Throughout the Bible, names mean things as do all the Words of the Bible for they are all God’s Word and the “Word” is Jesus. [i] Essentially, what that means is that when God manifested Himself orally by Word, Jesus is the Voice that is heard. John said that the Word was there in the beginning. Since the Word was there, just what was He doing? He was speaking to Adam and Eve. He was the Voice walking in the Garden in the cool of the day… [ii] to “call aloud” (Strong’s Dictionary). He was answering Abram calling Him.
Therefore, pre-incarnate Jesus was there in the Garden and was
sensed audibly and physically, since He was ambulating. There is no evidence
that the two saw Jesus at all. So, Jesus rectified that. He made them coats
of skin and clothed them. [iii] The
coat, learned from sacred literature, was the flesh of a lamb that died so that
they need not!
With coats of sacred flesh, they could then see Jesus and
feel His Presence again. Sin had isolated the two from God’s Presence. [iv] Theretofore,
they could see the Presence of the Lord in the Tree of Life. They were sent from
the Garden, away from the Tree of Life, but the Presence of God was still with
them because of the coats made from that one lamb died on their behalf. Adam
and Eve put on the “Lamb of God” and beheld Jesus just as John the Baptist introduced
“Jesus” years later, to wit: “John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, ‘Behold
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.’”
Adam and Eve were “born again” [v]
because they beheld the Lamb of God way back then; the Lamb who would take away
the sins of their world. John was saying, See here IS your God!
God was saying the same thing in the beginning — that God is Present, and here He IS!
The apostle, John, wrote:
4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. 5 And ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin. 6 Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. (1 John 3:4-6)
"Abideth in Him" is wearing the "Ghost" of Jesus.
Adam and Eve transgressed the Law, and there was only one —
Do not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. That was the Law and
encompasses all “The Ten Words” that
Jesus scribed onto the Tablets of Stone. When the “finger of God” inscribed the
Word on stone, that “Finger” [vi]was
the manifestation of Himself, called “Jesus.”
God manifested Himself as a “Coat” made from the holy,
innocent flesh of a lamb. He did that to take away the sins of mankind (Adam’s
kind, both himself and Eve). Like Noah long after, Adam and Eve found grace. God
put Himself on the two! Then, “Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not.” Implied
is that so long as Adam and Eve kept their Coats on, sin would not be accounted
to them. The Coat that each would wear was the “whole armor of God”… all that
would be needed of God’s arsenal of wearing apparel just as Christians are
called to do: “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand
against the wiles of the devil” (Ephes 6:11).
Adam and Eve were given weapons as well; they were not only
shielded with armor, but they put on the Word as well — “the sword of the
Spirit, which is the Word of God” (Ephes 6:17). The Voice of God spoke the Word
to them as well, “to till the ground from whence he was taken.” (Gen 3:23).
That was “The Great Commission.” They would be “farmers”
like Noah after the second creation. However, they would not plant vineyards
but “living souls.” They would obey the other commandments: “to dress and keep
the Garden” of living souls and to “multiply,” or plant new seeds in the ground
from ‘adami. “Multiplication” was not producing mere flesh but living
souls. So long as that was done, they would be protected by God’s Living
Spirit in their coats.
When “knowing” one another, what would happen? They would
take off the coats provided by God and would be ashamed again. It is implied by
scripture, that Cain was conceived under the forbidden tree, but God did not
conceive Cain; Satan did, since Cain was “of the Wicked One” [vii]
Also implied is that God conceived Abel. That was surely why
his offering of flesh was acceptable. He was vicariously offering his flesh
just as God offered His with the coats. Essentially, it appears that Abel wore
a coat that God had made for him, surely from the sacrifice of his own lamb.
Like Adam and Eve before, vegetation sacrificed by Cain would not even make viable
aprons to protect any of his “things” from the Wicked One.
Cain would multiply, but Abel never would. However, Abel was
venerated by Seth and his seed. Matthew called him “Righteous Abel” [viii]
Abel multiplied spiritually as he was replaced by Seth, “’For God,’ said she, ‘hath
appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.’” (Gen 4:25).
Yahweh provided the coats from the lamb. However, Yahweh
is not God’s “Name.” It is His identity; He IS Existence — the Alpha and
Omega’ the Beginning and the End. Yahweh (JHWH) is an acronym that
identifies the LORD GOD. Again, it is not His Name!
Now what has that to do with Abram?
Unto the place of the altar (between Bethel and Hai), which he had make there at the first: and there Abram called on the Name of the Lord. (Gen 13:4)
Abram found grace just as Noah before him, as did Adam and Eve even before
that! Adam worked by the sweat of his face, and so did Noah and Abram. [ix]
Noah built an Ark with his own hands because of his faith in God’s Word to do
so. He trusted “Jesus” albeit he would not see Jesus until he was safe on Holy
Land. The rainbow was how God manifested His Name — that “it shall come to
pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the
cloud” (Gen 9:14). During the exodus from sin in Egypt, the Hebrews saw a cloud
by day, but Moses saw the rainbow in the cloud. That is why Moses had faith in
the Cloud of God… he saw Jesus in the Cloud!
Abram did his work as well. He destroyed all the idols in the house of his
father, Terah. Then he too found grace. He was chosen to continue the Noahic Covenant.
God would put Himself on Abram as he did Adam and Eve and Noah. Noah’s “coat”
was the “Bow” that he could not see until later. That invisible Bow tugged the
Ark where God Willed it to go.
For Abram, it would be different. Rather than put on a physical coat, his
would be one entirely spiritual. His own flesh would be cut off! He sealed the
Covenant with God by circumcision of the foreskin of his shame. By “coincidence?”
the English word “name” in Hebrew is “shem” (or “sem”) and is pronounced
shame. Abram was a Semite, and “Shem” was their names.
Abram called on the Sem (or Shem) of the Lord.
Noah honored God by giving his eldest son the Name. Semites would carry that
Name through the generations until this day since the seed of Abraham are still
called “Semites.” The Abrahamic Covenant was that the Name of God would be of
the seed of Abram, the Semite, through his seed, Isaac and Israel (Jacob).
“Shem” was the Name above all names. He was God’s first
chosen and peculiar person because his seed would carry the Name of God. [x]
Abram’s only work was making an altar to God, surely by the
sweat of his face, and multiplying his seed to plant in the “vessel” (Ark) of
Mary’s womb. Before Mary would be the Ark, though, Saria would. Her barren womb
would carry the seed of the Name of the Righteous One — the second “Abel.”
What would Abram wear after circumcision of his foreskin?
The whole armor of God! God would use His “Sword” of the Spirit to do what?
Circumcise the heart of Abram. Abram put on the Holy Spirit! “Then Abraham gave
up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and
was gathered to his people” (Gen 25:8).
He was gathered with his forebears in Paradise and was taken
to the Cave of Machpelah in Ephron, and maybe buried there with Abel in the
Cave of Treasures.
The dust from which Adam was made would return to the dust, [xi]
and that was possibly in the Cave of Machpelah in Ephron — “the place of the
dust.” Abraham was buried there with his fathers after he gave up his ghost. Death
was gain for Abraham because he had become a new person in Christ… from a mere
Abram to Abraham. Sinful Terah, of the Wicked One, had named him Abram, and the
Righteous Name had named him Abraham. Abram and Abraham mean the same thing,
but the Name named him “Abraham” — “father of the multitude” and that he would
be… the multitude who would kill Jesus… the very Name to whom Abram built the
altar.
Right there, Abram “called on the Name of the Lord.” He
called on Jesus to do what? Manifest Himself to him. What did Abram need?
Brotherly love! He and his nephew, Lot, were at odds over “Paradise.” Just like
the apostles, Who would be greatest there in the Kingdom of God? [xii]
God would meeken Abram. He would relent Paradise to Lot. He
would give Lot first choice! And what did that get Abram? “Blessed are the
meek: for they shall inherit the earth” (Mat 5:5). Abram inherited the Promise
Land and Lot only got Sodom and Gomorrah, both of which perished.
Of course, Abram called on Jesus! What do you suppose Jesus
said? Perhaps, Abram, it is not the paradise in earth, but Paradise in Heaven
that matters! Abram got it! He was blissed. Abram found grace, and
this time it was written down on parchment and survives to this day. No longer
would the Covenant only be written in the sky under the bow, but as Holy
Scripture.
Abram called, and the Name answered. Together, they made a
deal, Abram signed it in the blood that he shed, and Jesus in His own Blood
much later, on the Cross. There Jesus attested the Abrahamic Covenant, but long
after Abraham would walk through it himself, an early version of the Via
Delarosa that Jesus would walk himself. He performed it solemnly on the very
places Jesus would walk it later! He followed the Way before the Cross even pointed
to it.
That one Word means so much. The unspeakable Name that is called “Jesus” is “Ya saves” … “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other Name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Abram called on the only Name that would save them. He put on the Spirit of God, and when he died, his “gain” was giving up the Ghost of Jesus to be with the Person of God in the Flesh!
(picture credit: ChristNow; "Where is Jesus now?")
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