Prayer: Lord, how we thank You that we are coming to Your Word with You again. We trust in Your presence. How we thank You that on this earth there is such a book as the Bible. Now, Lord, we want to see the secrets in this Word, and through this Word we would see Your heart, Your heart's desire, Your good pleasure, even Your purpose, Your counsel, Your will. Eventually, we would come to Your economy. Lord, do show us all these secrets. We do not want to be blinded; we do not want to remain in darkness. Take away all the veils. Take away all that we already understand. O Lord Jesus, empty us. Make us poor in our spirit that we might receive something new. We do not know much; we only know a little. Lord, forgive us. Forgive us for our stubbornness. Lord, we do pray that You will give us the word. We have no trust in ourselves, in our speaking, in our ability. Lord, we need Your washing blood to cleanse us from everything that is against You. Do cover us from all the deceiving of the enemy, even from his attacks. Lord, we stand with You. So Lord, stand with us, and even be one spirit with us. Amen.
Genesis 2 gives us a particular picture of God's creation of man. God created man by forming his body of the dust of the ground and breathing into his nostrils the breath of life (v. 7). After being created, man was placed in the garden of Eden (v. 8) in front of two trees (v. 9)—the tree of life, symbolizing God to be taken by man as his life of dependence (v. 16), and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, symbolizing Satan as the knowledge (of good and evil) of independence, issuing in death (v. 17). In the garden there was also a river that issued in four heads, signifying the flow of God as life to bring forth three precious materials (vv. 10-14; Rev. 22:1-2a; John 7:38-39)—gold, signifying God the Father's nature (Gen. 2:11b-12a), bdellium (formed from fragrant resin), signifying God the Son in His redemption (v. 12b), and onyx (a precious stone), signifying God the Spirit in His transformation (v. 12c).