Chapter 4 - The
First and Last Adams
“For since [it
was] through a man that death [came into the world, it is] also
through a Man that the resurrection of the dead [has come]. For just
as [because of their union of nature] in Adam all people die, so also
[by virtue of their union of nature] shall all in Christ be made
alive. Thus it is written, The first man Adam became a living being
(an individual personality); the last Adam (Christ) became a
life-giving Spirit [restoring the dead to life].” – I Corinthians
15:21-22, 45
“Then the Lord God
formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils
the breath or spirit of life, and man became a living being. And the
Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden [delight]; and
there He put the man whom He had formed (framed, constituted). And
the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend
and guard and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying,
You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil and blessing and calamity you shall
not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” –
Genesis 2:7-8, 15-17
Adam was the first
person made by God’s own hands. Eve, his wife, was the only other
person to ever be directly fashioned by God. After God made Adam, He
put the man in the Garden and gave Adam what seems to be two
relatively simple directives – tend and protect the Garden, and
don’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So here
we see that God had given the use of the land, in this case the whole
earth, to Adam. Adam was to oversee and guard the land and by doing
so he was fulfilling his God-given role. Then, at the close of
Genesis, chapter 2, we see God creating Eve, Adam’s helper –
someone who could come along side of Adam and fully complement him in
every area of his life. By the time we get to chapter 3, we can
deduce that Adam may have already become negligent in his duties. In
the opening verses of chapter 3, we are introduced to the serpent and
he’s doing what he does best – twisting the Word of God in order
to fracture a person’s relationship with the Living God, with other
people and with themselves.
“Now the serpent
was more subtle and crafty than any living creature of the field
which the Lord God had made. And he [Satan] said to the woman, Can it
really be that God has said, You shall not eat from every tree of the
garden? And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit from
the trees of the garden, except the fruit from the tree which is in
the middle of the garden. God has said, You shall not eat of it,
neither shall you touch it, lest you die. But the serpent said to
the woman, You shall not surely die, for God knows that in the day
you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,
knowing the difference between good and evil and blessing and
calamity. And when the woman saw that the tree was good (suitable,
pleasant) for food and that it was delightful to look at, and a tree
to be desired in order to make one wise, she took of its fruit and
ate; and she gave some also to her husband, and he ate.” –
Genesis 3:1-6
Eve should have just
walked away from that serpent and never given him the time of day.
But she, like all of us, was human and allowed herself to be drawn in
to a match of wits for which she was not equipped. From this initial
encounter with the serpent, we can see the pattern Satan still uses
today. First, he questioned God’s Word. “Did God really say
that?” Next, we see that rather than ignoring this comment, Eve
answers, although her answer adds to what the Lord had actually
spoken to Adam. (You must remember that when God gave that command
to Adam, Eve hadn’t been created yet, so it had been up to Adam to
instruct Eve in the ways of God.) Eve’s addition to God’s Word
was the opening Satan was looking for.
Satan knows the Word
of God, probably better than any of us will ever know it. He’s had
a lot of time to study it, trying to find some loophole in order to
fulfill his warped desires. So when Eve added, “neither shall you
touch it, lest you die,” to the command God had given to Adam,
Satan had her just where he wanted her. He told her that she
wouldn’t die, and that it was only because God was withholding
something from her that she had been instructed not to eat of the
tree. Questioning God’s motives and His provision is another
tactic that has been working for Satan through the centuries. By
this point poor Eve has been swayed. She took another look at the
tree for herself and saw that it was not only a good source of food,
but was pleasing to the eye and could make a person wise. That was
all the convincing she needed – and the rest, as they say, is
history. But Eve didn’t stop there. Apparently she didn’t want
to sin alone, so she brought some of the fruit to Adam and he partook
as well.
At this point you’re
probably thinking about what a horrible, manipulative little creature
Eve was. Wasn’t it bad enough that she defied God? Did she have
to drag Adam down with her? Well, let’s put the brakes on the
Eve-bashing for a minute and see what really happened here.
As I mentioned
earlier, Adam was the one who was in charge of tending and guarding
the Garden. His first mistake was letting the serpent get in. It
also seems that Adam didn’t fully communicate God’s Word to Eve.
She was obviously very easily led astray by the wiles of the serpent
and was ultimately deceived by the serpent. When Adam took his bite
of that famous fruit, however, he did so with both eyes open and with
full knowledge of what he was doing. He purposely disobeyed God’s
will. In Genesis 3:7, we see that it was not until Adam ate the
fruit that both of their eyes were opened and they then knew that
they were naked. I believe that this clearly lays responsibility for
the couple’s act at Adam’s feet. But why would Adam knowingly
and willingly sin against God, losing everything that had been
entrusted to him? Let’s look at Adam and Eve’s relationship a
bit more to find out.
In today’s world
of high divorce rates and growing numbers of dating services, you
soon realize that finding the right mate is a high priority for most
people. But can you imagine if God made your mate for you with His
own hands, out of your own body? Eve wasn’t just the perfect wife
for Adam, she was literally part of him. I can’t even begin to
imagine the love these two must have shared, not only with each
other, but in their unfettered relationship with God. The couple
walked freely through the Garden, clothed only in the light of God’s
glory. But when Adam ate the forbidden fruit, all of that changed.
When Eve came to
Adam with the fruit in her hand, Adam had a choice to make. Here
stood Eve, holding a piece of fruit in her hand. I can almost see
her crying like a baby over what she had just done. Because Eve had
been deceived into sinning, she would have no longer been able to be
in perfect relationship with either God or her husband. Before Adam
stood the woman that he loved, but he could no longer relate to her.
He couldn’t take her in his arms and comfort her in her time of
despair. There was a chasm of sin between them. The only way that
Adam could ever be with Eve again was to follow her into her fallen
state, and out of his great love for her, he did just that.
With that one
decision, the world changed forever. For the first time in history,
man knew shame and guilt. The first thing Adam and Eve did after
their eyes had been opened was to sew leaves together in hopes of
covering their guilt – the first religious act – but God quickly
shows us that we can not cover our own iniquity nor can we dictate
what will please God. The Lord had to spill the innocent blood of
animals in order to make atonement for the transgressions of His
children. The skins of those sacrificial animals became clothing for
His children. Then God had to expel the couple from the Garden and
post a guard at the entrance to keep them from eating from the tree
of life and obtaining eternal life in their fallen state. But there
was something else that happened that day in the Garden.
Through his willful
disobedience to God’s will, not only did sin and decay enter into
the human condition, but Adam forfeited his title deed to the land.
Fortunately God didn’t let any time pass before He unveiled His
plan of redemption. In Genesis 3:14-15, God not only makes the first
proclamation of the Messiah, but that the Messiah would ultimately
crush the head of Satan, while He would have His heel bruised (this
was fulfilled in the life of Yeshua when He hung on the cross).
We are also shown
that Satan is currently in legal possession of the earth in Luke
chapter 4. In this passage Satan comes to Yeshua in the wilderness
and begins tempting Him. When Satan offers Yeshua all the kingdoms
of the world and all the authority to go with them, Yeshua didn’t
correct him, because for the time being Satan does indeed have legal
possession of the earth. Yeshua knew that the only way for Him to be
eligible to ultimately redeem the land meant He would have to follow
the Father’s plan and not take matters into His own hands. He
stood firm and sent Satan packing.
In Romans 8:19-21,
we can see that creation is indeed waiting to be redeemed. “The
creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be
revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its
own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that
the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and
brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.”
Creation must be redeemed, just as each of us is in need of
redemption, and the One who is qualified to redeem us is the same One
– the only One – who will be able to redeem the earth and return
it to its rightful owner – Yeshua the Messiah.
“Your attitude
should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very
nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be
grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a
servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even
death on a cross!” – Philippians 2:5-8
It is no small thing
what the Messiah has done for us. But why would Yeshua step out of
His rightful place in the Godhead to be born a human and ultimately
die the most hideous death known to man? Because He loves us. He
looked upon us in our desperation, our souls crying out for the help
that only He could give, and out of His compassion and mercy He
chose, just as Adam did, to join His bride in her brokenness. But
rather than joining us through an act of willful disobedience to the
Father, Yeshua lived His life in perfect obedience to the will of
God. Adam’s willful sin made it necessary for a human, someone who
could perform in the role of kinsman-redeemer, to live a perfect and
sinless life. It is because of Yeshua’s obedience that He can step
into the role of kinsman-redeemer, not only for us, but for creation
as well.
I believe that what
we are seeing in the Book of Revelation is Yeshua stepping into the
role of Kinsman-Redeemer for us, taking the title deed for the earth
(the seven-sealed scroll) and transferring the legal title to the
rightful owner once more. Because Adam willfully sinned, causing the
title to default, there had to be a person who was completely
obedient in order to qualify as Redeemer. Yeshua is that one.
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