Male and Female

The name of the first book in the Bible is Genesis, which means "source or origin." It is therefore in this book that we can find the answer to the two most asked questions that occupy the minds of many people today. One is the origin of the universe, and the other is the origin of man. The law of generation is undoubtedly one of the mysteries in human consciousness. Science has discovered many of the secrets of nature, but when it comes to the secret of Life the answers become much more illusive.

The search for the origin of Life and therefore of man, has always been conducted on the material level. For this reason man studies atoms and cells and DNA, because he considers these form a part of the building blocks of life. Of course in a sense they do, but we must go far beyond the material world to touch the true origin of Life. The theologians and Bible teachers have added to the confusion by suggesting that the account of creation in Genesis chapter 1, and man’s subsequent development in Genesis chapters 2 and 3 are literal, and relate to the one event.

However, the truth is that chapter one is a revelation of the nature of spiritual consciousness, while chapter two and three reveal the nature of human consciousness. These chapters are all written as allegories, for they speak not simply of material things, but also of that which is spiritual. Therefore those who are spiritually minded can understand the whole story, but others become confused by what seems to be two different stories of creation. These issues can never be rationalized nor understood without seeing that man’s true origin is not to be found in the realm of natural consciousness, but in the spiritual.

What is true concerning the spiritual account of the creation of man in Genesis chapter one, is equally true of the development of the human consciousness in man in Genesis chapter two. In creation God is providing Himself with a means of expression in the spiritual universe. Unfortunately man only sees the universe from a material point of view, and that makes its existence to be of questionable value and importance. Until we can see creation as a spiritual allegory of sublime wisdom, expressed in a thousand ways, man will simply see himself as some humanoid dancing on the strings of life without rhyme or reason.

The whole sixty-six books of the Bible are the recorded history of man. It includes allegory, prophecy, epistle and parable in the account of man’s generation, degeneration and regeneration and the issues that are involved. The first clue to something other than material is recorded in the words, "and God said……..and it was." The active instrument in creation was the spoken word, and not some physical activity. This is contrary to our human logic, and is where most Christians fail to establish truth. Let us consider the scriptures in order to clarify the issue that are at stake. Hebrews 11:3, "By faith we understand that the ‘worlds’ (or the successive ages) were framed, fashioned, put in order and equipped for their intended purpose, by the word of God, so that what we see was not made out of things that are visible!" (Amp.)

Science of necessity begins its study of "Life" with the egg and sperm, and atom and cell, all of which are part of the visible world, even though a microscope is needed to be able to observe them. But we are told that everything that has been made began as something invisible, and therefore spiritual. So if we are to understand the origin of man we must look far beyond the egg and sperm into the invisible realm of God. There is no scientific instrument made that will allow us to penetrate into the invisibility of spirit, and neither does human consciousness have any ability to access that realm. Paul states very clearly that everything that we can see with our natural vision is passing away, for it has no real sense of permanence. But those things that are invisible they are the eternal realities, for they were in existence before this material world began, 2 Cor 4:18.

Spirit has its own language, which can only be understood by those who are spiritual. For instance the scripture uses the terms, "day and night". In the natural world "day" would mean a twenty-four hour period, but in Genesis chapter one, it refers to a time of inspiration and revelation. Light throughout the Bible speaks of understanding and illumination. Night for the natural mind is the opposite of day and has a negative connotation. But the Psalmist says, "The darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day and the darkness and the light are both alike unto thee." The Psalmist is saying that nothing can be hid from the spiritual mind, for Genesis one declares Light to be supreme in the spiritual consciousness.

Natural man is educated concerning numbers, using them in every walk of life. But in Hebrew literature each number has a special meaning, so the number seven carries with it the idea of completeness. In the allegory, the six days of creation speak of the stages of development that bring us to the seventh day of our Sabbath rest as the new creation man. "Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest." Those six periods of development bring illumination, and therefore spiritual revelation and discovery to us, but on the seventh we enter into our Sabbath rest. It is then that we enter into the glorious realization of our true identity as we came from the hands of the Creator in the beginning. We rest because we recognize the perfection of our creation, and hear God say as he surveys his workmanship, that it is very good. The seven days of creation have nothing to do with the clock or the calendar, for time and space are material concepts and cannot intrude into the realm of spirit.

So it becomes very evident that Genesis chapter one is a spiritual view of the development of the Kingdom of God within us. No-where else can we see the divine nature and character of God revealed so clearly and our relationship to him, all based upon union and oneness. The source and substance of everything in this chapter is Spirit, and nothing else. Elijah discovered on the top of the mountain that "power" is not in physical or material force, but in that which is spiritual, "the still small voice."

Having established a foundation whereby we can look into the origin, both of man and the universe, we discover we are not looking at that which is visible, but into the invisible or spiritual realm. Speaking of his only begotten son who is Christ, this is what Paul has to say. Colossians 1:13-17 "Who is the image (the actual imprint) of the invisible God, and besides this, he is also the firstborn of every creature. (Note this) For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible or invisible, whether they be thrones (established authority) or those having dominion, or principalities, (beginning or origin) or powers (authorities) all things were created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things (everything and everyone) and by Him all things consist or are held together." Col 1:12

Jesus Christ in his earthly ministry sets before us a picture of both the visible and the invisible aspects of God. As Christ, he is the "image" or actual imprint of the invisible God. As Jesus, he is revealed as man who was given the ability to express the "likeness," or a visible manifestation of God. Jesus declared, "If you have seen me, you have seen my Father also." It is quite obvious that Jesus was not saying that God looks like us with a flesh and blood body, or that God is simply a man. But he was revealing a spiritual truth, that in the "form" of man, he was the embodiment of the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Jesus Christ becomes the total and complete manifestation of God, in both the visible and the invisible realms. This then presents the challenge to us today to identify with him in his spiritual being, expressing our true origin as the dwelling place of God, and revealing both the invisible, as well as the visible manifestation of God.

There are many concepts in the scriptures that are unintelligible, even to those who are students of the Bible. One of these is the issue of "male and female." It is interesting that we find this matter mentioned in the very first chapter of Genesis in connection with the creation of man. The fact that man was created "male and female" in the beginning is very rarely mentioned in Christian literature, as if it is of no consequence, or perhaps because the idea is so confusing to the natural mind of man. However, we must remember that the "male/female" aspect of man in creation is spiritual and not physical.

There are many examples in nature of creatures that are "bi-sexual," as well as those who change from male to female during their life cycle. The species of fish called barramundi are all born male, but at a certain point in their development they change to female. Many other examples of such behavior could be cited. In this particular aspect we see man as a microcosm of the universe at large. Quite often nature reflects more clearly issues of our spirituality that we have not yet even grasped. But it is in the realm of spirit that the Creator has developed these two aspects of being in man, although most Christians would only be aware of these things in the physical realm.

Today with all the emphasis society has put on our "sexuality," no one wants to even consider the truth that stands behind our God-given identity. For the most part sexuality is relegated mainly to the flesh realm and so is considered to have little or nothing to do with spiritual things. As we proceed with this study, we will see that male and female have much more to do with spirituality than with any carnal concept of sexuality. But in order to discover the truth, we must discover the divine point of view on this subject.

Gen 1:26-27. "And God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them. And God blessed them and said unto them, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth on the earth."

We need to be quite clear that God did not create a man and a woman in the beginning, but man, or Aadaam or "Au-dawm." The whole theory of "evolution" fails when we consider that no creature is so helpless as "man" in his infancy. In the animal kingdom the young develop very quickly as their instincts function as soon as they are born. However with mankind, all their needs, both bodily and mentally, must be supplied, until he is old enough to provide for himself. Therefore if man had come from the Creator’s hand as a child, he could never have survived in the world. Science so called, suggests that man developed from a very primitive state through the Stone Age, over thousands of years until he "evolved" finally into modern man. This is pure foolishness.

Faucet’s Bible Dictionary explains man’s entry into the world this way, "Not by the natural law of evolution, but by the Creator's special interposition, man came into the world, the priest of nature, to interpret her inarticulate language and offer conscious adoration before God. As Adam's incarnation was the crowning miracle of nature, so Christ's incarnation is the crowning miracle of grace" (end quote). That same man of creation, Jesus Christ, entered into this world after some 4000 years of human history, to re-establish the true manifestation of God that had been lost to all mankind, and also man’s dominion over nature. He accomplished this by identifying with all mankind in every facet of life, from infancy to his death.

Now we must return to the language of spirit to grasp the truth that is hidden in the creation of man. Male and female to the natural man refer to the men and woman of the human race. Men are distinct from woman in so many different ways not the least in body form, and their roles in life are clearly defined. The woman bears the children and supplies their need for sustenance and comfort, while the male works to supply the physical needs of the family. But when we consider man in creation, we are only speaking of one and not two. So we must understand the language of spirit when we read in Genesis chapter one that, "God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them."

Male and female represent two aspects of God made evident in creation. Everything that God created found its origin in Him, that is in spirit. We must abandon the idea of God creating a horse, and then an elephant, and so on, until he had made everything we see on the earth today. If all of creation came out of spirit then everything must be a part of God who is that Spirit. So the human concept of God creating a man with a head, torso, two arms and two legs is pure fantasy. The man in Genesis one was pure spirit, invisible and intangible, and in the words of Scripture, in the likeness and image of God. Whatever God is, was just as applicable to that first man, who represented all of mankind, who are also omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent.

Male and female naturally bring us to humanity as we know it today, and define the great gap between man, as we understand him now with our darkened mentality, and the spirit man as he was created in the beginning. Today male and female is simply a physical distinction based upon the natural body and its design. Our failure to understand spiritual language has completely distorted the whole picture. In creation male and female were united in the man God created in Genesis chapter one, and did not function independently of each other. In the creation of man, God did not need any help from anyone or anything outside of himself. This takes us far beyond the egg and sperm of our present concept of conception and reproduction. However, God who is Spirit, was able to produce man out of the invisible realm without any external assistance, providing him (man) with the same divine ability to reproduce out of himself, because he was Spirit also.

The command given to that first man, who was Christ, was for him to be fruitful and fill the earth. Everything necessary to reproduce after his kind was within him, for that spirit contained both the male and the female united and functioning as one. However Christians today generally consider that God’s purpose is for man to select a wife and get married and then have children, based upon the egg and the sperm. Of course we understand that this does not constitute our children as the children of God, so we then have to teach them about a new birth, and to seek to convert them by religious means to become "the children of God." Man has lost his true identity, believing his natural birth from egg and sperm is his origin, constituting mankind a mortal, human being. Christendom has therefore had to devise a method to change our natural children, born of a woman, into the spiritual children of God.

Abraham was concerned that he had no heir, and so with his human mind he thought his servant would be the one to inherit what belonged to him. But Abraham was not considering leaving some material legacy to his offspring as man does today, but he himself was heir to wealth so great, it was beyond human imagination. His name was declared by God to be "Great," and this was Abram, which means, "Exhalted Father." What a legacy we can pass on to our children, such a wonderful name they can inherit from us. His name was changed to Abraham meaning "Father Of a Great Multitude." Just think for a moment, we are the seed of Abraham and as such this is our heritage that Father has purposed we pass on to our "spiritual children," in this our generation.

God said, "Unto thy seed will I give this land of promise," and that "land" represents Father’s house, or the Kingdom of God. This land of promise is in contrast to this present evil world that has intruded into our lives, bringing with it the fruit of good and evil. Our lives are torn by a system of opposites such as sickness and health, love and hate, wealth and poverty, birth and death, success and failure. We have forgotten our Garden of Eden experience and with it our spiritual understanding. Now we are filled with fear and the desires of the flesh. We are not enjoying living under the Law of God, nor his protection and sustaining power, but are subject to our human beliefs, which we consider to be true. It was Abraham who ultimately broke through the veil of human consciousness and possessed the everlasting covenant he received from God.

This beloved is our inheritance to be possessed and then passed on to our "spiritual children." I am speaking about our inheritance through Abraham, which is valued far above diamonds, rubies or gold, and who shall be our heir to inherit the unsearchable riches of our heavenly Father. Most Christians are more concerned about leaving money and possessions to their natural family, than they are about passing on any spiritual legacy they may have. How tragic that so many Christians have no recognition of their inheritance in Christ, or that we are heirs of God. Nor has it entered into their darkened mind that we have the power to transmit the riches of heaven to all mankind. Abraham was given a promise that his seed would be as the stars of heaven, and through that "seed" all the nations of the earth would be blessed with the blessing of Abraham.

Abraham had to learn the ways of God, that male and female are spiritual attributes and not just physical. So in his darkened mind he took his Egyptian slave and conceived by her through egg and sperm. However, when he paraded Ishmael before the Lord as his heir, God would not receive him, for he was not birthed by the divine seed. Then according to the word of the Lord, Sarah at ninety years of age conceived even when her womb had no natural ability to reproduce, and Abraham had his heir whose name was Isaac. Genesis 17:19 And God said, "Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him."

Abraham is the Father of the faithful, and through his faithfulness he has passed on his inheritance to those who he has begotten who are, ",he children of Abraham." Gal 3:29. One day the Lord appeared to him and said, "Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward." As God revealed himself to Abraham that day, he saw God as a protector and covering, shielding him from the effects of this world, and that everything he could ever want or need was available to him from within himself. Could there be sickness if man was God governed? Could there be disease, or accident? I do not think so. What an amazing revelation this was to Abraham.

However scripture refers to this "man" as being "male and female," but these two aspects of his being are united as "one" in this creature called man. This is the original pure spirit man, as he came from the Creator’s hand. The divine declaration is that he was "male and female," the body or form was to come later, to become a vehicle for the visible expression of the "likeness of God." Being male and female means that he would be able to reproduce out of himself without any help from outside. Having come out of God, we conclude that God must also be male and female, but again we remember that God is Spirit. So these attributes are essentially spiritual even though man’s darkened mind today considers them to be simply physical.

So now let us look at creation as it is recorded for us in the scriptures. First of all we must remember that everything that came forth into visibility had its origin in the invisible realm of spirit. Scripture declares that God is Spirit, and therefore invisible and eternal. God conceived the idea of creation in his infinite mind, so that it became the true origin of everything that was created. Then as the thoughts developed into ideas the next step was to give expression to them through the "Word." And God said, "Let there be Light, and Light appeared." Just ponder these words and the awesome power of the Word that he spoke. In God we see the spiritual "male and female" aspect producing everything that God purposed to create, and he required nothing outside of himself to make it possible.

How very earthy are the thoughts of man under the spell of the Adamic dream, to consider male and female just physical phenomena. Some of the worst aberrations in human behavior relate to the abuse of sexuality with all its related pain and suffering. The darkness of the human heart has hid completely the qualities God has built into man in creation, but have been lost due to the hypnotism of the material-sense world. The term "Christian" is a totally ambiguous term in today’s world, and needs to be redefined in practice as a "Christ Person." Creation is the normal function of spirit and requires nothing from the world of the five senses to achieve its purpose. Man was created spirit and is therefore male and female.

"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; and the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 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. Therefore shall a man leave his mother and father and shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked and they were not ashamed," Gen 2:21-25.

It is most important that we understand what took place at that time. We are witness to an experience that Adam had in the Garden of Eden. Remember we are looking at an analogy here, and not a literal event, for in no other way could we ever know the things of the spirit that are being revealed to us here. The Lord God is the one involved in this unusual event, and not Elohim the God of creation. The "Lord God" is the Man created in Genesis chapter one, and his composite nature is here revealed in his name. The name "Lord" is Jehovah in the Hebrew, and relates to the man aspect of his being, involving "Jehoshua, Yahweh Yeshua," etc. and finally Jesus. The "God" part of his name is Elohim, the Creator’s name, who is an integral part of the creature he created called Man. So God and man were eternally united in the creation of Man, and have never been separated except in the darkened mind of the Adamic consciousness.

There are aspects of mystery that still surround God including the mystery of godliness, but he is revealing enough at this time so that we may know his will and purpose concerning man. In Genesis chapter two, the role of man is defined, and the "earth" of his existence also. He is put in a Garden eastward in Eden, which means "delight," which was to be the sphere of his activity. Every tree was good for food and he was given the right to eat from any of them, except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He was told not to eat of that tree because if he did, it would result in death. Now being an allegory, we know this was written in spiritual language, which we need to understand.

In chapters two and three of Genesis, there is much concerning man that is revealed here. The setting opens with, "These are the generations of the heaven and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens." We are dealing with the "generations" of the heaven’s and the earth, which means that there has been a development since they were created. It is Jehovah Elohim (the man) who is doing the "making," not the creating in this chapter. We are told that a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground. This would indicate that in the allegory there is a veil that is being drawn over the mind of the man who was put in the Garden, and this veil seems to have remained there obscuring the truth.

This "Lord God" now proceeds to bring forth a manifestation of himself, and at the same time gives him a form, using the dust of the earth. This man was not created but "made," which is the Hebrew word "Yatsar," meaning to mold as a potter would mold the clay. But even as the form was complete it had no life in itself until the Lord God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a "living soul." In creation Elohim created man in his own likeness and image, and gave him dominion over all the works of his hands, all of which was at that time spiritual and therefore invisible. Now the Lord God, Jehovah Elohim, forms man from the dust of the earth constituting him a living soul. Here is an important development in the "heavens and the earth" that Elohim created in Genesis chapter one. Now the Lord God makes the earth and the heavens, which is the reverse of the created order! see Gen 2:4.

The "heavens and the earth" speak of man, and when we understand this, Genesis chapter one carries a whole new meaning for us. Scripture reveals that the heavens do rule in the affairs of men, so God intended that the spiritual part of man should rule over the earthly part. Man now has a form made from the dust of the earth, but man in his true identity has come out of God. The form does not change our true origin. But in this process man has now become a living soul. In creation man was male and female, and because he came out of God he was also spirit. However, spirit has two aspects to its function and includes the soul. In creation the spirit and soul, or the male and the female, functioned together in total union. Spirit is the male and the soul is the female or the womb, so that in concert they have the ability to birth a manifestation of the spirit’s true identity.

But in Gensis chapter two, we find the Lord God bringing forth a manifestation of himself giving it a form from the dust of the earth, so now man has a form that he did not have in creation. In man’s development in Genesis two and three, we discover he has become a living soul, so that his life is now an expression of the soul and not the spirit. Let us discover how this happened. The Lord God put Adam to sleep and we are not told that he has awakened from that sleep. The Hebrew word used here suggests that Adam was in a trance- like state. During this time the female part of his being began to function independently, and in the allegory she was brought as a separate being to the man. When Adam saw her he said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh and she shall be called woman (IYSH-SHAH) because she was taken out of man (IYSH)." God did not create a man and a woman in the beginning, all he created was Adam, who was male and female. Gen 5:2, "Male and female created he them, and God called their name Adam!"

Now to discover how they became two separate people we must look into chapter three. Here we find the soul or the woman, functioning on her own out in the garden. The soul consists of the mind, emotions and the will, but remember that the soul and spirit functioned as one in creation. Now the soul with all its inherent abilities is functioning as woman independently of the spirit, and she encounters a snake (Heb. Nachash) that is connected with divination and witchcraft. The "serpent" gets into a discussion with the woman concerning the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The serpent deceives the woman into believing that to eat the fruit of that tree would make them wise and elevate them to "God status." Of course the snake, which is more subtle than all the beasts of the field, represents the carnal or natural mind, which can never understand the things of the spirit, considering them to be foolishness. The woman’s thoughts give rise to her natural feelings and desires, resulting in her taking the fruit they were told not to touch, lest they die.

The woman now takes the fruit to Adam (spirit) inviting him to eat also. Now Adam knew what God had said and was not deceived by the "serpent" as the woman was. He was now faced with a choice that would affect the entire human race. If he stood his ground and refused to eat of the fruit, the soul and spirit that God made one in creation would have been forever separated, and man could never return to his original state. So with his eyes wide open, and not being deceived, he took the fruit and ate. He knew that when the purposes of God had run their course, the spirit and the soul could again be reunited and man would return to the garden of God’s delight.

This allegory of the Garden of Eden concerns man who was "formed" and not created as in the beginning. Our whole human experience is formed in the mind, and thought is the clay. The garden represents for us the place of understanding and intellect in which the character of man is developed through the choices he makes, by reason and understanding. Every person on the earth is walking through their own Garden of Eden determining the circumstances of their life by the same rules that applied to Adam. The second and third chapters of Genesis are not some mystical story of a single man who rebelled against God, and as a result God has laid a curse upon all mankind because of his evil deeds, but the development of life in all humanity.

Out of this garden that symbolises the human mind, develop many different stages of consciousness and awareness. Our consciousness of duality is symbolized by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and our appreciation of eternal life is represented by the tree of Life. The rest of the trees are all good for food and represent the wholesome aspect of life. The main stream of our life is therefore determined by choices concerning the two central trees in the garden. The spiritual man is endowed with the knowledge of God and finds no attraction to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It represents a doorway into another world that God did not create, in which forces and laws other than God operate. There is no arbitrary will of God that determines whether we live in God’s world, which is the garden, or that other world where man becomes his own "god." We personally make that decision in our own garden that is within us.

Many regret the decisions they made that led to them leaving the garden to take charge of their own life and determine their own future. However, that choice is reversible, for hidden somewhere in the deep recesses of our mind is a remembrance of a time in eternity past, when we were part of that Elohim company that is a part of God. But now we find ourselves feeding pigs and suffering pain, sickness and death which brings with it a sense of separation from God. In this state, God seems like he is a million miles away up in the sky, because we chose the world of good and evil, of which we were warned not to eat, because it would result in death. But in love our Father stands daily waiting for us to "awake from our dream" and be restored to our former estate, and the infinite supply of Father’s house. Our mind is now renewed by the Holy Spirit and is able to live by the Law of Life in Christ Jesus instead of the law of sin and death that governs that "other" world. Now the flaming sword no longer stands as an obstacle to prevent us returning to the garden of God, but envelopes him, stripping away the wood, hay and stubble of a wasted life, ready to receive the robe of glory, the ring of authority, and the shoes as the King’s son.

Keep in mind that this account of Adam’s experience in the Garden of Eden, together with the now separated part of himself that he called Eve, is an allegory! To consider the Garden of Eden as literal, we must also believe the tree of Life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil are both literal trees. This would make the whole scene unintelligible, and teach us nothing. But as an allegory there is much we can learn concerning "man" that will help us today. In this Garden of Eden story man has made God, in man’s image and likeness, knowing both good and evil. So here we find God manifesting human qualities such as, anger and punishment by driving man out of the garden, which is in contrast to the God of creation that is Spirit and cannot be conceptualized.

But Adam had to pay the price for his decision. After eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil changes took place in the man and the woman. His body that once was radiant with light as he communed and fellowshipped with God in the Garden, now changed as the "Light" vibration began to slow as mortality set in. His consciousness changed, for he now saw himself as naked, and as a result he hid from the Lord God. When the Lord found him hiding behind a tree he asked him why he was hiding? Adam replied, "Because I was naked." The answer came back in the form of a question, "Who told you?" The answer implied that God did not tell him he was naked, but he received that idea from some other source, which was his mind that was now functioning in another dimension other than spirit.

The Hebrew word for "naked" means to be crafty, subtle or shrewd, or to take crafty counsel. It also carries the connotation of breaking loose or casting off restraint. However it is evident that Adam had picked up the attributes of the serpent, and man had become a servant or prisoner of his mind. It is important for us to know that the concept of life and death in the Bible is not the same as man considers them to be. When we speak of death today we are speaking of someone whose life is finished and their body needs to be buried. But in scripture "death" speaks of separation from God and has little to do with a cemetery. John 17:3, defines life as knowing God in terms of reality, and not just knowing about God. So conversely, if a man does not know God in reality, then as far as the Bible is concerned he is dead.

Adam did not drop dead that day in the garden as we would consider death in our natural consciousness. But he felt alienated from God from that time, believing he was cast out of the presence of God into a wilderness. Man today lives in the same consciousness apart from God. Even Christians believe God is up in the sky and no longer dwells with us, so they are waiting for him to return in the sweet bye and bye. Therefore they are living in the same consciousness that God is separate from them, and they are busy doing everything the religious world tells them to try and get back to God and convince him to love them.

The man of Genesis chapter two, was given a task to fulfill, and that was to look after the garden and to guard it. This allegory is an unfolding of the process by which man establishes his consciousness, and so we must understand the spiritual language used here. The garden refers to the mind of man and the trees are the thoughts that develop in the mind. In the Old Testament the "mind" and "soul" are from the same word, revealing to us that the mind is a prime function of the soul. It is the faculty of reason and intellect, and from it develop the issues of life. There is nothing a person will do that has not originated first in the mind as a thought. The mind of man is a prolific producer of thoughts, some of which are produced by an external stimulus, such as what we see, hear, touch, smell and taste; these are the triggers of much of our thought life.

The five natural senses we have just mentioned have a direct connection to our mind where the thought develops and then is passed on to the will to express or experience the thing we desire. This reveals the direct link that has been established between the soul and the body, so that we express clearly that man functions as a "living soul." Let us remember that in the beginning, the soul and the spirit were united and functioned as one. But the garden allegory exposes the activity of soul functioning without any liaison with the spirit.

The trees of the garden of man’s mind (which is sometimes also called his heart), represents the thoughts that are planted and that proceed to produce their fruit. Here we discover a law that God established in creation in Genesis chapter one, "And God said, let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit trees yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth, and it was so." The Apostle Paul applies this law to our everyday life by saying, "Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, (a thought) that shall he also reap (a harvest)." Then the Apostle applies it directly to man with regard to his mind, "He that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but if he sows to the spirit he shall of the spirit reap Life everlasting."

The whole Garden of Eden story is full of teaching about life as we live it today, and the care we need to take about the "trees," or thoughts we allow to take root in our mind. For everyone will produce fruit and we will reap the harvest of our own planting, producing corruption or Life. Jesus spoke of this when he said, "And now the axe is laid unto the root of the trees (thoughts), therefore every ‘tree’ that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire." This is the fuel that feeds the fires of affliction. Jesus further reminds us that a "good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit."

But his most important word on this subject is found in Matt. 6:25-34. "Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?" Jesus is giving us a direct command that when it comes to the issues of life, we are not to use thoughts to bring about change. Your mind cannot help you with the matters of life, so do not even try and use your thoughts to cause such changes.

In the garden of your heart or mind, God has planted a tree that controls all the issues of life, and it is called, the tree of Life, and this "tree" represents Christ. Remember Jesus Christ said, "I am the Way the Truth and the Life." This tree can only be accessed by being still and hearing the voice of God. The natural thoughts of many so fill their minds, so that the still small voice of the spirit is drowned out and cannot be heard. In our "dream-like state" we are convinced that if we shun the evil, and do the right that we shall be as "gods." But our thoughts are being driven by our desires and assisted by our emotions, so no change is really possible. Our consciousness is centered in self, and our origin and former state in the beginning has faded from view and is lost in the mist of time.

In our mortality, our life is governed by the law of sin and death, causing the darkness in our mind to hide the tree of Life from our view, so we live in hope of finding eternal life on the other side of death, by fulfilling our religious obligations. In order to have access to the tree of Life, which is Christ, we need our mind to be renewed by the Holy Spirit, who will illuminate our understanding so that we can see that Christ is our Life and our true identity. So we conclude that our thoughts and our mind have no capacity to reveal Christ to us until the light of God is turned on in our hearts.

When Adam ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, his whole world changed according to his perception. He looked out now upon a wilderness instead of the garden he previously enjoyed. This was his new reality, for he had entered into that "other" world that God did not create, but is the "illusion of life" to all who would embrace the knowledge of good and evil. If this were God’s world, then his declaration that everything is very good would be evident wherever we looked. How could this be God’s world with murder and rape, with starvation and hunger, sickness and health, love and hate, desire and fear, wealth and poverty, birth and death, success and failure operating every day? This "other" world is filled with opposites, unlike the world of God’s creation, which he declared to be very good.

Man does not live under the law of God, or his protection and sustaining power, but he lives under the law of sin and death. The law under which we live are the laws we have developed in our mind. In general those laws declare, "If I do good then God will love me and bless me, but if I do wrong he will punish me and I will suffer." How many consider that sickness is a tool in God’s hand to make us better Christians? If that were true we should all give our children some life threatening illness so they will love God more!! Someone dies young and we wonder if they were homosexual or living in sin in some way. These are the laws our benighted minds dream up while we are under the hypnosis of duality.

Paul has made it very clear that everything we can see with our eyes is passing away for it has no reality. All of creation as it came from the Creator’s hand, was spiritual and therefore invisible. So Paul continues by saying that all the eternal realities are in the realm of spirit and are invisible to the natural man. Jesus told the people of his day that the Kingdom of God is within you. This is our real world beloved, for it is Father’s house, where even the servants have plenty and to spare. This is our inheritance for we are "heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ." In the parable of the Prodigal Son, Father said, "All that I have is yours."

The Kingdom of God is ruled by love, and nothing that defiles can enter therein. It was John who on the Isle of Patmos saw into the reality of that Kingdom and defined it for us. "And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall their be any more pain, for the former things have passed away." From these scriptures it is evident that when we enter into the Kingdom of God we have awakened from the Adamic dream to touch the reality that was always there.

However, most people still live under the power of the universal mind that is plagued by the series of opposites and their conflicting forces. They believe they have the ability to choose good over evil, or right over wrong. But the truth is they are captives to the hypnotic influences that surround them, and captive to their human concepts. We are living in an atmosphere of mental suggestion, as it is recorded for us the Genesis chapter three. Man is driven by his emotions and the desires of the flesh, so that when he would do good he discovers that evil is present with him. Paul expressed it in these words, "The good that I want to do I do not do, but the evil that I do not want to do, that is what I find myself doing. O wretched man (enduring trouble and strife) that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death."

Many Christians have never understood what the "death" of Adam involved, since life seemed to continue on for 930 years. In the spiritual language of the Bible, death has little to do with the end of life in the natural sense. Paul says, "And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sins," Eph 2:1. Obviously Paul is not speaking about dying and being buried in a cemetery. In creation man possessed the same life that God had, for God and man were united in this crowning glory of creation that was called man. In sharing the same life, God and man entered into a spiritual union of function and purpose, for that man was eternal.

However because God is omniscient he knew all things, and so a warning was issued to Adam, who now had a form from the dust and was put into the Garden of Eden, the place of delight, where he walked in union and communion with God. He could eat of all the trees of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he should not eat of , because in the day that he embraced that knowledge he would die. This is the first mention of death, for up to that point nothing had died in all creation.

Now there are certain facts we must keep in mind. The first point we must understand is that God did not say, that if you eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, I will kill you! It was not a threat, nor was it a law, and neither was it given as a punishment of any kind. If you said to your young child, do not put your hand in the fire because if you do you will get burned. Would that be a threat? I do not think so, but it would be a father trying to protect his child from being hurt. And if the child did get burned, would you cast them out and disown them for their rebellion? Secondly, God did not say, "If you eat the fruit of that tree I will take away your eternal life and you will die!" The only person who could put his life in jeopardy was Adam himself, and he was warned by a loving Father not to eat of the tree of knowledge, because he knew what the consequences would be.

Having established those facts, can anyone tell me why Christendom has turned this episode into some foul rebellion against God, that caused him to curse the whole human race, removing the eternal life that was given to man in creation, making him mortal and punishing him with an eternal hell unless he repents? That whole idea is just a figment of the imagination of man. To correct some of these false ideas let us look at what happened when Adam died. The first thing we notice is that he believed he was naked. This word "naked" comes from a Hebrew word that means to be "crafty or subtle." Externally nothing had changed, but a subtle change had taken place in the mind of Adam, after he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It was that "knowledge" of good and evil that had changed his perception of himself. This word "knowledge" is the Hebrew word "Yaw-dah," and speaks of a very intimate knowledge that brings with it a joining together.

This was not just knowing something, but man became intimately involved with this knowledge system that has nothing to do with God, but established itself in the mind of Adam as his reality. There was no such thing in all of creation that was said to be "evil," as we read when God surveyed creation he declared everything to be very good. By embracing this knowledge system Adam cut himself off from the knowledge stream that flows out of God, because the two are contrary to each other. You cannot believe in good and evil and believe in God at the same time. To believe in God is to embrace only the "knowledge" of what he is, and that which he created. Evil has never been a part of God’s creation, and never will. This knowledge system is based upon a series of opposites that continually oppose each other. Today the majority of Christians believe in both good and evil, sickness and health, love and hate, life and death, success and failure, birth and death, etc.

What has God got to do with evil, or with sickness, or with failure, or any of the other opposites that form a part of the Adamic consciousness? If you believe that God has anything to do with any of those things, you are part of the universal deception that has deceived the whole world. To put it in context with our study, you have eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil with exactly the same result as Adam experienced. By eating from this tree, Adam developed a new perception of himself and also of God. He saw himself as being naked, so he hid from God behind the trees. Before this he walked with God and talked with God in perfect harmony, but now he is afraid of God. How can this be? The knowledge of opposites had become Adam’s reality. Evil was just as real as good, and fear was just as real as love. The God of Love he worshipped now had become his enemy from whom he must hide himself, but God had done nothing to cause this reaction in Adam.

God said to Adam, "Where are you?" God was saying why do you feel like you are nothing, and ashamed of what you are? Adam replied, "I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself." God’s reply is most instructive for he said, "Who told you?" Adam had tuned in to another voice that had installed itself as the authority within him, over-ruling the voice of God. Here we see what the "death" of Adam involved as the divine government was overthrown by the serpent. Paul speaks of this situation by describing that person as the "creature," and the "natural man," who does not receive the things of the spirit of God, "for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned."

Before this situation can be remedied we must acknowledge that this "creature" or "natural man" does not live under the law or protection of God, and neither is he governed or sustained by God. This is regardless of what he may believe or what religious fervor he may manifest in his life. If a man is sustained and governed by God would he be subject to all the corruption that is in the world? I do not think so! Do you not think that living under grace should diminish sickness and disease, and that the corruption of the world should not have any effect upon him? It is this "death" that Adam experienced and accounts for the fact that so many Christians die young from accidents and terrible diseases.

Every day Christians pray for protection, for healing, and many other things, but those prayers seem to fall on deaf ears. Many cry to the Lord for help in a thousand different ways but nothing seems to change. So few seem to ever come to the place where they are honest enough to even ask why? Most people accept the serpent’s version of things, that God is punishing us for our sins and so we deserve what we get, because God is sovereign in this world. Jesus set the record straight when he said that the devil was a liar from the beginning and "the truth is not in him." This "devil" or "satan" is not some external being that dogs our footsteps as we walk through life, but this is the "alien authority" that usurped the place of lordship over Adam in the Garden of Eden. Paul makes it clear that it is the "carnal mind" that is the enemy of God, and went as far as saying that it (the carnal mind)is death.

Let me make this as clear as I can, for God has never been able to bring a man under grace while he is subject to the law of sin and death. To do so he would have to over-ride man’s will, which would result in a form of slavery. This is the method used by the deceiver who takes us captive and enslaves us. Surely we would not expect God to use the same method. The truth is that God has limited himself to bringing mankind back to himself by means of love. Speaking for God the prophet said, "Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?" Ezekiel 18:31. "Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?" Ezekiel 33:11.

So many Christians think they can add spirituality to their natural humanity, which will qualify them to receive from God, but such an idea is wrong. The only way to enter into life is through dying daily, and putting off the "old man." For everyone there must be a transition from the "man of the earth," to the "Spirit Man" who has his being in Christ. No "man of the earth" will ever be able to put on immortality, for God never created a flesh and blood man. It is for this reason that Jesus told us to, "Seek first, the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and every other need will be added to us." However, most people are too busy trying to placate what they perceive to be an angry God, by observing every kind of ritual, without giving any thought to the Kingdom of God.

Remember in the Garden of Eden after eating of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam suddenly became afraid of God. Adam’s perception of God was now altered and told him that God was angry with him. Christendom has portrayed God as a monster who punishes everyone who breaks the ten commandments, through sickness, accidents and even death, and if a man does not repent, God will throw him into a burning "hell" for ever and ever. This diabolical lie has probably kept more people in darkness and despair than any other thing. This is the satanic deception that is still presented as truth by so many churches around the world today. Beloved, let me tell you the truth when I say, God is love, and he always was, and always will be.

God never punishes anyone, neither will he ever hurt you nor condemn you. God cannot stop loving you any more that the sun can stop shining, for God is love, and neither can he with-hold his blessing from you. If you are finding these statements hard to accept it is because you have the same mindset as did Adam in the Garden of Eden. Let me tell you quite plainly that you have believed the same lie Adam did, and now the truth sounds to you as if it were a lie. Let God be true and every man a liar, for God cannot deny himself. It is believing the lie that has brought mankind into death and subject to all the corruption that is in the world.

Jesus said, "But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also," Matthew 5:39. Why did Jesus command us not to resist evil? Because evil has no reality, and it is a mind formed concept. There is no recording of "evil" being a part of God’s creation and so it lacks reality. But if you resist evil, then you are giving it a sense of reality and to you it is real. Jesus said, "If your eye be single your whole body will be filled with light (understanding), but if there is duality in your vision (good and evil) then your whole body will be filled with darkness," which is ignorance of the truth.

We need to be reminded that "knowing God" is eternal life, and so it follows that the person who does not know God in reality, is dead. Jesus made a distinction between "this world" and "My Kingdom," when he spoke to Pilate, declaring that the Kingdom of God was not a part of this world. The truth is that the world we live in today is an illusion having no reality. Paul made this clear when he said, "Everything you can see with your natural eyes is temporary, for it has a beginning and it will have an end. But, the things you cannot see, because they are part of the spirit world, these are the eternal realities." We know the Kingdom of God is within us, and that Kingdom is spiritual, so it is invisible to our natural eyes while we live as mortal human beings.

To "seek first" the Kingdom of God means to concentrate on activating God’s Kingdom, so that is begins to function in us now. Many have been taught that Kingdom is physical and literal, and will function in the sweet bye and bye on this earth, which if course is not true, for Jesus said it was already there in his day. So if the Kingdom is to function in us then we must install the King. The Prophet Isaiah told us in Isaiah 9:6-7, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government (dominion) shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." Enter the King who is Christ the Lord. "Of the increase of his government (dominion) and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this."

The Apostle Paul’s ministry focused on birthing the Christ in the people to whom he ministered, see Gal 4:19. Of course such a birthing is spiritual as we embrace Christ as our true identity, because we have been created in Christ Jesus in the beginning, see Eph 2:10. Once this is true for us, the "old man" concept we once had of ourselves, as being born sinners, living under the curse, and subject to all the corruption in the world will be gone. It will be replaced by, "Sons of God" created perfect in the beginning in him, having never been separated from God and living forever. In this reality the Kingdom of God will begin to function within us and we will find ourselves living in Father’s House out of his infinite supply. As the Sons of God we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, so that all Father has is ours.

Entering into truth will release us from the law of sin and death, which made us subject to all the sickness, disease, pain, suffering of this "world," for the King is come to his throne and he said, John 16:33 "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." So if Christ is enthroned in his Kingdom within us and he has overcome the world, then it will not be able to affect us as it has done before. Peter tells us, 2 Peter 1:4 "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." Remember we are not speaking here about simply believing verses in the Bible and it will all happen for us. No, we must enter into the reality of Christ as our true identity, which will release us from the deception of the adversary’s lie, and embrace the truth of our true identity established in the beginning in Christ.

The work of divine grace demands an end to duality, and this can never be achieved until we become one within ourselves. We have been convinced that we are "spirit, soul and body," and not a unity as man was created in the beginning, for he was "spirit" plus nothing. The separation of "soul" and "spirit" was not a part of creation, for in the beginning they were one. Before we can enter into our former estate we must become one again and that is "spirit." Jesus did not believe he consisted of three parts, or he would have said, "I, my spirit, soul and body, and my Father are one." No, he simply said, "I and my Father are one!"

Jesus told us plainly, that a house divided against itself cannot stand. So we must abandon the idea of divisions in our being, if we truly believe that we are spirit. The separation between the soul and spirit has had a devastating affect upon the way we lived. When the soul began to function alone, a dramatic change came over the man for he became a living soul. Life for man now simply became an expression of the soul, which is the identity of the Adamic consciousness. It is imperative that we understand the relationship between the soul and the spirit, and the divine method of their union. Jesus used a parable to teach us this most important truth in Matt 22.

"The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king which made a marriage for his son, and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come." In this parable God is arranging a marriage for his son, who is Christ. The first ones invited to participate in this marriage are Israel, but they decline the offer. So other servants are sent out with a more persuasive invitation, only to face ridicule and in some cases physical abuse. This resulted in them being separated and excluded from the wedding. So the servants of the King were sent out again, but this time it was a very inclusive invitation. "Those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests." Those invited included all classes of people, some rich and some poor, some sick or blind or lame, it made no difference all were invited.

Before we proceed with the parable let us turn back to Genesis 2:24, where in the allegory, Eve (the soul) has just been introduced to Adam and he declares, "This is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh, and she shall be called woman (Ishaw) because she was taken out of man (Ish)." In his trance-like state Adam sees the woman having her own personal identity separate from himself, and different from him . Now we read, "Therefore (because of this) shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh." How perfect is the allegory, that the day would come when the soul (female) would leave father and mother, representing earthly consciousness, and discover her true spiritual identity in her beloved, (Spirit) and the two would be one.

What a glorious day it will be when that marriage is consummated and in our unified state, we discover the fruitfulness of that union. There can be no fruitfulness until the two have been made one. However the reason why Jesus told this parable was because of the attitude of the Pharisees, who tried to kill him because he revealed the wickedness of their hearts. But let us look at Matt 21, and see the parable Jesus is telling the people there. It was about a man who owned a vineyard and let it out to husbandmen who refused to give the owner what rightfully belonged to him. They even killed the owner’s son thinking they could now claim the vineyard for themselves.

Then Jesus quoted the scripture from Psalm 118:22, "The stone which the builders rejected the same is become the head of the corner. This is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore the Kingdom shall be taken from you and given to a nation (a people) bring forth the fruits thereof." The Pharisees thought Jesus was speaking about them, and of course he was, so they were angry with him. So those who refused to participate in honoring the wedding of the King’s son were rejected, and now the invitation is to all. The Greek word used here for wedding is also translated as "bride-chamber" in Matt 9. So these were not just people who had come for the feast, but each one was to participate in this union with Christ, the Son of the Living God.

The King is looking over the "guests" and finds a man who does not have on a wedding garment. According to custom, the "wedding garment" was supplied by the one issuing the invitation to the wedding. It speaks to us in the parable of the removal of the covering or veil that has been cast over all nations, and receiving the robe of righteousness fitting us for union with our beloved. This man refused to wear such a robe, and so disqualified himself from being made one with the King’s son. Yes, the invitation was sent out to all, but so far so few seem to have "fallen in love" with the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star, or the Rose of Sharon. In that most wonderful "Song of Songs," Solomon wrote, we find a woman who is seeking for her beloved, and we grasp something of the intensity of her search. This again is a parable of the "soul" seeking her true husband, after years of prostitution have left her empty and unfulfilled.

In order to understand what is involved in this union of soul and spirit we need to know what happened when they were separated. In the beginning the soul and spirit were united and functioned as one. However, in the separation, the soul needed something through which to express itself, and so the soul prostituted itself by joining with the body. This is the reason why man became a living soul as the body brought forth a manifestation of the soul instead of the spirit as God designed. There are three aspects to the soul’s function, mind, emotions and will. When the soul is linked to the body the emotions cause most of the body’s responses. The five natural senses become tools to excite and control body functions over-riding any attempt to moderate our behavior. We may sing with gusto, "He is Lord, he is lord, he is risen from the dead and he is Lord," but the truth is that while the soul and body are united, Christ will never be Lord in us.

The darkened mind of man cannot even recall our true identity and origin because of the strong link we have to the earthiness of our being. Being part of the "Elohim company" has long faded from our consciousness, to be replaced by our natural birth into this corrupt world. To try and change this situation has cost Christendom billions of dollars and massive organization, implementing thousands of programs world wide seeking to make people spiritual. Genesis chapter one is God’s program for the restitution of all things if we will let the spirit reveal it to us. We read that the earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep. There are no words that could better describe the condition of mankind today than these, and here we are given the answer to change this catastrophic state of affairs.

"And the Spirit of God (which is God) moved over the face of the waters!"

How simple and yet how majestic are these words, as they dismiss without a mention, the myriad efforts of man trying to accomplish what God did in a moment without raising a sweat! The power to accomplish this tremendous task is called, "the spirit of God." No committee meetings, no religious dignitaries, no five year programs, just God who is Spirit, moving over the face of the waters. The "face of the deep," refers to our consciousness that has been imprisoned by the darkness that has covered it in the "dark night of the soul." The soul has no light to give us understanding of spiritual things being limited by its separation from the spirit that is the Light of God.

This phrase, "the face of the deep," is connected to the "bottomless pit" John uses in the book of Revelation. If we close our eyes in meditation, all many will see is the darkness and they will hear nothing, and so they do not desire to stay there. But remember it is in the darkness that the spirit of God began to move, for even in the darkness there are spiritual thoughts, although they are as yet unformed. Jesus told the disciples to launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught. He was instructing them spiritually to probe the depths within their consciousness for the spiritual ideas that have been covered by the darkness of their soul. Remember, darkness and light are all the same unto the Lord, and deep within are the thoughts of our true origin waiting for us to "go fishing."

A darkened understanding is one that is ignorant of the divine presence within, until the awakening from the dream of a material sense of existence, into the spiritual sense of creation. In the Garden of Eden nothing of true reality changed. It was the darkness that covered the face of the deep that made everything seem different, but the reality remained. So God simply spoke into that darkness and said, "Light be, and Light was." Then the thoughts and understanding that have been lying dormant in the consciousness shrouded in darkness, suddenly begin to activate, and we live in a new dimension. The prophet Isaiah told of this experience saying, "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light, and they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them has the Light shined." Isa 9:2.

Paul brings the challenge for us today in Eph 5:14, "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light." This is our first day experience, as the "light" of the Kingdom of God begins to break through the mist of our human beliefs. Thoughts begin to rise in the mind of the soul, of a time when she found fulfillment in union with her true lover, and she now focuses on finding him. The veil of flesh has been drawn across between the soul and spirit concealing the realm of spirit from our understanding. But as the day dawns the soul now searches to find her fulfillment. This beloved, is the "wedding" to which all men are invited, but to which so many have no desire to become involved.

Before the soul can be free to seek its lover Christ, the union between the soul and the body must be broken. Paul teaches us about this in 2 Cor 5:1, "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building of God not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." In order for us to enter our house not made with hands, this "earthly house" or our flesh and blood body must be dissolved. The Greek word used here translated as "dissolved," means to separate that which has been joined. So Paul is saying that the soul and the body, which have been joined, must be separated. Once that release has come, the soul is free to enter into union with the spirit as it was in the beginning, and the body can now express the identity of spirit instead of that of the soul.

When the body has been freed from domination by the soul, and comes under the power of the spirit, which is the tree of life, subtle changes begin to take place. This body of ours will then function through spirit and become spiritual, for its life is no longer in the blood, but in Christ the spirit of life. Now it is no longer simply flesh and blood, but is constituted the body of Christ, through which the spirit is able to give expression to himself. When the soul and the spirit unite even as they were in the beginning, then we will discover the fruitfulness of which the prophet spoke many years before.

The prophet Isaiah said, "Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited," Isaiah 54:1-4 Paul indicates that we were married to the law, "For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God," Rom 7:2-4.

The union of the "soul" and the "body" put man under the law of sin and death, but once the "spirit" and "soul" unite, that law is over-ruled by the law of the "Spirit of Life" in Christ Jesus. Under that spiritual law we have escaped the corruption that is in the world, and the "I" that I AM, replaces my human sense of identity. The spirit that was deprived of the means to give expression to itself, now is free to manifest through the "body" that is energized by the spirit. Here is what the prophet Isaiah is saying to us, "You shall no longer be termed forsaken, but you shall be called Hephzibah, which means, "My delight is in her," and your land (body) shall be called Beulah (married). For the Lord delights in you and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a virgin, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you."

This wedding is the marriage supper of the Lamb and according to the word, the two shall become one, bringing to an end the duality that has bound us to the earth. We become one with the Lamb, which is the nature of God, and our identity is linked with heaven. This means that the heavens now rule in our expression of life for the "spirit and soul" have become one even as in the beginning. The Apostle John saw into this reality on the Island of Patmos, hearing the voice of the Elohim company saying,

It is obvious to me that we must see the goal that is set before us if we are to attain to that resurrection life that is available to us in Christ. We began our journey by seeking forgiveness for our sins and the things we believed we needed to do to take us on to maturity. But after we had done all we could we seemed no closer to reality than before, and the problems of life we faced were just as just as great others who made no claim to being a Christian. As a result many have withdrawn from the race altogether, wondering if there was any reality in Christianity at all.

In this study I have tried to present a thumb-nail picture of the real issues that are at stake in this journey of discovery. Showing the conditions that must be put in place in our lives, to enter the Kingdom of God. These conditions are part of the real world that God created, which is separate from this natural world, which is an illusion. I say this because Paul tells us that everything we can see with our natural eyes is passing away having no sense of permanency. That must include everything to do with this world, which Jesus said he had overcome. The Kingdom of God is spiritual and therefore eternal, but is reserved for those who have discovered their true identity in Christ, and have learned to function in that realm of spirit. May you be a follower of the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.

May the Lord give you understanding of these things.

Together in His Love,

Des Walter February 2002