the last Adam

02
Jul
2012

God’s Mysterious Gift of Life

“Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” (Gn2:7 nasb)

 

Journal,

All life is a gift from God. Angels have life. Animals and plants have their life. Every order of creation has its own life.

And yet no other part of creation was given the measure of life as was given to Adam. Adam’s life was purposely enjoined to God Himself. Actually Adam is the only person in the Bible aside from Jesus Christ, who is called ‘the son of God.’

Yes, Adam shared a kinship with God that no other creature had. He carried with him the image and likeness of God. It is difficult to even imagine what Adam was like in the beginning.

Being made in the image and likeness of God meant something very special to the whole of creation. This is why it was a black day for all creation when Adam chose to act on Satan’s word rather than to live by the instructions that the Lord God gave him.

Adam’s fall would affect all of creation. Paul takes note of this –

“… the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.“ (Rom 8:19-21)

 And so we have…

 

The Fallen Children

This is why it is so important to understand Adam’s original place in creation. It helps us realize why God loves the world so much. Even though the Adam race has been defiled by sin and darkness, God has never stopped loving humankind.

And so Jesus Christ came into our world. This is also why Jesus is called ‘the last Adam.’

Listen and learn:

“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

“He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (Joh 3:17-18)

And again,

“So also it is written, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living soul.’ The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.” (1Co 15:45)

Jesus came into our fallen world to redeem and set free the fallen race of Adam, and to create a new race called, ‘Christian.’  A Biblical Christian has been anointed with the very life of Christ Himself.

This is why the apostle said –

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (Gal 2:20)

 

Jesus the Last Adam

The mysterious gift of God speaks of the life that Adam lost, and even beyond. Out of the cross would come a new creation, and in this new creation would come the sons and daughters of God.

But there is something crucial we need to grasp. God did not provide the last Adam (Jesus) a body from the dust of the ground. Indeed not. The Father provided Jesus with a body that belonged to the original race of Adam. By overshadowing the Virgin, Jesus would enter our world both as the Son of God, and also the Son of Man.

In this way Jesus could become the source of eternal life to all the children of Adam. Out of the cross came a judicial verdict based on the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The judicial verdict is simple. It says that anyone of the Adam race is given the right to call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and become a member of God’s new race of Christians.

Listen to Peter on the day of Pentecost as he exacts God’s judicial verdict for the whole of the human race –

“‘AND IT SHALL BE THAT EVERYONE WHO CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.'” (Act 2:21)

And thus with the apostle Paul –

“For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for ‘WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.'” (Rom 10:12-13)

Calling on the name of the Lord means to confess and acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior; that the person realizes they cannot become good enough to be saved; that they recognize themselves as lost sinners, and a appealing to Jesus Christ as God’s provision for salvation. It is as simple as that.

 

The Mystery of Eternal Life

For all who call on the name of the Lord, these become the children of God, and as children of God they are given the very nature of Christ, the last Adam. Because we are given a godly nature, this is why sin hurts so much for a true believer. Yes, we can and do sin, but sin is contrary to our spiritual nature from above. Sinners sin by nature. Christians sin by temptation. There is a vast difference.

Concerning our new life, the apostle wrote –

 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” (2Co 5:17-19)

The issue of eternal life is that eternal life cannot be forfeited, just as the natural man cannot lose his natural human life. We are what we are.

And the apostle John says that we are now the children of God. The apostle Paul also speaks to this.

Listen with your heart –

[John] “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

“Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.

“And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” (1Jn 3:1-3)

[Paul]  “For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’

“The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.” (Rom 8:15-17)

Welcome home, all you children of God

And so the new race of Christians are actually…

 

The Children of the Throne

There is much to our future that we are not told about. We do know that all of creation, including the angels, anxiously await the crowning moment when all God’s children are fully restored to their rightful place in creation.

Yes, all the angels recognize each of God’s children. Every child carries in their heart a seal of redemption. In this seal is the very essence of, ‘I belong to heaven.’

In addition to the blood seal, every child of God has already been seated in Christ in the heavens. This is why we can be called ‘children of the throne’. What creation is waiting for now is the children’s full restoration to the glory of God.

Here it is in a nutshell:

For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.” (Heb 2:10)

 It would not do to leave off what the apostle Paul had to say about the children’s glory –

“For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things?

“If God is for us, who is against us?” (Rom 8:29-31)

Touch one of my kids, you touch Me – Lion of Judah

Yes indeed, the life of God in the heart of a child of God is both wonderful and mysterious. It is no wonder that we sing so much about heaven. After all, we are just sojourners in this world. We are looking for the city whose builder and maker is God. But not only a city, the Bible says we also have a country that has been prepared for us.

It is kind of hard to find a stopping place, but stop I must. Just keep in mind that the apostle said that nothing would ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is found in Christ Jesus. God’s love is eternal.

For your meditation here is a song about the Lion of Judah…

In Christ always,

Buddy

 

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02
Aug
2011

In the Power of Christ I Stand

“… that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col 1:26-27)

 

Journal,

The song “In Christ Alone”, was written July 22, 2004, by Stuart Townsend and fellow song writer Keith Getty. There are many Christian songs that carry the testimony of heaven. This is one of them. The lyrics of “In Christ Alone” speaks of God’s love and of His eternal covenant in Christ Jesus.

This song reaches into the deep of the finished work of the cross. If you haven’t heard the song or seen the lyrics, before you go any further with your reading, why not take time to listen to the wonderful song. 

[Note: Here it is on YouTube –

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxo9qan6nbY[/youtube]

 

The New Adam, the New Covenant, the New Creation

The finished work of the cross is a breathtaking story. The world as we know it today came about through the fall of the first Adam. The world as it will be known in eternity will be the result of the cross. Christ Jesus came into our world as “the last Adam.”

Out of the cross came a new covenant and in this new covenant came a new creation. The new creation speaks of God’s new heavenly people. All true believers have their names recorded in heaven.

Being a heavenly people may seem difficult to grasp, yet it is the story of the gospel.

The apostle explains it this way –

“So also it is written, ‘The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL.’ The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual.

“The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly.

“Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.” (1Co 15:45-49)


We are Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Bodies

Now take note of our citizenship – 

“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.” (Php 3:20-21)

But in all this there is an issue very important to understand. Being a heavenly citizen does not mean that we discard our humanity. The change is inward, not outward. We become partakers in a new kind of humanity. Understanding your new humanity in Christ will help put balance into your covenant walk.

Many Christians are stifled in their spiritual life because they know so little about their true life in Christ. Then there are those who are driven to extremes by always seeking a new experience. This is an unhealthy place to be. It creates a restlessness that never leaves the believer. 

Actually the most unstable people I have ever met, are those who continually look for a prophet to give them direction from the Lord. 

Certainly God gives us mature leadership for a reason. Proper pastoral teaching and guidance can help the young grow in respect to becoming a mature disciple of Jesus. In fact we are instructed not to neglect our assembling as a called-out body of believers.  

However, the primary reason that the office of prophet does not have the same emphasis in the new covenant as it did in former covenants, is because of our new humanity. No new covenant believer needs a prophet to tell them what the mind of the Lord is for their own life. There is no need. We all have direct access to the mind of Christ.

[My advice – Pay little attention to those who want to be seen as prophets. They are not worth your time.] 

Listen very carefully to how Jesus describes His new covenant people;

“I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one Shepherd.” (John 10:16)

 

Product of the Cross

The point in this is that our new creaturehood comes about as the product of the cross. When men and women pass through the cross, they are given their Christ-like spiritual nature. Each time a person is born again there is an act of creation. One of the early writers said that when a person is born again, it is as though Christ were born again in the heart of the believer.

What the apostles tell us is that the Christian will now have in himself a longing to be clothed with his future resurrected body. We are much aware of our promised future body that will be exactly like the body that Jesus Christ now has. John says, “We shall be like Him [Christ].” (1 John 3:2)

Are you enjoying your new heavenly life? 

Perhaps this little story of the eagle’s heart will help. (I’ve share it before but it never gets old.)

And, yes, it does rest on a Scripture inference.

“He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.” (Isa 40:29-31)

 

Now for the story. See if this fits anywhere in your life — 

 

The Call of the Eagle’s Heart

Somehow an eagle’s egg became mixed with a number of chicken eggs that had been set aside to be hatched. The little eaglet hatched right along with a brood of chicks. The eagle looked a bit different, but for all she knew she was just another chicken.

Yet something deep in the little eaglet’s heart was restless. She had this tugging in her heart that could not be explained. The eaglet kept stretching her wings. It made the other chicks look at her as an odd ball. But since chickens do very limited flying, the eaglet simply had to accept things as they were.

But it wasn’t just the stretching of her wings. For some strange reason she didn’t like the food that all the chickens were eating.

Now that was a real problem. All the other chickens continuously looked at the ground for bugs or corn or whatever they could find. But this growing young eagle just couldn’t keep her eyes off the sky.

Are you ready to fly?

So it happened. As was her habit, one day while looking up at the sky, behold the young eaglet saw some majestic birds soaring on the air currents. She couldn’t explain her feelings. Tears filled her eyes. Her heart-strings were being tugged at. Who are those birds? They sure don’t look like chickens.

She could not get her mind off of the majestic birds. What kind of chickens were they? None of the chickens she knew could fly. In fact the farmer kept their wings clipped so that they could not fly. And it was getting close to the time for the young eagle’s wings to be clipped.

And that is when it happened. One of the majestic birds spotted the young eagle and flew down to check things out.  The great eagle said, ‘What are you doing in that chicken pen?’ The young eagle said, ‘This is where all the chickens that I know, live.” The great bird said, ‘You are not a chicken. You are an eagle.’

Something just went off inside the young eagle’s heart. It was like an eruption of all her pent-up emotions. She thought to herself, ‘Is it possible that I am not a chicken?!’

She began flapping her wings as hard as she could. Her feet lifted off the ground but not enough for flying. The majestic eagle said, ‘You are doing it wrong. Come here. Climb on my back. I’ll show you how its done.’

Boy was she nervous. On the majestic eagle’s back she climbed. He spread out his mighty pinions and with a lifting of his wings, off they soared, higher, and higher. The wind flushed through her feathers. How wonderful it felt.

The eagle spoke to the young eaglet and said, ‘Don’t be afraid. Its your turn. You were designed to fly.’ The majestic eagle suddenly did a backward flip and off into nothing went the young eagle. ‘I’m falling! I’m falling!’

‘No you aren’t. Just spread out your wings! You’ll see.’

She spread out her wings and instantly the wind beneath her wings began to lift her up, and fly she did. Upward and up she flew. She soared and soared and soared. The young eaglet could not believe how easy it was to fly. And, oh the view. She could see forever. The young eagle could not get enough flying. On top of everything else, the eaglet had also found a great family of eagles to be with. They were just like her.

OK, so now you know the story of the eaglet who thought she was a chicken.

No, she never went back to the chicken pen. After all, she was an eagle and eagles are birds of majesty. They are designed to soar in the heavenly places.

You can do it. You have an upward call of God on your life. Just learn to live your life in the power of Christ. Where is Christ? Christ is in you. This is the great mystery of Christianity. 

Now, remember what the apostle said about our secret–

“I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” (Php 4:12-13)

May all the blessings of Jesus Christ fill out your life. 

Buddy

 

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