the sons of God in the covenant
plan of life everlasting.
Jerusalem Below (on earth) – is the city in the earthly realm whose inhabitants are the
remnant of Israel, the woman forsaken (Isaiah 52-54).
Jerusalem, the New – is the
city in the heavenly realm whose inhabitants are the bride-wife of the
Lamb.
Sons of God –
are brought forth in two realms – sons of God on earth and sons of God in
heaven. Sons of God bear the image
(glorified body) of the Last Adam in God’s eternal covenant.
Woman
of the First Adam – built of his bone and flesh, is
the seed bearer.
Woman
of the Last Adam – built of his flesh and bones, is
the seed sower.
Woman,
Israel – is the nation formed of the seed of Abraham, the
seed carrier.
Handout
005A
IN THE BEGINNING, GOD
First Adam – Woman - Seed Bearer – Sons
of Humanity
Abraham – Woman Israel – Seed Carrier – Christ
Last Adam – Woman – Seed Sower – Sons of
God – Collective Body
Lamb – Last Adam -
Husband of wife
Wife
– New Jerusalem – Sons of God – Collective Body
Jacobs
Time of Trouble – 7 years
Day of God – 1,000
years
Lamb
– Bridegroom – Shepherd King of the Remnant of Israel
Wife
– Jerusalem Below – Sons of God
Everlasting
Kingdom – More Sons – Isaiah 54:1
005 –Of His Body, of His Flesh and of His Bones Handout
March 2013
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