In previous messages we considered, in both the Old Testament and in the New Testament, the divine revelation in the Scriptures concerning God's relationship with man. We saw that in the New Testament God's relationship with man covers fifteen items, beginning with the incarnation and consummating in the New Jerusalem. We need to study the details of all these items and to have them in our heart. Then we will be able to speak of these things to others, not only in personal fellowship but also in the church meetings. If we know these items, we will be able to give messages on them, prophesying for the building up of the Body of Christ.
In this message we will go on to cover another matter—the completed divine revelation in the entire Scriptures concerning man's need before God. God wants to have a relationship with man, and man has a need before God.
As the man created by God in His image (Gen. 1:26), man needed to take God (symbolized by the tree of life) as his life that he might live God, express God, and represent God (2:9); and as such a one, he needed to be transformed into precious materials (vv. 10-12) and to be built up as a counterpart to God (vv. 18-24).
As a fallen man, man needed to receive Christ for his redemption (typified by the sacrifice with its shed blood) that he might be justified by God in Christ (typified by the coats of the sacrifice's skins—3:21). Fallen man also needed to receive Christ as the seed of the woman that he might be delivered from Satan the "serpent's" death-power (v. 15; Heb. 2:14).
All these matters—the sacrifice with its blood, the coats of skins, and the seed of the woman—are found in Genesis 3. I would encourage you all, even the young ones, to learn these things and then try to present them to others. For example, a young person may visit a younger relative and speak about the need of fallen man to be justified by God in Christ or about the need for Christ as the seed of woman. First, we should digest all these truths ourselves, and then we should learn how to present them to others.