Adam and Christ – Contrast and Compare

Have you ever taken a final examination and seen this dreaded phrase?  Contrast and compare. It’s an adage familiar to most high school and college students.  Of course the two items under consideration had some mysterious link existing only in the mind of the professor, and the three words were always followed by details of the impossible task:

     Contrast and compare the civilization of the Incas, their way of life and method of exchange against the struggling supply and demand economy under twentieth century President Carter’s administration.

The scriptures teach us to rightly divide the word of truth; the more one mines the golden fields, the bigger the nuggets of truth he discovers.  We know Adam and Christ have a connection.  With the hindsight of types and shadows, the advantage of the New Testament and history, we can even see the New Testament church in the Old Testament.

We should look for signs of the church in the Old Testament writings.  And we should strive to find Christ wherever in scripture we read.  What can be gleaned by looking at Adam to cause us to see Jesus in a more majestic light?

Adam’s only mentioned thirty times in the scriptures, yet his impact on each of us is refreshed daily by our very nature. 

Adam created the problem, the Creator provided the solution.  

1Cr 15:22.  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.  

1Cr 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam [was made] a quickening spirit.  :46  Howbeit that [was] not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual  :47 The first man [is] of the earth, earthy: the second man [is] the Lord from heaven. 

Unusual Beginnings

Both Christ and Adam were brought into this earth without a set of natural parents.  Christ having not an earthly father, and born of a virgin, while Adam, formed out of the dust of the earth, had neither mother nor father, but only a Creator. 

A Garden Commonality

The problem Adam created was in a garden where man had never been; Christ provided the solution to Adam’s transgression in another garden.

Adam was created outside the garden and placed into one.  Gen 2:8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

Christ died outside a garden and was placed within one.  John 19:40 Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.  :41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. 

Both had Open Sides

Adam’s side was opened to provide him a bride, a helpmeet, a partner, a friend.

Gen 2:21 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;  :22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.   Adam’s side was opened for a bride, in order to secure him a wife. 

Christ’s side was opened for the bride – because of the bride; to provide her all the things He had promised, to secure her, to purify and sanctify her.

John 19:34 But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.

Eph 5:25-27 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 

That he might 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.

Both Bled, One Shed

While it can be said that both bled for their bride, only one shed His blood.  Only one poured out His blood for many.

Both Died for their Bride

Adam gave his life for his bride.  Adam knew full well the single instruction he had been given by God.  He knew the consequences were perilous indeed.  He heard the instruction directly from the mouth of the Lord and no doubt considered again the severity of disobedience when he relayed these instructions to Eve.  We know the Lord’s order to Adam was clear and perfect in the explanation.  No room for equivocation.  There was no possibility of misunderstanding or miscommunication.

Few men are recorded in the old scriptures that were given the great privilege of speaking with the Creator, or hearing his audible voice.  How perfect is every word from the lips of He who created language; how void of uncertainty, how crystal clear each note, how sweet the sound upon the ears of His children.  Fully rich in power, as in the new birth, when the still small voice is heard, there is no doubt the birth has taken place!  There is no opportunity for failure or incompleteness! To surrender the daily opportunity to hear the Master’s voice had to burden Adam in his decision.  Tradition leads us to believe Adam’s decision was a split second one. Common sense would teach us he probably pondered the consequences for some time.

When Eve presented Adam with the fruit of which she had partaken, the edict of the Lord and seriousness of the matter, all that Adam stood to lose, indeed the life and death position of the choice must have raced through his mind, yet ultimately, he made a conscious decision to choose his wife – and death – over the commandment of God.  In that respect, Adam gave his life for his bride.  Did Adam love Eve so much he was willing to die for her?  Let’s read Adam’s own words:  Gen 2:23 And Adam said, This [is] now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.   2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. 

Adam didn’t leave father and mother, but he did leave his Creator. Today when we take a bride we promise ‘til death do we part.”  Adam did the opposite; he joined unto death.

1Ti 2:14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.  When Adam joins with Eve, it is his disobedience that earns us all the sentence of death. 

Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; …5:28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.    Col 3:19 Husbands, love [your] wives, and be not bitter against them.

How you do stack up in comparison to Adam, husbands?  And did you ever notice the scriptures never tell the wife to love her husband?  If she does love you, it’s not by commandment of the scriptures.  Gen 3:16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire [shall be] to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

Adam named his wife Eve after the fall. Gen 3:20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.  Before she had been called Woman or Adam.  We have a name change coming as well, not resulting from the fall, but from salvation: Rev 2:17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth [it].

Rev 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, [which is] new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and [I will write upon him] my new name. 

Did ever anyone love their bride so much they would leave their favored position with God to die for her?  Indeed, once more.  As Adam’s choice to cleave unto his wife brought us all into sin and death, Christ agreed to leave his heavenly abode to rescue His bride, bringing her life.  And for a brief moment in time, Christ was separated from his Father’s presence for his bride, the church.

Adam’s offense plunged us all into sin, a condition we call total depravity. Every human born from and since Adam are born in sin, prone to sin and subject to sin, throughout their entire life, carrying about them as long as they live the very nature of sin.  Not even the new birth spares us from sin in the physical body.  Our old Adamic nature is not repaired at the new birth; rather, a second nature, a perfect nature, a spiritual nature is imparted to us.

We’ll be in heaven thanks to Christ.  Will Adam?

Because of the gravity of original sin and its universal impact, Adam becomes the subject of controversy among those prone to handicap the fate of biblical personalities.  Much like Judas, they wonder if Adam will be in eternal heaven.  After all, wouldn’t you like to ask him what he was thinking?  Can we ascertain Adam’s situation?  If we can, it can only be by the strong either/or test of election.  We know choice before the foundation of the world is not based on anything a child of God does or might do during their fleshy existence.  Rom 9:11 (For [the children] being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)  So the weight and horrible consequences of Adam’s sin notwithstanding, we must filter our conclusions through this criteria: Adam was either elect, or he was not.  Though we are taught not to judge the eternal status of an individual, we can be fruit inspectors and look to scripture to see if one position or the other is supported. 

Adam and Eve felt a sense of shame after their sin.  Is that a common condition for a child of God?  Can we all raise our hand as that being our case?  And do we not rejoice over one whose condition is such that they feel a sense of shame, of condemnation; are we not joyous when a sinner seeks remorse?

Adam and Eve received chastisement and punishment for their sin. We believe God punishes, and corrects his children.  But such censure is not for the non-elect.

Adam and Eve had (ceremonial, sacrificial) animal blood spilt on their behalf to clothe them with coats of skin.  Although the scripture doesn’t tell us in Genesis, what we read elsewhere about sacrifice would indicate a lamb, pointing us to Christ.

The Lord continued to instruct Adam, who in turn taught his sons, Cain and Abel and Seth to honor the Lord..    Luke 3:39 Which was [the son] of Enos, which was [the son] of Seth, which was [the son] of Adam, which was [the son] of God.

Mat 23:35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. (The guilt runs from “A” to “Z”). 

The stain of the sin of Adam runs completely through time.  Thankfully the shed blood of our Lord and Savior ran both directions from the cross of Calvary.

Jos 3:16 That the waters which came down from above stood [and] rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that [is] beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, [even] the salt sea, failed, [and] were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho.  (Adam to Zaretan – again, A to Z.) 

Zec 14:8 And it shall be in that day, [that] living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.       

Immediately in Adam’s progeny we begin to see the dual and dueling natures of the child of God.  Every one of us before the new birth is prone to and subject to the very worse in human nature, capable of even Cain’s actions.  After the new birth, our spiritual nature, our eternal life makes us capable of the type of offering Abel made.  As pointed out above, the new nature doesn’t replace the old, but it does begin to subdue it, contain it, and restrain it, while imparting unto us knowledge, wisdom, prayer, praise and worship, plus a sincere desire to fulfill the will of God and to strive towards Him daily.

 Addition, subtraction, conclusion.      

Much was taken from Adam when the fall occurred.  His life of fellowship, and daily companionship with God died.  We cannot say he died spiritually, for the scriptures don’t support such.  Adam was not a spiritual creature.  While he was made without sin, we note of all of God’s creation, man was not among that which the Lord declared as “good.”   How perfectly crafted and preserved is the Word of God!  You cannot find the word “Adam” and “good” in the same verse of scripture. Gen 1:25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good.

We know also that Adam had not partaken of the tree of life.  One who has been carried by the Holy Spirit through that tree has eternal life, spiritual life.  Had Adam been a spiritual creature, the tree of life would not have needed protection.  Before he fell, he was free to partake of the tree which would have granted him eternal life.  Now, we being dead in trespasses and in sins, are carried through that tree in the new birth – we have no life or strength in us to approach that tree on our own. 

Gen 3:22-24 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:   Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.  So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.  

And after spiritual life comes, we begin to see another tree before us – the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Evil we know continually, from our nature, from our practice; when life comes in the new birth, we understand evil, and begin to separate from it and understand good.  It is our partaking of that same tree of the knowledge of good and evil in this lifetime that prolongs our lives; in contrast to how it shortened and ended the lives of Adam and Eve.

Besides losing paradise, Adam gained death.  He died a physical death at 930 years.  “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 2Pe 3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day [is] with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

In the eyes of the Lord, Adam’s physical death also took place in the same day that he broke God’s solitary law.