God’s creation was centered on life. This is unfolded in Genesis 1. If you read the life-study messages on Genesis 1, you will see that God’s creation was focused on life.
After creating man God placed him in front of the tree of life, indicating that He wanted man to take Him in as life. This is unveiled in Genesis 2:8-9.
The Old Testament saints enjoyed God as their life. Even the psalmists enjoyed God in this way. Psalm 36:8-9 says, “They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.”
In the time of the New Testament, God came in the Person of the Son to be life to man. This is fully revealed in the Gospel of John, especially, as we have seen, in 1:4, and also in 10:10, which says, “I came that they may have life and may have it abundantly.” Eventually, Christ is life to the New Testament believers (Col. 3:4). We all have Christ as our life.
In eternity the tree of life and the river of life will be in the New Jerusalem, indicating that the Triune God will be the life supply to all of His redeemed ones forever (Rev. 22:1-2, 14, 17).
As we have already seen, the flow of the river from Eden brought forth gold, pearl, and onyx, which are materials for God’s building (Gen. 2:10-12).
God used a rib from Adam to build a bride for him (Gen. 2:22), which was a type of the building of the church and ultimately of the New Jerusalem.
God’s intention was for man to be His bride. This bride is symbolized as a city, for in the Bible a city is always visualized as a woman. Hence, a city is a symbol of a corporate wife.
However, before God built His corporate wife on this earth, Satan constructed his first counterfeit, the city of Enoch, named after Cain’s son (Gen. 4:16-24). The city of Enoch was a devilish counterfeit conceived by Satan to frustrate God’s purpose.
The city of Enoch produced a culture that corrupted the whole of mankind, and that corruption brought in the judgment of the flood. Before the flood came, God commanded Noah to build an ark (Gen. 6:11-21). According to 1 Peter 3:20-21, the ark typified Christ. The building of the ark was versus Satan’s counterfeit, the city of Enoch. All of the worldly people of the time were included in the city of Enoch, but Noah stood apart, building an ark for God’s salvation.
After the flood, Noah built an altar and pitched a tent (Gen. 8:20; 9:21). The altar was for the purpose of worshipping God, and the tent was for his living. These two items were Noah’s building. His tent and altar were miniatures of the tent and altar which the children of Israel later built for their worship of God.
Noah’s descendants built the tower and city of Babel (Gen. 11:1-9). The tower was versus Noah’s altar, and the city was versus his tent. This building was Satan’s second counterfeit, a rival of God’s building.
Out of the rebellious descendants of Noah God called Abraham. Over against the tower and the city of Babel, Abraham built an altar and a tent (Gen. 12:7-8; 18:1, 6, 9). Noah’s altar and tent were versus the city of Enoch; Abraham’s were opposed to the tower and city of Babel. At Babel there was a tower, but with Abraham there was an altar; at Babel there was a city, but with Abraham there was a tent. Hence, God’s building with Abraham was versus Satan’s counterfeit building at Babel.