Genesis drops an interesting hint, that it’s in the husband recognizing and valuing his wife as his ezer kenegdo (see previous blog) that he will find the ever-present, powerful and perfectly equipped help he needs in a world that often threatens to overwhelm him.
That’s because God chose the man as the one to bring order to the world and keep the opposition at bay – a huge responsibility – but right beside him he would have his ezer kenegdo “help meet” to keep him valiantly hacking away at the dragons, and picking him up when he’s down. Because it’s in this kind of relationship together that husbands and wives are living the secret to successful human rulership of this planet.
And Paul saw that too, because he compares this relationship of husband and wife to the relationship of Christ and the church. Which fits, because it’s in the relationship of Christ and the church that the successful rulership of this planet is being established right now too. And it’s in Genesis we see how it works.
In Genesis, the man had the job of looking after the garden in Eden, an amazing job because this was where God dwelt. But God made sure the man couldn’t do the job on his own. He could only do it with the help of his wife. It was only by combining what God had equipped each of them with that the job could be done.
To Paul it was the perfect picture of Christ and the church, because it was to Christ that the Father had given the responsibility of setting up his kingdom on Earth, the same job he’d given to Adam. But Adam had let evil take over instead.
Jesus then corrected that by defeating evil. But that was just the first step. Jesus would then lead the charge to free the whole planet from evil forever. How? Through his church. So Jesus is not doing this alone either, any more than God left Adam to do the job alone. The Father has supplied Jesus with his very own perfectly equipped ezer kenegdo church too – which, just like Eve was to Adam, is bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh – and she’s right here in the trenches giving her all in service to him.
And what a formidable team, Jesus and his Spirit-filled church bringing in the kingdom of God so that one day the Earth will be a pure place for the Father to dwell in and all opposition will have been defeated.
And it was all there in Genesis as to how it would be done – through a God-equipped team, pictured first of all by the God-equipped team of husband and wife, and now by the formidable God-equipped team of Christ and his church.
Buck To Basics 