July 9, 2003 © Homer Kizer
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Typological Exegesis: Its Time Has Come
What Jonathon Edwards in his type notebooks sensed but couldn't fully grasp--because it wasn't then the time of the end--is that the ongoing spiritual creation of God's heirs can be seen by the shadow these heirs cast in the natural world. Simply but boldly put, the canonical history of circumcised Israel is the shadow cast by spiritual Israel in the heavenly realm. Spiritual Israel, or Christianity, the terms interchangeable in theory and mostly so in application, has seen herself from the perspective of the natural world. She truly hasn't seen herself as God has.
Individual Christians can see how they appear in the spiritual realm (i.e., before God) by using the perfect law, the law of liberty (Jas 1:24-25), as their mirror. But the greater Church has divided herself into many denominations, with most denominations labeling their competition heretics--this is the unfortunate history of the Church in the natural world. "Christians" have killed other "Christians" over major and minor doctrinal differences, all the while believing they were the sole possessors of Truth. What they have failed to appreciate is that God provided a mirror by which they could not only see themselves individually, but could see themselves as they and their competition were collectively organized. That mirror is labeled typological exegesis.
In fact, the criteria for phenomena to be included or excluded from canonical Scripture is whether the described physical phenomena is the shadow of a corresponding event that has happened to spiritual Israel, or will happen to this holy nation. Prophecy has a physical fulfillment, and a spiritual fulfillment, which will effect the natural world, but not necessarily in the way that the historic physical fulfillment did. This can be seen in Daniel's vision about the he-goat flying out of the west to trample the two-horned ram (8th chapter). The vision is for the time of the end--the vision is of an endtime event in the spiritual realm, which casts a shadow in the natural world. That shadow does not have to be connected by time to the reality that casts it since the reality occurs outside of spacetime (ed.'s note: for more about time, read "Scripture and Scholarship" in this issue of Water & Fire). That shadow was Alexander's military success against the Persians. The spiritual reality has been the on-going war in the heavenly realm this spring between the spiritual king of Greece and the spiritual sar of Persia. The effects of this heavenly war in the natural world include the U.S. coalition's victory in Iraq as well as the French, German, Russian, and U.N.'s opposition to the U.S. going it alone. The war is for whom will reign over the mental topography of humanity. The existing mental paradigms of the reigning world order, controlled by the spiritual prince of Persia, will be overturned. A new world order, controlled by the spiritual king of Greece, will emerge and continue until Christ breaks it. This is the spiritual reality of Nebuchadnezzar's vision. The shadow cast in the natural world of what will happen in the heavenly realm between now and halfway through seven years of tribulation is the history of Alexander (the bronze belly and thighs) through Antiochus Epiphanes (the iron legs and iron and clay feet and toes). The Books of the Maccabees are not canonical Scripture because they do not describe the shadow of how Christ breaks the spiritual king of the North. This is why neither Rome, the Roman Church, the Roman Empire, nor the Holy Roman Empire are mentioned in prophecy. And this is why it takes spiritual understanding to grasp what Jesus' said about '"the desolating sacrilege standing in the holy place'" (Matt 24:15) in His Olivet discourse. There has been far too much inserting of Rome into Scripture, which is adding to Daniel's visions, and far too little understanding coming from typological exegesis.
The question will arise, how can an event separated from another by millennia be a literal shadow? Or is "shadow" being used in a figurative sense?
It would be easy to answer, yes, "shadow" is being used in a figurative sense. A person could then suggest that events in the natural world foreshadow events that occur in the spiritual realm. This person would then say that Adam's creation foreshadowed Christ's birth. But let's look at what has been recorded about Adam, using the sparse Genesis account as a touchstone for typological exegesis.
On the sixth day of creation week, Elohim [singular in usage] created humankind in his image, "male and female he created them" (Gen 1:27). From the non-living elements of the earth, Elohim created physical life by breathing the breath of life into Adam's nostrils (2:7). Using the same components as He used to make clay or mud, Elohim added another element--His breath--to effectively alter the nature of what He had created. But the actual shadow cast by a three-dimensional human and of a three- dimensional rock appears similar.
A three-dimensional rock casts a two dimensional shadow, an image without substance and without light. And to have a shadow, a light source is necessary. Inside of space- time, natural light comes from the sun, or from distant suns/stars. But in the spiritual realm, God is the source of "light," with the linguistic icon used in the same manner as "shadow" is used. So if God is light, then those things in the spiritual realm that block or absorb light cast shadows in the usual way English speakers use the word.
The shadow of the rock exists in one less dimension than does the rock. Likewise, the shadows of three-dimensional descendants of Adam also cast two-dimensional shadows. At any particular instant in time, the shadow of a rock could pass as the shadow of a person. However, few children hold still long enough that by observing their shadows, they will continue to be mistaken for rocks. Without ever seeing the children but by observing their shadows in Idaho's City of Rocks, a person could describe in significant detail what games the children were playing. Obviously, there would be many more shadows than just of the children, but the "specialness of motion" would distinguish the living children from the non-living rocks.
God is spirit. He reigns in a heavenly realm, so there must be at least one supra-dimension beyond space-time. Some physicists have speculated about the existence of several unfurled dimensions within their understanding of M-Theory, or Super String Theory. But looking in the opposite direction, there is a spirit realm in which our four dimensions are as a large, partially unfurled ball. The universe exists within the spirit realm--for all of its vastness, the universe exists as a heavenly spaceship aboard which are laboratory experiments. At best, apart from God human beings are lab mice demonstrating that this social construct or that one will or will not work.
If an object or being in this heavenly realm blocks the light of God, this object or being will cast a shadow connected to itself in the dimension which it exists. But that shadow does not have to be connected to the object or being in humanity's natural world; i.e., in the limited dimensions of Creation. A "shadow" (in the usual use of the word) in the heavenly realm can occur anywhere within "time" which is part of the Creation, demonstrable by being able to write time as a mathematical function of gravity. So the necessity for having the shadow cast in the heavenly realm by, say, the spiritual king of Greece trampling the prince of Persia to be connected in the natural world by time to the event doesn't exist. The shadow of this endtime event can occur anywhere it happens to fall within our limited dimensions. But what we see is the consistent positioning of the light source, so the shadows cast by heavenly events appear mostly sequential. What we also see is shadows cast upon shadows, thereby creating narrative breaks in Scripture.
The above paragraphs begin to describe the social constructs or mental paradigms necessary for typological exegesis to become widely accepted. The tendency of the natural mind is to see a big universe and a little heaven, something the size of God's throne. The tendency isn't to perceive heaven as another dimension in which the created universe is truly like a footstool. So many of these necessary social constructs weren't available to humanity until the time of the end, the reasons why Daniel's visions were and secret. Being spiritually minded (Rom 8:7) results in more than willingly submitting to God's law.
Elohim [plural] said, '"Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over'" (Gen 1:26) fish, birds, cattle, wild animals, and every creeping thing. Two creations were commissioned, one natural and one spiritual that would result in many heirs, each created in the likeness of Elohim. Returning now to the social constructs of typological exegesis, the spiritual creation has life in the heavenly realm. It could not cast a shadow in the natural world if it did not. Precept-upon-precept exegesis will inevitably insist that born-again disciples are really merely begotten by God, that they do not yet have eternal life, that they will receive eternal life when they are glorified. Historical exegesis will have born-again disciples having eternal life by possessing immortal souls, but historical exegesis will then insist that these souls are imprisoned in the natural world until death. Neither reading strategy will withstand the other's critical examination. When a disciple receives the Holy Spirit, the disciple has life in the heavenly realm, real life, not just the promise of life. But this person can lose that life when judged by having any sin charged to him or her. Even one sin will send this person into the lake of fire when this person is judged. However, by covenant agreement, Christ bears all of this person's sins as long as this person remains within the covenant. Sin will not even be imputed to this person. So within the eternal covenant, this person is sinfree. When judged, no sins will be charged to this person. He or she will experience the resurrection to life (John 5:29).
But if a disciple drawn by the Father (John 6:44, 65) and given a circumcised heart and mind leaves the covenant by which this person received spiritual circumcision, this person will bear his or her own sins when judged. No additional sacrifice remains for this person. The life this person has in the heavenly realm will be lost--and if Satan can perish by fire (Ezek 28:18-19 -- it is a mistake to believe that God cannot dissemble that which He has created), then a disciple who sins as Satan has can expect the same fate. The wages of sin is death, not eternal life in hell. The person who does evil will be resurrected to condemnation, not to life in a rotisserie. The person will utterly perish in the lake of fire. The person will be no more. Even the memory of the person will cease to exist.
Receiving the Holy Spirit causes the laws of God to be written on the person's heart and mind--a person cannot erase or ignore these laws and expect to be resurrected to life. The person will break them often enough when trying to keep them that Christ bears more sins than He ought to have to bear. But to deliberately sin, which is lawlessness (1 John 3:4), is to grieve the Holy Spirit. This person is a hypocrite, and if this person doesn't genuinely repent, this person can expect to be thrown into the lake of fire. God is love, but He's not in the business of creating more rebels. If a person doesn't want to be ruled by Christ once the person has been drawn by the Father, the person will have his or her way. The person will not be resurrected to life, where he or she will be ruled by the person's elder brother forever, but the person will go directly into the lake of fire.
So a born-again disciple must possess life in the heavenly realm to cast a shadow in the natural world. This shadow isn't of the disciple's earthly tabernacle, but of the disciple's spiritual life. That life grows from a mental topography ruled by the Father, so its shadow exists as a darkened, or lifeless mindset that is the near image of the spiritual life. And here is where a person can stumble over typological exegesis. Conscious human thought is limited to a person's use of language. A person assigns linguistic objects (or meaning) to linguistic icons (words). Thus, a person thinks thoughts and understands words within the limitations of the person's mental landscape. If the soil of this landscape is stony, not much will grow. Likewise, if it is rich, the growth will need regular pruning. And if the soil is enemy occupied territory, the person's mental allegiance will be to an alien ruler. The sad part is that until the rightful owner takes back all or part of the person's mental landscape, the person will not realize that he or she has been deceived.
The concept that all of a person's thoughts stem from a mental landscape over which the person has little or no control is difficult to accept. This doesn't mean that the person's thoughts are not his or her own. Rather it means that the logjam of mental paradigms from which these thoughts sprout, take root, grow, and mature is the territory of spiritual entities. Satan deceives the whole world (Rev 12:9) by being the ruler of humanity's mental topography. Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, that the God of heaven has given human beings wherever they live to him to rule. Isaiah identifies Satan as the spiritual king of Babylon (Isa 14:3-21). The Apostle Paul identifies Satan as the prince of the power of the air. Jesus indirectly identifies Satan as the ruler of this world. So typological exegesis will have God giving all of the world, including spiritual Israel (because she believed Satan's lie that she would not die), to Satan to rule for a period of time.
Although Paul uses the concept of "the power of the air" to describe how Satan reigns, neither he, nor the converts he discipled, could grasp as well as we can how Satan rules over humanity: he rules by controlling the mental topography of human beings wherever they live. You, as my reader, have to assign meaning to my use of "mental landscape" and "mental topography." Unfortunately, I cannot remove what I have in my mind and directly insert it into yours. I can, by metaphor and by repetition, hope to approximate in your mind the understanding that I want to convey. But the limitations of both spoken and written communication allow for only an approximation. A person needs to hear Christ's voice to fully grasp how much a person's thoughts have been influenced by the Adversary. The best analogy I can use is that of a garden, with your thoughts growing from that garden's soil. (I feel as Derrida must have when first trying to explain "deconstruction," or J.R. Tolkein must have when trying to explain the concept of "faery.")
Returning to the idea of a natural world creation and of a spiritual creation in the heavenly realm, when "Elohim," a linguistic plural, is used in a plural construction, both Theos and Theon (John 1:1-2) are present--and on those few occasions, both creationsare under discussion.
Elohim [singular] now creates humankind, male and female (Gen 1:27). He said to these breathing creatures made in His image, '"Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over…every living thing"' (v.2 8). So humanity, by virtue of being created in the likeness of Elohim, was given dominion over all other air-breathing creatures. By divine decree, humanity was to be like god to every other breathing creature. Just as Elohim ruled in the spiritual realm, humanity, made in the likeness of Elohim, was to rule in the physical realm.
Adam is the first being created in the likeness of Elohim, who "took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it" (Gen 2:15 -- also v. 8). Adam was not created inside Eden, but was placed there after he was created. Eden was created after Adam was. So for some period of time, Adam lived outside the garden of God, not knowing about either the tree of life or the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam lived without sin outside of Eden prior to when he entered the garden.
Eve, though, is created inside the garden of God.
Once Adam is placed inside Eden, he receives instructions: '"You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die'" (Gen 2:16-17). Eve hasn't yet been created, so she doesn't hear Elohim's instructions. The narrative flow has Adam being created outside of Eden, then placed in Eden by Elohim [singular], who, after telling Adam not to take to himself knowledge of good and evil, said, '"It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner'" (v. 18).
After deciding to make Adam a helpmate, Elohim then "formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them" (Gen 2:19). Upon first reading a textual contradiction seems to exist. On the fifth, not the sixth day of creation, Elohim makes birds. And earlier on the sixth day, Elohim made cattle and creeping things and wild animals before He created humanity. So how is this to be understood? Does Elohim, once He and Adam are inside Eden, make animals and birds inside Eden? That is the implication of the text, meaning that a separation exists between the world at large, and the garden of God. And this can be better understood when its spiritual reality is examined.
Let's leap forward to the beginning of the spiritual creation: the Apostle Paul tells disciples that Christ is the second Adam (1 Cor 15:44-49). The Apostle John tells disciples that Jesus was the Logos born as a man (John 1:14), that the Logos was Theos, who was with Theon in the beginning. Two entities are linguistically present: Theos and Theon. Jesus said He had a God, the Father (John 20:17) that the world did not know, nor had ever seen. And Elohim as a plural noun usually used in a singular sense begins to be understandable. Everything physical was created by Theos, whom the Septuagint translators misidentify as Theon, thereby allowing Christ to cite the Septuagint and still keep the Father's existence concealed from the Pharisees. No exceptions are listed: everything physical was created by Theos. That includes himself: Jesus came as His Son, His only (John 3:16-17). The Father didn't conceive Jesus, thereby creating an entity that already existed. This is what Bishop Arius could never understand. Theos, as the personage of Elohim that created Adam, came as His Son. He could do this only one time. Once He entered His physical creation, He couldn't go back. He could only leave by death and resurrection. He didn't have a little angel inside Himself, nor did He have an immortal soul. He was immortal as Theos, and He became mortal so He could die for humanity's sins. He did not bring a little bit of immortality with Him when He came as the man Jesus of Nazareth. So, no death, no sin offering. If Jesus did not die, then humanity has no Savior. Everyone still bears his or her sins, and everyone will die for the person's sins. And if you deny that Christ came as a mortal man, you are an antichrist. You will go into the lake of fire if judgment is upon you--and you had better fear God enough to repent today, especially if you teach that Jesus was alive in hell during those three days and three nights when He was dead.
Jesus lives His first thirty or so years sinfree, just as Adam lived sin-free prior to when Elohim placed him in Eden. Then John the Baptist baptized Jesus, and the heavens opened and the Spirit of God descended as a dove and alights on Him (Matt 3:16-17). At this moment, the spiritual creation of humanity begins--and it begins with one man just as the physical creation begins with one man. This moment is the reality of Elohim placing Adam in Eden. Receiving the Holy Spirit is the reality of entering the Garden of Eden. Every born from above, or born again disciple is placed by the Father in spiritual Eden. That is correct: a born-again disciple has spiritual life in the garden of God in the heavenly realm. This disciple is mentally plucked from the world by the Father, and set- apart from the world by being placed in a holy mental landscape. Actual mental walls now exist around the disciple that should keep the world at bay. Those mental walls are the laws of God that have been written on the disciple's hearts and mind (Jer 31:33; Heb 8:10 & 10:16).
But not every disciple stays in Eden.
After Elohim placed Adam in Eden, Elohim told Adam that he, Adam, would die if he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In the heavenly realm, Adam has no life. The knowledge of good and evil belongs in the domain of God. If the natural Eden were not a shadow of the spiritual Eden, the tree wouldn't grow there. There are no trees of the knowledge of good and evil presently growing in Iraq, in Iran, or in Indiana. The fruit of this tree was spiritual food, to be ingested by spirit beings.
After receiving the Spirit of God, Jesus was taken into the wilderness where He fasted forty days. He ate spiritual food, not physical food. He was Theos born as a man, so the knowledge of good and evil was rightly His food. Persimmons and pawpaws were for Adam.
For forty days, Jesus ate nothing physical. Yes, He had a physical body, but once He received the Holy Spirit He was a new creation, the second Adam. The food He needed was spiritual. He would be tempted by Satan, who quoted Scripture with a twist. If He hadn't rightly discerned good and evil, He would have died as every other man has. He would have died for His sins. He could have borne no one else's. So Jesus did eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, just as every born again disciple must. Physical seeds and nuts don't nourish the spiritual man.
After telling Adam from which trees he could eat, Elohim brought Adam the animals He created in the garden for Adam to name. Again, these are not the animals that exist outside of Eden. These are the ones created inside the spiritual garden--and Jesus names these animals. Hypocrites, hypocrites, blind guides, blind fools, hypocrites, blind guides, hypocrites, hypocrites, hypocrites, snakes, brood of vipers (Matt 23:13-36). These scribes and Pharisees aren't prophets of Baal. They claimed Abraham as their father. They knew the law of Moses although none kept it (John 7:19). They were the wayward creations of Elohim. They are the animals inside the garden of God from which neither the Father nor Jesus could find a helpmate for the second Adam. And as the names the first Adam called the animals shall be the animals' for all time, so shall the names the second Adam called these spiritual animals be theirs for all time.
Again, a barrier separated the Garden of Eden from the newly created world. A barrier separated circumcised Israel from the uncircumcised world. That barrier was the spoken Law of God. And in giving Israel His law, Theos created the spiritual animals from which He, when born as the man Jesus of Nazareth, could find no helpmate. And in the future, a few of these animals (144,000 to be exact) will eat of the tree of life and go to a physical place of safety, an Eden their ancestors rejected.
Again, the walls of spiritual Eden are the laws of God the Father has written on the hearts and minds of disciples. The landscape of spiritual Eden, then, becomes the eternal covenant by which disciples know God, and have their sins borne by Christ. If a disciple leaves the covenant by stepping outside of the laws of God, the disciple has returned to the world. If the disciple has been baptized, judgment is upon the disciple (1 Pet 4:17). This person needs to return to Eden as fast as his or her knees will bend.
When no helpmate was found for the first Adam, Elohim "caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then [Elohim] took one of [Adam's] ribs and closed up its place with flesh" (Gen 2:21). Elohim then fashioned Eve from the rib, and brought her to Adam after Adam awakened from the deep sleep.
While Jesus hung on the Cross, one of the soldiers pierce his side with a spear, and water and blood came out (John 19:34). He died from this wound in His side; He didn't die by suffocation, how crucifixion is intended to end life. And from the death of this second Adam, the second Eve was created; for the evening of His Ascension, Jesus breathed on His disciples and said, '"Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained'" (John 20:22-23). The Church begins here. His disciples, within a day of His resurrection, received the Holy Spirit by having that Spirit directly transferred to them by the glorified Jesus. They were baptized by fire on the day of Pentecost. From then on, circumcised Israelites could receive the Holy Spirit without it being directly transferred to them. And we see this same scenario for uncircumcised spiritual Israelites: the converts in Samaria that Philip baptized had to have Peter and John lay hands on them, for uncircumcised spiritual Israelites had not yet been baptized by fire. However, Cornelius' household received baptism by fire in exactly the same way as the 120 circumcised Israelites had on Pentecost. Since that time, disciples, whether circumcised or uncircumcised (physical circumcision no longer matters), receive the Holy Spirit prior to water baptism. They wouldn't leave the world if the Father didn't pick them up and set them in spiritual Eden. This is what Paul tried to convey in his letter to Roman converts (chptr 8). The natural mind is hostile to God. The person's mental landscape will not grow thoughts of being ruled by God. Only when the landlord of that person's mental landscape changes can the person begin to obey God.
The second covenant (Deu chptrs 29-31) is made with uncircumcised Israelites. They are to have circumcised hearts and minds. Then they are all baptized when they cross the Jordan, after which they are physically circumcised (Jos 5:2-7).
The Apostle Paul would not have Gentile converts at Corinth ignorant of the fact that the physical Israelites who left Egyptian slavery were all baptized in the Red Sea when they crossed over dry-shod. I will not have endtime disciples ignorant of the fact that the eternal covenant is made with spiritually uncircumcised converts prior to their baptism. Whomever the Father draws (John 6:44, 65) receives the Holy Spirit prior to judgment coming upon the person. This newly drawn convert has his or her sins forgiven, has the laws of God written on his or her heart and mind, and he or she knows God. This convert needs to be baptized, if the person wants to be a party to the first resurrection. No one will be glorified who hasn't been judged worthy. And the person who hinders this child of God from coming to the Father by teaching this child to ignore the laws of God written on his or her heart and mind had better like millstones--this teacher of spiritual Israel has scheduled reservations in the lake of fire.
Was that blunt enough? When the Father draws a disciple, the Father gives to the disciple spiritual life. The disciple is as sinfree at that moment as Adam was when he was placed in the Garden of Eden, or as Jesus was when He was baptized. Christ's shed blood blots out every sin the person has ever committed. The Father has placed the disciple inside spiritual Eden. The disciple couldn't know the Father, or be spiritually minded if the disciple didn't experience a change of mental landscapes. This is why people don't experience changed mental landscapes when they are baptized. Their landscapes were changed when they became interested in God, who was first interested in them.
Two short digressions need made: halfway through seven years of tribulation, the Father and His Messiah take possession of the mental landscapes of all humanity. The kingdom of the world becomes Theirs (Rev 11:15 & Dan 7:9-14). Satan is cast out of heaven (Rev 12:9). From here to Christ's return, Satan has to use physical means to enslave humanity, the logic for the mark of the beast. He cannot mentally enslave anyone. All of humanity is called (or drawn) by the Father (Rev 18:4). And this is the great endtime harvest for which the world has been prepared.
The other concept is the great White Throne Judgment, which is horribly taught within the Evangelical Church. All of humanity that hasn't experienced judgment (i.e., baptized into the Body of Christ) will be resurrected physically, and given the chance to accept Christ's reign over them. This is not a second chance at salvation. No one receives a second chance. But if a person's mental landscape has remained occupied territory all of the person's life, the person couldn't help being hostile to God. This will be that person's first chance to accept or reject Christ as his or her sovereign.
After Adam and Eve apparently become one flesh, the serpent said to the woman, '"You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of [the tree of the knowledge of good and evil] your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God'" (Gen 3:4-5). Eve believed the serpent. She ate. And indeed, her eyes were opened. She saw her nakedness and was ashamed.
Eve didn't immediately die. She gave to Adam the forbidden fruit, and he ate. They then hid themselves from Elohim. God didn't separate Himself from His creation. Rather, Adam and Eve's newly acquired knowledge of good and evil caused them to know that they had sinned--and sin separates humanity from its Creator. They lost their innocence.
Either Eve misunderstood what Adam told her about the tree of knowledge, or Adam didn't relay exactly to Eve what Elohim told him. For Elohim told Adam nothing about touching the tree…I have previously written that Adam probably didn't accurately relay Elohim's instruction, but that is wrong. To see, though, where the fault lies, we must look at the spiritual reality of the shadow.
Jesus is the spiritual reality of Adam. He does not error when giving His disciples instructions, but He was concerned about them introducing error. In His Olivet discourse, Jesus warned first about His disciples leading others astray (Matt 24:4). Every English translation poorly handles this passage. Why would the disciples need to fear someone leading them astray? They were the witnesses to the events described. They were the ones who could lead converts astray. And that was where Jesus began, for not all of His disciples believed Him (John 6:64). Even His brothers didn't believe in him (John 7:5). So He warns them about leading others astray for '"many will come in [His] name, saying, "I am the Messiah!" and they will lead many astray'" (Matt 24:5). Jesus wanted to make sure that many didn't include His disciples.
The second Eve, or second life [the word "Eve" in Hebrew appears remarkably similar to "life"] was created the evening of the day of Jesus' Ascension, not on that day of Pentecost. How long it was before the first Eve encountered the serpent isn't revealed. The implication is not long. So the spiritual reality has the glorified Jesus breathing the Breath/Pneuma of the Father on His disciples at relatively (within the limitations of the language of Genesis) the same time as when Elohim presented Eve to Adam. Eve has not yet sinned at this time, and she doesn't for some short period of time. Because God is light, and because the glorified Jesus spends portions of forty days with His disciples thereby placing the source of "light" nearly overhead, the shadow is foreshortened. Details are compressed. Plus the shadow is, in narrative, the farthest away.
The first Eve believed the serpent. Adam was also present (Gen 3:6), and many scholars believe the Genesis account has Adam standing-by while the serpent tempted Eve. This would certainly be the case with the spiritual reality: Jesus was standing near the second Eve when Satan, as the father of liars and as the one who has deceived the whole world (Rev 12:9), whispered sweet Platonisms into the ear of the second Eve. Gentile converts believed humans have an immortal soul. Platonism held sway in the Hellenistic world of Asia Minor. And in Luke's account of the Lazarus-Dives parable, a Cynic fortune-reversal-after-death narrative, these Hellenistic converts found the "Scriptural proof" necessary to insert wholesale the concept of humanity having an immortal soul into spiritual Israel. The second Eve, as the first had, believed the serpent's lie that she would not die.
Did Jesus let the Pharisees' mocking get to Him enough that He told a parable that did more harm than good? A parable equivalent to Adam telling Eve not to even touch the tree of knowledge? Perhaps. But I don't think so. I suspect Jesus knew exactly how that parable would be used by those who were/are not spiritually minded. I suspect He wanted the Cynic narrative to create a test that would separate those who believe Him from those who believe in Him.
Allow me to digress for a moment. I used to play chess at a fairly high level. I'm reasonably intelligent. I started college as a sixteen-year-old math major. And I am humbled beyond what I can relate when I begin to see the depth and scope of the mind of God. No human is in that league, nor even close. I would not want to play chess with Christ. So if Jesus told a Cynic tale that hasn't been properly appreciated for two millennia, He told the tale knowing full well how it would be misapplied. And He wanted that misapplication for reasons of determining who is genuine and who isn't at the end of the age. It doesn't matter that disciples of Augustine believed they had immortal souls as long as those disciples did that which they knew was right, thereby producing the habit of always choosing to do what is right. That habit of doing right becomes a righteousness that is useful to the Father. It will matter, though, whether a disciple believes he or she has an immortal soul when Satan has come as the true antiChrist. Once the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of the Most High and of His Messiah halfway through seven years of tribulation, all of humanity will be mentally liberated. The mental topography of the world will then belong to the Father. To then choose to believe a person has an immortal soul, which is to believe that a person has eternal life apart from receiving it as the gift of God, the person willingly returns to mental bondage to Satan. The person has accepted within the person's mind that mark of the beast. This person might as well go ahead and accept the tattoo of the Cross (Chi xi stigma). This person will not marry the Bridegroom when He comes.
The second Eve believed Satan's lie just as the first Eve did--then Eve "gave some [of the fruit] to her husband, who was with her, and he ate" (Gen 3:6).
If typological exegesis is to breakdown, it is right here. Christ is sin-free. He doesn't sin. He won't sin. He cannot sin. But it wouldn't be a sin for the glorified Christ to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Remember, in the shadow He is glorified before the second Eve is created.
Because we assign meaning to words, we tend to believe that if the second Adam and second Eve ate of the tree of knowledge they sinned. That is not the case. It is a sin to believe Satan over God. If God says eternal life is His gift to a disciple, it is a sin to believe that a person receives eternal life through fornication in the backseat of a Chevy. But the glorified Christ bears the sins of the second Eve as long she is in Eden, the walls of which, again, are the laws of God--and this is the point I attempted to make about Augustine's disciples believing they have immortal souls. Whomever remains within the laws of God will be saved because Christ bears that individual's sins.
The spiritual reality at this point has Christ as the glorified head of the Body, or of the Church. He has eaten of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which is proper food for spiritual Israel. Christ knows the difference between good and evil, and as God, He has the power to choose to do only good. We don't yet have that power; hence Paul's discussion of the war between his mind and his flesh (Rom 7th chptr). He has the knowledge of good and evil, but he doesn't yet have the ability to always choose to obey God.
Christ doesn't, though, believe Satan's or the serpent's lie about not dying.
The second Eve can eat of the tree of knowledge. In fact, she must! She has been born again. She could not cast a shadow in the spiritual realm if she did not have life in that realm. And if she stays in covenant with God, she will not die. But she must stay in the Garden of Eden, where the tree of life grows. She cannot be climbing over the fence--which, again, is the laws of God written on her hearts and minds--to see how the world lives. She has been made holy. She needs to act like she is holy, like she is a virgin. She cannot be fornicating with sticks and stones. And what we see recorded in Scripture about physical Israel is the shadow of a spiritual slut. Actually, two spiritual sluts that even when a third of humanity has been killed, still worship demons and the works of their hands (Rev 9:20).
The first Eve didn't immediately die when she ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. The spiritual reality of the shadow doesn't have the second Eve immediately dying after believing Satan's lie that she will not die. The second Eve will continue until Christ's return, when the goats will be separated from the sheep, when the tares are gathered first and burned before the wheat is harvested. A lot of blood will be shed during the Tribulation, enough blood to be the spiritual placenta for the birth of the heirs of God.
What happens after the first Eve swallows the serpent's lie is the pronouncement of judgment on three entities: the serpent, Eve, then Adam. That pronouncement of judgment pertains to the spiritual reality: Satan casts the shadow that causes the serpent to talk. His judgement is seen prophetically. At Christ's return when God gives Israel rest from the spiritual nation's pain and turmoil, Satan as the spiritual king of Babylon will be cast the bottomless pit where he will be bound and taunted (Isa 14:3-21 & Rev 20:1-3). Satan's end will come after Christ's Millennium reign (Ezek 28:11-19 & Rev 20:10). But for now, there has, indeed, been enmity put between him and spiritual Israel, between spiritual Babylon and the Church (Gen 3:15)--just as physical Israel was in bondage to Pharaoh, spiritual Israel is in bondage to the king of Babylon. And just as physical Israel was liberated on that first Passover night, spiritual Israel will be liberated on a second Passover night, when all firstborns not covered by the Blood of the Lamb of God will be slain. And once liberated, a person would think that spiritual Israel would have nothing to do with Satan. That, unfortunately, won't be the case. Patty Hearst syndrome grips too many spiritual Israelites. Christ will turn His hand against two thirds of the holy ones (Zech 13:7-8 & Luke 19:27), against those that will not be ruled by Him. This should not happen, but will. This doesn't have to happen to you. Come, repent, and join me (and others) in spiritual Jerusalem.
The judgment pronounced upon Eve at first seems odd: '"I [Elohim] will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing; / in pain you shall bring forth children, / yet your desire shall be for your husband, / and he shall rule over you'" (Gen 3:16). The second Eve's husband is the second Adam, and spiritual Israel's desire is certainly for Jesus. She is obsessed with Jesus, even though she doesn't obey him. Thus, He will have to forcibly exercise His rule over spiritual Israel. Now, to the lie that many spiritual Israelites presently believe: the Church will not be raptured away prior to the Tribulation, which is the birth pains of spiritual Israel bringing to God many heirs. These birth pains are described: "'For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places: all this is but the beginning of the birth pangs'" (Matt 24:7-8). These are the greatly increased pangs of childbirth; the pain of hard labor is to follow. '"Then they will hand you over to be tortured and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name. Then many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold'" (Matt 24:9-12). This is the fate of spiritual Israel during the first half of the Tribulation. And if these days were not shortened, humanity would be wiped out.
But they will be shortened by Christ intervening on day 1260 (three and a half years before He returns as the all powerful Messiah).
The gospel this ministry must preach is that all who endure to the end will be saved--and this is the gospel that must be taken to the world before the end of the age can come. (Matt 24:13-14).
All women, descended from Eve, have experienced birth pain greater than experienced in the natural world by other mammals. This difference in "felt pain" is the difference between experiencing the Tribulation outside the walls of Eden, or inside. Christ would have all Christians inside the walls of Eden, but most won't be there. They left when they believed Satan's lie of humanity receiving eternal life apart from receiving it as the gift of God. Historical exegesis has kept them outside--they are not even looking in. They are not trying to get in. They like the cheap grace afforded by practicing lawlessness. They certainly don't want to separate themselves from the things of this world, or the love of this world. They like their long-held tradition of being spiritual Gentiles (the traditions that make them spiritual Gentiles is the faith once delivered that they wish to retain). But the tree of life only grows inside the Garden of Eden where spiritual Israelites in covenant with God live. These spiritual Gentiles are cut-off from life--and they wouldn't have it any other way.
Theologians who worry about "God's Truth" becoming just another social construct should worry, for typological exegesis shows that these theologians have been tilling fields of thorns outside of spiritual Eden. That old dragon who deceives the whole world didn't forget about them. Even though they presently have spiritual life, they toil for their bread. By the sweat of their brows, they eat, while remaining spiritually hungry and thirsty. For they do not eat the bread of life. Their assignment of linguistic objects to icons has them cut off from the tree of life. They are as walking dead men. If they do not return to Eden, they will return to dust; they will become ashes in the lake of fire.
Judgment was pronounced against the first Adam. And here typological exegesis must confront its possible breakdown if the recorded phenomena of the natural world are the actual shadows of spiritual realities. Thus, a few general comments are in order.
Today, Christ is spiritual Israel's high priest (Heb 9:11). The position is one requiring hard work, which is why the weekly Sabbath is a type of His Millennium reign when He can rest from bearing Israel's many sins.
Christ's death at Calvary reconciled humanity to the Father. His shed blood covered the sins of every person who was not then under judgment. And by His resurrection, He is able--and does--bear the sins of every disciple under judgment. These sins will either be returned to the disciple if the disciple leaves the covenant by which Christ has agreed to bear them, or these sins will be given to Satan, their rightful owner; when Yom Kipporim becomes a reality. Either way, Christ presently bears every sin of every disciple who has come under judgment since the 1st-Century (judgment comes with baptism). That is toiling among many thorns and thistles when the natural shadow is moved into the spiritual realm.
Jesus became accursed for us. On the cross, He cried out, '"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"' (Matt 27:46). Apparently, Jesus didn't know beforehand that He would be, when bearing the sins of humanity, expelled from Eden. He died. He ceased to exist. His body, His earthy tabernacle, would have returned to dust if He had been resurrected after three days and three nights in the grave.
Every clause of the judgment pronounced against the first Adam has come to pass in the spiritual realm. Christ has been toiling among thistles and thorns to bring disciples to glory. He has, indeed, sweated blood in this task (as even "sweat" is raised a level in going from physical to spiritual). And nowhere in this account of the Temptation is Adam accused of introducing evil into the world. That accusation is made only against Satan.
The typology between the first and second Adam isn't suggestive, isn't foreshadowing, isn't analogous. It is as close to being the actual shadow Jesus in Judea cast in the heavenly realm as my shadow is an image of me in this natural world.
The controlling metaphor for typological exegesis is, again, the history of physical Israel is the actual shadow of the history (past, present and future) of spiritual Israel. A person can accept or reject the metaphor, but the person cannot argue with it. It is either true, or not. And if it is true, then historical exegesis must be rejected. For spiritual Israel is today in captivity in Babylon, with only a remnant of spiritual Israelites under a spiritual Ezra and Nehemiah (not physical human beings) having returned to spiritual Jerusalem, where we will leave the light on for you.
The angel of the Church in Philadelphia is that spiritual Nehemiah, who has been given the task of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, using living stones that have been burned. While it might look like a fox running over these walls will topple them, appearances can be deceiving. Without much strength, a great work will be done. And you might be one of those living stones that belong in the walls of spiritual Jerusalem, the capitol of Eden. My prayer is that you are.
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