Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. 1 Corinthians 15. Hold your finger there. 1 Corinthians 15. And then turn
back to Genesis chapter 2. Hold your finger in 1 Corinthians
15 and we'll come there in a minute. 1 Corinthians 15 and then go back
to Genesis chapter 2. I want to talk to you tonight
about the first Adam, and the second Adam. I want to draw some
similarities between Adam and Christ and point out some differences. We'll begin reading in Genesis
2, verse 7. And the Lord God formed man out
of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils a
breath of life. And man became a living soul.
And the Lord God planted a garden east in Eden, and there he put
the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the
Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and
good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden,
and the tree of knowledge of good and evil." And then verse
15, And the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden
of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded
the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely
eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt
not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou
shalt surely die. And the Lord God said, It is
not good that man should be alone. I will make and help me for him.
Verse 21. And the Lord God caused a deep
sleep to fall upon Adam. And he slept, and he took one
of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the
rib which the Lord God had taken from the man, made he a woman,
and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone
of my bone, and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, because
she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his
father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife and they
shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the
man and his wife, and were not ashamed. In chapter three, verse
six. And when the woman saw that the
tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes and
a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit
thereof and did eat and gave also unto her husband with her.
And he did eat. And the eyes of them both were
opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig
leaves together and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice
of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day,
and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord
amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto
Adam and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard
thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid. because I was naked
and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that
thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof
I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The
woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree,
and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the
woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said,
The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And I look over in
1 Corinthians 15, starting in verse 45. And so it is written,
the first man Adam was a living soul, and the last Adam was made
a quickening spirit. Howbeit that which was not first,
which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and
afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth,
earthy. The second man is the Lord from
heaven. And as is the earthy, such are
they also that are earthy, and such is the heavenly, such are
they also that are heavenly. And we have borne the image of
the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now in Genesis 1, 26, we read
of God saying, let us make man in our image after our likeness. Now when something's made in
the image of something else, it is made to look exactly like
that after which it is fashioned. And the actual meaning of image
is a representation of the form of a person or an object, which
makes me wonder and we're not told in the Scriptures, but it
makes me wonder if Adam was not an identical twin to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Regardless whether he was or
not, Adam was created perfect without sin. And beginning in
verse 7 of chapter 2, we have an account of God creating the
Garden of Eden and putting the man there to dress it. And it
says, he breathed into the man the breath of life when he created
him. And then next in verse 18 of chapter 2, we read, and God
said, it is not good that the man should be alone. I will make
him and help meet for him. Then verse 22 of chapter 2 tells
us that after God had made the woman, He brought her unto the
man. He gave her to the man to be
his wife. So it was with the church, the
true Israel of God. It was given to the Savior to
be his wife. And in the same way that Adam
did not choose his wife or his bride, Christ did not choose
His own bride. She was chosen by the Father.
We know this from Ephesians 1.3. It says, Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. According as He, the Father,
hath chosen us, in Him, the Son, before the foundation of the
world. In his prayer to the Father in
John 17, our Savior speaks several times of those whom Thou hast
given Me. And these included both His disciples
and those, we're told, that would believe on Christ through their
words. Those that would come after.
Those that were given to Christ to be His bride for eternity. Isaiah 54.5 tells us this, is thy husband. The Lord of hosts
is His name, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God
of the whole earth, shall He be called. This Maker, we're
told from John chapter 1, is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. We're told that He made all things,
and it says, without Him was not anything made that was made. Turn with me over to Hosea a
moment. The book of Hosea. There's Ezekiel, Daniel, and
then Hosea. Hosea 2. Hosea 2, beginning in
verse 19. the Lord and His Bride, and I
will betroth Thee." Now, this word betroth is a word we don't
hear very often. It more or less means a commitment
or an engagement to marry someone. And this is God speaking. And
I will betroth Thee unto me forever. Yea, I will betroth Thee unto
me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and in
mercies. And I will even betroth Thee
unto me in faithfulness, and thou shalt know the Lord. And
it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the Lord,
I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth. And
the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and
they shall hear Jezreel. And I will sow unto her, unto
me in the earth. And I will have mercy upon her
that had not obtained mercy, And I will say to them which
were not My people, Thou art My people. And they shall say,
Thou art My God. Now as Eve was perfect when she
was created and presented to Adam, so it is with the elect
of God. Through the finished work of
Christ, we are made to be perfect in Him. We're created in Christ
Jesus, and He will keep us perfect in Him. Forever. What does Jude 25 tell us? Now
unto Him that is able to keep you from falling and to present
you faultless. Faultless. Before the presence
of His glory with exceeding joy. Now I've seen videos, and I'm
sure you have too, of men and women about to be wed. And I've
seen videos that focus on the groom. And he sees that bride
enter the church building. And I've seen them weep with
joy. They're just beaming when they see that bride that is about
to become theirs. And I thought about this verse
where it says that Christ is going to present us faultless before His presence with exceeding
joy." Now imagine that. Here's the God of Heaven who
needs nothing, but when He beholds that bride, you can bet Christ
will be beaming as He beholds His bride and presents her. Paul wrote to the Ephesians in
chapter 5 and said this, that He might sanctify and cleanse
it, the church, His bride, with the washing of water by the Word,
that he may present it to himself, a glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and
without blemish. And we know that that is only
possible one way, through the finished work of Christ on our
behalf. Now, verse 23 of Genesis 2, And Adam said, This is now
bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh, She shall be called
woman because she was taken out of man. The origin of the woman
was the man. She was created from his rib. Now, in the same manner, we were
created in Christ Jesus under good works, as described in Ephesians
2.10. And we understand that as we
were created in Him, so also Christ took on Him our nature. This is described in Hebrews
2. For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
he also himself, speaking of Christ, likewise took part of
the same, that through death he might destroy him that had
the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them who
through fear of death were all their lifetimes subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him
the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore, in all things it behooved
him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a
merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God,
to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." Now, as
Adam was the first man, the first man created in the image of God,
so Christ is described in Scriptures as the firstborn. Colossians
1.15, it says, who is the image of the invisible God? The firstborn
of every creature. Also in Romans 8, for whom He
did foreknow, He did also predestinate to be conformed to the image
of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
And in Hebrews 12, it talks about the general assembly in the church
of the firstborn. those that are made perfect in
Christ. Now, this is not to say that
at some point Christ did not exist and He was actually born.
We know that from John 1. It says He was in the beginning
with God, how that all things were created by Him. He has always
existed as part of the Holy Trinity in perfect union with the Father
and with the Spirit. In the first three verses of
Hebrews, we read, God who at sundry times and in divers manners
spake, in time past to the fathers by the prophets, hath in these
last days spoken unto us by his son, whom he hath appointed heir
to all things, by whom he made the world, who being the brightness
of his glory and the express image of his person, and upholding
all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself
purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty
on high. the express image. What did our Lord tell Philip?
He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. Now, in Genesis 5-3,
we read this. Adam lived 130 years, and he
begat a son in his own likeness, after his image, and called his
name Seth. Now, enlisting the genealogy
of our Savior Luke, writes in chapter 3, Speaking of Canaan,
it says, which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth,
which was the son of Adam, which was the Son of God. Adam is called the Son of God.
And of course, Christ is referred to as the Son of God. Timothy
tells us, for Adam was first formed, then Eve. Every human
being that would ever be born from that time on was in Adam,
just as every one of the elect was in Christ from the foundation
of the world. Chosen by the Father to be the
Bride of Christ. Chosen to be born into the Kingdom
of God. Now I've heard preachers say
in the past how that Adam in his rebellion shook his fist
in God's face and declared, you'll not tell me what to do, you'll
not rule over me, I will do my own thing, I'll have my own way. But I do not find the first indication
anywhere in this text that that is the case. Not the first one. I do, however, find every indication
that Adam did what he did in the eating of this fruit of the
forbidden tree, because he loved Eve too much to let her die by
herself. Adam took upon him the sin of
his bride, and even though he knew that
it would result in his death. He did it anyway. I believe it
was an act of love, not an act of open rebellion. But some would
say, but didn't Adam break God's law? Certainly he did. There's
no disputing that. But I believe it was an act motivated
by love for his bride, not by contempt for God's authority. And in the same way, our blessed
Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, took the sin of His bride upon
Himself rather than let her die." Now, Adam broke only one commandment
of God. But by imputation, our Lord Jesus
Christ, and I want to emphasize that, by imputation broke every
single commandment found in the law of God. But I want to emphasize
that point again. When I speak of the sins of Christ,
I want to make it crystal clear that I am by no means implying
that Christ had any sin of His own. What do the Scriptures tell
us? He was holy, harmless, and undefiled. Only when He was made sin did
He become the object of God's wrath. Only when He took on Him the
iniquity of His bride did He go from being the apple of God's
eye to being the object of His fierce, undiluted wrath. Rather
than live without the mate that He so dearly loved, Adam took
upon himself her sin. So did our Savior. Paul exhorted
the Ephesians in chapter 5. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it. 1 Timothy tells us that Adam
was not deceived But the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
Adam took of that fruit with the full knowledge of what would
happen, what would follow. And Christ told His disciples
this, greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down
his life for his friends. Adam laid down his life for his
dear bride. And Christ did the same. He not
only laid down his life, He laid down His very soul and made an
offering for sin. Now, after Eve had sinned by
breaking the commandment of God to not eat of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, we need to remember that Adam was
still perfect. He had not sinned. At that time,
he had not taken upon himself the sin of his wife. And he could
have remained so. But so great was his love for
his wife that he chose to take her sin upon him and die with
her. Only when he took upon himself
the sin of that wife did he become guilty of breaking God's commandment.
So it was with the wife, the bride, of our blessed Savior.
We sinned both in Adam and in ourselves. But Christ was still
perfect. But Isaiah 53 describes what
happened when our blessed Savior took our sin and became guilty
of the breaking of every commandment of God. Verse 6 of that chapter
says this, The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Now, Adam could have remained
sinless had he chosen not to take on the forbidden fruit of
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And Adam chose
to take on him the sin of his wife. And so it was with our
Lord Jesus Christ. He did not have to be made sin.
We need to understand He dwelt in perfect unity and perfect
harmony with the Father and with the Spirit, needing nothing.
And this is described in Proverbs 8.30. It says, Then was I with
Him as one brought up with Him, and I was daily His delight,
speaking of the Father. So why would this sovereign Lord
of the universe choose to leave that fellowship with the Father?
and become the object of His wrath for only one reason. Love. Love for His chosen, elect
people, His bride that was given to Him of the Father. Those that
He loved so much that He could not, He would not, let them die
in their sins by themselves. But this is where the similarity
between Adam and our Savior ends. By taking on Him the sin of His
wife, Adam died that day spiritually and later physically, as did
Eve. But not so with our Savior. By
taking on the sins of His people to Himself and dying the death
that those sins deserved, He not only brought in eternal life
for His elect, we're told He secured for Himself a place of
honor at the right hand of the Majesty on high. He secured for us an eternal
inheritance so that though we were once dead in sins and trespasses,
we have now become the children of promise. Now, so many times
in Scripture, we read over a verse, particularly ones we're familiar
with, and we don't truly stop to contemplate what is fully
said in that verse. And such is verse 5 of Isaiah
53, but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was
bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed." Now I want us
to stop and think for just a few moments about exactly what that
verse is saying. He was wounded for our transgressions.
This is not referring to a skinned knee or a little bump on the
head. One of the definitions of this
word, wounded, is an injury caused by violence. And that would most
certainly apply to what was done to our blessed Lord by the Roman
soldiers both before and during His crucifixion, putting a crown
of thorns on His head and beating Him with a rod so that those
thorns were driven down to His very skull, beating Him with
their fists, Isaiah 50 verse 6 says this, I gave my back to
the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair.
Now this is not referring to the soldiers taking a pair of
tweezers like you ladies would your eyebrows. This is talking
about those men grabbing a fistful of beard and ripping out parts
of our Savior's face with that beard as they tore it from His
face. He was bruised for our iniquities, and as I said a minute
ago, these bruises that he suffered were not like you'd suffer when
you bump your arm on the doorjamb. These were deep, deep bruises
that went all the way to the bone. I don't know how many of
you guys have ever been in a fight, maybe in high school or something,
but when you get hit in the face, it hurts. And when you get hit
in the face repeatedly, it hurts a lot. But these bruises that
it talks about, he was bruised for our iniquities. That means
he was struck again and again and again in the face by these
Roman soldiers. Beaten beyond recognition. We're told that he did not even
resemble a human being when they got done with him. The chastisement
of our peace was upon him. Now in order for sinners to be
reconciled to a holy God, their sins had to be punished. And
we know from the Scriptures that that punishment had to take place
upon our Savior. For those outside of Christ,
that punishment takes place for an eternity in the pit of the
damned. God's justice is never satisfied
by the sufferings of damned sinners in hell. What does the Scripture
say? I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He gets
no satisfaction whatsoever from the eternal death of the wicked.
But yet, because our blessed Savior was the eternal God in
human flesh, when the Father's wrath was poured out on Him,
it was the equivalent of the suffering that the elect would
endure for an eternity in hell. That is how we can enjoy peace
with God. Romans 5-1 tells us this. Therefore,
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ, through or because of His sufferings, His
unspeakable sacrifice on our behalf. And that verse concludes
with these words, And with His stripes we are healed. These seven words describe the
scourging that our Savior endured. But please know that these stripes,
these wounds that are described as stripes, are much more horrible
than words can really put any meaning to. I described in a
message a few months ago how this scourge was made of braided
leather with pieces of metal and lead balls woven into that
metal. How that scourge tore the victim's
flesh open all the way to the bone of his spine and his ribs. But as horrible as that was,
our Savior must be alive for just a few more hours. to endure
something that is unimaginably worse that no human mind can
imagine. Now, if the sins of one man or
woman merit an eternity of suffering, how can we begin to contemplate
the punishment that our Savior endured? That He voluntarily endured on
our behalf. And he did all this because of
the incomprehensible love that he had for his bride, those chosen
by the Father. And yet we have to wonder, how
can the injuries inflicted upon one human being heal another?
I guess the closest we can come to imagining that is maybe a
blood transfusion or an organ transplant. And yet in this great
transfer of healing that took place on Golgotha, there was
no physical transfer. What was done took place on a
spiritual level when our God transferred the sins of His chosen
people onto His Son and inflicted on His very soul the punishment
that would do those sins, that soul that was made an offering
for sin. I read an article recently that
said the greatest transfer of wealth in human history has begun
to take place as the baby boomers die and transfer the wealth that
they've accumulated to their heirs. Some estimate this to
be in the neighborhood of $100 trillion. But we're not talking
about monetary wealth when we speak of this great transfer
that took place when Christ died in our place. This is so well
described in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, that verse that we love so
much, For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though
He was rich, unimaginably rich, yet for your sakes He became
poor. Why? That ye, through His poverty,
might be rich. Now only when we see our glorified
Savior in all His splendor, that splendor that Merle Hart is now
beholding, Only when we see Him will we understand how rich He
was before He came to this earth. The object of the praise of angels
in perfect harmony with the Father. All of which He left in order
to become a sacrifice for His people's transgressions and become
the object of God's hatred and scorn. To stand in the gap between
God and man to reconcile His bride to Himself. Now, the first Adam brought in
death, the second Adam brought in life and in mortality. Adam in this case is not a type
of Christ, but as Tim James liked to say, he's an anti-type of
Christ. 1 Corinthians 15.22 tells us,
for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made
alive. And we shouldn't be afraid of
that word, all. We certainly know that it does not mean all
men and women. It means all who are in Christ,
chosen to be His bride. Now, the fall of Adam did not
catch God by surprise. We know this because if it had,
we would read in the Scriptures how we were put in Christ after
the fall of Adam. That is not the case. We read,
of course, that we were in Christ before the foundation of the
world. God knew this was happening. It did not catch Him by surprise.
So because of the merits of this second Adam, we are now infinitely
better off in Christ than we ever were in Adam. Heirs to an
incorruptible inheritance that shall not fade away, joint heirs
with Christ, the bride of the sovereign potentate of this universe.
And I'll say this to those that may hear this afterward, that
the most blessed place you can be found is in this man, Christ
Jesus, to share in that inheritance that is His. But the most horrible
place it can be imagined is to be found outside of Christ. We're
told in the Scriptures, Christ gave us His warning that those
outside of Him, those who do not have saving faith, that the
very wrath of God abides on them. So I would exhort those men and
women who may hear this in the future to seek Christ, to put
yourself under the preaching of the Gospel every chance you
have, to read God's Word every opportunity, and to petition
Him for mercy. And just maybe, He might show
you mercy. It's entirely up to Him. But
be aware of this, that outside of Christ, you have no hope. All the hope that we have are
found in Him.