In Genesis 2:22, we see that Jehovah takes one of Adam’s ribs and builds it into a woman. Apparently, a rib is bone of Adam’s bones and flesh of Adam’s flesh, but a rib alone can never be Adam’s counterpart. Something still needed to take place so that Woman could be brought forth. Indeed, Adam was made, but the Woman needed to be built in order to be the man’s helper and counterpart.
We know that Eve took the lead in man’s fall. Through her foolishness and independence, man as a whole fell. Yet despite this tragedy, God provided a way through life’s seeding (3:16). Seeing this promise, Adam could look upon his wife without shadow, and proclaim her Eve, mother of all living (v. 20). Consider that a woman who is so weak could be selected to bring about the corporate life that will bruise the serpent’s head (v. 15). Such a weak one was chosen to be so grand! Such a fallen one could be built to be God’s counterpart!
In the more than 2000 years of church history, the church is being built to realize the promise made to the Woman. Today, we are the church, a female in God’s eyes, and our destiny is to bring forth an overcoming life that will subdue and reign over all the earth. In the same way as Eve, in the church, we also require a building process that overcomes through life and also issues forth life. She must be cleansed, perfected, constituted, and built! We are His house and abode, His expression, His Body, and His Bride.
What becomes clear after the fall is that if we are not of the seed of the Woman, then we could only be the seed of the serpent. If that is the case, our curse is fatal; there is no way out. Today, do we see who is the Woman and who is the serpent? Are we maturing with the humanity of the Eve as she was meant to be? Are we truly mothers? Are we truly living? Do we have this original human stature, the original humanity, to conceive and bring forth children in vitality? If we care about the Lord’s purpose and His desire for us, then we will see that His victory is not attained through our individual “Eve’s” doing, but only through the corporate Woman — the church. We will be joyful to let our own doing go, to be cleansed, to be redeemed, to be perfected, to be constituted so that we may not only know the true purpose of our existence, but also be made able, enlarged, powerful, reigning, fruitful, and filled as Eve was meant to be — a corporate counterpart for God’s need.
(Above are notes of fellowship taken from a gathering on 4/24/2024, not reviewed by the speaker.)