Eve – the Mother who made a bad Choice!

Have you ever had a go at constructing a Family Tree? I have made a start but have only got back so far till about 1850. What is amazing is that if it was possible for me to trace my ancestry back to the beginning of time, I would find that my great-great……grandmother mother was Eve. In Gen 3:20, it says Adam called his wife “Eve” because she was the mother of all living. On this Mothering Sunday it is a sobering thought that we are all descendants of this lady, perhaps with very long family trees originating from her.

Her immediate qualifications for her being a mother was that it is recorded that she gave birth to a son “Cain”, then to “Abel” (Gen 4:1-2), and then later in life to a third son, Seth (Gen 4:25).

When God had created her from Adam (Gen 2:22) she was a completely innocent person, flawless in a flawless world with a flawless relationship to her Creator and her husband. She was a complete woman, what any woman could wish to be. She had never done anything wrong. However that state of innocence didn’t last too long for through the subtle temptation of the Devil in the form of a serpent, she broke the commandment of God by taking of the forbidden fruit. God had said (Gen 2:16-17) that she and her husband could eat of every tree in the garden with one exception, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The first question in the Bible was asked by Satan and he used it to project doubt on what God had said. It was a leading question (Gen 3:1, 5), designed not to provoke rational thought, but to instil doubt. The question that was really being asked was “Can God be good and yet limit you in such an unfair way?” Eve was led astray by the master of deception. First the Devil urged her to doubt the command of God. Next he persuaded her to deny the Word of God. Amazingly she believed God had lied to her; that there would be no adverse consequences to her action, and so she disobeyed His command. She ate of the fruit (Gen 3:6) and fell into sin, dragging Adam and ultimately the whole human race down with her. Satan's tactics - doubt God's word, then deny it, and finally disobey it - worked on the woman, and he still uses the same tactics to-day of undermining what God says. Sin is so attractive and it is very easy to rationalise our disobedience. Eve was thoroughly deceived, but Adam's guilt was greater because he acted deliberately, conscious of what he was doing. The Bible says “by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin” (Rom 5:12).

In view of the above, “Eve” named by Adam as “the mother of all living”, could also be described as the “mother of all dead”, because as a result of her submission to Satan’s charms, sin not only came into her life but into the lives of all her descendants (Rom 3:23). It’s sad to report that her first son, Cain, the first person born into this world, was a murderer.

Within this tragic story lies one tiny ray of hope. Buried in God’s curse on the serpent (Gen 3:14-15) was a statement of God’s care for the sinner – like Adam & Eve, like you and me, like all mankind. God warned Satan that his victory was not going to be for ever. The day would come when One born of the seed of the woman – an unusual statement when “seed” always comes from the man – would crush the head of the serpent. Eve was “the mother of all living” and in the fullness of time One would come forth from a woman who would destroy death, and bring life and immortality to light (2 Tim 1:10). The Lord Jesus would be that specific, individual seed that would offer God's blessed salvation to the entire world.

Rahab – the Mother who made a good Choice!

Rahab (Josh 2:1) was a prostitute described as the oldest profession on earth; we know nothing of her ancestry. She lived in a house situated on the city wall of  Jericho, a city in the land of Canaan, that was going to be attacked and subsequently conquered by the armies of Israel; it was really a condemned city. Prior to that attack, the then earthly leader of Israel (Joshua) sent out two spies to view the land and the city. The spies finished up at Rahab’s house and they lodged there, but their presence in Jericho had been noticed, and the king of Jericho ordered soldiers to Rahab’s house. Rahab hid the spies in the roof space and told the soldiers that two men had been to her house, but she didn’t know where they were from, and then went on to say that when it was dark they had left and she didn’t know where they had gone.

Rahab then had a serious chat with the spies, still up in her roof space (Josh 2:8). She had strong convictions of the supremacy of their God and how He was going to give to the Israelites their land. She admitted everyone in the city was afraid and felt powerless.  She was conscious of what God had already done for them, enabling them to escape from Egypt, how He had parted the Red Sea so that the Israelites could go across on dry land, and how the pursuing Egyptian army had been drowned. Of how neighbouring kings had been utterly destroyed. She was a frightened woman alert to the fact that God acts in judgement.

She recognised that “the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath” (Josh 2:11), and she made her decision, and did a deal with the two spies. “I have saved your lives; when you come to conquer the city save my family – my parents, brothers, sisters, and their families”. The men agreed on the condition that she would not disclose their business. So she let them down over the city wall through a window, told them where to go, and where they were to hide for three days. But the men told her, "In order to keep this oath you made us swear, this is what you must do. Hang this red rope out the window through which you let us down and gather your entire family with you in your house--father, mother, brothers, and sisters. Anyone who goes out of the doors of your house into the street and is killed, it's his own fault--we aren't responsible. But for everyone within the house we take full responsibility” (Josh 2:18-19).

Israel utterly destroyed that city, men, women, young and old, cattle, sheep, but Rahab and her family were rescued and went on to live with the Israelites.

The special thing about Rahab was that she had simple faith. She is one of only two ladies mentioned in Hebrews 11, that chapter that explains what faith is, and illustrates it so forcibly. It says there of her, By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace (Heb 11:31). How do we know she had faith?

1.   She believed the awful news of coming wrath

2.   She desired greatly that she might be saved

3.   She cried for mercy and included her family.

4.   She took the means appointed by putting the scarlet line in the window.

5.   She trusted in the promise given

6.   It was this – she believed God and God counted her simple faith for righteousness.

But what made the difference was that she let down the scarlet cord. If she hadn’t done that, all her good beliefs and desires would have come to nothing. If she hadn’t let down the cord what would have happened? She would have perished! And it’s the same with us. We might know a lot about God and have great desires that we are right with Him, but unless we act in faith, it is just good head knowledge that we have.

Faith knows no boundaries, either racial, national, social, cultural or anything else. By faith, Rahab went from judgment to deliverance, from idols to God, from shame to honour!

Oh yes, and on Mothering Sunday what about her being a mother?  She was the mother of a gentleman called Boaz, who married a Moabite girl called Ruth, who had a son called Obed, who was the father of Jesse, who was David’s earthly father. And Jesus Christ was born of the line of David – He was called David’s greater son. She was the great-great-grandmother of King David, Israel’s greatest king. Even more amazing she was the ancestress in the genealogy of Jesus.

So that was the good choice Rahab made. Being joined to the family of God has nothing to do with our goodness. It has everything to do with God’s grace. Through a prostitute, God teaches us that we are saved by grace, not by being good.

Images from Dorling Kingsley Bible clip art

Mary – the Mother of Jesus who didn’t really have a Choice

In a real sense Mary didn’t have to make a choice. God made it for her, for she found favour with God (Luk 1:30), and became a mother, not through her relationship with Joseph, but through the Person of the Holy Spirit of God. He was to be called “Jesus for He would save His people from their sins”. Not surprisingly Mary was shocked by what was happening to her, but having taken in the message of the angel said, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to Thy word” (Luk 1:38). Later she was to say, “My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour” (Luk 1:46-47).

One of the characteristics of a mother is that she doesn’t forget “things” which occur respecting her children. Everything they do or suffer – everything that is said of them, is treasured up in her mind, and often she thinks of those things and anxiously seeks what they may indicate respecting the future character and welfare of her child. Mary was no different (Luk 2:19). Every circumstance relative to her son’s birth, Mary treasured up in her memory; every new circumstance she weighed, or compared with those which had already taken place, in order to acquire the fullest information concerning the nature and mission of her Son. She “remembered” what the angel had said to her,what had happened to Elizabeth and to the shepherds - all the extraordinary circumstances which had attended the birth of her Son.

We know very little about Jesus’ childhood. We know He had 4 brothers and at least 2 sisters, and was brought up in Nazareth, working no doubt in His legal father Joseph’s carpenter’s shop. At the age of twelve He was taken to Jerusalem by His parents to celebrate the feast of the Passover. When they set off for home, the child Jesus waited behind in Jerusalem, sitting in the temple listening to teachers, asking questions, and answering their queries. At this time, at the age of 12, He announced to His parents “Didn't you know that I must be about My Father’s business?” When He had become an adult, He confirmed this statement, “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work” (John 4:34).

We know only a little more about Mary. 30 yrs or so later she was invited with her Son & disciples to a wedding feast at Cana (John 2:1). After that it was probably another 18 months before we hear of her again, this time at Capernaum (Mat 12:46-49), where Christ uttered the memorable words, “who is my mother? And who are my brethren? And He stretched forth His hand toward His disciples, and said, “Behold My mother and My brethren”. The next time she is mentioned is at the crucifixion, along with her sister Mary, Mary Magdalene, and Salome, and other women, Joh 19:26. Here she witnessed the physical and mental agonies of the Man she had brought into the world, who was now bearing our sins in His own body on the tree. This One whose delight had been to do those things that pleased the Father was made sin for us – and for her. That this Man with whom even Pilate could find no fault (John 19:4), and who the centurion who was responsible for His execution declared “certainly He was a righteous Man” (Luk 23:47), was forsaken by God. From that hour John took her to his own abode. Then we read she was with the little company in the upper room after the Ascension (Act 1:14). This is important for us to notice, because although she had been blessed above all women, she knew now that her future rightful place was in the company of those who believed and followed her Son. From this time she wholly disappears from public notice. The time and manner of her death are unknown.

This then is the story of a humble, ordinary, decent living girl who was used by God to bring His Son into this world. Seeing that lovely Son on the cross, with all the abuse thrown at Him, must have been particularly hurtful. But she had the joy also of knowing He was raised from the dead.

She knew too that she needed a Saviour. “My spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour”. Does our spirit rejoice in Him?