| What I Can Learn From . . . , Part 2: Adam |
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| Written by David Lawrence |
| Monday, September 19 2005 00:00 |
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A good place to begin a study of examples from Scripture would be with the first man, Adam. His name means man in Hebrew, for he stands as our representative. His decisions affect all mankind, all in Adam (See 1 Cor. 15:21, 45-47, Rom. 5:12-19). Of course, none of us occupies the position of representation in the sense that Adam or Christ did; however, parents, in particular fathers, do represent their household. Thus as Adam’s failure to obey God had consequences for all whom he represents, all mankind, so our failure to obey God will have consequences for all we represent in our family, or even, if we are in charge of a business, our employees. All of us know of instances where the head of a family or the head of a company made a bad decision that had disastrous consequences for those under him/her. It is something to think about. However, also we need to remember that if Adam, who had no sinful nature, who had a “blank slate,” as it were, still messed up, how can we, who come into this world with a fallen nature, ever hope to do otherwise? No wonder Scripture can say that all have sinned and there is no one who does good, no not one! If Adam needed grace through the death of a substitute (in his case, an animal), we certainly need the grace that comes through the death of God’s Son to avoid the unmitigated wrath of God! A final point we can learn from Adam is really about God who was not content to allow the failure of his proto-man to frustrate the glory of His creation. He began immediately to bring about and to prophecy of the coming of the Christ, His Son, the second Adam, to restore in Him what was lost in Adam and elevate mankind to a level far above what he was even in the Garden of Eden, to the very right hand of God in glory, in Christ! |
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