Chapter 4
Why Sex?
Its TRUE MEANING
NOW WE HAVE COVERED THE facts -- as they existed from pagan times -- as they continued through medieval Christian repression -- as they are today under the "New Morality."
History has been written -- in unhappy, frustrated marriages -- in licentious IMmorality today. But the "New Morality" is not solving the problem. Rather, the Western world has leaped from the frying pan into the fire.
The more human leaders have tampered with moral codes, social regulations, forms of government, international movements for peace, the further they have plunged the world into evils, wars and violence, human misery and suffering. And the farther they have driven humanity from mankind's transcendent potential.
There is -- I repeat again and again -- a CAUSE for every effect.
And the cause? The MISSING DIMENSION -- the basic, foundational KNOWLEDGE -- the true premise for all explanations, philosophies and guidance in conduct. And the WAY OF LIFE that would CAUSE all good.
Our first parents rejected revelation as the starting point in knowledge and human conduct. They rejected the LAW of God. All humanity has continued in that fatal error.
Through 6,000 long and painful years the lesson has been written in cruel EXPERIENCE.
Man is a physical being -- but with a spiritual attribute. And of the whole man, the MIND, with its spiritual attribute and potential, is the all-important factor. The body is merely the mechanism, or vehicle, that the MIND directs and uses. But how is MIND connected with SEX?
Sex anatomy and sexual functioning is connected directly with the mind through the system of nerves. There can be no use of sex apart from the mind. Every bodily action is directed, consciously or subconsciously, by the mind.
And so it is, that ATTITUDE is an all-important factor of sex, and directly associated with its every function.
So there are TWO phases of any use of sex -- the one, of first importance, the mental-spiritual phase; the other, physical.
Thus, as in almost every activity of life, ATTITUDE is of prime importance. Direction of mind!
Now, let's UNDERSTAND what is so fatally WRONG with all this modern knowledge of sex. In both the "Old Morality" and the "New Morality" of this world's teachings and customs, IGNORANCE OF THE CREATOR'S INTENDED PURPOSES, and dissemination of evil moral teachings have poisoned human minds, and injected damage-causing ATTITUDES.
A mixture of half good food and half potassium cyanide will kill you as surely as the dose of potassium cyanide alone!
Not all of the purely physical knowledge published in this modern onslaught of sex books has been correct, by any means. But even if the dissemination of the physical details, of itself, were completely true, it is COMBINED, in every case -- whether in such a book or from other sources -- with a false and poisonous ATTITUDE OF MIND concerning sex PURPOSES and uses!
It thus becomes DEADLY MORAL AND SPIRITUAL POISON. And today's world is gulping down the fatal dosage!
Today, knowledge of physical details is abundantly available. Yet even among books disseminating biological information, I have not found a single volume I would want to recommend to our radio listeners, television viewers and "Plain Truth" readers. And when physical information is combined with a poisonous mental attitude, it emphatically destroys moral purity and character.
So WHERE NEXT?
So, WHERE NOW?
WHERE, for the knowledge of RIGHT PURPOSES and USES?
WHERE, for the Supreme AUTHORITY for morals -- WHERE for the right attitude?
In no field is the fact more positively demonstrated that the WORD OF GOD is the FOUNDATION OF KNOWLEDGE than in this area of sex!
HOW, and from where, and when, did sex originate?
And WHY?
You shall see that there was great PURPOSE -- great MEANING behind the origin of sex. There was intelligence, design, wisdom, in its planning. It was CREATED by the All-intelligent, All-powerful, All-HOLY Creator!
The answers are found in the Bible. And the place to begin is at THE BEGINNING!
Here is the beginning:
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Gen. 1:1).
WHO -- WHAT IS God?
I have quoted that passage in the English language. But when God inspired Moses to write it, originally, it was written in the Hebrew language. What I quoted is a translation from the Hebrew. And in the Hebrew, the word -- or the NAME -- translated into the English name, "God," was Elohim. That is a uniplural [collective] noun. It is uniplural, like such words as group, church, crowd, family or organization.
Take, for example, the word church. You will read, in I Corinthians 12:20, that the Church is only ONE CHURCH -- the "one body" yet composed of "many members." Even though it takes many persons to constitute the Church, it is not many churches -- it is only the ONE CHURCH!
A family is made up of more than one person, yet only the one family.
And so, incredible as it may seem to those who do not rightly and fully UNDERSTAND the Bible -- and only an infinitesimal minority does -- GOD is not merely one Person, nor even limited to a "Trinity," but GOD is a FAMILY.
The doctrine of the Trinity is false. It was foisted upon the world at the Council of Nicaea. It is the pagan Babylonish trinity of father, mother and child -- substituting the Holy Spirit for the mother, Semiramis, and calling it a "person."
God is a KINGDOM -- the supreme divine FAMILY which RULES the universe! The whole GOSPEL Jesus brought to mankind is, merely, the Good News of the KINGDOM OF GOD -- and that Kingdom is God. It is a FAMILY -- a RULING divine Family into which humans may be born!
It is vitally necessary that we UNDERSTAND this truth -- if we are to understand the MEANING and PURPOSES of sex!
There is only the ONE GOD! Because of false teaching -- including that of a "Trinity" -- nearly all of us have been reared from childhood to assume that GOD is one individual Person. It is true that one Person -- the Father -- is head of the family, but each Person in the God FAMILY is an individual divine Person.
Elohim is the divine FAMILY -- only ONE family, but more than one divine Person. Jesus Christ spoke of His divine Father as GOD. Jesus said He was the Son of GOD (as well as the Son of man). Jesus is called GOD in Hebrews 1:8 and elsewhere. All the holy angels are commanded to worship Jesus (Heb. 1:6, Ps. 97:7) -- and none but GOD may be worshiped!
In Genesis 1:26, Elohim said, "Let us [not me] make man in our image."
So the Eternal FATHER is a Person, and is GOD. Jesus Christ is a different Person -- and is GOD. They are two separate and individual Persons (Rev. 4:2, 5:1, 6-7). The Father is Supreme HEAD of the God Family -- the Lawgiver. Christ is the WORD -- the divine Spokesman.
But when Jesus was begotten within His human mother Mary, He was not, as all other men, begotten of a human father, but of God, by the agency and power of God's Spirit. He became -- as a human -- the Son of God. He called God His FATHER. He prayed to His Father. So we have a Father-and-Son relationship. It is a FAMILY relationship!
But it goes further. Humans, in the likeness of God, may receive the gift of God's HOLY SPIRIT (Acts 2:38-39).
This Spirit emanates from the very Person -- the spirit Body of the Father. It begets us with His very life -- GOD life -- eternal life, on entering into us, precisely as a human ovum is begotten with the human father's life when the sperm-cell from his body impregnates the ovum. But it is not a born human child until nine months later -- it is, thus far, only begotten.
Those thus converted become the begotten SONS of God -- actually children of God (Rom. 8:14-17).
But it is well, at this point to make clear the fact that none other is a son of God. The widely believed "Fatherhood-of-God and Brotherhood-of-man" doctrine is, by Scriptural authority, FALSE!
The Pharisees had said to Jesus, "... we have one Father, even God." Jesus answered: "If God were your Father, ye would love me ... Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do" (John 8:41-44). In one of His parables, Jesus said, "... the good seed are the children of the Kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one" -- that is, children of the devil. The apostle Paul said to a human sorcerer, "thou child of the devil ..." (Acts 13:10). Again, "In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God ..." (I John 3:10). One does not become a son of God until begotten of God by receiving God's Holy Spirit.
This brings up another significant point, and answers the question: Is abortion murder? The human who is begotten of God, but as yet unBORN, is already a CHILD of God (I John 3:1-2). The begotten but unborn fetus is the CHILD of its parents. To kill it is MURDER! But the human who is born is the child of his human father -- but only those begotten of God are children of God.
Those thus begotten of God are baptized into (that is, immersed into -- put into) God's CHURCH (I Cor. 12:13).
The CHURCH is the affianced BRIDE, to MARRY CHRIST at His glorious return to earth (Eph. 5:25-27, Rev. 19:7). So we have the Father-and-Son relationship, and also the Husband-and-Wife relationship!
The CHURCH of God, now, is the begotten family of God's children as yet unborn to spirit immortality. But, at Christ's coming, when the begotten mortal heirs become the spirit-composed BORN inheritors of the GOD KINGDOM, then (and not until) they shall have entered into the KINGDOM OF GOD!
The KINGDOM of God, then, is merely the GOD FAMILY as a RULING GOVERNMENT.
A KINGDOM is a government. God is CREATOR. God is a FAMILY of Divine Persons. God rules His entire vast, limitless creation. GOD IS A KINGDOM!
Jesus preached one Gospel -- one Message -- the KINGDOM OF GOD. The world rejected Him because it hated His Message. The world appropriated His name, rejected His Message, and proclaimed its false gospel -- merely about Christ, while rejecting His Message about the Kingdom of God. That is why the world with its churches, wallowing in the moral cesspools of confusion, does not understand about either SEX or THE KINGDOM OF GOD!
Now let's UNDERSTAND! Genesis 1:1: In the beginning, ELOHIM -- the KINGDOM OF GOD -- created the heavens and the earth .... And ELOHIM -- the God FAMILY -- said, "Let us!" -- not "let ME!" Did you ever wonder why "GOD" said, "Let us make man in OUR image"? God is a FAMILY -- a ruling KINGDOM.
Notice! Understand! We speak of the mineral kingdom -- the plant kingdom -- the animal kingdom. Then there is the human kingdom -- for humans are not animals, and did not descend from animals. There is truly, a "missing link"! But the "missing link" does not link man to dumb animals. The "missing Link" is JESUS CHRIST -- the true Link between MAN and GOD -- and through whom we may be born into the GOD Kingdom!
The First Man and Woman
Now consider the first man.
Adam was not born; he was created, suddenly, a full-grown adult man. His wife Eve was created, suddenly, a full-grown adult woman.
But we must not suppose that they were created with a full storehouse of knowledge implanted automatically in their minds. Perhaps you never thought of it in this light before -- but consider:
How did we, the adults of today, come into possession of the knowledge we have? We were not born with it. A newborn babe knows nothing at birth. He is born with a mind, capable of absorbing knowledge -- a very little at first, but cumulatively additive. Humans must be taught -- must learn. That is one of the vital reasons why marriage and family life are necessary for humans, unlike animals. Human babies start out very helpless. They need parental care, protection, teaching, training and love. They need the warmth and companionship of family life.
What was the difference between Adam, at the instant of his creation, and a baby at the instant of birth?
Within a portion of a single day, AN ADULT MAN was miraculously created, suddenly, out of the dust of the ground! Adam was created with a MIND, as yet unfilled with knowledge, but capable of receiving knowledge, reasoning from it, acting on it.
And it was a mind free from defect or degeneration!
What, then, was the difference between Adam at the instant of his creation, and a baby at birth? He was started off as an adult -- his mind had adult capabilities -- but he was as much without knowledge, and therefore as helpless, as a newborn babe! He was created with adult capacity, but not with adult knowledge!
The very first need of the first man and the first woman was to be given essential KNOWLEDGE! That is humanity's first need today, but humanity has rejected that essential knowledge. But of necessity, the first man and woman were created with ability of speech and of understanding speech as taught them by God.
The Great Educator
And here enters a basic TRUTH long ago forgotten by the world!
The Almighty is not only the Creator! He is also the Great Educator!
The ETERNAL instructed the first man and woman. And He instructed them about SEX! The Great Designer, Creator and Lawgiver revealed for mankind the basic FOUNDATION of ALL KNOWLEDGE! That foundation of necessary knowledge -- not otherwise discoverable by man -- is available today in the Bible.
Yet our first parents rejected God's revelation of knowledge, rebelled against God and His Law for man's welfare! And their children have been rejecting and rebelling ever since!
Think of it! God the Creator is also Ruler of all His vast creation. He is also the Great and Supreme EDUCATOR for all mankind. Yet mankind rejects Him as both Ruler and Educator -- and most reject Him as Creator!
Now consider! The very last act of God's creation by work was the creation of MAN. It was on the sixth day of that first week. Earlier that sixth day God had created cattle, other mammals, the creeping animals. The creation of Adam was the very final act of the work of creation. That day, by God's order, ended at sunset.
As that day's sun set, and the seventh day of the week arrived, "God ended his work which he had made" (Gen. 2:2). Notice what God ended. Not creating! He ended His work which He had made. God did not end creating! Only His work -- those things made by work. Now He created His Sabbath by rest -- not by work! He blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it -- that is, set it apart from other days as HIS, for holy use and purpose. He established the Sabbath as the day for assembly and spiritual instruction.
Just as this first Sabbath came on, there was the man Adam -- suddenly formed, shaped, created as an adult MAN -- needing instruction! And there, beside him, was his wife and his Creator, ceasing from the work phase of creation! Did the Creator walk off, or vanish out of sight, leaving the man and woman helpless with empty minds, to stumble and bungle around aimlessly into trouble and harm?
Just as a newborn baby is helpless -- needing parents -- needing to be taught -- knowing NOTHING at birth -- so this newly created couple were helpless, needing to be taught -- knowing NOTHING at creation.
The record shows that the Eternal God began speaking to the man -- communicating knowledge -- giving instruction.
It was on another Sabbath day, some 4,000 years later, that Jesus preached and instructed His followers. God is consistent -- never changing (Mal. 3:6, Heb. 13:8). As that first Sabbath came on, God set the example -- teaching the Gospel to the first man -- giving that man, so far sinless, HIS FELLOWSHIP on His Sabbath day!
The historic record says: "And the ETERNAL God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the ETERNAL God commanded the man, saying ..." (Gen. 2:15-16). The ETERNAL immediately began speaking to, TEACHING, INSTRUCTING, the man.
Understand, now, two points: 1) Which Person of the God Kingdom spoke to man; and 2) the brevity of this record, as the very briefest SUMMARY.
WHO IS YHWH?
It has been explained that in Genesis 1:1 the word for "God" in the Hebrew -- the language in which it originally was written -- is Elohim -- meaning more than one Person forming one GOD -- the one God FAMILY or the God KINGDOM -- for GOD is a KINGDOM.
But now, when the historic account first begins to record the fact of God -- as an INDIVIDUAL -- speaking to the man He created, a new and different Hebrew name is used. In Genesis 2:15 (and previous verses beginning verse 4) the English words "LORD God" (in the Authorized Version) are translated from the Hebrew Yhwh Elohim. The Hebrew Elohim already has been defined as a uniplural. It is the plural of El, or Eloah, meaning the uniplural GOD, Strength, Might, Deity.
But Yhwh is a name meaning the Everliving, or the ETERNAL. There is no one word in the English language that translates it exactly. God always NAMES things or people what they are. Actually Yhwh means the Self-Existent, Everliving, Eternally Living Creating One. Personally, in the English, I prefer the name "the ETERNAL" as most nearly translating the Hebrew name into modern idiom.
This is not the place for a long, technical, theological explanation. It would require a long chapter or more on the one subject. But in many places in the New Testament you may find quotations from the Old Testament referring to Jesus Christ, where, on turning to the Old Testament passage from which it is a citation, it speaks of Yhwh -- translated as "the LORD" (in capital letters) in the King James Version.
In other words -- and you may write in for a free article giving proof -- the "Lord" (Yhwh) of the Old Testament, in nearly every case, is the Jesus Christ of the New -- but as He existed prior to His birth as a human of the virgin Mary.
In John 1:1-3, this same Personage is spoken of as the Word -- the Greek word (the New Testament was originally written in Greek) is Logos, meaning Word, or Spokesman, or Revelatory Thought. Jesus the Christ (Messiah) is, and always has been, the individual Person of the GOD KINGDOM who is the Spokesman. But He said that He had spoken nothing of Himself -- the Father which had sent Him had instructed and commanded Him what to say.
The FATHER of the God Family is the HEAD -- the Lawgiver -- the Creator. Yet He created everything by Jesus Christ (Eph. 3:9). Christ carried out the Father's orders, by speaking, as the Father had directed. In the creation, "He spake, and it was done" (Ps. 33:9, Gen. 1:3). The HOLY SPIRIT is the POWER that produced what He commanded (Gen. 1:2). Thus, in John 1:3, "All things were made by him" -- by the Logos or Word, who is Jesus Christ (verse 14).
The specific Person of the Godhead who spoke to Adam, then, was Yhwh -- the ETERNAL (often falsely translated Jehovah) -- who became Jesus Christ.
Genesis Hits High Spots
The second important point I wish to stress at this juncture is the fact that God has not seen fit to give us the full details of all that was said and done in these first few chapters of Genesis. The inspired record, in these chapters, reveals to us only the briefest SUMMARY.
Yet this abbreviated account does summarize what was said and done. It does tell us that God, in and through the Person of Christ, immediately began to teach, instruct and command the first man and woman. It hits the high spots. And even though the record omits the details, it spans the fields covered. Much of the detailed instruction, therefore, may be accurately filled in from other parts of the Bible.
What fields, then, did God cover, in teaching our first parents?
He gave them all essential spiritual truth -- He revealed to them the TRUE GOSPEL. He revealed His spiritual Law -- His way of LIFE. He revealed man's transcendent potential -- the gift of ETERNAL LIFE. And He also instructed them in all necessary physical knowledge -- including knowledge of the marriage institution and of SEX.
The two trees in the Garden of Eden were SYMBOLS representing vitally important truths. Actual literal trees though they well may have been, they were symbolic, and of tremendous significance.
Notice! One of many trees in the Garden was "the TREE OF LIFE also in the midst of the garden (Gen. 2:9). This tree symbolized God's GIFT of the HOLY SPIRIT. Freely God (in the Person of Christ) offered this supreme gift. "The ETERNAL God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but ..." -- excluding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
In other words, God offered him FREELY His Holy Spirit!
"But," continued God, "of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (verses 16-17).
Here, in briefest condensation, we find the teaching of the GOSPEL -- that "the wages of SIN is death; but the GIFT of God is eternal life" (Rom. 6:23).
The Bible says all have sinned -- and Adam sinned first of all (Rom. 3:23, 5:12). God could not have allowed Adam to sin, without first having taught Adam what sin is. The Bible definition of sin is, "Sin is the transgression of the law" (I John 3:4). And again, sin is the conscious, knowing transgression, for "to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin" (Jas. 4:17). Adam knew about God's Law -- for Adam SINNED! Therefore, definitely, God instructed Adam and Eve about His great basic spiritual Law, God's WAY OF LIFE! And that instruction was given immediately -- of necessity before they sinned!
On the physical plane, God instructed them in regard to food (Gen. 1:29, 2:9).
And He also instructed them in regard to SEX.
Original Sex Education
So here, once again, we begin at the beginning.
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth ... And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness ... So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth ... And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was VERY GOOD" (Gen. 1:1, 26, 27-28, 31).
GOD made mankind male and female. God created SEX in humans. And GOD said it was VERY GOOD -- not evil, shameful, degrading or sinful of itself. Only wrong use becomes sinful.
God created sex for USE. Had He not intended sex to be used, He would not have designed it. In the angel family God did not intend sex to be used -- so He did not design angels to be male and female. Angels have no sex apparatus, perform no sex function, do not reproduce.
If the Creator designed human sex anatomy, and set in motion human sex stimuli and capacity for functioning, He did it for definite PURPOSES. And God most assuredly did not neglect His responsibility of revealing to that first man and woman the right PURPOSES this functioning within their bodies and minds was to serve. The Genesis account, I repeat, is the briefest SUMMARY. Yet the basic nature of the Creator's original instruction is plain. And the full details are brought out for mankind through other portions of the Bible.
Creation Still Going on
Remember, before proceeding, God's overall PURPOSE for humanity. God said, "Let us make man in OUR IMAGE." Man, as previously stated, was created physical, out of MATTER, in the likeness of God. But, as of now, man is merely the raw CLAY, out of which the Master Potter is -- with man's yielding -- forming and shaping the final IMAGE -- the spiritual CHARACTER of God.
Creation is still going on! The spiritual creation of righteous CHARACTER. The New Testament reveals that, once man has surrendered, repented of his rebellious past, and through Christ been reconciled into contact with GOD, he BECOMES A NEW CREATION (II Cor. 5:17).
This creation of right spiritual CHARACTER in us demanded free moral agency -- that man must intelligently CHOOSE the right as opposed to the wrong -- that he exercise free choice, develop self-discipline.
God designed and created SEX for right, wholesome and holy functions. But, in the process of CHARACTER development, God allows man, if man rebels and so wills, to pollute, besmirch, befoul and pervert that which God intended to bring rich BLESSINGS. But wrong uses impose CURSES!
God made His TRUTH available. God instructed the first man and woman. He commanded that they travel the RIGHT ROAD. But they, and their children universally ever after them, rebelled and chose to travel the WRONG road -- the WAY that somehow seems better to a man, but which leads him into pain, suffering, sorrow and DEATH (Prov. 14:12, 16:25).
So God did instruct the first man and woman in the intended right, wholesome, happiness-producing, uplifting PURPOSES of SEX!
In the passage quoted above, God commanded sex to be used FOR REPRODUCTION! He said, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth" (Gen. 1:28).
SPECIAL Meaning of HUMAN Reproduction
So one of the purposes of sex in humans is reproduction.
But that is far, far from the only purpose -- as we shall see later!
Now reproduction, merely as such, is, of course, common to animals and plants, as well as humans.
BUT, IN HUMANS, REPRODUCTION HAS A SACRED AND GOD-PLANE MEANING NOT APPLICABLE TO ANY OTHER KIND OF LIFE!
We shall see, later, that the birth of a human baby differs in striking manner from that of animals. Animals are not born to become the very HEIRS of God!
In humans, there is TREMENDOUS, AWE-INSPIRING MEANING and significance to begettal and birth that is entirely nonexistent with animals or plants. And God intended -- had man been willing to heed God's instruction -- that the very KNOWLEDGE of these deep and wonderful MEANINGS should bring man dynamic JOY!
So far as the purely physical functions of the process are concerned, reproduction is the same in mammals as in humans. That is a mere PHYSICAL process. But there is deep, spiritually transcendent MEANING in human begettal, gestation and birth that raises it to an altogether and incomparably higher plane than mere animal reproduction.
Human children are begotten through sex. And that very begettal, period of gestation and birth of a human baby gives us the very PICTURE of the spiritual SALVATION and gift of eternal life made possible through Jesus Christ!
This is another reason Satan seeks to deceive his world regarding the purposes and right attitude toward sex!
By this very BLINDING of the world to GOD's purposes of SEX, Satan has HIDDEN from his world the true KNOWLEDGE about GOD -- that God is actually a FAMILY -- a divine KINGDOM into which we may be born! He has HIDDEN from the world the real TRUTH of SALVATION -- what it is, where it leads, how we receive it!
This FALSE MORALITY -- both the so-called old and the so-called new -- has been a far more potent weapon for the destruction of humanity than has been realized!
How Reproduction Pictures Spiritual Salvation
Now see and UNDERSTAND how human reproduction pictures spiritual SALVATION!
All human life comes from a tiny egg, called an ovum, produced inside the human mother. This ovum is about the size of a pin point. Inside it, when highly magnified, can be seen a small nucleus. But this ovum has a very limited life, of itself! Some doctors and scientists believe it has a life of some 24 hours, unless fertilized by a sperm from a male.
But human life may be imparted to it by a sperm cell, produced in the body of the human father. The sperm cell is the smallest cell in the human body -- about one-fiftieth the size of the ovum. The sperm -- technically named a spermatozoon (plural, spermatozoa) -- on entering an ovum, finds its way to and joins with the nucleus. This imparts life -- physical human life -- to the ovum.
But it is not yet a born human being. Human life has merely been begotten. For the first four months it is called an embryo. After that, until birth it is called a fetus. This human life starts very small -- the size of a tiny pin point -- and the sperm that generates it is the smallest cell in a human body!
Once begotten, it must be fed and nourished by physical food from the ground, through the mother. From this physical nourishment it must grow, and grow and GROW -- until physically large enough to be born -- after nine months. As it grows, the physical organs and characteristics gradually are formed. Soon a spinal column forms. A heart forms and begins to beat. Other internal organs form. Finally hair begins to grow on the head, fingernails and toenails develop -- facial features gradually shape up. By nine months the average normal fetus has grown to a weight of approximately six to nine pounds, and is ready to be born.
The Type of Spiritual Salvation
Now notice carefully the astounding comparison!
First, understand briefly what spiritual salvation is. Few professing Christians understand this.
God said, in the "forbidden fruit" chapters of Genesis, that man is WHOLLY composed of physical matter from the ground (Gen. 2:7 and 3:19). Job said there is a spirit IN man (Job 32:8). It is explained in I Corinthians 2 that no man could have HUMAN comprehension, knowledge and intellect, but by "the spirit of man which is IN him" (verse 11).
This spirit essence is NOT the man, but something IN the wholly physical man. It imparts the power of intellect to the physical brain. It marks the vast, vast difference between animal brain and human MIND. This spirit cannot see, hear or think. The physical brain sees through the eye, hears through the physical ear, thinks with the physical brain. Yet this spirit acts as a computer, adding to the brain the psychic and intellectual power. It also adds to MAN a spiritual and moral faculty not possessed by animals.
The human's LIFE, however, is not supplied by this spirit. Human life is merely a temporary PHYSICAL and chemical existence, caused by the breathing of air, the circulation of blood by the heartbeats, and by refueling through food and water. Man's LIFE is mere temporary physical chemical existence -- like the life of an automobile engine, or all vertebrates.
To Be Born Again?
Remember, God told Adam and Eve that for disobedience, and stealing the forbidden fruit, they would SURELY DIE. But God had offered them freely the gift of eternal life, by choosing the "tree of life."
When they chose the forbidden fruit, God drove the man (and his wife) out of the Garden, "lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever" (Gen. 3:22).
But, through Christ, a repentant humanity may yet receive God's gift of eternal life. To Nicodemus, Jesus explained, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God" (John 3:3).
Of course Nicodemus couldn't quite grasp that. He knew that he had been born by being delivered from his mother's womb. He knew the difference between being BORN and being merely BEGOTTEN -- something few theologians seem to know today.
Jesus explained, "That which is born of the flesh IS FLESH; and that which is born of the Spirit IS SPIRIT" (verse 6). Man is MORTAL. Man came from THE GROUND. He is FLESH -- material flesh. Jesus was not talking about another physical birth -- but He was talking about a spiritual birth -- when man shall BE SPIRIT -- be wholly composed of SPIRIT. He shall then have been BORN of GOD! God is Spirit (John 4:24); man is physical flesh.
A human has to be BEGOTTEN by his human father. To be born again of the Spirit -- of GOD -- one must first be begotten by the SPIRITUAL FATHER -- Almighty God.
The Amazing Comparison
Now see how HUMAN begettal, period of gestation and birth is the astounding identical TYPE of spiritual salvation -- being BORN of God -- being given ETERNAL LIFE in the Kingdom of God -- the God FAMILY into which we may be BORN!
Each adult human is, spiritually, an "egg" or "ovum." This spiritual "ovum" has a very limited life span, of itself -- compared to ETERNAL LIFE -- an average of some 70 years. But spiritual, divine immortal life may be imparted to it by the entrance into it of the HOLY SPIRIT, which comes from the very Person of GOD the Father. This divine Spirit of GOD imparts to us also the divine nature (II Pet. 1:4). Heretofore we have had only human, fleshly or carnal nature.
As the human sperm cell is the very smallest of all human cells, even so, many newly begotten Christians start out with a very small measure of God's Holy Spirit. Many may still be, at first, about 99.44 percent carnal! Apparently those in the Church of God at Corinth were (I Cor. 3:1-3). The apostle Paul said he still had to feed them on the spiritual milk -- not yet adult spiritual "food."
Now, as the physical male sperm finds its way to, and unites with the nucleus in the ovum, so God's Spirit enters and combines with the human MIND! There is, as explained above, a spirit IN man. This human spirit has combined with the brain to form human MIND. God's Spirit unites with, and witnesses with our spirit that we are, now, the children of GOD (Rom. 8:16). And God's Holy Spirit, now combined with our human spirit in our MIND, imparts to our mind power to comprehend SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE (I Cor. 2:11) -- which the carnal mind cannot grasp.
Now we have the presence of ETERNAL LIFE -- God life -- through God's Spirit, but we are not yet immortal spirit beings -- not yet BORN of God -- not yet inheritors, and possessors, but physical HEIRS (Rom. 8:17). But IF God's Holy Spirit dwells in us, God will, at the resurrection, "quicken" to immortality our mortal bodies BY His Spirit that "dwelleth in us" (Rom. 8:11, I Cor. 15:49-53).
Now see how the astonishing analogy continues!
As yet we are not born divine beings. We are not yet composed of spirit, but of physical matter. The divine life has merely been begotten. This divine CHARACTER starts so very small it is doubtful if much of it is in evidence -- except for the glow of that ecstasy of spiritual "romance" which we may radiate in that "first love" of conversion -- spiritually speaking. But so far as spiritual KNOWLEDGE and developed spiritual CHARACTER goes, there is not much, as yet.
The Spiritual Embryo
So now, once spiritually begotten, we are merely a spiritual embryo. Now we must be fed and nourished on SPIRITUAL food! Jesus said man shall not live by bread (physical food) alone, but by EVERY WORD OF GOD (spiritual food)! This we drink in from the BIBLE! But we drink in this spiritual knowledge and character, also, through personal, intimate, continuous contact with God through PRAYER, and through Christian fellowship with God's children in His Church.
Now the physical embryo and fetus is fed physically through the mother. God's CHURCH is called Jerusalem above "which is the MOTHER OF US ALL" (Gal. 4:26).
Notice the exact parallel! The CHURCH is the spiritual MOTHER of ITS MEMBERS. God has set His called and chosen ministers in His Church to FEED THE FLOCK -- "For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body [CHURCH] of Christ: TILL we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (Eph. 4:11-13).
It is the duty of Christ's TRUE ministers (and how scarce today) to PROTECT the begotten but yet unborn saints from false doctrines, from false ministers.
The HUMAN mother carries her unborn baby in that part of her body where she can best PROTECT it from physical harm; and that protection is part of her function, as well as to nourish the unborn child! Even so, the CHURCH, through Christ's ministers, instructs, teaches, counsels with, advises and PROTECTS from spiritual harm the unborn members! What a WONDERFUL picture is human reproduction of spiritual SALVATION!
Continue further! As the physical fetus must grow physically large enough to be born, so the begotten Christian must grow in grace, and in the knowledge of Christ (II Pet. 3:18) -- must overcome, must develop in spiritual CHARACTER during this life, in order to be BORN into the Kingdom of GOD!
And as the physical fetus gradually, one by one, develops the physical organs, features and characteristics, even so the begotten Christian must gradually, continually, develop the SPIRITUAL CHARACTER -- LOVE, FAITH, PATIENCE, GENTLENESS, TEMPERANCE. HE MUST LIVE BY, AND BE A DOER of the Word of God. He must develop the divine CHARACTER!
Finally -- Immortality!
Then in God's due time -- though the man may die meanwhile -- by a resurrection, or by instantaneous CHANGE to immortality at Christ's coming, he shall be BORN of God -- into the KINGDOM OF GOD -- because GOD is that Kingdom! He is no longer material flesh from the ground, but composed of spirit, even as God is a spirit (John 4:24).
How WONDERFUL is the TRUTH OF GOD!
Yet, by his dastardly perversion of sex attitudes and purposes and the true sex knowledge of GOD'S Word, Satan has DECEIVED THE WORLD -- has blinded humanity to the fact that God IS this KINGDOM Jesus proclaimed -- and that WE may be born as spirit individuals -- as part of that divine FAMILY -- as part of the GOD KINGDOM!
How precious, pure and wholesome is GOD'S TRUTH! And God designed reproduction to picture His truth in physical manner and to KEEP US CONSTANTLY IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIS WONDERFUL PLAN OF SALVATION!
Let us, then, allow the living Savior to CLEAN UP our minds, and open them to HIS TRUTH!