"....Adam, who is a figure of Him that was to come" Romans 5v14.
The word "figure" is tupos or type, and is defined as a person , or event, or a thing, or an institution, or a ceremony, which is a Divine illustration of a spiritual truth. In this case it is a picture of a person, namely Jesus Christ who is described as "the coming one". The whole of the old testament scriptures foretold the coming Messiah, who would not only deliver and exalt God's people Israel, but also bring blessing to the entire world. The story of the Old Testament is that of unfulfilled promises, which would only be fulfilled by THE COMING ONE. From the promise of God to Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden of the seed of the woman that would bruise the serpent's head through all his promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the whole of Israel, taking in all the predictions of the prophets every one in Israel, and all round about were looking for One to come. Even the Gentile Magi, astrologers from the east, were looking for the coming One and in Matthew chapter 2 they came saying "where is He that is born King of the Jews, for we have seen His star in the east and are come to worship Him." John the Baptist proclaimed that One would come after him who was greater than him, of whom he was just the forerunner. We live in the day nigh on 2000 years since His coming, the present world is blessed to have been born at this time. Never has there been a period of time like this which began with the coming of the seed of the woman, who would undo the works of the devil in this world. Before we proceed to look at Adam as a type of this One, we should mention that Jesus is still THE COMING ONE. The book of the Revelation opens with a reference to this "behold He is coming with clouds, and every eye shall see Him , and they also which pierced \him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Revelation 1v7 The same book ends with the same theme with a three fold assertion of His coming in chapter 22. "Behold I come quickly - verse 7; behold I come quickly - v12; surely I come quickly -v20." The reply of the saved is a unanimous "Amen: even so come Lord Jesus."
He came first of all into this world in humiliation, for the sake of our salvation; He subjected Himself to all the laws of man, He allowed man to maltreat Him, for He had come for a purpose and would not be deflected from that purpose which was the salvation of condemned men and women. His second coming will be in glory, in majesty, in power, in which He will dismantle every corrupt organisation in this world and set up a kingdom for God in righteousness.
There are a number of ways in which Adam is a type of Christ. He is described in Luke chapter 3 as the Son of God. Unlike all the rest of us Adam was formed from the dust of the ground as a full grown man, so he is unique in the human race, and is the only human being termed son of God in the Old Testament. In this he is a type of Christ who is uniquely the Son of God, but born of a woman, a virgin, thus not partaking of any of the sinful nature of man. Adam was made in the image of God, Christ is said to be "the image of the invisible God" (Colossians 1v15) . Adam was presented with a companion bride, who came out of himself "bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh". This union prefigures the union of Christ and the church and just as Eve came out of Adam following a Divine operation, so the church came out of Christ following the work of Calvary. Adam was given dominion over all the earth, a universal dominion which lasted almost 1000 years; if he had not sinned it would never have ended, but Christ will reign for 1000 years on this earth in a righteous reign which after it is finished will proceed into an eternal kingdom. In these, and many other ways Adam is a type of Christ, but the particular feature of Adam Paul wishes to present here, is that he was the head of the human race, that he was responsible for all that happened, that he disobeyed God in one act of disobedience, and thus brought condemnation on the entire human race, that is upon everyone who would be born in all generations. In this case the typology is one of contrast rather than comparison and we are about to unfold the equally staggering truth that the one act of obedience on the part of Christ would bring abundant and eternal blessing on all His progeny, who become His own by new birth in the Holy Spirit.
This is an amazing truth and in the passage we are reading we not only are told of Adam's one act of disobedience we are told of the one obedience of Christ. In verse 18 he speaks of the "one accomplished act of righteousness " and in verse 19 he speaks of "the obedience of One". This is a truly staggering claim and refers not merely to one act, but to the entire life and death of Jesus Christ in this world for over 33 years. His entire existence was one of absolute obedience to God from the moment He was born to the moment He died. Hebrews 4 states that He "learned obedience" by the things that He suffered. Philippians chapter 2 states that He became obedient onto (even to the extent of) death, the death of a cross. This is a massive study in itself and I would encourage readers to follow this aspect through the gospels, particularly the gospel of John where we see that every action, every word, every thought, every movement, where He would go, when He would go, what He would say, was in fellowship with, and in absolute obedience to God.
What Paul is saying in these verses, clearly, is that in connection with the sin of the world Adam is the anti-type of Christ. If we grasp this truth we understand a lot about the world in which we live. One man Adam, by one sin, brought misery and death and separation from God into every member of the human race; one man Jesus Christ by one act of obedience spanning a lifetime of 33+ years brought salvation and grace and mercy and the sure hope of a glorious future to all who believe in Him.
WHERE ARE YOU TODAY - ARE YOU IN ADAM OR ARE YOU IN CHRIST?
Tomorrow d.v the offence and the free gift.
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