Friday

Related Verses
Gen. 2:21
21 And Jehovah God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place.

John 1:14
14 And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and reality.

John 12:24
24 Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

1 Cor. 10:17
17 Seeing that there is one bread, we who are many are one Body; for we all partake of the one bread.

Luke 12:49-50
49 I have come to cast fire on the earth, and how I wish that it were already kindled!
50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how I am pressed until it is accomplished!

Rom. 12:11
11 Do not be slothful in zeal, but be burning in spirit, serving the Lord.

Rev. 4:5
5 And out of the throne come forth lightnings and voices and thunders. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God;

Related Reading
One day the real Adam was put to sleep on the cross where He slept for six hours, from nine o’clock in the morning until three o’clock in the afternoon (Mark 15:25, 33). This was signified by the phrase in Genesis 2 which said that “God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man” and that “He took one of his ribs” to build him a wife (Gen. 2:21). That sleep of Adam’s was a type of Christ’s death on the cross for producing the church. This is the life-releasing, life-imparting, life-propagating, life-multiplying, and life-reproducing death of Christ, which is signified by a grain of wheat falling into the ground to die and to grow up in order to produce many grains (John 12:24) for the making of the loaf which is the Body, the church (1 Cor. 10:17). By producing the church in this way God in Christ has been wrought into man as life. First, God became a man. Then this man with the divine life and nature was multiplied through death and resurrection into many believers who become the many members to compose the real Eve to match Him and to complement Him. It is through this process that God in Christ has been wrought into man with His life and nature that man in life and nature can be the same as He is in order to match Him as His complement. (Life-study of Genesis, p. 219) 

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At the end of Christ’s crucifixion, the Jews, who did not want the bodies of the crucified criminals to remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day, asked Pilate to have their legs broken (John 19:31). When the soldiers came to Jesus to break His legs, they found that He had died already and that there was no need for them to break His bones. This fulfilled the Scripture which said, “No bone of His shall be broken” (John 19:32-33, 36; Exo. 12:46; Num. 9:12; Psa. 34:20). Nevertheless, the soldiers pierced His side and blood and water came out (John 19:34). The blood was for redemption (Heb. 9:22; 1 Pet. 1:18-19). What does the water signify? In Exodus 17:6 we find the type of the smitten rock (1 Cor. 10:4). After the rock was smitten, it was cleft, and living water came forth. Jesus on the cross was smitten with the rod of Moses, that is, by the law of God. He was cleft. His side was pierced, and water came forth. This water was the flow of His divine life signifying the life which produces the church. 

This life was typified by the rib, a piece of bone taken out of Adam’s opened side, of which Eve was produced and built. Hence, the bone typifies the divine life that is signified by the water flowing out of Christ’s side. None of His bones was broken. This signifies that His divine life cannot be broken. His physical life was killed, but nothing could break His divine life which flows out to produce the church. 

As Adam’s sleep typifies the death of Christ, so his waking signifies the resurrection of Christ. After waking, Adam became another person with Eve produced out of him. After His resurrection Christ also became another person with the church brought forth out of Him. As Adam eventually awoke from his sleep to take Eve as his counterpart, so Christ was also resurrected from the dead to take the church as His complement. 

When Adam awoke from his sleep, he immediately discovered that Eve, who was builded with his rib, was present. Likewise, when Christ was resurrected from the dead (1 Cor. 15:20), the church was brought forth with His divine life. Through His death the divine life within Him was released and through His resurrection this released, divine life was imparted into us who believe in Him…As regenerated ones [cf. 1 Pet. 1:3] who have Him as life and who live by Him, we compose His church, the real Eve in resurrection. (Life-study of Genesis, pp. 219-220) 

Further Reading: Life-study of Genesis, msg. 17; CWWL, 1963, vol. 2, “The Central Thought of God,” chs. 1—2, 4