Part 2
"Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given...therefore speak I unto them in parables; because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand..." (Matt. 13:9-13ff)Much of what Jesus spoke unto the people, He spoke in parables. The word parable means: a similitude; to lay beside, compare with, liken to. Most of the parables Jesus spoke were to illustrate a principle of the Kingdom, or a Spiritual truth. He would take that which is familiar, and lay it beside, compare it with, or liken it to that which is unfamiliar.
When Jesus was speaking in parables, He would relate to their everyday tasks. That which His listeners were familiar with, He would relate to a Spiritual principle, or truth. The parable that begins, "Behold, a sower goes forth to sow..." found in Matthew 13:3, can easily be understood by those who were familiar with farming. However if one was to think Jesus was giving lessons on farming, they missed the point.
Jesus was not instructing them to be more careful when they plant their seed. He was not saying, if they would only not waste so much, they could yield a bigger crop. He was teaching a Spiritual truth using a natural truth. Much of Scripture is written in the same way. The Word of God is written with signs and symbolism, using natural, physical things to explain Spiritual, invisible things. It is also true, not all of His hearers could understand the Spiritual truths He was speaking unless they had "ears" to hear, or "eyes" to see.
It is not uncommon for some to say; unless I see with my eyes, or hear it with my ears, I will not believe. Yet the fact is we do not see with our eyes, nor do we hear with our ears. We actually see and hear with our brain, or you might say our mind. Our eyes just take pictures, but our brain interprets those pictures. Our ears respond to sound waves, but our brain interprets the sound. How our brain is conditioned, and is taught will determine what we hear, or what we see. So it is in the Spirit.
The Word of God is Spiritual, therefore it must be Spiritually understood. When we understand God is Spirit, and His words are Spirit, and they are Life, then we must know it takes the mind of the Spirit to understand truths that are Spiritual. "For who hath known the mind of the Lord,...but we have the mind of Christ." (I Cor, 2:16) "...the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." (I Cor. 2:11,12) "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ..."(Phil. 2:5) "Be renewed in the Spirit of your Mind."(Eph. 4:23)
With this understanding we are given a new perspective as we look into the details of the Genesis story. Rather than trying to understand everything in the natural, let us look at it as a parable, and "see" it in the Spiritual, and "hear" what the Spirit is saying.
Genesis 3:24 says: "So He (God) drove out the man; and placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life."
I do not believe there is a literal Cherubim standing guard, with a literal flaming sword to protect some literal tree in a literal garden. This is all symbolic language. I do not think it is out of line to consider this garden of Eden spoken of in Genesis, is symbolically within the heart and mind of man. "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." (II Cor. 4:7) This is the place where there is perfect communion with the Creator.
Are we to think the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil are literal trees, or are they symbolic in meaning? If the trees can be symbolic, then the fruit from those trees must be symbolic also. And if the trees, and the fruit can be symbolic, then the garden in which they were planted may also have a symbolic meaning as well.
This is not to say there was not a natural garden of Eden, just as there is the natural from which parables are taken. However, as we know Jesus was not teaching farming techniques in His parables, so also there can be that which is natural in the Genesis story used as a symbolic parable. The shadow of the reality.
The word garden is from the Hebrew word meaning; a garden (as fenced). From a prim. root; to hedge about, i.e. (gen.) protect.
The word Eden comes from the root word meaning to be soft or pleasant; fig. and reflex. to live voluptuously.
Since we know that the soul is feminine, and the spirit is masculine, (not in gender, but in language) we can view the actions of the woman as that which is soul, and that of the man as spirit. When God took the woman from the side of man, He was making a distinction between soul and spirit.
When the serpent,(from the root meaning; to hiss, i.e. whisper a (magic) spell) who was more subtle than any beast of the field, was speaking to the woman; is that not like unto thoughts that come into the "field" of our soul-mind? The serpent casts the magic spell of doubt. The serpent whispers to the soul, God is holding back what is best. Of course the soul never does get the Word of God correct. The woman in defense, adding to the instruction, "neither can we touch it." By the very act of agreeing with the serpent, the woman was "eating the fruit" of the tree.
"She (the woman) took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat." (Gen. 3:6). Notice, it was the woman who was tempted and gave the man to eat. It is our soul that is tempted when we are led astray, and the soul gives to the spirit to eat. Far to often our Spirit listens to the voice of our soul, and eats the fruit it is given.
In the Gospels, when Jesus was in the wilderness for forty days, and was tempted of the devil, it was not unlike this garden of Eden experience. However, it was the Spirit, and not the soul in Jesus that could answer the temptations, and not sin.
"And the eyes of the both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons." (Gen. 3:7). How common, that man in his sin would try to cover up his guilt with the works of his own hands.
"And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself." (Gen. 3:9,10). Is there any doubt, that when God speaks to us in the garden of our heart, we will hide from His voice, and try to cover our nakedness from Him?
"And the Lord God said unto the serpent...dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life." (Gen. 3:14). Dust is that which speaks of the carnal nature. The serpent’s job is to eat the dust of the carnal nature until there is nothing left for him to eat. Jesus said "the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me." (John 14:30). Jesus did not have a carnal nature of dust for the serpent to eat.
"Unto the woman He said,...thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." (Gen 3:16). The word desire means to stretch out after; a longing, and comes from the meaning to run after or over; i.e. overflow. Thus the woman will want to overflow her husband, but he will rule over her. Again we see the soul wants to stretch out its limitations, but the spirit will rule.
"And unto Adam he said...cursed is the ground for thy sake, in sorrow thou shalt eat of it all the days of thy life..." (Gen. 3:17-19). Thus the Adam-man will eat of the fruit of the ground, (the results of carnality).
"Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken." (Gen. 3:23). Now the fellowship with God that Adam once knew, was broken. Expelled from the hedged about and protected voluptuous life he had, left to labor over ground that would only yield thorns, and thistles.
"So He drove out the man; and placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life." (Gen. 3:24). Here we see man is kept from access to the tree of life except to pass through the flaming sword. A sword speaks of the Word of God, and the fact it is flaming tells us that to pass through would bring a purging by fire to purify. This flaming sword is guarding the way to the tree of life. "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God." (Rev. 2:7)
This writing is the first time I have looked at the Story in Genesis in this way. I have tried to be clear with what I have written. There is much more contained in this Genesis account than I have included, and much more, I believe merits further consideration, as we look into the Word to see what the Spirit is saying.
END.
