I love to study and preach from
the types of our Lord Jesus in the Old Testament Scriptures.
They are so very, very instructive pictures of our Redeemer, of
His redemption, and of God's great grace bestowed upon us
in Him. There are a great variety of
types in the Old Testament. There are those that are looked
at as historical types, like Noah's Ark and Israel's deliverance
out of Egypt. cities of refuge. There are a
number of ceremonial types in the law. Hebrews chapter 10 tells
us that the whole law was a shadow of good things to come. All the
ceremonies and commandments of the law, all the sacrifices,
all the priesthood, the tabernacle, the temple, all those things
were types of our Savior. And then there were personal
types like Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, Judah, Moses, Aaron,
Samson, David, Solomon, all of them set before us as types in
Scripture. But there is one type in the
Word of God specifically named as a type of Christ. That one
type that is specifically named is usually ignored when people
start writing about or preaching about types. When this type is
mentioned, It's usually mentioned very apologetically as though
somehow the writer or the preacher is a little embarrassed that
this could be a type of our Lord Jesus. Do I have your attention? Turn to Romans, chapter 5. Let's
see the type. Romans, chapter 5. Here is one
type of our Lord Jesus Christ that is mentioned specifically
as a type of Christ. Romans, chapter 5, verse 12. Wherefore, as by one man, sin
entered into the world, and death by sin. And so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned. For until the law, sin was in
the world. But sin is not imputed, for there
is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from
Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the
similitude of Adam's transgression." Now look at the next line. Who
is the figure, the type, the picture, the pattern of him that
was to come? Adam? Adam? The picture of him that was to
come? the type, the pattern, the example
of him that was to come. But not as the offense, so also
is the free gift. For if through the offense of
one many be dead, much more the grace of God and the gift by
grace, which is by one man Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many. That is, yes, Adam's a picture,
a very clear picture. But he and Christ and their operations
are very different. Verse 16, and not as it was by
one that sinned, so is the gift for judgment. The judgment was
by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses
under justification of life. For if by one man's offense,
death reigned by one. Much more they which receive
the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall
reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Yes, Adam's the picture. But
what Adam did as a picture of Christ is our ruin. He is a picture,
however, of what Christ has done by his obedience unto death,
which is our righteousness and our redemption, our everlasting
salvation. Verse 18. Therefore, as by the
offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation,
even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon
all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. The title of my message is Adam,
a Type of Christ. Adam, a type of Christ. As you
read through the Scriptures, you find that Adam and our Savior
are frequently uniquely linked together. We would be wise to
carefully observe those links given in Scripture, specifically
here in Romans 5 and in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. In 1 Corinthians
15, the Apostle states virtually the same thing he did in Romans
5, but very briefly. Listen carefully. Since by one
man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made
alive. What is the link? What is the
link? Well, the scripture gives us
this link. Adam was made in the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. made in the image of the invisible
God, and Christ is the image of God. Adam was made as a representative
man, a covenant head, so that what he did, he did not as a
private person, but as a public person, as a representative man,
a covenant head. So is Christ the last Adam. All that Adam did was imputed
to all men whom he represented by God's ordinance, by God's
decree, by God's purpose, by God's design. All that he did,
he did as the representative of all the human race. And all
that he did is imputed to all men. Not only is it imputed to
us, that is, laid to our charge. It is imputed to the whole human
race and it is imparted to the whole human race. So that all
that Adam did and all that Adam was in the garden, you and I
did in him and we are by nature children of wrath even as others. Born at the image of our father
Adam and bear his image we do. bear His image, we do. Children
of wrath. What does that mean? It does
not mean that God's elect were at one time the object of His
wrath. That's not so. God's elect were accepted in
the beloved before the world began, as Brother Mark read to
us in Ephesians 1 just a little while ago. We were accepted righteous
and holy, one with Christ in union with Christ from eternity.
But what does this mean, children of wrath, even as others? We
live by nature. Every child of Adam does. Every
mother's son and every father's daughter. We live by nature with
our fists shoved square in God's face saying, God, get out of
the way. You've got no right to be God.
Children of wrath, even as others. So too, all that Christ did. we did in Him. All that Christ did, we did in
Him. And all that He did, all His
perfect obedience, all His perfect righteousness, all His perfect
faith, all His perfect surrender to the will and purpose of God,
All his perfect bowing, all his perfect prayer, all his perfect
care, all his perfect love is imputed to us, laid to our charge. But that's not all. That's not
all. That's not all. All that Christ
is, all that Christ is, as the God-man,
our representative, is imparted to every chosen redeemed sinner. The moment he's born again by
God's Spirit, as soon as you believe on the Son of God, you
have the token of life in you, faith in Christ, and all that
Christ is, is imparted to you. so that you're made new creatures
in Christ. Made partakers of the divine
nature. Christ in you. Christ in you. That's more than
I can imagine. And when I was sitting here thinking
about declaring that, I know that people have the idea sometimes
where you overstate things. Mark Henson, let me tell you
something. You can't possibly overstate anything revealed in
this book. You can't possibly overstate
anything revealed in this book. Nothing. Nothing. Christ in you? What does that mean? That means
Christ is in you if He is. That means you're partakers of
the divine nature if you're his. That means you're a new creature
in Christ Jesus if you're his. All that Christ is is imparted
to us in regeneration so that we who are by nature the children
of wrath are now by nature. By nature. I meant to use the
word. By the grace of God, every heaven-born
soul is by his new nature sons of God. That which is born of
flesh is flesh. That which is born of the spirit
is spirit. That which we are by our father Adam is called
unrighteousness. That makes it a child of the
devil, 1 John chapter 3. All that we are in our representative
Christ Jesus is righteousness. And we are righteous, doing righteous,
who are born of God, children of God. That which is born of
the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the spirit
is spirit. So that we live in this world,
children of wrath, and sons of God. By nature. By our carnal nature, children
of wrath. By our new nature, sons and daughters
of God Almighty. By our carnal nature, sons of
Adam. By our spiritual nature, sons
of God. By our fleshly nature, constantly
Fighting God and everything that represents Him. By our new nature,
bowing to God and loving Him. All the time. No end. So that the flesh and the spirit
are constantly at war with one another. Constantly at war with
one another. I'm reluctant to say this for
folks think it terribly disrespectful and I hope that's not the case. I was raised in a house by a
man and woman who loathed each other. Why they lived together,
I don't know. I just, I don't have any idea
why they lived together. Lived together till they died.
I don't have any idea why they, they loathed each other. They,
I never heard Either of them say a good thing about the other.
Not in all my life. Not that I can remember. Not
one good thing. Not one good thing. They loathe
each other. Can you imagine what the house
was like? It was fight all the time. All the time. Every day, sunup to sundown,
if they were both in the house, it was fight and fuss. You know
when I used to call the house and call to speak to them And
they'd get on the telephone, one on one line, one phone, one
on the other, and start fussing with each other while I was talking
to them long distance. And I'd say, I didn't call to listen
to y'all fight. That was just the way it was. They just loathed
each other. I tell you that because I want
you to understand. That's how you explain and understand
what goes on inside you all the time. There in you two men, two natures,
two beings that loathe each other, Christ and Satan, flesh and spirit,
righteousness and sin, two things that loathe each other. Consider
what Adam did as our federal head and representative. He repudiated
the goodness and love of God, the truth and veracity of God,
he utterly repudiated. Christ the last Adam, the second
and last man, the second and last federal head and representative,
completely vindicated the love, the truth, and the veracity of
God, that which the first Adam grievously and deliberately dishonored,
the last Adam perfectly honored. All God's love, all God's truth,
all God's goodness, all God's veracity, all God's perfection,
Christ honored and magnified. He vindicated the love of God
so that if ever you attempted of the devil to question God's
love, Look away yonder to Christ, the crucified Redeemer, seated
on the throne of glory, and behold the love of God. Our Lord Jesus
vindicated, I said, the truth of God. When Satan tempted Him
to doubt God's veracity and God's goodness, His truth and His supremacy,
each time our Savior replied, it is written, it is written,
let God be true and every man a liar. Every Sabbath day, He
went to the house of God to read the word of God. To either read it himself and
expound it, or to hear it read that he may expound it. Every
Sabbath day, he chose his twelve disciples, his twelve apostles,
deliberately selecting a devil. Deliberately selecting as one
of his apostles, Judas. Why did he do that? The same
reason he did everything, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. That the Scripture might be fulfilled. Why did he choose Judas to be
one of his apostles? Because the Scripture said he
was going to be betrayed by his own familiar friend. In the last
moments of his agony, he cried, I thirst that Scripture might
be fulfilled. They parted his raiments that
the Scripture might be fulfilled. When He arose from the dead and
walked with His disciples on the earth, He spoke to them out
of the scriptures and explained to them the scriptures. Constantly
until His ascension into glory, vindicating and honoring the
veracity and the truth of God. At every age, in every event,
In all the details of his life, our federal head and representative,
our substitute, believed, honored, and magnified God and his truth,
even when it cost him dearly to do so. That's how David Coleman
has obeyed God. Not how he should. That's certainly
so. You ought to do so. But how he
has. That's how Don Fortner has obeyed
God. Now, yes, that's how I ought
to live. That's how I ought to obey God.
But this declares that's how I have obeyed Him. The Lord of
Glory completely vindicated the majesty, supremacy, and sovereignty
of God as well. He vindicated God's right to
be God by His willing, voluntary submission to God at all times
as his God. By obeying him even under death
as his righteous servant, he trusted God. He trusted God as
a man. We ought to believe God, shouldn't
we? We ought to trust God implicitly. There are many who will tell
you that you measure your assurance by the measure of your faith.
Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. My faith, Oscar Bailey, has never
been sufficient to give me any comfort at all. My comfort is
in the object of my faith, who believed God. And I believed God perfectly
in him. Our Savior fulfilled the law
of God, every jot and tittle perfectly. Subject to the will
of God, he magnified the justice of God in his death. And in doing
these things, you and I, who are his, obeyed the will of God. fulfilled the law of God, magnified
the justice of God, and satisfied all the requirements of God.
We read earlier in Genesis 1 26 that Adam was made in the image
of God. Now, no question what that's
talking about. It's talking about he was made the image of Jesus
Christ the God-man who was to come in the fullness of time
to accomplish redemption for us. So that the triune Jehovah
looked upon God, our Savior, the God-man, our surety, our
mediator. He did not yet have any human
nature or any human being, but He stood before God from everlasting
as our God-man mediator who would come and save us. And the triune
Jehovah said, let us make man just like Him in the image of
God. He made Adam to be in the image
of God. What does that mean? What does
the Spirit of God intend for us to understand by that? He
means for us to understand that Adam was made as a representation
of the Lord Jesus Christ and made to be figuratively what
Christ Jesus was as our representative and surety. Christ is the wisdom
man who spoke for us before the world began, whose delights were
with us from everlasting, as is described in Proverbs chapter
8. And after the pattern of this man who was to come, the first
earthly man was formed by God. Let me give you a picture of
what that means, give you some idea of what that means. Christ
the man. is the one upon whom our help
was laid from old eternity even before it was needed. Christ
the man is that one whose goings forth have been from of old from
everlasting and there's clearly a relationship implied. So it
is written the first man Adam was made a living soul and the
last Adam was made a quickening spirit. What does that mean?
Calling our Savior by the name Adam, God the Holy Spirit implies
a relationship between the first Adam and the last Adam. By prefixing
this name, this term last, to him as the last Adam, he's telling
us there is not another one to come. Now, we sometimes say the
first Adam and the second Adam. That's not accurate. Our Lord
is once called the second man. but is never called the second
Adam. Scripture speaks of the first Adam and the last Adam.
The first representative man and the last representative man.
Telling us that these two have a relationship but they are distinct
and their works separate and linked together they are as a
picture, one portraying the other. Our Lord Jesus gives us this
picture of himself and the comparison is marvelous. In Scripture you
often use one name to represent something else. For example,
Sodom and Gomorrah, or Sodom and Egypt, are called in the
book of Revelation the cities of this world. This world is
Sodom and Egypt. In Revelation 17, Babylon is
portrayed as a spiritual city, a church. It's representing the
whole false apostate Christianity under the name Babylon. In Hebrews
12, the church of God is called Mount Zion. telling us that Israel,
Mount Zion of the Old Testament, that's a picture of God's church.
Our Lord Jesus is in the book of God called David and He's
called Solomon because David and Solomon were pictures of
Him. The application of the name Adam to our Savior is to be regarded
as a declaration that Adam was typical of the Lord Jesus, the
figure of Him that was to come. Now let me try to show you how.
I can't begin to do this justice, but let me make these four comparisons. Number one, Adam typified our
Lord Jesus in the holiness of his nature. Only two men ever
walked on this earth without sin. Perfect, upright, holy,
righteous. Sometimes I Get a call from one
of my preacher friends and discussing things, theology. Can you really
say that Adam was righteous? I think you can. Wasn't anything
wrong with him. He was holy. He was created in
the image of God. He was created with no sin, no
nature of evil, no bent to evil, no inclination to evil. Adam
was created holy. He sinned in time. but he was
created holy. Our Lord Jesus came into this
world a child in this world born without sin who knew no sin and
did no sin and could not sin because this man is not just
a man born in innocence. This man is God the Holy One
in human flesh and he could not sin. Adam was a picture of our
Lord Jesus, typical of Him also in His dominion. We read in Genesis
2 that God created Adam and He brought him the whole creation.
He brought him the fish of the sea, and the fowls of the air,
and the animals, and the trees, and the herbs, and the plants.
He said, Adam, boy this is all yours. I've created this for
you to have dominion over it. He said, now you and he, you
multiply and replenish the earth and have dominion over it. Is
that what he said? You multiply and replenish the
earth, fill it up and rule it, rule it. And the psalmist refers
to God's giving Adam dominion over all things. And he says,
what is man that thou art mindful of him? thou visitest him. And Paul quotes that Psalm in
Hebrews chapter 2 and says, Lord you made all this that man should
rule over it. God made this world, Skip Gladfelter,
for us to rule it, to subdue it, to control it. But I don't see any of that. I can't control anything. Can
you? I can't control anything. Just
as soon as I think I've got things under control, I mess it up.
I can't control anything. I can't even control myself,
let alone you. I like to think I'm in control. I don't say it too much anymore
unless I'm pretty sure the folks will understand I'm not being
serious. sit down in the airplane, stewardess come by, pilot come
by and ask if there's anything to do for me. I say, you let
me fly the plane. I'd like to do that. I would whole lot rather
be up there flying it than you be flying it, because I like
to be in control. And you don't do that to get on a plane now.
You might get in trouble these days. But I just like to be in control. But I can't. I can no more control
what goes on around me than I can get in the cockpit of that 747
and fly it. I don't have a clue how to do
it. We see not yet all things put under him. Oh, yes, I do. Oh, yes, I do. Paul said, wait
a minute. We see Jesus. There sits the man to whom God
has given dominion over everything. And he rules it all. Adam was
made to have dominion. And while he lived in innocence,
he had dominion. Imagine a dog never barking at
you. A lion never growling at you.
A snake never biting you. Imagine that. No need to be afraid
of anything. In complete control until sin
entered. There sits the man who's taken
away sin and he's in complete control of everything. And God
created the earth for him to have dominion over it and soon
that dominion shall be ours in union with him. The first man, Adam, is not there
in the garden alone, but he is representative of one far greater
than he, the God-man, our Redeemer. His grandeur and position over
the world as Lord pictures the Lord Jesus Christ, our great
Savior. But third, and this is what I
wanted to get to, turn to Ephesians chapter 5. I want you to see
this. Adam typified our Redeemer in
his marriage to Eve. Look in Ephesians 5 and verse
25. Husbands, love your wives even
as Christ also loved the church. Then he says, we're members of
his body and of his bones. Do you remember where we read
that earlier? Back in Genesis 2? God brought Adam brought Eve
to Adam and he said She is now bone of my bone and flesh of
my flesh Because Eve was one with him a part of his body She
was a part of his body the Lord God reached into Adam and took
a rib and that rib he made a woman. That rib he made a woman. Eve was part of his body and
therefore Adam devoted himself to her utterly. He said for this
cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall be joined
to his wife and they too shall be one flesh. Now God the Holy
Ghost tells us, this is not speculation, this is not theory. God the Holy
Ghost tells us that when Adam said that, he was speaking prophetically. I don't stand here and tell you
Adam knew exactly what he was prophesying, but I can't imagine
a man prophesying and not knowing. God the Holy Ghost tells us he
spoke prophetically concerning Christ and his church. Ephesians
5 verse 32. You see that? I'm not talking
about Adam and Eve. I'm not talking about Don and
Shelby. I'm not talking about Joe and Cynthia. Oh, no, no,
no. I'm talking about Christ and his church. We're bone of
his bone and flesh of his flesh. For this cause, for this cause,
there is a man coming who shall leave his father and his mother,
and shall be joined unto his wife, and they too shall be one
flesh. Oh, thank God for that man, that
second man, that last Adam. The union between Christ and
his church is often described as a marriage. Christ is the
bridegroom. His church is the bride. He's
the king whose garments smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia
out of the ivory palaces. She's the queen who sits on his
right hand in gold of ophir. There's one whole book in this
book called the Song of Solomon. The whole book, the whole book
is all about Christ and his bride, his church. Brother Eric Richards,
Dave's son-in-law, preaching through the Song of Solomon right
now, doing a great job in the articles he's written. The whole
book, you can't understand it. You can't understand it, except
you understand it as being an allegorical picture of Christ
and His church. Christ and His bride. His love
to her. And her love to Him with all
the struggles of the unfaithfulness of His sinful bride. made perfect
in his eyes so that she's without spot and pure and altogether
lovely and ravishes his heart with his beauty that he's made
to be hers. After Adam awoke from his sleep,
the Lord God brought the woman to the man. So it is with Christ. The Lord
God brings his bride, his wife, to him by the hand of omnipotent
grace and presents her to him, one person at a time. He brings his chosen to the Redeemer
and presents them to him in all his own perfection. Oh, how Adam
loved his wife Eve. Now, I've chosen my words carefully
and I don't think they can be gainsayed. Nowhere in the world,
nowhere in the book of God and nowhere in the world do you see
the love of Christ for his people more perfectly portrayed than
in Adam's love for Eve. Oh, how he loved her. The popular
notion is that Eve beguiled Adam. She did nothing of the kind.
Satan beguiled Eve and allured her by deception into sin and
rebelling against God. But God, the Holy Ghost, tells
us plainly, Adam was not deceived. Adam went into this thing called
the fall with his eyes wide open. With his eyes wide open. When
Eve sinned, she sinned like the angels who
kept not their first estate. Do you know what happened to
those angels that sinned? There was no mercy, no grace,
no remedy, no provision of any kind for them. They were left
in their sin. When Eve sinned, her eyes weren't
opened. When Eve took the fruit, She
didn't realize she was naked. When Eve took the fruit, she
didn't experience anything! Nothing! She just violated God! And death was the sentence. Death
without mercy. Because Eve had sinned without
a mediator, without a substitute, without a surety. And Adam, with
his eyes wide open, took the fruit and plunged himself into sin and a just curse and utter damnation that he be not separated from
Eve and Eve be not separated from him." And I just got a hunch. I just got
a hunch. I'm confident Adam believed God
with the hope that Eve might be saved by that substitute who
was to come, that man who would say for this cause, shall a man
leave his father and his mother and shall be joined to his wife.
So it is with our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus. About Adam, I'm guessing. I don't
know for sure what he had in his mind. I don't know for sure
what he knew. But I know he spoke prophetically
concerning the Lord Jesus. And about him, we have clear
statement from Scripture. The last Adam came into this
world. and live for us to perform perfect
righteousness as a man in obedience to God. And because of his love for us, he deliberately took our sin and made it his own, and he plunged
himself into sin and darkness and just utter damnation. Made himself a curse for us and
died in our stead. He who knew no sin. He who could not sin was made
sin. and bear our sin in His own body
on the tree. Now I know people get upset and
they want to fuss and argue and fight and make divisions and
all that stuff. I've been used to that since
I was 18 years old. But what I said in the beginning
of the message, I say here, with all the emphasis that can be
mustered in human language when the book of God says he was made
sin. You can't say it with sufficient
emphasis. You can't say it with sufficient
force. You can't say it with adequate
broadness. What does that mean? everything
it means for me to be sin, he made himself to be. Until his father turned his back
on his son and his son cried, my God, my God, you've never
forsaken anybody in all of history who called on your name. Read
it in Psalm 22. Our fathers prayed and you heard them. You never
turned a deaf ear to any man who called on your name. Oh my
God, why hast thou forsaken me? And he gives the answer, because
you're of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. He made himself a For it is written, Cursed is
every one that hangeth on a tree. And with one tremendous draft
of love, our Savior drank damnation dry. First the Lord God called
Adam to go into a deep sleep. Then he opened his side and took
out one of his ribs and made that rib and help meet for Adam
and help meet for him. What's that talking about? Just
exactly what you think it's talking about. Eve was made for Adam. Not the other way around. She
was made to be a help meet for Adam. I just have one daughter
and like any father with just one daughter Man, I have real
high aspirations for her when she was growing up. Real high
aspirations. I'll tell you what they were. I repeated them to
her often. I repeat them to her daughter
now in the presence of my daughter. Here's the highest aspiration
a woman can ever have. To be a help meat for a man. To be President of the United
States is to lower yourself. to be a help meet for him. What's that mean? Just exactly
the kind of help he needs. Just exactly that which fulfills
him as you find your fulfillment in him. Is that a pretty good
picture of how the Scripture describes God's church? We are
the fullness of him who fills all in all We find all our fullness
in Him and He finds all His fullness in us. Isn't that wonderful? Adam took Eve. He looked at her and he said,
wow, look at her. Oh, what a beauty. What a jewel. What a gem. I'm going to call
her woman because she was made out of me. And so the Lord Jesus
looks on His people and He declares that we are His. Beautiful with all His beauty
He has put upon us. One last thing. When the Lord
God made Adam and Eve in the garden,
they stood before God naked and were not ashamed, had no reason to blush. We stand
with Christ, one with Christ, one in Christ, married to Christ,
naked with our Savior before the eyes of God's omniscient
holiness. And our Savior says, that believeth
on me shall not be ashamed, not even ashamed before God,
not even ashamed before God, with his spotless garments on,
I am as holy as God's own Son. Now hear this and rejoice. The Lord Jesus has no reason
ever to be ashamed of his bride. He put away our sins. He made
us perfectly righteous. And I am not ashamed to owe him. as my only Lord, my only Savior,
my only wisdom, my only righteousness, my only sanctification, my only
redemption. And in Christ, being one with
Christ before God, I have no reason to be ashamed before God. Oh, may God do that for you.
It is particularly as a covenant head and representative that
the Spirit of God tells us that Christ was typified by Adam. The first man, Adam, ruined everything. The last Adam restored everything. The first Adam broke God's law. The last Adam fulfilled it. The
first Adam refused to bow to God's will. The last Adam perfectly
So obeyed God's will. The first Adam failed. God said,
here's the earth. Here's my creation. You go and
multiply and replenish the earth and have dominion over it. Oh,
how Adam failed. But there is another man, the
last man, Adam. and God put everything in his
hands and he's multiplied and has replenished the earth with
his people and has dominion over it absolutely and soon shall
rid the world of all that was ruined by the first Adam and
present the entire creation with his church before God and God
shall be all in all. Imagine the wonder, the wonder
awaiting us in that day when Christ says, here's my bride,
here are your people, just like I said I would do, I bring them
to you. Not one of them is lost. All
are perfect, all are righteous, all without sin, all just such
a bride as is meet for me. God make you
one with Christ by His grace. Amen.