The Foreshadowing of God’s Promises To Us That Were Fulfilled in Christ # 2

Today we will learn about Adam who was the first ‘type’ of Christ in the Old Testament

Romans 5: 14b ‘Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come’.

When you read the Book of Genesis Adam narrative you can’t help thinking “what a disaster!” And yes, it was a disaster – when Adam sinned against God it brought condemnation upon Adam and all of God’s creation

Genesis 3: 6-7, 16-19

The Apostle Paul said, Romans 5: 12 ‘When Adam sinned, *sin entered the world. Adam’s *sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned’.

Yes, Adam’s sin against God was a disaster, but it was not a complete disaster – imprinted in Adam, God was foreshadowing the promise of our salvation through the ‘last Adam’, that is, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior

C.F 2 Corinthians 1: 20a ‘For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ.’

1 Corinthians 15: 45 ‘The first man was named Adam...Jesus...may be called the last Adam’ CEV

As we consider the comparisons between Adam the first ‘type’ of Christ (in the Word of God) it’s important to remember that in some ways Adam was unlike Christ and in some ways, he was like Christ – but in both Adam’s likeness and unlikeness to Christ he still foreshadowed the promise of our salvation through the ‘last Adam’, that is Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior - this principle of likeness and unlikeness applies to all the ‘types’ of Christ that we will be looking at over this Message Series

Now let’s consider some of the comparisons between Adam the ‘type’ and Jesus Christ the realization of the ‘type’ Who is also known as the ‘Antitype’

The Apostle Paul said,

Romans 5: 15 ‘But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of forgiveness to many through this other man (mine: the last Adam), Jesus Christ’.

Yes, Adam’s sin led to eventual death, condemnation and separation from God for all Mankind but through Jesus Christ we are made right with God and live in triumph over sin and death

Romans 5: 16-18

Romans 5: 19 ‘Because one person disobeyed God (Adam), many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God (Jesus Christ), many will be made righteous’

The Apostle Paul continued his explanation of Adam as a Christ ‘type’ by saying that Adam was a created man, a natural man made of dust whereas Jesus Christ is the Creator of Mankind who came later in the form of a human man

1 Corinthians 15: 45-47 ‘The Scriptures tell us, “The first man, Adam, became a living person.” But the last Adam—that is, Christ—is a life-giving Spirit. What comes first is the natural body, then the spiritual body comes later. Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man (‘the last Adam’), came from heaven’.

In our sinful condition we are earthly people just like Adam the earthly man, but God’s promise to us in Christ is that when we are saved, we become heavenly people just like Jesus Christ the heavenly man

1 Corinthians 15: 48-49 ‘Earthly people are like the earthly man (Adam), and heavenly people are like the heavenly man. Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like the heavenly man (Jesus Christ)’.

The Apostle Paul continued by saying that although we are descendants of Adam and damaged by sin, there is a day coming when our earthly bodies will be left behind and as heavenly people, we will inherit the Kingdom of God

1 Corinthians 15: 50 ‘What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever’

C.F 1 Corinthians 15: 51-57

There is so much more that we could say about the foreshadowing in Adam of God’s promise of salvation to us through Jesus Christ

Here are a few more references for you:

Adam was called ‘the son of God’ because Adam had no human father Luke 3: 38

Jesus Christ is the eternal ‘Son of God’ because Jesus had no human father Luke 1: 35

Adam joined his bride Eve in rebellion against God Genesis 3: 6

Jesus Christ saved His bride the Church by obeying God Revelation 19: 7

It required the shed blood of an animal to cover the sin of Adam Genesis 3: 21

It required shedding of Jesus Christ blood on the cross to take away our sin Matthew 27: 27-35

Adam rebelled against God’s will in the Garden of Eden Genesis 3: 8

Jesus Christ submitted to God’s will in the Garden of Gethsemane Matthew 26: 39

Adam sinned at a tree Genesis 3: 3, 6

Jesus Christ took away our sin by dying on a tree (the cross) Galatians 3: 13 ‘having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”)’ ESV

Graphic: Tree in Eden/Christ on the cross

Adam was the Head of the Old Creation Genesis 3: 20

Jesus Christ is the Head of the New Creation Romans 5: 12-24

Adam was created by God out of the Earth and eventually died and returned to the Earth

Genesis 2: 7; Genesis 3: 19; Genesis 5: 5

Jesus Christ is the Creator who came from Heaven, He died on the cross and went into the Earth but 3 days later rose from the Earth and returned to Heaven

John 3: 13; 1 Corinthians 15: 4; Luke 24: 51

Apart from Adam there is another character in the Genesis narrative who deserves a mention and that is of course the serpent who deceived Adam

For deceiving Adam, God condemned the serpent and said to him, Genesis 3: 14-15 ‘“Because you have done this, you are cursed...and I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike His heel.”

And of course, it was on the cross that Jesus crushed the head of the devil and broke the devil’s power over us

Hebrews 2: 14b ‘only by dying could He (that is, Jesus) break the power of the devil, who had the power of death’.

Here in these few references, we find ample proof that imprinted in Adam the Christ ‘type’ God was foreshadowing His promise of salvation to us that was fulfilled in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior

Let me encourage you to not only believe the promise of salvation in Christ but to receive it by faith

Hebrews 6: 12 ‘follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance’.