After God finished the work of producing Eve during Adam's sleep, Adam awoke from his sleep. As Adam's sleep typifies the death of Christ, so his waking signifies the resurrection of Christ. After waking, Adam became another person with Eve produced out of him. After His resurrection Christ also became another person with the church brought forth out of Him. As Adam eventually awoke from his sleep to take Eve as his counterpart, so Christ was also resurrected from the dead to take the church as His complement.
When Adam awoke from his sleep, he immediately discovered that Eve, who was builded with His rib, was present. Likewise, when Christ was resurrected from the dead (1 Cor. 15:20), the church was brought forth with His divine life. Through His death the divine life within Him was released and through His resurrection this released, divine life was imparted into us who believe in Him. So, the Bible says that through His resurrection we were regenerated (1 Pet. 1:3). He was the grain of wheat that fell into the ground and died and produced many grains (John 12:24). We are the many grains who have been regenerated with His resurrection life. As regenerated ones who have Him as life and who live by Him, we compose His church, the real Eve in resurrection.
When Adam saw Eve he said, "This time it is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh" (Gen. 2:23, Heb.). When Christ saw the church He might have said, "I have seen the cattle, lions, turtles, fishes, and birds, but none of them could match Me. This time it is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, for the church is produced by My death and resurrection. The church comes out of Me. The church and I can be one."
Many Christians are talking about the church. Some say that the church is a material building and speak of going to church. After seeing the significance of the type of Adam and Eve in Genesis 2, we can never again refer to a physical building as the church. A material building is not a church; it is a house built with wood and brick. Other people, somewhat improved, say that the church is a group of genuine Christians. However, a group of genuine Christians may not constitute the church. They may still be the natural man, so many Americans, Chinese, Japanese, and Mexicans. Such a gathering of the natural man is not the church.
What is the church? The church is a part of Christ; it is nothing less than Christ Himself. The church is the element of Christ in the believers. When this element in so many believers is added together, it equals the church. The church is not a composition of Americans, Mexicans, Japanese, and Chinese. The church is the totality of the Christ in all His believers. Although we are regenerated people, if we live and act according to our natural disposition, we are not in reality members of the Body of Christ. Only in a shallow sense can we say that we are members of His Body. When we behave according to our natural disposition we may be typical Americans, Jews, or Chinese, but we are not actually the members of Christ. What actually is a member of Christ? It is a person produced with the element of Christ who is the life-giving Spirit in our spirit. Christ as the life-giving Spirit indwells His believers. When this Christ in His believers is added together, the sum equals the church. Therefore, we all must put off our old man. We need to put off all the natural life until the living Christ can be expressed from within our spirit. Then we will be the church in reality. In the church, the new man, there is no Jew, Greek, or barbarian, but Christ is all and in all (Col. 3:11). To live out anything other than Christ is not the church. "It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me" (Gal. 2:20). "For to me to live is Christ" (Phil. 1:21). This is the church! "This time it is" bone of His bones! All things that come out of man's natural life, such as all man's organizations and all kinds of human activities in Christianity, are not the church and cannot be the complement of Christ to match Him. Figuratively speaking, these things should not be considered as Eve, but as all the other things named by Adam.
Consider the picture depicted in the four Gospels. When the Lord Jesus came as the last Adam and looked at the Jewish religionists, He seemed to say of them, "This is a horse and that is a turtle." In Matthew 16 He turned to Peter and said, "Satan." The Lord seemed to be saying, "These are not My counterpart. They do not match Me. They can never be My complement." Thus, the Lord Jesus had to die. He had to sleep on the cross that He might release His life to produce His real complement to match Him. After He awoke from death in resurrection, He saw the church. At that time, especially on the day of Pentecost, He could say, "This time it is bone of My bones and flesh of My flesh."
Only that which comes out of Christ can be recognized by Christ. Only that which comes out of Christ can return to Christ and match Him. Only that which comes out of the resurrection life of Christ can be His complement and counterpart, the Body of Christ. Only that which comes out of Christ and which is Christ Himself can be one with Christ.
The Epistles reveal that after the day of Pentecost many negative things crept in. The animals, such as the horse and the turtle, appeared once again. Thus, the Lord Jesus had to say again, "This is not and that is not." Now He is waiting for the coming wedding. At that wedding day He will look at the overcomers and say, "This time it is bone of My bones and flesh of My flesh."
As we are on our way toward that wedding feast we must cast off all the natural things, the things of the natural man, the things other than Christ. I have passed through many things. I was born in Christianity and raised in Christianity. As I passed through and considered many things, the resurrection life within me said of them, "This is not and that is not." One day I touched the right thing and the resurrection life within me said, "This time it is!" Many times, even among us, the life within says, "This is not," but even more times the resurrection life says, "This is it." We need to hear the voice of Christ, the resurrection life within us, and to go along with it all the time.