CREATED FOR HIS PURPOSE

In Genesis 3:8 we read, “They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day,” [NASU] Now we know that God is spirit and that spirit doesn’t have the ability to physically walk, so we must consider the word “walking” in the same sense of relationship as in Enoch walked with God (Gen 5:24) and that Noah also walked with God (Gen 6:9). The old hymn Trust and Obey described walking this way, “When we walk with the Lord. In the light of his word,” - the forth verse continuing with - “Then in fellowship sweet. We will sit at his feet, Or we’ll walk by his side in the way.” Upon hearing the voice of the Lord, Adam and Eve knew that it was fellowship time. BUT, the basis of their union in fellowship had come apart because of disobedience.

One thing that I have stressed in many of my writings has been praise and worship with the emphasis being on true worship. It may well come up some place in these writings. True worship, (as opposed to “doing worship” often with the hidden to us, desire for personal blessing) is really at the heart of our Father, for it is to him that we bring honor and glory in our worship.

There are two unique references to worship the O.T. that speaks much to us. When Job learned of his losses, this was what he did, “Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped.” Job 1:20-21. [NASU] Then consider when Abraham was on his way to slay the son God had promised, “Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.” Genesis 22:5 [NASU] True worship is a heart attitude that acknowledges the correctness of the ways of God. Have you ever been challenged as Abraham or Job, and still worship the ways and worthiness of God?

Many years ago I did a word meaning search as I was preparing a study on Genesis 2:8-15. An interesting aspect of meaning of the Hebrew word translated TEND, in the fifteenth verse, helped me to see that man was created to worship.

• Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. NKJV.
• Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. NASU.

The meaning of “to cultivate” or “to tend” from the Hebrew word Abad (Strong’s #5647) has the meaning of worship in it as well as the primary meaning of to serve. In the majority of places where this Hebrew word is used, it is translated as “serve.” However, in 2 Kings 10:19-23 it is translated as WORSHIP in several translations. The NIV has it as ministers. This meaning of “worship” seems to be part of what Adam was created for, and no doubt the sense of separation from the Lord God after partaking of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil ended the purity of worship. Within mankind there has always been, and remains a need to worship someone or something.

Revelation 4:11 which is sung with the KJV wording, is one chorus that has spoken to me through the years since I first learned it. Below it is quoted from several translations for us to appreciate.

• Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. KJV
• " Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honour and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created." NASU
• "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, because you made all things. Everything existed and was made, because you wanted it." NCV
• "It is fitting, O our Lord and God, That we should ascribe unto Thee the glory and the honor and the power; For Thou didst create all things, And because it was Thy will they came into existence, and were created." Weymouth NT
• You are worthy, our Lord and God, To have ascribed to you the glory, honor and power; For you created everything, And since you willed it so, they came into existence and were created. Williams NT.
• You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honour and power, because you created all things; by your will they were created and have their being. REB

The all-important thing in these words of worship is that from out of his creation, which came into being by his WILL, is the worthiness of our Lord God being extolled. One point of interest is the phrase, “YOU CREATED ALL things.” The word “things” is not in the Greek. It is just panta/pas simply meaning ALL. How far does the word ALL extend? That depends on whether or not you believe the word PAS is all inclusive, or leaves some things, or some created beings out. In Isaiah 54:16 we read, "Behold, I Myself have created the smith who blows the fire of coals And brings out a weapon for its work; And I have created the destroyer (KJV - waster) to ruin.” [NASU] That verse simply stated that God is involved in everything whether or not it fits our theology. After describing the various locusts in Joel 2:25, these amazing words follow: “My great army which I sent against you”; [NEB] Yes, indeed it was the army of God.

In Colossians 1:16 again it is clear that God is indeed in charge of everything. As I recall, he looked upon his handiwork and pronounced it as good not just once, but multiple times.

• “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through Him and for Him.” NASU
• Through his power all things were made - - - things in heaven and on earth, things seen and unseen, all powers, authorities, lords, and rulers. All things were made through Christ and for Christ. NCV
• For in Him was created the universe of things in heaven and on earth, things seen and things unseen, thrones, dominions, princedoms, powers--all were created, and exist through and for Him. Weymouth NT

Adam Clarke said concerning the creation of man; “God was now producing a spirit, and a spirit, too, formed after the perfections of his own nature. God is the fountain whence this spirit issued, hence, the stream must resemble the spring which produced it. - - - - It was created after the image of God; and that image, Paul tells us, consisted in righteousness, true holiness, and knowledge, Eph. 4:24; Col 3:10. Hence, man was wise in his mind, holy in his heart, and righteous in his actions.” End of quote. If you can get it, God birthed out of himself as the Primal Being. Where else could ‘the adam” have come from but of his own spirit-substance leading in time to the Last Adam, who would be the elder son of a vast family of many brethren.

When one reads this part of Isaiah 53:10 - “He shall see His seed” [NKJV] - the question arises as to how a dying man would “see his seed,” his offspring. No! I’m not talking about some of the stories that circulate claiming the Jesus never really died but was just unconscious and his supposed marriage. This prophetic thought is also found in Psalm 89:29 “And I have set his seed for ever, And his throne as the days of the heavens.” [YLT] On the surface it applies to King David, however, since the true seed of Abraham was Christ (Galatians 3:16), this indeed speaks of a greater one than David. Jesus Christ was indeed the “firstborn of many brethren.” I like the NEB way of putting it, “For God knew his own before they ever were, and also ordained that they should be shaped to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the eldest among a large family of brothers.”

The question arises as to why God in his perfection would have the need, or the desire, to have a fleshly body to dwell in? John Gavazzoni put it this way; “God BECAME parental and filial by giving birth to a Son. This BECOMING of God, sprang forth out of the depths of the BEING of God.” (What’s Going On God? 2009) How can God be a Father, and a Mother without it being realized in family? Remember Luke 3:38 where the linage of Jesus - the Last Adam, ends with Adam the son of God. But that word “son” is not in the original language. The following translations have it right.

• Adam, of God - Concordant NT
• Adam of God - Panin NT
• Adam, who was of God - Lamsa
• [son] of Enos (or: Enosh), [son] of Seth, [son] of Adam, [son] of God. [NOTE: Following Joseph, in vs. 24, each name of this genealogy is a genitive phrase. Alternate renderings are: belonging to Eli.... belonging to God; or: whose source is Eli.... whose source is God; or, as a genitive of apposition: who is Eli.... who is God] Jonathan Mitchell NT

Since God made the choice, to be manifest in the flesh, he also choose to take on the limitations of humanness, so that he could relate to us with the same kind of fleshly journey that had begun with Adam. Within “the adam,” was the seed - today we would call it the DNA - of the entire human race. This seed line would in time pass through the birth canal of a young Jewish woman by the name of Mariam/Maria/Mary. This son would bear the prophetic name of Jehoshua meaning - Jehovah-saved. In the western world we call him Jesus.

Perhaps we could ask, How else could his flawlessness in every sense be tested, other than by the limitations of a physical body? In other words, would it work outside of the realm of the God-family? Again we could also ask, How else could the perfection of his created being - “the adam” - be proven to be really “good” unless subject to the fires of testing, even as metal is refined? Hence, the need for the testing of those created in his image and likeness in the Garden of Eden.

While Jonathan Mitchell wrote this about the blinding of the eyes Israel, “If you have eyes to see, you will realize that this was also the same purpose of the fall of humanity, and the expulsion from Eden. It was for enrichment.” (God of This Age 2009)

Was the failure of “the adam” the end of it all? Hardly so, for our Father desired to have a vast family of sons and with his foreknowledge already had provision for redemption that would eventually lead to the maturing of his creation into what we call sonship. As John 12:24 says,

• In most solemn truth I tell you that unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains what it was--a single grain; but that if it dies, it yields a rich harvest. Weymouth NT.
• In truth, in very truth I tell you, a grain of wheat remains a solitary grain unless it falls into the ground and dies; but if it dies, it bears a rich harvest. NEB.

The seed line through the First Adam to the Last Adam has indeed born a rich harvest which today we see as the Body of Christ for we are indeed born of God, as the apostle John wrote in his first epistle (1 John 1:5:1).