Saturday

Related Verses
Gen. 2:23
23 And the man said, This time this is bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called Woman Because out of Man this one was taken.

Eph. 5:25-28, 31-32
25 Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her
26 That He might sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing of the water in the word,
27 That He might present the church to Himself glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such things, but that she would be holy and without blemish.
28 In the same way the husbands also ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his own wife loves himself.
31 For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh.
32 This mystery is great, but I speak with regard to Christ and the church.

Heb. 7:16
16 Who has been appointed not according to the law of a fleshy commandment but according to the power of an indestructible life.

Related Reading
In Genesis 2 there is the picture of how the bride of Christ comes into being. Before God prepared a bride for Adam, He brought all the animals to Adam, and Adam named each one. But none of these created things matched Adam, and they could not be his counterpart (vv. 19-20). Then God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam (v. 21). Adam is a type of Christ (Rom. 5:14), and his sleep is a type of Christ’s death. 

During Adam’s sleep, God took one of his ribs from his side. Likewise, when Christ was sleeping on the cross, something came out of His side. John 19:34 tells us that when the soldier pierced His side, out came blood and water. At Adam’s time there was no sin, so there was no need of redemption. It was not until Genesis 3 that sin came in. Thus, all that came out of Adam’s side was the rib without the blood. However, by the time that Christ was sleeping on the cross, there was the problem of sin. Thus, His death must deal with this sin problem. The blood came out of Christ’s side for redemption. Following the blood, the water came out, which is the flowing life to produce the church. This divine, flowing, uncreated life is typified by the rib taken out of Adam’s side. 

The rib taken out of Adam signifies the resurrection life, and God built a woman with the rib of Adam. Now God builds up the church with the resurrection life of Christ…Eve was bone of Adam’s bones and flesh of Adam’s flesh. Today we as the church are a part of Christ (Eph. 5:30-32). (CWWL, 1969, vol. 2, “The Crucial Revelation of Life in the Scriptures,” pp. 401-402) 

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The church is nothing more than a pure product out of Christ…Eve was fully, completely, and purely produced out of Adam (Gen. 2:21-24)…Whatever was in Eve and whatever Eve was, was Adam. Eve was a full reproduction of Adam. Adam and Eve are a type of Christ and the church (Eph. 5:30-32; Gen. 2:22-24). The church must also be one element—the element of Christ. 

After Christ terminated the entire old creation through His all-inclusive death, the church was produced in His resurrection (1 Pet. 1:3; Eph. 2:6)…The church is a new creation created in Christ’s resurrection and by the resurrected Christ. We must see this vision. In addition to seeing that the church was produced in Christ’s resurrection, we must also see where the church is. The church today is in Christ in ascension. Ephesians 2:6 tells us that the church has been resurrected with Christ, and now the church is seated in the heavenlies with Christ. Therefore, the church is absolutely and purely of the element of Christ, absolutely in resurrection, and absolutely remaining in the heavenlies with Christ. The English language does not give us adequate adjective forms for the nouns Christ and resurrection. We must, therefore, invent some new vocabulary words to communicate such a vision of the church. We may say that today the church is “Christly,” “resurrectionly,” and heavenly. These three adjectives describe the fact conveyed in the Bible. The church is of Christ; the church is of resurrection; the church is of the heavens. The church is Christly, resurrectionly, and heavenly. With the church there is no element other than Christ. Such a vision will govern you to the uttermost and will rule out everything that is not Christly (of Christ), resurrectionly (of resurrection), or heavenly (of the heavens). With the believers there is still the flesh of sin, but with the church there is no flesh of sin because the church was born in resurrection (1 Pet. 1:3). The church is a matter in Christ, in resurrection, and in Christ’s ascension in the heavenlies. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, “Elders’ Training, Book 2: The Vision of the Lord’s Recovery,” pp. 115-116) 

Further Reading: CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, “Elders’ Training, Book 2: The Vision of the Lord’s Recovery,” ch. 3 

Further Reading:
Further Reading: The Vision of God’s Building, ch. 1

Hymn: #840
1 Freed from self and Adam’s nature,
Lord, I would be built by Thee
With the saints into Thy temple,
Where Thy glory we shall see.
From peculiar traits deliver,
From my independent ways,
That a dwelling place for Thee, Lord,
We will be thru all our days.

2 By Thy life and by its flowing
I can grow and be transformed,
With the saints coordinated,
Builded up, to Thee conformed;
Keep the order in the Body,
There to function in Thy will,
Ever serving, helping others,
All Thy purpose to fulfill.

3 In my knowledge and experience
I would not exalted be,
But submitting and accepting
Let the Body balance me;
Holding fast the Head, and growing
With His increase, in His way,
By the joints and bands supplying,
Knit together day by day.

4 By Thy Spirit daily strengthened
In the inner man with might,
I would know Thy love surpassing,
Know Thy breadth and length and height;
Ever of Thy riches taking,
Unto all Thy fulness filled,
Ever growing into manhood,
That Thy Body Thou may build.

5 In God’s house and in Thy Body
Builded up I long to be,
That within this corporate vessel
All shall then Thy glory see;
That Thy Bride, the glorious city,
May appear upon the earth,
As a lampstand brightly beaming
To express to all Thy worth.