There is
little we know about Eve, but what we do see in Scripture speaks loudly
today as a prophetic picture of the Bride.
The
Hebrew name for Eve, Chavah, Strong's
Number <02332>, is mentioned only twice in the
Scriptures. This name comes from a Hebrew word which means to
"tell, declare, or make known." This is a Bride characteristic, of
telling, declaring, and making known the Scriptures.
Not
only does the Hebrew name appears twice in Scripture, the number two
signifying division, but we are told that the Woman was 'taken from
man,' or literally, 'taken away from, taken captive, or stolen from'
the man. In Gen 2:23, we see the Bible's own definition of
the word woman. So even the word woman
speaks of division.
This division is a most
telling characteristic of the Bride, for it is the Woman that will be
divided, or separated from, the greater Body, and then fashioned into a
Bride. Was it not Eve who was fashioned from something that
was divided, or separated, from the Body of Adam?
21
And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon
Adam, and he slept:
and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead
thereof;
22
And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a
woman,
and brought her unto the man.
23
And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she
shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
24
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave
unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. (Gen 2:21-24)
31
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be
joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.32
This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the
church. (Ephesians
5:31-32)
The
above verses reveal a fundamental truth concerning the Bride, which
Paul says is a great mystery.
The Bride of the first
Adam was fashioned from something taken from Adam's body. So
it will be that the Bride of the Last Adam will also be fashioned from
something taken from Messiah's Body, at a time that the Body is
asleep. Even now the body of Messiah as a whole, is asleep.
The
Separation of the Bride—Step 1 It appears from
Scripture that the
Bride-separation is made up of two distinct parts – of Separation, and
of Fashioning – both seen in Psalms 144:
7 Send thine hand from above; rid me, and deliver me out of
great waters,
from the hand of strange children;
8
Whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of
falsehood. (Psalms 144:7-8) This
verse shows the first part of separation is a deliverance from the
'great waters' — which speaks of the false teachings of the strange
children (Heb. "strange sons"), who speak empty words, and whose
right-hand of 'ministry' is falsehood. Who are these strange
sons today?
These strange sons are indeed called sons, but they are strangers or aliens, from the Hebrew word
<05234> meaning "not knowing or
acknowledging." We see from this that as sons of
Yahuweh, they are what we would call 'Believers,' but who do not "know
or acknowledge" Yahuweh.
So we see in Psalms
144:7 the first
step for the
Bride-candidate. She must choose to come out from
under the teaching that would disqualify one from being
part of the Bride. This false teaching is a characteristic of
the ministry of the Strange Sons – the ministry of some of the leaders that have been given the
responsibility of feeding, guarding, and watching over the flock – the 'watchmen.' Here we are reminded of what happened to the
Bride in
Song of Solomon:
The watchmen
that went about the
city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the
keepers of the walls
took away my veil from me. (Song 5:7) In
this warning to the Bride, the Watchmen are the 'Keepers of the
Wall' — those that keep the 'Walls of Salvation' among the people.
They
have been charged with keeping the spiritual well-being of the
City-Congregation. These are prophetic of many of the spiritual
leaders of today. They are Watchmen in name, but not in
deed. They are the Shepherds that do not feed the flock, as
described in Ezekiel 34. Let us continue.
These leaders 'smote' the Bride, and took away ("lifted up
and took away") her veil — a part of her Bridal garments.
They
removed the teachings of Truth that would allow her to become prepared
as a Bride. As a result she must get out from under
the teaching of these Watchmen.
It
was but a
little that I passed from
them, but I found him whom my soul loveth:
I held him, and would not
let him go, until I had brought him into my mother's house, and into
the chamber of her that conceived me. (Song 3:4)
Here we see that previously, a
little after the Bride had left ('alienated') from the Watchmen, she
found Him whom she had been seeking; As the story progresses, we see
she may have left these Watchmen and their teaching
initially,
and had begun to be fashioned as a Bride. Perhaps she had
not fully learned her lesson, for she later was smitten, and wounded,
and her veil was removed by the Watchmen. Apparently they had
convinced her to return, and she had gone back under their teaching.
But she must pass from them, and separate from them, if she is to
truly find Him whom her soul really loves.
The
Separation of the Bride— Step 2 Once
again in Psalms 144, let us look at the next step, after removing
oneself from the teaching:
Rid me, and deliver me
from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh
vanity, and
their right hand is a right hand of falsehood: (Psalms
144:11) Here
we see the next step of
Fashioning. Having left the waters of false teaching, there
is now a deliverance from the 'hand' or ministry of what had been
previously taught. There is much un-learning to be done, as
well as new Scriptural Truths to learn and to do, in order to bring
about a transformation to one resembling the Bride. The Bride is
cautioned, however, that she must maintain a heart attitude of
submission, while under the authority of her Leaders, whether they
are right or wrong. As the Bride becomes separated from one Leader, she
must maintain proper submission to others with whom she is in
fellowship.
The
first step of division, or separation, from the sleeping Body is
currently underway. As was done to Eve, the Bride-Candidate
Woman is being taken
from the sleeping Body of the Last Adam. She is leaving
the Watchmen; she is removing herself from their teaching, and is
searching
the Scriptures for herself. She is re-discovering the Bride
truths
that were hidden from her while she was under the teaching of the
Watchmen.
Likewise
the second step of Fashioning is occurring. Many today,
having found the Bride-Truths in Scripture, are undergoing
an un-learning of much of what they had learned under the ministry
of
the Watchmen.
The Bride is being fashioned by the
hand of Yahuweh. Even now, she is being prepared to be the
Bride of the Last Adam. Much like Esther, who went through
the 12 months of prescribed preparation before being brought into the
presence of the King, so Messiah's Bride is being prepared to come into
the presence of the King of Kings.
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