The Deep Sleep of Adam
In the formation of Eve we see many parallels to the formation of the Bride of Christ. One of the very striking parallels between these two brides is that they are both taken from a body that has been cast into a deep sleep. To examine this, let us begin with the description of Eve as she is removed from the body of Adam.
Genesis 2:21-23
So Yahweh God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh at that place. And Yahweh God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. And the man said, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of Man."
In this passage we see described the formation of the bride of the first Adam. The primary things I want you to note in this description are: first, a deep sleep came upon Adam; second, a separation occurred in the body of Adam that resulted in a bride being formed. A remnant was removed from his sleeping body to form his bride.
In this very hour in which we live such a separation is taking place. One of the predominant scriptures being proclaimed by prophets and teachers of God in this hour is from the book of Revelation where God’s saints are commanded to come out of the great harlot which typifies the apostate church of our day.
Revelation 18:4
“Come out of her, my people, that you may not participate in her sins and that you may not receive of her plagues...”
Now, concerning that which we see in type in the deep sleep that came upon Adam, we see spoken of by Paul in reference to the body of the Last Adam, Yahshua the Messiah. Paul indicated that a similar deep sleep would come upon the body of Christ prior to the Bride of Christ being removed from it.
Paul spoke to the Thessalonian believers and said that those who were afflicting them would be judged at the appearing of the Lord. Their judgment would include their being excluded and removed from being partakers of the glory of the Lord which would be revealed IN those believers who were found faithful.
II Thessalonians 1:9-10
And these will pay the penalty of age-lasting destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed -- for our testimony to you was believed.
We see clearly in this passage that Paul is speaking of the day of the Lord’s return. Contrary to what many believers expect, Christ is to be revealed IN His holy saints at His next appearing, not in the clouds of the sky as many teach. The scriptures do say that Christ will return in the clouds, but He is first to be revealed in His saints as Paul describes here. As we will see, these ones who will have the glory of the Lord to rise upon them (Isaiah 60:1, 2) will be the remnant that constitute the Bride of Christ.
Returning to the scripture passage in II Thessalonians, we see that Paul is speaking of the day of the Lord’s return in His saints. Paul then goes on to describe what will occur just before this day.
II Thessalonians 2:3-4
Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.
The key to understanding this passage is discerning what temple Paul is referring to. We know that Yahshua completely fulfilled the Law and by His sacrifice He abolished the need to anymore keep the ceremonial law. This ceremonial law was primarily focused on the temple which was located in Jerusalem. The passing away of this temple built of wood and stone in its function of being the location where God would meet with man was immediately demonstrated at Christ’s death by the veil of the temple barring the entrance to the Most Holy Place being rent in two as Yahshua breathed His last breath.
The covering of the veil of the Temple was mandated by God to prevent those who were unsanctified from gazing on the presence of God. To look on His presence was to invoke His immediate judgment, and death was the penalty. By the veil being torn and the Most Holy Place exposed, God was signifying that His presence no longer would be found in a building made of wood and stone. His temple was now the temple of man’s body, a building built of living stones. This was further demonstrated by God when forty years later, in AD 70, the temple in Jerusalem was COMPLETELY destroyed by the Romans so that not one stone remained upon another.
Since the death of Christ the temple that God has revealed His presence in has been exclusively a temple formed of the bodies of men and women. When Paul then speaks of the man of lawlessness taking his seat in the temple, he is not talking about a temple built of wood and stone, but one built of living stones. It would not offend God at all for a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem to be defiled because God’s presence will no more be revealed in such buildings. What angers God is for the man of lawlessness to take his seat in the living temple, the temple of man’s body where God’s Spirit dwells, for this is the temple where the glory of God is to be revealed.
The apostasy of which Paul speaks, which must occur before Yahshua is revealed in His saints, refers to a rejection of the truth by those who are of the household of God. The word apostasy is defined by Strong’s Hebrew/Greek Dictionary as: “defection from truth.” This is why Paul describes the last days to Timothy as being “perilous times,” for men will not listen to truth, but will heap to themselves teachers who will tickle their ears and tell them what they want to hear (II Timothy 4:3).
As the church experiences this defection from truth because they have not loved truth, the man of lawlessness will take a seat in the temple which is the bodies of God’s saints. This lawlessness is a rejection of the authority of God, a failure of obedience to the Lordship of Christ (remember Vashti?). Yahshua demonstrated that this was the nature of lawlessness in the following passage.
Matthew 7:21-23
“Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'”
These ones are lawless because they did not "do the will of [the] Father." They were prophesying according to their own will. They were casting out demons according to their own will. They were performing miracles according to their own will. No matter how much they said "Lord, Lord" it did not change the fact that they were not subject to the Lordship of Christ. Rather than being led of the Spirit of God in all of their activities, they were led by their own will. This is a great note of caution, for many are prophesying in this day, and casting out demons, and even performing miracles, but they are not all doing so by the leading of the Spirit of God. These are lawless ones, and Paul prophesies of the "man of lawlessness" being revealed, taking his seat in the temple of God, which temple we are.
A large majority of believers were wholly led into a confession of Christ that downplayed the Lordship of Christ and the message of the cross and which emphasized prosperity, self-fulfillment, and fire insurance to keep oneself out of hell. Such believers have never embraced a love of the truth, and a love of the person of Yahshua the Messiah, as well as a desire to be made holy and to be conformed to His image. These believers wanted to have a ticket to get into heaven when they die and the freedom to pursue the pleasures of the world while they walk on this earth.
Because these believers motives have been impure, not loving the truth, God has sent them a strong delusion.
II Thessalonians 2:10-12
Because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved... for this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.
Many Christians misidentify who is being referred to here because of the statement, “so as to be saved.” They assume that this is speaking of faith in Christ for the remission of sins, and so they assume that it is not speaking of believers, but of the lost. However, the scriptures speak of salvation being both a free gift (Ephesians 2:8,9), as well as something that must be worked out. The saint is born again of the Spirit, receiving a new spirit within his being, and this is a free gift. Yet the soul of man must be saved as the Christian surrenders to the work of the disciple’s cross, crucifying the passions and desires that reside in our sinful flesh and make themselves known in the soul. The Scriptures speak of salvation existing on more than one level, spirit as well as soul.
Hebrews 9:28
So Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.
The salvation spoken of in II Thessalonians 2:10 is the same salvation spoken of in Hebrews 9:28. This is a second appearance unto salvation. Having obtained the remission of sins through faith in Christ and being born again of the Spirit, there remains a further salvation of the soul. It is this deliverance of the soul from the bondage of sin that the saint might walk in righteousness and holiness, rather than continuing to live for selfish and sinful passions, that is in focus here. Christ died not just that men and women might be forgiven for sin, but that they might lead lives free of sin. Yahshua came to set the captives free.
Putting all this into perspective, we know that Christ is soon to come back for His Bride, a remnant Bride. In order for the Bride to be separated from the body, a deep sleep must come over the body, even as it did with Adam’s body. What Paul has described here as a deluding influence from God in II Thessalonians 2:11 corresponds to the deep sleep that came over Adam. Remember, it was God who caused a deep sleep to come upon Adam, and we are told that it is again God who sends a deluding influence upon those of His household who have not received a love of the truth.
To confirm the correlation between this delusion and sleep let us examine the following scriptures.
Isaiah 29:10-14
For Yahweh has poured over you a spirit of DEEP SLEEP, He has shut your eyes, the prophets; and He has covered your heads, the seers. And the entire vision shall be to you like the words of a sealed book, which when they give it to the one who is literate, saying, "Please read this," he will say, "I cannot, for it is sealed." Then the book will be given to the one who is illiterate, saying, "Please read this." And he will say, "I cannot read." Then Yahweh said, "Because this people draw near with their words and honor Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from me, and their reverence for me consists of tradition learned by rote. Therefore behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be concealed."
Note that here God speaks of pouring over the people a spirit of DEEP SLEEP. It was a deep sleep that God brought upon Adam before He removed the remnant from his body to form a bride. This deep sleep is further defined in this passage as: shutting the eyes of the prophets; covering the heads of the seers; sealing up the vision; cutting off their wisdom and discernment. Isn’t this a perfect parallel to Paul’s words of God sending delusion to those who did not love the truth?
So we see that before the return of the Lord to appear in glory in His saints that a deep sleep will once more come from the Lord upon the body. This does not indicate that the body will just be lying around doing nothing, for many will be prophesying, casting out demons, and performing miracles, but they will be doing so of their own volition for the man of lawlessness will take his seat in the temple made of living stones. At this time a breach will be made in the body of Christ as is being manifested by God’s words to “come out of her My people.” God will then fashion a Bride for His Son from this remnant portion removed from the body. This is a marvelous thing. Just as Eve was separated from the sleeping body of Adam, so is the Bride of the Last Adam being separated from His sleeping body. She will then be clothed with glory. A deep sleep was brought upon both bodies by God. Just as God took that remnant portion of Adam’s body and formed it into woman, so God will take the remnant removed from the body of Christ and form a Bride. This Bride of Christ will have a glorified body. She will be clothed with the glory of Christ.
I John 3:2-3
Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
We live in awesome days. The church is asleep and a remnant is being removed. We should live with an anticipation for what is soon to occur.
Even as the Jews at the time of Christ’s first coming did not recognize the day of their visitation, so the church of our day will not recognize the day of her visitation. They will be asleep. The Jews of Christ’s day were looking for Christ to appear in a form that was different from His actual appearing. They were looking for a conquering King to come and reestablish the throne of David and give them back their nation. Today the church has similarly embraced faulty ideas of the coming of Christ. They do not anticipate that His appearing will be IN His saints. They are looking for Him to come on the clouds of the sky.
Even as the eyes of the Jews were veiled to the presence of the Son of God in their midst, so will much of the church’s eyes be veiled. Not all will recognize the coming of Christ.
Hebrews 9:28
So Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.
Did you note that Christ will appear “to those who eagerly await Him?” Not all will recognize His appearing. It will be those who are awake and alert and who are looking for His return who will see Him. As the church slumbers the separation is taking place. Christ will appear at an hour when the church thinks not and as a thief He will break into His house and steal that which is most precious to Him, His Bride. The others will awaken with a start and realize that they were not ready when the Bridegroom came for the Bride. They will seek to enter in, but the door will have already been shut. They will have to go through the cleansing of the great tribulation and by their patience and perseverance purchase robes wherewith to be clothed.
Heart4God Website: http://www.heart4god.ws
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Joseph Herrin
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