In Genesis 2, we have the first Adam as a figure of Him that was to come. God placed him in paradise, the Garden of Eden. And the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” How wonderfully this reveals the thought of God in eternity: His purpose that the last Adam, now in the paradise of God, should not be alone. We then see how God formed the creatures, brought them unto Adam, and Adam gave them their names. But there was not a help-meet for him in paradise—not one of the same nature that corresponded to him. The animals were with him in paradise, companions we may say, but no creature suitable to be ONE with Adam.
Note, this was absolutely the case until “the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and He slept: and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made He a woman, and brought her unto the man.” We could not have seen this hidden type of Christ and the church, if the Holy Spirit had not revealed it in Ephesians 5:3030For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. (Ephesians 5:30). Now all is clear.
There was no Eve until Adam had been laid in the figure of death: the deep sleep. Until then he was alone, though in the midst of all creation. The Lord Jesus tells us the very same thing: Speaking of Himself, He says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. (John 12:24)). He was there with His disciples, or in heaven in the midst of angelic hosts, but as to His nature, He was and must be forever alone, unless He were to die and be raised from the dead.
Bone of His Bone
The moment Eve saw Adam, she was like him, bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh. It will be so with the second Eve, the one Bride of Christ: When she shall be presented to Him, she will be glorious; the moment we see Him, we shall be like Him (Eph. 5:2626That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, (Ephesians 5:26); 1 John 3:22Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)). There was no Eve until Adam in figure died and rose again. Then she corresponded perfectly to Adam and was part of himself. And the New Testament carries all this out fully as to the church, the bride of Christ. To faith, all is now sure, but the presentation in the perfect likeness of Christ has not yet come. Surely all this should prepare us to find something marvelously new and different when Christ, the last Adam, had died and had risen from the dead. And that something is new; that new creation is the church of God, one with Christ, the Head in heaven. “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” Thus was Eve meet to be Adam’s companion and a help-meet in the paradise of Eden. And all this was the work of God, according to His own purpose.
The Paradise of God
And is it so, are all believers, according to the purpose of God, made meet for the paradise of God? Yes, we can all give “thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light” (Col. 1:1212Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: (Colossians 1:12)). As this is the first figure of the church, it is well to note how all is of God, answering to Ephesians 1-2.
Just as Eve was one with Adam, blessed in and with him with every blessing in the earthly paradise, so now of all the saints of God: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ; according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love” (Eph. 1:3-43Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: (Ephesians 1:3‑4)). But all is of God. Did God raise Adam from his deep sleep? Then, “what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward, who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places ... and hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all” (Eph. 1:19-2319And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, 21Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: 22And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:19‑23)).
Heavenly Places
And then the same blessed God has raised us up from the dead: “Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved), and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:5-65Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: (Ephesians 2:5‑6)).
Yes, the first thought of God in giving His Son was that He might not remain alone, the Man in the glory of the heavenly paradise, but that He should have a bride, the church, in His own perfect likeness. Sins and sin forever passed away, she should share in His glory forever with and like Him — having His own sinless perfection, His own very nature. Oh, what will it be to be the companion of the last Adam in eternal glory, in every way corresponding to Him, as Eve to Adam! No other creature in the universe is to have or can have this place.
C. Stanley (adapted)