Dear Kelly,
You have given me a lot to think about with regard to your post on the curse on Eve: http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/mar2008/kellyh319.htm I have come to believe that God has placed spiritual patterns throughout our natural world. I also believe that God reveals them to those who look for them. I loved the comparison between a woman’s reproduction system and the two trees of the Garden of Eden. Perhaps you have already noticed that the Tree of Life will someday stand on both sides of the river of life in the New Jerusalem. It will produce fruit every month, the same way that a woman produces an egg on a monthly basis. You also mentioned a woman’s monthly flow of blood. It is interesting that both water and blood flowed out of our Lord’s pierced side. We know that He shed His blood for the remission of our sins. We also know that he is our Living Water. "On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.’" John 7:37-38. It is not surprising then that a river of water, not blood, will flow in the New Jerusalem.
"Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads." Revelation 22:1-3.
On an unrelated note, I was shown how the Law is connected to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Cross (called a tree in the New Testament) is connected to the Tree of Life. While the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was forbidden to Adam and Eve, the fruit of the cross – our Lord Jesus Christ – is free to all.
On a related note, I believe that the Rapture can be seen in the pattern of conception, gestation, and birth. Eve’s curse had to do with childbearing: "To the woman he said, ‘I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.’" Genesis 3:16. The imagery of pregnancy is clearly used to describe the end-times. "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains." Matthew 24:8. Contractions lead to birth. So the question is – the birth of what or whom?
I think that these birth pains are connected to our resurrection bodies. "The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed….We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies." Romans 8:19, 22-23. We are told by Christ that we must be born again. "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit." John 3:5-6. Therefore the pattern of physical birth should also establish the pattern for spiritual birth.
We can gain some insight from the conception of Jesus Christ. It was something unexpected and out of the ordinary. The Angel Gabriel told Mary: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God." Luke 1:35. John states that the "Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." John 1:14. The immortal took on a mortal body. My guess is that this transition happened quickly – in the twinkling of an eye. No one knew the day or the hour of His conception. Even Mary had to be told that it was going to happen. Afterward, like other human babies, Christ was hidden in Mary’s womb for a period of gestation. After which time, he was born.
The Church will also undergo a miraculous transition. Instead of immortality taking on mortality, however, mortality will take on immortality. "Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality." 1 Corinthians 15:51-52. No one will know the day or the hour of the Rapture either. "Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night." 1 Thessalonians 5:1-2. Like Christ, we will be hidden from the world for a period of time. "But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead. Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by. See, the Lord is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins." Isaiah 27:19-21. As Christ was physically revealed to the world at His birth, we too will be revealed to the world at His second coming. "I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war… The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean." Revelation 19:11-14. Conception, gestation and birth.
There will come a day when Eve’s curse, the pain of childbirth, will come to an end. "A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name …. Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father." John 16:21-25. Someday soon, we will see him face to face and there will only be joy.
Maranatha.
– Lisa Taylor