The Types of Genesis

Andrew Jukes

• Publisher: Jazzybee Verlag
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9783849650773
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Systematic Theology & Ethics

Mr. Jukes maintains that the acts of God in the natural world, and the events that spring from them, are types of analogous acts and events in the spiritual world; and it is the aim of his volume to draw a parallel between the creation of the earth and man, and the renovation of the mind by the Spirit, and to show that Adam, Cain, Abel, Noah, Abraham, and others, are types, in their experiences and characters, of the experiences and characters of men generally in the sphere of religion.

PART 1. ADAM, OR HUMAN NATURE

Chapter 3

"The first man is of the earth, earthy." -- 1 Cor. 15:47.

"The old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts." -- Eph. 4:22

GENESIS opens wondrously; first announcing a creation; then shewing it marred; then a restoration. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." As for God, His work is perfect. If He created, His work must have been good. And yet the next thing is a darkened world. For "the earth was dark and without form and void." In some way, not revealed, God's work had been destroyed. God, then, in the six days, restores that earth, not made dark by Him, yet now in darkness; and on this ruined earth His work proceeds till His image is seen, and He can rest there.

This wonder, of a work of God soon self-destroyed, meets us again in the beginning. Scarcely is God's image seen in man, before that spiritual work is marred in Adam. The creature formed to bear God's image falls, and thus becomes a platform for another work. In each case mystery shrouds the fall. How the earth became "without form and void and dark," is not told us. And how the man, God's image, falls, is a great deep: for great is the mystery of godliness, and not less the mystery of iniquity. But the fact is here. We see man made by the Divine Word; and then man, as he makes himself by disobedience.

In this way the fall is shewn not to be man's normal state. Man, like Adam, may be far off from God, yet in his heart, as in Scripture, a witness will be heard, saying that this distance is through self-will. He may live in sin; but he knows that such a life is opposition to the will and purpose of his Maker. Sin is not the law of our being, but a struggle against it, as conscience tells every man. Therefore is God's work shewn before the fall, to confirm the voice which speaks in every heart, and which declares that though all men walk as Adam, sin is no part of God's work, but its opposite. Man's proper place is seen in Christ. Out of Christ we are not lost only, but rebellious. Man, through self, may be all that we see in disobedient Adam, debased and sunk from God and heaven into self, from joy and glory into misery; and yet in Christ man has been, and is, set in all that glory which God's work and rest typify; so that Paul can say, "God hath raised us up, and blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ" (Eph. 1:3). Adam, ruling all creatures, is the type of man in Christ, as God makes him; fallen Adam, of man in self, as he makes or unmakes his own nature. The one, with glories more than eye can see, figured in the blessings bestowed in Paradise on the creature; the other, losing all through sin, with mind and will subject to, instead of ruling, lower creatures.

This latter sight, what man is in self, -- how he falls and departs from his Creator, -- how the understanding errs, -- how the will is seduced, -- how these highest powers yield to lower ones, -- how the end is shame and distance from God, -- how the Lover of men in grace meets and conquers this, -- all this is shewn as in a glass, man's self being here presented to us. As Adam fell, we fall each one; for Adam lives yet in his progeny. And, fallen in him, we prove he is in us, by walking just as he walked. Adam yet re-lives old Adam's life, as Christ in us yet lives Christ's life. And just as things are true for us in Christ, which, if we are in Him, must in due time be true in us also, as death and resurrection; so, being fallen in Adam, we shall find his fall to be true also in our experience. Adam in us still lives old Adam's life. His life is the figure of our life when "we walk as men" (1 Cor. 3:3).

I proceed, then, to trace his course; first within, then in its more outward application. We shall see how, in spite of every gift, man as man is prone to ruin all.

I. -- ADAM, OR MAN

FIRST, to trace this path in that world of thought and will which is within; for, to this day, when we sin, nothing else is done but what is here set forth in the man, the woman, and the serpent. In this view the man is the understanding, the woman the will, , the serpent some animal faculty or emotion in us -- good, when in subjection, but which may be a means, under the influence of the evil spirit, to tempt the will, and lead it to disobedience and independence, and so to misery. For the will, not the understanding, is that in us which is first assailed, seduced by some lower sense or emotion, which seems to promise more happiness. But for the will, the emotions would not be felt, but only thought about: but they are felt: hence they are passions; for we really suffer, though we should command, them. Only thus is man led away. For our understanding, -- that is, the man, -- cannot be led to consent to sin but by the will; that is, that part of the mind which loves, and which, as the woman to her husband, is formed to be subject, and ought to be obedient. Here the will acts in independence. If this will stood firm, the temptation would be overcome. But the will yields, and becomes self-will, and then by it the man or understanding is seduced. The head goes wrong because the heart is first seduced, while yet the head or understanding is the man, whom the heart or woman should obey. But in every fall the heart perverts the head, the will tempts the understanding, as in every restoration it is out of the heart or will that the new life must come, "the woman's Seed," which is divinely given to overcome the evil. And yet what zeal is shewn to enrich and deck the understanding, which, at the best, is only half our nature, while those affections are unkept, which, as being the spring and womb of every form of future life, are ever the first and special object of the tempter. Alas! we learn all this too soon by falls, in which the promise of forbidden knowledge is yet the bait to draw us aside. To know is yet the snare; and the will, once set on this, is quickly overcome. Then, "when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death" (James 1:14, 15). Thus falls the will, throwing off dependence at the suggestion of a lower nature in us, which is very near it.

The results I need not follow here; for it is the same story in the outward application. But I may note the sentence on the "woman," -- pain in bringing forth, and subjection to her husband; as it is said, "And he shall rule over thee;" on the "man," bread by the sweat of his brow, with the earth cursed henceforth with thorns and briers (Gen. 3:16-19). For the fallen will, if it travails to bring forth other forms of life, produces them with pain and much difficulty: but, having done so, is more than ever subject to reason. While the understanding, -- that is the "man," -- finds the earth full of thorns: not easily does it gather truth, the bread of life; for, as the wise man says, "the corruptible body presseth down the soul, and the earthly tabernacle weigheth down the mind that museth upon many things" (Wisdom 9:15). On the one hand, there are the thorns and briers of perplexing questions, which, unless they are rooted out, will choke the good seed. On the other, the understanding itself is weaker, and must "sweat" for that, which once grew without labour. Thus truth, like fruit, has to be sought and waited for; the toil to gain it being ordained to strengthen, even while it corrects and humbles us. And if the man will not accept this sentence, the ground is quickly filled with thorns and thistles, so that he who will not eat by the sweat of his brow here, will have to gather bitter things both here and in another world.

I cannot write what crowds upon me here, as to the "woman," and her "Seed," who shall destroy and bruise the serpent; or how Christ, if He be "formed within" (Gal. 4:19), is made of the woman in us, that is the human will; growing thence, out of the womb of human affections, not by man, but by the Holy Ghost, who begets that new life, to be in due time born amidst beasts, out of a pure virgin affection, like Mary, in us; which is itself the fruit of numberless other affections, some grievously defiled as Rahab and Thamar, which have gone before. For from Adam to Christ are seventy-two generations, as from Abraham to Christ are forty-two (See Matt. 1 and Luke 3); that is, many a form of life is produced, and many an inward travail and death is known by us, before the will brings forth that life of faith, of which Abraham is the appointed figure. And after Abraham, or faith, more births will there yet be, in which the energy of nature is more or less manifest, before that form of life appears, which is of the Holy Ghost, and is the "perfect man." Some of these, as David and Solomon, are like, but yet are not, the perfect man, but only carnal forms or copies of Him; as we know that before God's image comes in us, certain outward likenesses, and carnal prefigurings or preludings of it, in different measures will appear in us. Many a form of life grows, toils, withers, and dies, having produced another to succeed it, which again dies out, and this many times, before the image of God, the perfect man, the true Seed, comes. But it comes at last, and the serpent's head is bruised. She, by whom came death, brings forth the Life-giver.

And very wondrous is the woman's name; for "Adam called his wife's name, Eve," or Life, not while she stood, but after she had fallen, and by her fall had brought in death" (Gen. 3:20). So within, the fallen will is "Eve;" fallen, and yet indeed the true "mother of all living." Only by the will is another life produced. It is the opener of all evil or good in the creature. As we love, we live. Therefore must we "keep the heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of good or bad life" (Prov. 4:23). So the Lord teaches, -- "From within, out of the heart, proceed evil thoughts," and every form of evil living (Mark 7:21); and out of the affections grows that life which is life, and is eternal.

And yet the man, and woman too, though she is the mother of all living, are shut out of Paradise. A flaming sword keeps the way, while at its gate are placed cherubim. The fallen mind in mercy is shut out, because unfit to deal with heavenly things; while forms of truth (for these cherubim were such forms) reveal, as through a veil, some ray of glory such as the fallen mind and will can bear. For now a coat of skin in mercy covers both. Other things therefore in grace are made to agree thereto.

But all this may be more clear to some, if we trace its fulfilment in the outward kingdom. The tale is one within or without, enacted before the face of the world, or carried on invisibly in the inmost soul of man.

Outwardly then we here have man as man. Human nature in its ways and griefs and hopes is drawn for us, with the exactness of One who views it as it is, and who presents the perfect figure of it in Adam to us, that, if we cannot look within, we may yet learn by Adam's ways to know our own tendencies. We are shewn here, first, the way of man; then, the consequences; then, the remedy.

II. -- MAN'S WAY

AS to the way of man, as man, it is from God to self and independence; a way not without its marked stages, -- for there is first temptation, then sin, and disobedience, -- and each of these has its own steps, but the steps and stages are all away from God. Such is the way of man. If he returns, that return is God's way for man, and not mere man's way.

First in this way comes the temptation. This at once touches a field of mystery, assuming the existence of an enemy of God and man; though how he became such, or whence or what he was, or how he had power to reach this world, and to use its creatures, is not told us. What we know is this, that man is tempted, and that by some of the common creatures which surround him here; the weaker vessel being ever first assailed, as being more likely to yield, and in yielding to draw the stronger with her. Christ was "tempted of the devil," and could say, "Get thee behind me, Satan" (Matt. 4:1-10), for the New Man sees a spiritual world. But man as man sees but the creature, some outward thing, and not a spirit under it. Some paltry thing, the smallest, commonest creature, may be, and is often, used to ruin us. A tree or beast may stir our lusts, and a garden or fruit awaken passions and desires, which may prove too strong for us. For though man, as Adam, sees but the creature, a world of spirits is working under it, by the creature tempting man to trust in self and creatures more than God.

Yet with this difference, that Adam saw only the creature, whilst Christ in His temptation recognised the devil as the direct agent in it, the two temptations varied not. The serpent's words in substance exactly answer to those recorded in the Gospel; first suggesting doubts as to God's love, then as to His truth, then openly attempting to put the creature into God's place. Such is the trial here: such was Christ's: and such is man's temptation yet. There is indeed no other.

First comes a suggestion questioning God's love; and this is put with great subtlety, suggesting that the commandment was merely arbitrary, imposed by power, rather than ordained in love: -- "Hath God said, Ye shall not eat?" (Gen. 3:1). As much as to say, He grudges; He cannot really love you. Keeping out of sight what God has done, His unnumbered gifts and proofs of love everywhere, the serpent fixes on the one thing denied, and brings this forward in the way most likely to awaken hard and evil thoughts. Yet he only puts a question as to God. He questions what God does: thus he opens the temptation.

If we question what God does, we judge God; we get out of our place, and put Him out of His. For simple as the question seemed, by it the serpent was drawing Eve to be God's judge, rather than His worshipper: -- an awful place for men, yet one into which our adversary is ever drawing us; to lead ere long to make ourselves as gods, and to make God a liar. A really humble soul never judges God. It may not have peace or joy, but at least it will not judge God; submitting rather to His sovereign will; tempted to question, yet not questioning. Such a soul has broken through the snare. It is safe, for it will not entertain questions as to God's ways.

Eve, however, meets the question, as men yet meet it, with knowledge. She answers with the truth of God (Gen. 3:2, 3); shewing how the serpent misrepresented God. And yet she fails. What was wrong here? This, that the woman was parleying with Satan instead of worshipping. Could Satan have gone on with success, if the woman, instead of arguing the point, had at once given God His place by worship and submission? Then God and the creature would both have had their place, and the serpent's subtlety would have been foiled. But Eve utters truth, while her soul drinks in the lie. Unconsciously she is taking the place of judging God.

And truth held away from God will not preserve: on the contrary, it may very readily be used against us. Balaam had the truth; but he walked not with God. Instead of helping him, therefore, the truth only judged him (Numb. 24:17; 31:8). And we too may have some well-known text, when Satan, "that old serpent" (Rev. 12:9), suggests that God does not love us. Will it help us against the tempter's wile, if we are parleying with him, instead of worshipping? Alas! We all know how powerless truth is, if we are admitting questions suggesting doubts as to God's love.

Such is man's first trial; and thus, in doubts of God's love, comes in creature love. All the world is doing what Eve did. They think God does not love them: they must therefore love themselves. So man turns to find his joy out of God, in things which cannot satisfy. This is the fundamental lie, -- God does not love. Every other lie is possible after this. This it is which leads man away from God. Distance from Him is easy, if the poison of this lie is really rankling in us. Oh how deep this lie has gone! Who likes to be at the mercy of God in everything? Men will trust a strong box more than God, because they are not quite certain that He so loves, that at every step He will order what is best for them. God will stint them, they fear. God cannot make them happy now. This tree or that will give far more joy than God can; for love is joy, and, if God loves us not, we can but try self and creatures and creature love.

The next step is the denial of God's truth. "The serpent said, Ye shall not surely die" (Gen. 3:4). Love being doubted, truth is next assailed. God now is treated as a liar. He said indeed, Ye shall die, if ye transgress. But fear not: ye shall not die.

Now here, as before, if God lose His place, something else must take it. If the truth is doubted, some lie will be believed. Where God is not trusted, Satan will be; and, indeed, the world's happiness consists in trusting him. To this day, wherever man is doubting God, he is building his happiness upon the devil's lie. Could men, if they believed God's word, go on happily in a course of disobedience and self-will? But they believe a lie. Their happiness in sin rests on be...

Table of contents

• PREFACE
• INTRODUCTION. THE WORK AND REST OF GOD
• PART 1. ADAM, OR HUMAN NATURE
• PART 2. CAIN AND ABEL,
• PART 3. NOAH, OR REGENERATION
• PART 4. ABRAHAM, OR THE SPIRIT OF FAITH
• PART 5. ISAAC, OR THE SPIRIT OF SONSHIP
• PART 6. JACOB, OR THE SPIRIT OF SERVICE
• PART 7. JOSEPH, OR SUFFERING AND GLORY