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"The Mountain of the House of the LORD
Will be established as the chief of the mountains,
And each of them shall sit under his
Vine and under his fig tree
With no one to make them afraid."
Micah 4:1,4
The Nature and Purpose of Man in the Garden of Eden included the following.
- A Mandate to Exercise Dominion
- over a Fruitful Garden
- gaining Knowledge
- in Harmony with Nature
- enjoying the Freedom to Glorify God
in a Family-centered life
- lasting many healthy years
- as Stewards over the creation
- Planted Securely on the Land.
Let's explore:
"It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make an aiding partner for him" (Genesis 2:18).
From the beginning, the Family was integral to God's purposes for man, and the individual was incomplete by himself.
"Happiness is being single" we read on the license plate holders of lonely sun-drenched Southern Californians, those whom one writer has called "naked nomads," those whose families were/are a wilderness, and not a Garden. The modern mythologist/prophet wishes "they could all be California girls," while anorexia and suicide among that demographic segment continues to rise. It's all a big lie.
In the Garden, conflict between the sexes was absent. Confusion between femininity and masculinity, the distorted tendencies of romanticism and machismo on the one hand, and liberation and irresponsibility on the other, were not present in the Garden, as man and woman are described as complementary partners.
The prophets often set forth the promises of the New Covenant and of God's Blessing in general in terms of the restoration of the Family (Psalms 113:9 and 128:3-4). Noteworthy is the Edenic parallelism in Psalm 68:6: God setteth the solitary in families...but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.
Family Blessings were spoken of by Isaiah (54:1ff.) and begin to see their fulfillment at the advent of Jesus Christ (Galatians 4:27) who, as we see in Essay Five, overturned tyrannical institutions that preyed on Families in Spiritual bondage. Empowered by the Spirit, Families are now equipped to be God's ministers (I Corinthians 16:15-16), extending hospitality (Romans 12:13) and thereby extending the Kingdom of Christ. The strengthening of the Family was the strengthening of the Church of Christ; the institutional overseers required by a Spiritless people under the Old Covenant (Galatians 4:1-5) are replaced by Families being restored to Edenic strength and vitality (Acts 5:42; 20:20; Romans 16:5; I Corinthians 16:19; Colossians 4:15; Philemon 2). Although these institutions will continue to persecute the Family (Acts 8:3), God's Grace is stronger, and the promises of God apply to them and their families as well (Acts 2;39; 10:2; 16:31-34; 21:5).
In the "last days" of the Old Covenant, the Christian Passover (cf. Exodus 12:21-27) returned the Family to the diet of the Garden (Acts 2:46; Zechariah 9:11).
As we attempted to demonstrate in Essay Number Five of the Vine & Fig Tree series, the Family is God's central institution. All of life is to be channeled and reconstructed through the Family. The Family is being destroyed in our day, however, and we are powerless to stop the destruction unless we eagerly anticipate the restoration of Edenic conditions throughout the Earth through the expanding reign of King Jesus. Let us examine Economics and the Family.
The importance of economics is seen the fact that over 75% of our waking hours are spent earning, spending, saving, or in some other way dealing with money or monetary matters. The word "economics" comes from a compound Greek word (oikonomia) which in turn comes from two words, oikos ("home") and nomos ("law") and means "administration of a home." Economics is thus the domain of the Family (not the State). Failure to believe God's promises of Edenic restoration lead to unBiblical economics, which in turn leads to slavery, totalitarianism and tyranny
Property, a very Biblical goal, is seldom seen as a Family-centered concern, but as a "me-centered" ambition, something which "I need now." Instead of something one desires for one's posterity (children, grandchildren, etc.), property is something that must be possessed now, by any means. Many ostensibly "Bible-believing" Christians will even violate God's Law concerning debt (Romans 13:8; Proverbs 22:7) and money (obtaining funds through Fractionally-Reserved banking and debasement of the currency) in order to have "dominion" over "property." Such short-sighted thinking puts a family's estate in the coffers of the bank (through outrageous interest payments), enslaves the family (Proverbs 22:7; I Corinthians 7:23), mortgages the future (James 4:13-14), debases the currency (Leviticus 19:35-36), and does not obtain true title to the property, as it rests ultimately in the bank or other institutional lackey of the State (I Kings 21:3).
Inheritance is a myth. Incredible inflation caused largely by the credit expansion demanded by families (even some "christian" families) for cars and homes destroys the value of any savings or estate left to the Family heirs. What has not already been stolen by the parents from the kids through mortgage-generated inflation will be taken by the State through inheritance taxes. No one really cares about inheritance taxes (condemned by Scripture: Ezekiel 46:18; 45:8-10) because they won't be around then anyway. We are outrageously present-oriented. The Biblical Family has been divorced from economics, because economics has been taken out of the Garden.
But we are worse than present-oriented. We are anti-life. Our selfish desires cause us to engage in worse forms of oppression and violence. The "career mother" will not only dump her children in an institutional setting,[34] but the "career" mentality is accompanied by an unspeakable rate of pre-natal murder and infanticide. Untold thousands are killed to perpetuate corporate serfdom or a "career" of (at best) dubious value. The Scriptures speak often of unrighteous currency, debt, covetousness, and the charging of interest as leading to or even equated with violence and bloodshed.[35]
No one is born by autonomously; all are born into a family. That home is either a broken home or a Godly home. The Godly home is dedicated to mending the torn fabric of life in homes ripped apart by unjust money and violent, seductive advertising. The Christian home is a community center, an oasis, a place of healing hospitality. But short-sighted, covetous families ignore the widow and the orphan in their pursuit of self and wealth. Immorality and violence run rampant while "Christians" pursue "security" and the showplace home (Jeremiah 5:27-29; 22:3,13-17; Ezekiel 7:23-24; Amos 6:3-6; Haggai 1:4-9). Wealth which is dedicated to the autonomous self and not to the future of the Family and Christ's Kingdom is rooted in violence, and sent Christ to the cross (Isaiah 53:9; Micah 6:12).
But it is impossible to withstand the culture around us if we do not have a vision of the Edenic Family, obedient to God's Law, serving others and aiding the weak. Without a future-orientation we spend our inheritance and mortgage our future, consume for ourselves, killing our children, and even killing ourselves (Proverbs 8:36; 21:25-26). It cannot go on. We must believe the promises of God. We must obey the Word of God. We are saved by hope (Romans 8:24).
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(34) (proven inferior to the home by every educational study; increasingly suspect in an age of Satanism and gross [and escalating] child pornography)
(35) Ezekiel 18:7-9, 13,16-18; 22:7,12-13,25,27-29; 28:16,18; 45:9-10; Amos 3:9-10; 3:15 - 4:1; 8:5-6; Micah 2:2; 3:1-3,10-11; 6:10-12; Nahum 3:1,4,16; Habakkuk passim; Malachi 2:16; 3:5; Psalm 72:14 (+ LXX); Proverbs 1:11,13,16.
Vine & Fig Tree