The Womb of Salvation
This writing is a short musing on Salvation History seen as a birthprocess.
✓ Salvation History starts right after the Fall of Adam & Eve, which happened because Adam didn't take his responsibility: first instead of intervening when Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, he let himselve be seduced (Gen 3:6) and afterwards he even put the blame on his wife (Gen 3:12).
However, before they are pointed out the consequences (Gen 3:16-17), a Woman is promised to be the adversary of the Serpent (the Dragon from Revelation) even to crush his head (Gen 3:15). Moreover, a Saviour would be born from the Woman's Womb, to be the Opposer of all evil sproutings. So the New Eve brought forth the New Adam and has a special task in Redemption (the Co-operatrix to the New Covenant, the Queen-mother who sits on the right hand of the Saviour in his Kingdom cf 1 Kings 2:19, the Woman clothed with the Sun in Rev 12:1)!
∗ The next phase of Salvation History is the Covenant with Noah and his family with the rainbow as a sign (Gen 9:9-17). All life saved from the Deluge came forth from the Ark, a symbolic rebirth from the womb.
† The subsequent phase of Salvation History is the Covenant with Abram to make him into a great people, to bless him and make him into a Blessing (Gen 12:2-3; by means of the Saviour), the father of many peoples (Gen 17:4), to make his descendants as abundant as the dust of the earth (Gen 13:16) and to promise him the land (Gen 12:7, 13:15, 15:18 & 17:8). He is also given a new name: Abraham (Gen 17:5) and circumcision is to be the sign of all this.
He doesn't even withhold Isaac, the fruit of the Covenant from the barren womb of Sarah, from God; nevertheless his only (true) son is saved from the Sacrifice on the Third Day (Gen 22:10).
∆ Jacob, the next son of the Covenant, is born from the infertile Rebeccah, Isaac's wife, who helps him get the firstborn blessing instead of his elder twin brother. Later Jacob's wife Rachel bore Joseph after God opened her womb. And Joseph experiences a ’rebirth’ from the well where his brothers put him in to die. In Egypte he then becomes the Saviour of his family during the seven years of famine after another 'rebirth' from prison.
×The next stage of Salvation History is the Covenant with Moses when the Lord descends on mount Sinai on the Third Day. The law and the Ten Commandments are written on two stone tablets and placed in the Ark with the Seat of Mercy on top (Ex 40:20). After the Name of God (Ex 3:14), now the Words of God are revealed by their 'saviour' Moses. As a baby Moses himself was saved from Pharaoh in a basket in the Nile, a sort of miniature Ark. And twice his people were 'reborn': first by leaving Egypt through the Red Sea and the next generation by entering the promised land through the dry bed of the Jordan.
¥ The next stage of Salvation History is the Covenant with David to uphold his House and Kingdom forever and that his Son would construct a House for the Name of the Lord (2 Sam 7:12-16; only partially applicable to Salomo). David saved his people from the Philistines by defeating Goliath and his own life was saved from Saul by hiding in a cave (another Womb symbol) and not hurting the anointed of the Lord.
Much later Daniel as well wasn't hurt in the lion's Den, and this saved his people from persecution.
§ The last two prefigurations of the Birth of the Saviour are Samson and John the Baptist; both conceptions were miraculous, although natural, and were announced by an angel (actually both lives also ended violently in a closed space?!). And John offered his followers a spiritual Rebirth by baptizing them.
In Hebrew by the way, the word 'Womb' is closely related to the Mercy of God and is used to express a great intensity of emotion, or to indicate that something was taking place from the beginning:
”Before I formed you in the womb I already knew you” (Jer 1:5)
♥ To conclude, the Incarnation in the Womb of Mary has made her into the archetypal Temple, Tabernacle & Ark made to hold the Word of God. And so it laid the nucleus of the renewed unity between God&man, the supernatural&natural, man&woman, in other words the complete restoration of our Fallen Nature. In becoming the Emmanuel, the "God with us," He became our brother and so we have all become children of Mary's Womb. Mary is the archetypal Church, both as the Mother uniting us all and as the first and foremost of Jesus' followers, the mystical Bride of Christ, the most prominent member of His Body (the dogma of the Virgin birth actually implies the umbilical cord was never severed?!),
To complete the Womb symbolism, the Incarnation took place in a Cave in Nazareth, like the birth of Christ took place in a Cave in Bethlehem and the Ressurrection was achieved in a Cave besides Calvary. So what then is the actual significance of all this Womb symbolism for Salvation? It's there for a reason, right? Well, I guess it emphasizes that Salvation is hidden from us and out of our control; the only thing we can do is aid its inception and help nurture its achievements{:-)
Deo Gratia!
Comments
Post a Comment