The Mystery of Eden (6) Two princes in Eden

“Gen 1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over the whole earth,

and over every creeping thing that creepeth on the earth. Gen 1:27  And God created Man in his image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. Gen 1:28  And God blessed them; and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and over every animal that moveth on the earth.”

God creates man and ordains him king, the ruler over all the earth; and he does it through his word. God also had created the Prince of Tyre and had made him the most distinguished among all the population of Eden. He had such a profile that allocated him the kingship: giant more than all the other trees of Eden, perfect in beauty, full of wisdom, with the princely caliber and attire, etc. (please find the reference scriptures in the previous epistle). About Adam, we will never find in the Bible so particular a depiction of magnificence, which shows that he was and/or had nothing special. Now God never said to the Prince of Tyre "Rule over all the earth," but to Adam. But we have read in several biblical passages that this man, beside Adam, is called Prince or King.

It is therefore clear that Adam was king of all the earth by divine decree, and his neighbor was by his profile, merits; he had the title thereof as he had impressed all the inhabitants of Eden. This is the scenario that we find between the two sons of David Adonijah and Solomon. The former was one of senior sons of David (he had been the eldest after Absalom's death), he was very goodly to look on and of impeccable character and the throne was rightfully his (1R 1: 5-5; 2: 15.22), the latter was born of a controversial marriage based on adultery and crime and that had caused a lot of despicable events in David's life and family, and, what’s more, he was weak. But with all his merit or profile, Adonijah was only king in his own pride and illusions; to God it was Solomon, the weak junior.

The Prince of Tyre filled all the criteria even better that Adonijah, as is clear from this passage “Eze 31:6  All the fowl of the heavens made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all the great nations. Eze 31:7  Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches: because his root was by great waters. Eze 31:8  The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him; the cypresses were not like his boughs, and the plane-trees were not as his branches: no tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty. Eze 31:9  I had made him fair by the multitude of his branches; and all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him.”

Through its boughs he protected the birds of heaven against the weather elements, he was a bulwark for all beasts of the field, he was the protector of all nations offering them the solicitude of his shadow and his branches generously served for maternity to all females in childbirth. Do not forget that the one described is a man, the king of Assyria. Quite the same we see today: a very powerful man acknowledged prince over all the earth following the extension of his boughs (his presence and influence) over all that inhabit the earth. The kings of Babylon and other hegemonic kingdoms signed decrees that bound sons all men wherever they live. At the end of time we still find a city that has authority over all the kings of the earth (Rev 17: 18), and this city is a world church under the leadership of a man. This man has boughs on five continents, in all countries, on every people, every nation, every tribe and every tongue.

When Kings face the most difficult situations related to their power stability, their last hope is this man: they make a trip to Rome to meet the one who has authority over all the kings of the earth. All great nations on earth live under his shadow on all the plans of life: worldwide he has the best schools, he has built hospitals, charities through NGOs he funds directly or indirectly, he has a multitude of institutions that provide employment and many families live on the globe thanks to him, etc. Sometimes God is manifested through his servants on earth to cure diseases of men and do them good; but such actions are only occasional, miracles – a miracle is something unusual, i.e. which does not always exist. But this man provides proximity permanent and sustainable aid and that applies without requirements of having faith as a mustard seed.

This state of things finds its genesis in the Garden of Eden where the Prince of Tyre by his great assets, provided great services to the people of Eden – services  that Adam did not provide – and in return, they were grateful for him to accept him as king. The inhabitants of the earth prefer actual performance to eternal words or promises which are to be received by faith. We can notice that in general when Jesus delivered actual performance (healing sick, dead resurrection, various miracles) he was acknowledged by the crowd as the true Messiah, the King of the Jews; by cons when he proclaimed the mysteries of the kingdom, only a few individuals were willing to listen.

A typical example is well clear in John 6 where Jesus distributes bread to the crowd and they want to invest him king by force, Jesus disappears from them and when they see him again they ask him for sign to always give them bread. In response Jesus proclaims to them the mysteries of the kingdom and they all go away saying “Joh 6:60 …This word is hard; who can hear it?”  He had already urged them to work instead for the imperishable food, the Word of God, but this exhortation had no effect in them. Hence we realize that God's children who cling to the Word, the imperishable food, face enormous impediments among men; and Adam had to face the same impediments in Eden, he who had only the word of God and faith versus another powerful prince who had many social services to generously offer to those who needed them so much.

And if God had been Democratic, the Prince of Tyre would have definitely won over Adam, because it is him that all the inhabitants of Eden envied. Indeed, in the same passage of Ezekiel we read that his roots went down into many waters. We read in Revelation 13 that the beast to whom the dragon (Old Serpent, Devil and Satan according Revelation 12: 9) gave his power and his throne and great authority rises from the sea or many waters. In Revelation 17 we read that this beast, the Roman or European world empire, is now under the control of a prostitute church which is none other than the Roman Catholic Church sitting on many waters. And in verse 15 the meaning of many waters is given: peoples and multitudes, and nations and languages. To be powerful in the world one needs to have the mass base, many waters; and the prince of Tyre had them perfectly. By cons, to be powerful in the kingdom of God one needs to have faith as a mustard seed. So Adam was great in the kingdom of God, but he was low in the Luciferian power approach that characterized the Prince of Tyre in Eden and is still in force in all the earth until further notice (the messianic order on earth).

So, did this configuration force God to review his vision? - Far from that! The Prince of Tyre was all he was and had all he had, but God never said he would rule over all the earth. Upon whom God had spoken this word was the man created in the image of God, on earth called Adam and that, no matter how vile or poor he could seem to the people of Eden. The divine decree cannot suffer any flaw: the Prince of Tyre had the human title and profile given his anthropological physiology, Adam was man on divine decree and in the vision of God; the Prince of Tyre had the princedom/ kingship title and profile on his personal merits, achievements and performance, Adam was Prince / King of all the earth on divine decree and in the vision of God. God has his own vision which is not man’s vision, he has his judgment which is not man’s judgment, he has his thoughts which are not man’s thoughts.

Thus, since the Garden of Eden things have ever been that way: man in title and profile, and man on divine decree and in the vision of God, prince / king in title and profile, and Prince / King on decree and in the vision of God. Similarly there were people who had the title of Abraham's son but in the vision of God were not. God recognized that Ishmael could not be called otherwise than son of Abraham, and he called him the seed of Abraham (Genesis 21: 13). But in his eternal vision God Ishmael and all others are excluded and only Isaac is reckoned (Genesis 22: 2,16). Jesus in like manner acknowledged that the Jews could not be called otherwise than sons of Abraham and said “Joh 8:37  I know that ye are Abraham's seed…” , But when he stands in the eternal vision of God, he addresses the same audience saying “Joh 8:39  … If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham … Joh 8:42  … If God were your father ye would have loved me, for I came forth from God and am come from him” So, one can be Abraham's son by right and have that title and yet is not in the vision of God.

This applies to all that is connected to God or Christ on earth: man, prince / king, Christian, minister, priest, apostle, prophet, teacher, evangelist, pastor, church, faith, etc. ; one can qualify to have one of these titles – and even God will not challenge – and yet one is or has it not the way God sees things from eternity. He called the Prince of Tyre ‘prince / king’ although in his eternal vision he only knew the Son of David; he called him ‘man’ although in his eternal vision he only knew the Messiah and those who are in him sons and daughters in the image of God, all others are beasts. In Revelation 2 and 3 he has repeated seven times: he that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; yet regarding the bride-church, perfect, he says that there are churches without number (among them even queens and virgins) but “Son 6:9  My dove, mine undefiled, is but one…”  All human organizations that are called churches, God does not challenge them as such; but his Church is still one and only one in his eternal vision.

One striking thing to discover in this book is that these lordly churches and other have kept a beautiful complexion since they have all the resources to maintain their beauty and to guard against the weather elements while the Church of God declared perfect, the Shulamite, is disfigured. She says “Son 1:6  Do not stare at me because I am dark, Because I am darkened by the sun…”  (NIV) This small church without means or resources was exposed to the weather elements until she blackened, scorched by the sun. No beauty nor attire, just like her beloved, the second Adam “Isa 52:14  As many were astonished at thee--his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the children of men” “Isa 53:2  For he shall grow up before him as a tender sapling, and as a root out of dry ground: he hath no form nor lordliness, and when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. Isa 53:3  He is despised and left alone of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, and like one from whom men hide their faces; --despised, and we esteemed him not.” And when they were to choose between this lowly gentleman and the Prince of Tyre of their time, undoubtedly the Jews chose the latter, saying “Joh 19:15  Take him away, take him away,… We have no king but Caesar.”  With the first Adam in Eden, it was the same: people’s esteem had been gained by the lordly, handsome and good-looking Prince of Tyre.

But even this did not change the eternal vision of God. He had sworn to give the Promised Land to Abraham’s seed. So when it was time to possess this land, it had been occupied by giants to whose eyes the Israeli people were like grasshoppers (Nbs 13). A great part of the people (the unbelieving) disarmed on hearing this report. Even this did not change the eternal vision of God, he enforced his decree in giving them the Promised Land, and those who had kept faith in the decree of God saw the vision of God materialized. Israel was chased away from his land and gentiles occupied it two thousand years, so that people could say: where is that decree of God concerning the Promised Land to Israel? But, even two thousand years later, God has been able to bring them back into that land to possess it as his decree can never suffer any flaw. The Prince of Tire shall be destroyed and “Mat 5:5  Blessed the meek, for *they* shall inherit the earth.” They shall see the eternal vision of God materialized.

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