Life Matters

As we have noticed in the previous chapter, God is the source of all life and anyone who has life can only have it and maintain it in a relationship with God. It is important to point out, though maybe obvious, that we can not seek for this life as that would infer that we have some life or power in ourselves to initiate such action. God is the initiator of life and as we shall see, the Bible has laid down guidelines for maintaining this life.

a. Submission: The Key Principle

The ability to maintain life with the life source is a simple matter of submission. If we wish to have this life we must be in a submissive state to receive it. If we wish to have this life, we must recognize God as the author and therefore the supreme authority of life.

The question must be asked, why do we talk of submission when speaking about receiving life? This is a vital question. Submission suggests an action of the will; a choice has to be made. Why is choice an issue? Because God’s kingdom is a kingdom of love.

1John 4:7-8 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

God is love and as God is love and operates His kingdom with love, love can only exist with choice; choice to accept or reject God. The rejection of God is of course death because God is the only one that possesses life in Himself and the only one that can give life.

1Tim 6:15-16 … He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.

But without this power to choose, love cannot exist. Life is then robotic and automated. So we see that life can only be received by a submission of the will in love to the life giver. There must be a close and intimate relationship where the one receiving life finds pure joy and happiness in submission to the authority of the life giver. Someone might immediately argue that there are many who do not believe in God and yet they are still alive. That is a good question and one that we will consider in chapter 9.

So the key point we are making is that submission to the authority of the life source is the key issue.

b. The Vital Example of Submission: Christ

Since submission is such a vital point, it is important for God, the source of life, to provide us with an example or examples of how this submission process works. The universe needs a demonstration of how to live in a submissive state, how to receive this life and how to relate to the life source. The example of such submission would become the pivotal point of a kingdom based on a belief in a single life source flowing out to all living creatures.

God has provided this example in the person of His Son. God’s Son provides the divine example of loving submission to the life source authority. Notice the words of Jesus, the Son of God, when speaking of His relationship to the Father:

John 5:19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.

John 5:30 I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.

John 8:29 And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him."

John 14:5,6 Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" 6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

The life of Jesus, the Son of God, demonstrates for the universe the critical example of submission to God. In beholding the relationship of Jesus to the Father, we find the key of how life can be received and maintained in a loving and intimate relationship. For this reason, the relationship between the Father and the Son is the most critical element for the survival of God’s kingdom as revealed in the Bible. Without this example of Jesus, the Son of God, we would lose the most vital clue of how to live in a submissive relationship to God. This is why Jesus is the Way to the Father. This is why Jesus is our example in all things.

It is important to point out that what Jesus came to demonstrate was an expression of what always has existed. The Son of God has always operated in loving submission to the Father, for He says “I always do those things that please Him” – it has always been this way and must always be this way so that we might have a divine example of how to live in loving submission to the life source of the universe.

c. Secondary Examples of Submission

i. Husband and Wife Relationship (Space Example)

The question that must be raised is: How was the principle of submission revealed to the human family before Christ came in person to demonstrate it? This is a question of utmost importance. If the principle of loving submission to life authority is so vital then it must be revealed in the origins of human civilization. And indeed it is.

We have noted that the relationship of the Son of God to the Father is the critical relationship for demonstrating a Biblical life source model of life flowing from one source to all living creatures.

It would only make sense that in the origins of human existence that this relationship be patterned so that the submission principle could be observed in human relations. This is what the Bible tells us:

Rom 1:19-20 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, [mankind] for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse…

The Bible tells us that the attributes of the Godhead were revealed in the creation and it was manifest in them, meaning the people that were created. We are placed in no doubt as to where these attributes were revealed.

Gen 1:26-27 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

If we look closely at this Bible passage, we see God says let “Us” make man in Our image according to Our likeness. If we look at what was created, we see two individuals created. This indicates that the “Us” is the Father and the Son. Let us look a little closer at the nature of this relationship.

1Cor 11:3 …the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.

The Bible here speaks about the principle of headship. The Biblical concept of head or headship concerns had the obvious meaning of leadership for which we often hear the phrase “the buck stops here”. The point is it also starts there. It is the source point from which something flows or starts. Notice the usage of head in Genesis 2:10:

Gen 2:10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.

We see a parallel between the headship of the Father to the Son and the headship of the man to the woman. Here is a key element of the image that Genesis 1:26 speaks about. The role of the woman is pivotal to the whole family process, just as the role of Christ is pivotal to the entire universe. In the home environment, the intimate submissive relationship of the wife to the husband serves as an image of the intimate submissive relationship of the Son to the Father which safeguards the reception of the life source through the universe.

God designed that the principle of life flow through this husband and wife relationship is demonstrated by how human beings come into existence from this point forward. Adam gave “seed” or life to Eve who then nurtured this seed in her womb and brought forth a child. Again this transfer from a source to a submissive agent who then nurtures and develops that seed is a reflection of the original relationship of the Father and the Son. Notice:

Heb 1:2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;

Eph 3:9 and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;

John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

The Bible tells us that God made all things through His Son. In the same way, Adam initiated the population of the human race through Eve. This is the demonstration of how life would flow.

It is critical to understand that the life process must flow through the submissive agent as an example to all those who receive life under this process. If life was given to the universe without a submissive agent then the universe has no vital example of how to receive and stay connected to the life source.

The family relationship is the most fundamental example of how to connect to the life source we can find in a spatial or material environment. It most accurately reflects the great original example of how life source and submission work. But God has provided other examples also to show this principle works.

ii. The Tree of Life (Space Example)

God planted a tree in the middle of the garden called the Tree of Life.

Gen 2:9 And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The Tree of Life was also in the midst of the garden

The tree was another material or spatial example of the dependence of mankind on something outside of himself to have life. Adam and Eve had to eat from this tree to live. If Adam and Eve stopped coming to the tree to eat its fruit, they would die. The tree had no inherent life to give Adam and Eve, it was a symbol that God had placed in the garden to remind them of how completely dependent they were on receiving life from outside themselves. This principle is also reflected to a lesser extent in the whole food concept. The need for food to live gives expression to the reality that life does not reside inherently in the human race. Every time we eat we should be constantly reminded on this truth.

iii. River System (Space Example)

We mentioned earlier about the example of a river flowing from the throne of God out into the universe. This principle again was reflected in the creation of the river system that flowed out of the Garden of Eden.

Gen 2:10-14 Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

Nothing can live long without water. The river system described in Genesis 2 was another visual reminder that life comes from a single source point and flows out to everything around it. No person can build a city or town in a desert, all thriving towns and cities must be near a river or water supply. We must submit to where the river runs if we wish to have life. We can’t live away from the river.

iv. The Sabbath (Time Example)

God not only provided spatial or material examples of how life is received and maintained in terms of space but He also created a memorial of this in time.

Gen 2:3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

God set apart the Sabbath as a memorial of His creative power. The example of rest given by the Creator was a demonstration of how the human race should act each seventh day. The act of rest is a symbol of complete dependence on God to provide for us. It also provides an opportunity to demonstrate submission to the life source authority. Notice carefully the aspects of the Sabbath found in the following:

Exo 20:8-11 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

God’s people were commanded to remember the source of life – who had created all things and they were to rest while doing it, remembering that man has no life in himself and is completely dependent upon God. The act of rest is the act of submission to the life source authority.

The memorial of the Sabbath reminds us not only of the initial act of creation but also the continual supply of life that is given to us.

Rev 14:6-7 Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth--to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people-- 7 saying with a loud voice, "Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water."

The worship of Him who made the heaven and the earth, the sea and springs of water is a reference to Exodus 20:8-11. In the Greek, the word “made” gives the sense of an event that occurred in the past but continues into the present. So the Sabbath memorializes God’s continual power to create and sustain His creation. Another example of the ongoing provision of life is found in the following:

Ezek 20:12 Moreover I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them.

The word sanctify can mean to clean or to keep. It is God’s power that keeps, cleans, renews and holds us.

So we see that God has provided a time memorial of maintaining a vital and intimate connection with a life source outside of ourselves.

A close observation of the Genesis record reveals that the only institutions given to man before his fall into sin were marriage and the Sabbath. Both of these institutions were critical reminders that life only comes to us through submission to a life source outside of ourselves.

We have briefly discussed a number of aspects that reveal the vital nature of relationships from a Biblical perspective. We now wish to address the second ingredient and that is value.