Genesis relates the
creation story, and the introduction of the first man – Adam. Created from the dust of the ground, in the
image of God, Adam is then placed into the garden Eden. God causes
Adam to fall into a deep sleep, and then removes Adam’s side. From Adam’s side, he creates Eve, the first
woman. Adam calls Eve “flesh of my
flesh, and bone of my bones.” Scripture
then declares that for this reason, man will leave his father and mother, and
the two will become one flesh. One is separated
from another, and then reunited. Gen. 2:21-24
Later in Genesis we are
introduced to Abraham. God tells him to
leave his home and go to another land.
As Abraham is traveling through the land around Jerusalem, God tells him that he will give this land to his
descendants as an everlasting possession.
About four hundred years later, Moses and the Children of Israel leave Egypt and wander in the wilderness for forty years. They are then allowed to enter into the
“promised land” to possess it. Over the
next several hundreds of years, the Jews are removed from the land by the
Babylonians and then the Assyrians, and then allowed to return again to the
land and Jerusalem. After the
destruction of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem in 70 a.d., the Jews are slowly removed from the land and eventually
cease to exist as a nation. After the Second
World War, the nation of Israel is created in 1948, and is once again the land of
the Israelites. One is separated from
another, and then at a later time is reunited.
Gen. 12:7
Both Joseph and Moses were
separated from their families and lived in Egypt among the royal household of the Pharaoh. Later, both men are reunited with their
families and their people, the Israelites.
God used the separation of these men from their families to preserve the
nation of Israel. Through
Joseph, he provided a way to move the Israelites into Egypt to preserve them through the famine in the
land. Through Moses, God provided a way
out of the land of Egypt
to which they had now became slaves. One
is separated from another, and then at a later time is reunited. Ex.
13:19
God chose Abraham and set
him apart from the rest of mankind. He told Abraham “I will be
your God and you will be my people.”
When the Jewish nation (olive branch) rejected their Messiah, Jesus, Gentiles were
included in God’s Kingdom. Paul says we were
grafted into the root of the cultivated olive tree (Kingdom of God) as a “wild olive branch.” However, the original olive branch will one day be grafted back in to the root. One is separated from another, and then at a
later time is reunited. Rom. 11:17-24
Mankind was separated from
God by sin. Adam and Eve walked with God
daily in the Garden of Eden. Sin entered
into Paradise and with it, death and separation. However, God provided a way for us to return
to Him through his son, Jesus Christ.
Those who accept Jesus’ redemptive sacrifice on the cross are reconciled
to God, and become the “Bride of Christ”.
In the near future, the Lord will return to earth in the same way in
which he left, and will call us, His Bride, to join Him. We will be reunited once again. One is separated from another, and then at a
later time is reunited. Rev. 21
