44th International Bible ConferenceJuly 29, 2012This People I Have Formed for MyselfIn the book of Isaiah it says, “This people I have formed for Myself; they shall declare My praise” (Isaiah 43:21). God formed this nation. Other words for “form” might include “make” or “construct,” but on a larger scale it might also be seen as meaning to create. Yet, as we read the New Testament, we come across not only the word “form,” but also the expression “to be born”. If we distinguish the words of the Bible clearly their precise meanings become obvious, but if we just glance through what it says, it all becomes rather nebulous and difficult to understand. We usually say that parents bear a child, not make a child. There is an old Korean adage that says, “My father bore me, and my mother raised me.” Also, when you open to the first page of Matthew’s Gospel, you find it begins:The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham: Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram. Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon. Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah.  verses 1-6   In some cases the mother is mentioned in this genealogy—for example, “Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar”—but we are told throughout that the father begot the child. It is the woman who conceives and gives birth, but these verses seem to make the man the main focus.So we need to consider the differences between these terms: to bear, to form, and to make. As a person who knows the Bible well, you may think, “Yes, first God formed me in my mother’s womb, then I listened to the words of the Bible, realized the truth in those words and was born again as a child of God.” Of course this is correct but as you read the Bible, you may become confused. Let’s take a look at an example from John’s Gospel.   That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.  John 1:9-13   Here, it says, “to every man.” The plural form is used in the words, “to those who believe in His name,” but before this is says clearly, “the true Light which gives light to every man.” It also says here, “who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” This is talking about being born, the fact of being born.   There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?”  John 3:1-12   Matthew chapter 1 provides us with the genealogy of Jesus extending to the birth of this Man who spoke in this way in John chapter 3. Testifying of Jesus Christ who was born in this way and was God born in the form of a man, the apostle John was inspired by the Spirit of Christ to record these words that were included in the Bible: “That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world” and, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” These words introduce Jesus. We then see how John the Baptist bore witness of Jesus, saying, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29), following which we come to the account of Jesus turning water into wine at the wedding feast where they had run out of wine.Then one night Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, came to find Jesus. Nicodemus was a Pharisee. In the New Testament, the Pharisees appear to be terrible and merciless. They are like the villains confronting the hero in a movie. Neither the Pharisees nor the Sadducees appear in the Old Testament, but as you start reading the New Testament, you find about half way through that Jesus cried out to the Pharisees and Sadducees, “Brood of vipers!” (Matthew 3:7). As we read such passages, we, too, come to regard these people as quite monstrous. Jesus, however, set the standard when He said, “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20). For about four hundred years after the completion of the Old Testament, the Israelites had no king, did not receive any revelations from God, and lived first under the rule of the Greek Empire and then that of the Romans. During this time, some people compromised their political affiliations in order to survive, while for others this attitude posed a problem so they advocated a return to the law, such as had been the case at the time of the prophet Ezra. The group that formed to preserve and teach the law and the Scriptures to the people were called the Pharisees. The Sadducees, on the other hand, whose founding members drew their name based on that of Zadok the priest, had close relations with the upper social echelons of Judean society and compromised themselves to gain political power. While the Sadducees claimed there was no resurrection, they held the temple of utmost importance.When it came to matters of religion and daily life, no one exceeded the Pharisees and Sadducees in purity, but when we read the Bible, their harsh treatment of Jesus may seem evil. The apostle Paul, he was pharisees, also said of himself that he was blameless concerning righteousness, which is in the law (see Philippians 3:4-6). He must have been very confident of this to have spoken in this way. Such was their thorough knowledge of the law. Perhaps it was because Nicodemus was such a ruler of the Jews that he came to look for Jesus at night and not during the day. When he came to Jesus and spoke to Him, He said to him, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” In response to this, Nicodemus asked, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered him clearly, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’” Here Jesus referred to the individual just as John had referred to “every man” when he wrote, “That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world”.In the Bible, particularly in the New Testament, we need to distinguish clearly between the concepts of that which is “born” and that which is “formed.” In Isaiah chapter 43 it says, “This people I have formed for Myself.” They were not born; they were formed. Some people may think this means that because the Israelites were responsible for crucifying Jesus, they were formed whereas we were born. This is true when applied to the individual. The seed of the father is planted in the body of the mother to give birth to an individual in this world. Obviously we are born through relations between people, and yet we are still creations in God’s eyes. God created man.After living his life as a hopeless sinner, an individual may come to realize his sins through the Bible. He may then also come to realize that all his sins have been forgiven through the blood shed on the cross by the Son of God whom God the Father sent into this world in human form two thousand years ago in order to be crucified. When a person comes to see that he has already been forgiven eternally, this truth becomes his song, his hymn of praise, and his testimony. This is how a person is born as a son of God.   He Made into a Woman with the RibLet’s turn to James chapter 1 and read from verse 16.   Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.  verses 16-18   God has said of each individual who has become a son of God that he has been “brought forth.” Each born-again person has assurance in his heart that he has been transformed by the word of God at a certain moment in time, even though each person may have come to realize this in a different verse and each person’s testimony may be different. So let’s turn back now to the time when Adam was created. Let’s turn to Genesis chapter 1.   Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.  verses 26-28   Through these words, we need to think carefully about how God treated Adam and Eve. We have just read a verse from towards the end of the New Testament in the letter of James, and then we turned to Genesis. What is the relationship between these two passages separated by such a long span of time?In Genesis chapter 2 verse 7 it says, “The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” Then in verse 18 it says,   The Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him”    Does it say that a helper would be born, or that a helper would be made? God said He would make a helper.   Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.  verses 19-25   God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam because he had no helper comparable to him. Then He took one of Adam’s ribs, closed up the flesh in its place and made the rib into a woman. Was this woman born, or was she made? She was definitely made. We cannot know exactly how long Adam was asleep, but one thing we do know is that God made man in His image, and He created both man and woman.Then, when Adam saw the woman, he said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” The relationship between Adam and the woman presents the standard that clearly illustrates the relationship between Jesus Christ and the Church. Isaiah wrote, “This people I have formed for Myself; they shall declare My praise,” but do you think these words apply only to the Israelites and have nothing to do with us? The relationship between Adam and Eve, the relationship between Jesus and the Church, and the relationship between God and the Israelites in the Old Testament all follow a set of rules according to precise concepts. If we cannot see this, we will come to read the Bible without making the proper distinctions. This is how the woman was made, and following this, the genealogy of mankind continued to unfold. Adam begot Abel, and after Abel died Seth was born. Following the genealogy of Seth, after some time, Noah was born. Then Noah begot Shem, and following the genealogy of Shem, Abraham was born and then Isaac, and then Jacob.Jacob had twelve sons, one of whom was named Joseph. Joseph was greatly loved by his father, and as a result he was hated by his brothers who sold him into slavery. Joseph’s experiences after this in the land of Egypt may read like the saga of one man, but at their core we find all God’s plans for the management of the history of mankind. Potiphar’s wife tried to entice Joseph but he refused her advances, so she brought false accusations against him and he was put into prison. While he was in prison, Pharaoh’s chief butler and chief baker were put into prison as well. Joseph interpreted each of their dreams, and in accordance with his interpretations, three days later the baker was executed while the butler was reinstated. Joseph asked the butler to remember him once he was restored to his former position, instead two years just passed with Joseph’s request completely forgotten. This passage of time was similar to the time during which God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam.Just like those two years that passed for Joseph, there are other hidden periods of time in the Bible that are difficult for us to understand. If we look into the prophecies of the Bible, we find that,

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