Gtcotr/ss050811
I’ve got an idea: Instead of this being just another “Mother’s Day”, why not make it “Happy Mother’s” day. Just a thought … ok …
Today we are going to begin our Mother’s Day message with a particular scripture which has been much misunderstood through the centuries. And, even though we may tread upon some ground which will at first seem uncomfortable let me assure you that today’s message will be like an old movie, it will have a good ending in which everyone will live happily ever after.
So, for the next few minutes I beg you to give your undivided attention to the Word of God as I weave the scriptures together revealing an eternal truth stronger than Samson’s hair. Today we will discover how God sees motherhood and how He intends to save all mankind from the damning grip of sin. Let’s begin by turning to:
1 Timothy 2
13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve.
14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.
15 Nevertheless she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control.
This passage of scripture has been much maligned and often misunderstood through the centuries both by the church and by the secular world in their attempts to undermine the intent and the authority of God’s Word. This morning I want us to look at this picture of history with fresh eyes and uncover the simple truths of salvation.
1 Timothy 2:13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve.
First, in verse 13 of this passage we see the order of the creation of mankind: First Adam and then Eve. However, if we are to understand more, we must find the reason behind that order. For this we need turn the book of Genesis, chapter 2.
The story of creation shows God being productive each day for six days and on the seventh day God rested. Each day of creation ended with God having reviewed His work for that day and concluding that it was good. In fact, Genesis 1:31 says that at the end of the sixth day God saw everything that He had made and indeed it was very good.
Genesis 1: 31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. …
In chapter two God continues with His good work by planting a Garden eastward in Eden and places the man in the Garden to cultivate it and watch over it. By the time we get to verse 18, God notices that Adam is alone and suffering from loneliness. This is the first time God notes that something is wrong with this new adventure … this is “not good!”
Genesis 2:18 And the LORD God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him."
So God commanded all creation to pass before Adam but in naming them, there was not found a companion for Adam. So God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam during which God took a rib from him and from that rib God fashioned a woman. When God brought the woman to the man … well, let’s read it together:
Genesis 2
21 ¶ And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.
22 Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
23 And Adam said: "This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man."
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Verse 23 says, “She shall be called Woman”. The Hebrew word used here for woman is the familiar word, “Ish-shaw” which simply means woman or wife. This word is found almost 700 times in the Old Testament writings.
God knew the cure for Adam’s loneliness, a woman – a wife. And, by the way, the Bible says that it is still good for every man to have his own wife …
We catch only a brief glimpse through scriptures from which we can imagine what life must have been like during those days in the Garden. Life was without sin, without sickness, worry, anger or regret … life was as God intended until – Genesis chapter 3.
The serpent was more cunning, shrewder, and more subtle in his approach than any other of God’s creatures. Either possessed by the devil, or perhaps the devil himself, the serpent tricked this woman, the wife of Adam. Herein is the second part of Paul’s account which we read in:
1 Timothy 2:14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.
Adam knew what he was doing but the woman was deceived …
Details of the account are recorded in Genesis 3 which reveal that the woman was approached by this tempter with what seemed like a reasonable question concerning God’s Word.
Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, ’You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
I find it interesting that each time she is referred to in these critical scriptures she is simply called “the woman”, “Ish-shaw”: Adam’s wife and helper; the answer to Adam’s loneliness; made from and for the man; just a woman.
However as the story progresses, “the woman”, deceived by the devil, leads the family into sin and gives birth to death for all mankind who would come thereafter. “The Woman” – that’s what Timothy calls her – “The Woman”.
I love verse 15 of 1 Timothy 2, because it begins with one of my favorite words in the Bible – “Nevertheless” … (I love the fact that God and His Word will never leave you in a dark place.)
1 Timothy 2:15 Nevertheless she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control.
Nevertheless she, the woman, will be saved …
Even though the woman brought birth to death, she will nonetheless be saved because she will also bring birth to life.
On that day when sin entered into the Garden, death came upon all mankind. God walked into the picture and spoke His Word which brought judgment to the wicked and made a way for pure in heart to escape penalty.
You can read the account for yourself but allow me to tell you in brief that those involved began to accuse and blame others for their own problems. The woman blamed the serpent while Adam blamed both God and “the woman”.
In the end God levied a curse on each one blamed in the affair. He cursed the serpent; He cursed the woman; He cursed Adam; and then He cursed Himself.
Galatians 3:13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree").
God foretold how that through the seed of a woman He would raise up one who would bruise the serpent’s head, speaking prophetically concerning Jesus, the Messiah, seed of a woman. Transgression came by the woman -
Nevertheless … “The Woman” shall be saved in childbearing …
“Never-the-less the woman …”
Even though sin came by the woman, she is “Never-the-less” … in fact – she has become the door through which salvation for all mankind comes.
Genesis 3: 20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
From the moment God promised to bring salvation through the woman, Adam began seeing “the woman” in a different light. For the first time he called her “Eve” – the mother of all living.
The name Eve is found only 4 times in the Bible:
Genesis 3:20; Genesis 4:1; 2 Corinthians 11:3; 1Timothy 2:13
… two times in the Old Testament and two times in the New Testament. Each time, both old and new, the exact translation is the same:
“Eve” means “Life”
Adam named “the woman” – “Life”!
Adam recognized that his only hope of salvation for his race was through Eve – through Life – through a mother … the mother of life.
Adam realized that his only hope of life for his children and their future was in Eve.
Adam saw that the only hope of salvation mankind had would come through a mother … so he named her Life.
Adam knew that without Eve (Life) God’s plan could not be accomplished.
In fact, all that will ever be done for God is first given its life in a mother.
Nothing has ever been, nor will anything ever be discovered, invented or accomplished in this world except it first pass through a mother.
When God has a job He needs done, God first looks for a mother.
In one moment of time Adam went from seeing like he saw to seeing how God sees. He went from calling her:
· “Ish-shaw”, “The Woman”, I need her because “I just don’t like being alone.”, - to -
· “Khav-vaw”,”Eve”, realizing that “There is no life and no future without her.”
Mothers are still those whom we cannot live and will not survive without.
More than just a perfunctory role, motherhood is a calling.
Let me finish the rest of the story:
1 Timothy 2:15 Nevertheless she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control.
What the world needs today are mothers – Happy Mothers – who:
1. Continue in faith
2. Continue in love
3. Continue in holiness
4. With self-control
Mothers we beg you … save yourselves and save us!
Happy Mother’s Day
