Today we have another new writer to introduce. Terry Brown lives in Minnesota (which, climate-wise, is as far from Florida as you can be) and writes at Pondering His Holy Word and there you’ll find a few different pages with information about him.
We’ve said before that the message of Christianity is so simple a child can understand it, but so wonderfully intricate that we can never stop writing about it. This article contains a basic gospel message, but is written in a way to get you thinking. Click the title to read it where it first appeared.
The First Adam and the Last Adam
1 Romans 5:16-17
And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:45-49
Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”;the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
In Genesis 3, we learn of the fall of man as the first man who was created in God’s image disobeyed God by eating of the tree of good and evil. God told Adam that he could eat of every tree in the garden, but he can not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the day he eats of it, he shall die (Genesis 2:16-17). Eve was deceived by the serpent and ate of the tree and offered Adam some of the fruit, and he ate of it. Yet they didn’t immediately die physically, but it was at that moment that they faced spiritual death. When they heard God walking in the cool of the day, they ran and hid themselves (Genesis 3:1-8). Ever since then, we, as humans, have been hiding from God’s presence and we were all cursed to all the way of the earth in death. However, God didn’t completely curse us to be without him. He promised that He would send the offspring of the woman to crush the head of the serpent. The Lord promised us a redeemer. Yet Adam and Eve died without seeing offspring who would crush the serpent’s head.
Yet, humanity expanded and multiplied as God commanded, but they did so much evil in his sight that he regretted ever creating man because man’s heart was continuously set on doing evil. As a judgment, God would blot out an entire generation by way of the flood. “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” (Genesis 6:1-8).
Because Noah was a righteous man, God preserved him and his family (his three sons and their wives). During the time that Noah built the ark, he preached righteousness to the people of the earth, but they did not listen. (2 Peter 2:5). This is evident in the fact that none of the people except Noah and his family were saved. After the flood, God promised that He would never flood the earth because of man again (Genesis 8:21). However, in this same statement, God said that the intention of man’s heart is set on evil from his youth. There has rebellion in man’s heart since the fall. Again, the man rebelled against God when they attempted to build a tower to heaven to make a name for themselves. As a judgment, God confused their languages and man scattered to the different parts of the world (v1-9).
Though the nations went their own ways, God didn’t forsake us but sought to bless the world through man. He set apart Abraham son of Terah to make a great nation. Even though Abraham was nearly 100 years old and Sarah could not have kids, Abraham believed that God would keep His promise. “Abram believed the LORD, and He credited it to him as righteousness.” Yet, Abraham died without being a great nation.
It wasn’t until Moses delivered the people out of Egypt and Joshua would lead them into the land of Canaan. It was during the conquest that the prostitute Rahab helped the two spies escape from Jericho. She knew that it was the purpose of God to turn the land over to Israel as a judgment to Canaan. As a result, she made a covenant with the two spies for her life. Then, she married Salmon and had a child named Boaz. Then, Boaz married Ruth and fathered Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of David, the King of Judah. (Matthew 1:5-6 and Ruth 4:18-21).
David’s faithfulness to God never wavered. He put all of his faith in God so that God made him prosper wherever he went. Even when the Prophet Nathan confronted David for committing adultery with Uriah’s wife Bathsheba, getting her pregnant, and getting Uriah killed to cover it up, David humbled himself and confessed his sins to God. Later, David wanted to make a house for God, but God said that He would make a house for David. He promised that the Messiah would come from David’s line and He would “Establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” and he said, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.” (2 Samuel 7). Yet even then, David died and did not see the Messiah that would come to reign forever.
About a 1,000 years later, Joseph, a righteous man, obeyed the angel of God when he married Mary who was with child from the Holy Spirit and Joseph took Jesus as his son and raised him.
Jesus, a descendant of David by the flesh and the Son of God, by the Spirit lived a holy and blameless life (Hebrew 4:15). He kept the law in spirit and truth. Jesus, the second person of Trinity, emptied Himself of His glory and took the likeness of man and was tempted in every way as man, but He never sinned. He served the man and led him to the living water. He was obedient to the Father even unto death (Philippians 2:6-8). Even when the people, who he came to save, hated Him, He, at the right time, died for them so that those who believe in him would have an everlasting life (Romans 5:6-8). At the cross, Jesus crushed the head of the serpent. Even in life, He saw Satan fall from the sky like lightning (Luke 10:18).
In our natural life, we are born under the headship of the first Adam. As a result, our first instinct is to flee from God when we hear of Him like our ancestor, Adam. In our natural life, we are not able to seek God; Our natural inclination is directed away from seeking God. Consequently, we cannot obtain righteousness by our own works because our own work’s purpose is to make a name for ourselves like the people of Babylon. In our physical birth, we are the sons of Adam. Without God’s intervention, we are headed straight to the judgment seat to face the righteous wrath of God.
Yet because God loved us, He intervened. He sent the Last Adam who was blameless and Holy before God. God, Himself, emptied Himself to become a man (Phil 2:6-8). Jesus, 100% God and 100% man paid, two natures in one person, became the Last Adam. The first Adam led to the death of man, but the Last Adam opened the door not only to life but to life abundantly. God loved us so much that He sought us. On our own, we can’t seek God, but He revealed Himself to us so that those who believe in the Person and works of Jesus will be credited as righteous like our spiritual father Abraham and justified before God (Romans 4).
When God looks at a believer, He sees the righteousness of Jesus Christ because Jesus received the wrath of God and God’s wrath exhausted so there is no condemnation for those who believe (Romans 8:1). Through Jesus, we receive the free gift of being in right standing before God because of His grace. It was His unmerited favor that gave us abundant life. Our Lord, who became a life giving Spirit, gave the Spirit as a down payment to those who believe (Ephesians 1:14). This is the reason that God’s power is manifested in us so that we can point people to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Christianity 201 
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