Adam and Eve

In the book of the Dream of the Red Mansion, the main character, Baoyu, said that man was made from mud and woman was made from water. I don’t know how he figured this out, but at least what he said was half true. I was a fan for many years.

The official version is as following: God caused the man who was made by mud to fall into a deep sleep, and while he was sleeping God took one of the man’s ribs, a bone near his heart, and used it to make a woman.

God presented her to Adam when he awoke. He immediately recognized that this woman was part of his life. She would make him complete. Immediately he uttered the most romantic love poem, “this is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She will be called woman, for she was taken out of man.”

I have never read a poem so moving, that so fully expresses a man’s feelings towards a woman, full of care, respect and appreciation. Not only did he express his love to the woman, he also expressed his gratitude for God to use such a method to introduce a matching being into his life. Men, do not be mistaken, it is woman who is bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh. Then the man united with his wife, becoming one flesh.

The man and his wife were both naked and they felt no shame. Those simple but direct expressions fully display God’s blessing towards marriage, and also fully express the belongingness of husband and wife. Of all other marriages in human history, there is none more beautiful than this one. Not only did Adam and Eve not need to cover their body, they did not need to cover their minds, emotions, and desire. Future couples cover themselves, both physically and mentally. There is almost no depiction, whether in art or literature, of Adam and Eve’s love story, because it is so beautiful that sinful people simply cannot comprehend their relationship.

Not only were Adam and Eve close, the relationship they had with God was harmonious and intimate. Under loving watch of their heavenly father, they matured and flourished, but never getting old. They enjoyed more and more the freedom that God blessed them with, choosing to do all sorts of creative activities. God was so pleased to see their happiness and joy.

God set just one boundary for them. “They must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” This was God’s declaration of sovereignty and authority, not a forbiddance for Adam and Eve from knowing good and evil. They must accept the standard set by God for good and evil, because only their Creator knew what is good for them and what is not. God wanted them to experience total surrender and obedience under Him, which would bring about the perfect outcome. God gave them more and more opportunities to choose to submit to Him. For their benefit, God solemnly warned them that “if they eat of the fruit of that tree they would surely die.” Adam and Eve did not even have the slightest understanding of death, for they had never seen it! We now think of death as a natural phenomenon, but Adam and Eve needed faith to grasp the abstract concept.

God allowed them to eat the fruit from the tree of life, and they knew that if they ate it, they would enjoy everlasting life. But they never saw an end, a termination of life. Eternity was natural for them. Plus, there were so many other fruits in the garden, there was no hurry to eat the fruit of the one tree of life.

They had no urgent desire to eat the fruit from the tree of life, but their descendents, people of today, we use every possible method we have to find the “fruit” that will grant us eternal life. We are so afraid of death that we don’t need faith to believe in “death”; we are all too familiar with the sad reality: everyone will die. Unfortunately, people are searching for all the wrong places to escape death. However, their own efforts are fruitless. Yet, there is a fruit of life: the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the tree of life. If we accept Him as our savior, we can have eternal life. If only this blessed, lucky couple could live forever! Life was wonderful for them. But alas, an enemy was waiting in the shadows, waiting to bring about their downfall.