God spoke, and all the colors of light were ready to illumine the world and showcase beauty.
He spoke again, and the air was ready to fill lungs and enable bird and insect flight.
With a few more words, the world was full of life: birds and animals playing in lush living landscapes.
It looked like everything was done – but then God did something unexpected. God got down on the ground and started sculpting soil.
Why didn’t God just speak humanity into existence?
I’m sure there are many lessons that God wanted to illustrate by creating mankind the way He did.
But I think the creation on Eve hints strongly at one profound reason:
After God sculpted Adam from the ground and breathed life into him, He gave his first job: naming the animals. A pair of cats jumped gracefully by: Adam named them “cats.” A pair of hippopotami lumber over: Adam calls them Mr. and Mrs. Hippopotamus. On and on Adam named the animals until each had its title. I imagine God putting His hand on Adam’s shoulder and saying “Well done, that’s just what I would have called them.”
But even though Adam is awed by the beauty, grandeur and brilliant living engineering that he just saw, he feels that something is wrong. Each of the animals had a companion perfectly suited for it. But there was nothing of that sort for him.
God puts Adam into a trustful sleep. Then He does something even more unexpected than getting His hands dirty: He starts doing a surgery.
God opens up Adam’s side, removes a rib, and closes him back up again. Then God takes the rib, and makes a woman out of it. Don’t ask me how…
God brings Eve to Adam: a companion perfectly suited to him.
What was God doing? Was He illustrating something? Foreshadowing something?
The Bible calls Jesus “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” (Revelation 13:8)
Something like four-thousand years after the mysterious creation of mankind, angels marvelled to see the Creator sweating and getting dirty day after day in a carpenter shop. They see His aching feet covered with the dirt of many miles as He travels to bring people hope and healing. They witness just how unworthy humanity is of His companionship. The angels watch Him bow His head as, on the cross, He commits His fate to the Father and falls trustingly into the sleep of death. And then they see His side get ripped open.
Water and blood flowed from the hole in Jesus’ side. In the sanctuary, blood and water symbolized forgiveness and cleansing. The forgiveness and cleansing necessary to come into God’s presence. Out of Jesus’ side flowed the pledge that God will provide everything needed to make fallen, degraded mankind become suitable for companionship with even Himself.
When God created humans, was He pledging that He would do anything necessary, no matter how humiliating, to save us?