THOUGHTS

May 10, 2020

Mother's Day

A reprint from 2014

Derrick: "Dad sure says 'Wow' a lot."

Me: "He can even say it backwards."

Derrick: "Really?  Oh..."

Me:  "He can even say it upside down."

Derrick: Yes?  Oh..."

Eve was the "Mother of All Living," in the words of her husband.  In fact, scientists now confirm that all of mankind has come from the DNA of one woman.  However, God broke the mold after Eve.  She was the perfection of creation.  Can you imagine the animal-loving, tree- hugging Adam's face when God said He would make a helper suitable for him.  Was he jumping up and down hollering, "Yippee!"?  What did he imagine, a brother?  A personal chef?  A gardener?  Eve was to be a gift, not something earned, "sheer grace and benevolence."

"Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think..."

Ephesians 3:20

I can only imagine what Adam said when he woke up and saw Eve for the first time: "WOW!"  I imagine he said it backwards and upside down.  The Hebrew word used for God's creation of Eve "denotes careful construction and design.  Literally, it means God built a woman," (she was really built!)  Everything else in creation was made from nothing, spoken into existence by God.  But Adam was created out of dust, dirt, primeval mud.  However, God did divine surgery to fashion Eve from Adam's rib.  Adam was knocked out by a deep sleep, and he felt no pain.  Have you seen those funny You Tube videos of people saying humorous things when they wake up from anesthesia, like the man who saw his wife when he woke up and said, "You're so beautiful!  You're kidding, I'm married to you?  But you are so gorgeous!"  In heaven I want to see the replay of Adam when he saw Eve for the first time.  

"They were both naked (barefoot all over), the man and his wife and were not ashamed."

Genesis 2:25

John MacArthur describes it like this:  "Eve must have been a creature of unsurpassed beauty.  She was the crown and the pinnacle of God's amazing creative work.  The first female of Adam's race was the last living thing to be called into existence--actually fashioned directly by the Creator's own hand in a way that showed particular care and attention to detail.  Remember Eve wasn't made out of dust like Adam, but carefully designed from living flesh and bone.  Adam was refined dirt; Eve was a glorious refinement of humanity itself..."

"Eve, the only being ever directly created by God from the living tissue of another creature, was indeed a singular marvel...more wonderful than this woman made from a handful of Adam (no wonder Eve became such a handful!)...Eve was the living embodiment of humanity's glory (I Cor. 11:7)  God had truly saved the best for last."

"In her original state, undefiled by any evil, unblemished by any disease or defect, unspoiled by any imperfection at all, Eve was the flawless archetype of feminine excellence.  She was magnificent in every way.  Since no other woman has ever come unfallen into a curse-free world, no other woman could possibly surpass Eve's grace, charm, virtue, ingenuity, intelligence, wit, and pure innocence.  Physically, too, she must have personified all the best traits of both strength and bauty.  There is no doubt that she was a living picture of sheer radiance."

"Scripture, however, gives us no physical description of Eve.  Her beauty--splendid as it must have been--is never mentioned or even alluded to.  The focus of the biblical account is on Eve's duty to her Creator and her role alongside her husband.  That is a significant fact, reminding us that the chief distinguishing traits of true femine excellence are nothing superficial.  Women who are obsessed with image, costmetics, body shapes, and other external matters have a distorted view of femininity."

"Jesus referred to Eve's creation in Matthew 19:4-6 to prove that God's plan for marriage was established at the very beginning of human history and was based on the principles of monogamy, solidarity, and inviolability."

"Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,' 

and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,

and the two shall become one flesh'?  So then, they are no longer two but one flesh.  Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate (NKJV)"

"So the one-flesh prinicple is perfectly illustrated in the method of Eve's creation...It is not merely a physical union but a union of heart and soul as well.  Eve was Adam's complement in every sense, designed by God to be the ideal soul-companion for him."

"In his classic commentary on the Bible,  Puritan author Matthew Henry wrote these familiar words, which have been adapted and quoted in many marriage ceremonies:  'The woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.'"

In summary, Eve was the mother of all good-lookers, perfection.  Yes she made a big boo-boo in the Garden, but in her defense there was no fear of snakes before the fall, and all creatures were "pets" in the garden atmosphere.  She wasn't prepared to talk by herself to the sneaky snake, the crafty serpent who began, "Did God really say...?"  Thus Scripture is quiet on describing her outward appearnce, but clear on the results and consequences of doubting God's Word.

What does this have to do we us?  We've been injured by the fall such that no cosmetic surgery or bandage can cover our fat, freckles, age spots or aches and pains.  Just like Scripture also says of the Creator in Chief, as God said to the prophet Samuel, "God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."  (I Samuel 16:7)  How do we spend our thought life, spend our money for our physical upkeep, our time in keeping up appearances as it compares to our heart?  Does God say, "Wow!" when He looks at you, at your heart?

*The quotes from John MacArthur are from his book, "Twelve Extraordinary Women."