The Lamb was Dead
from the First Adam
until the Last Adam
By Jonathan Mitchell
"'The Life of (or: pertaining to) the little Lamb' - the One having been slaughtered from a casting-down of [the; an] ordered arrangement (or: on account of [the] establishing of [the] world of culture, religion, government and economics; or: from [the] world's founding; or: from a disrupting, down-casting of [the] aggregate of humanity)" (Rev. 13:8b).
During the time and lives of Adam, Eve, Cain and Able (Gen. 4), the Sin (cf Rom. 5:12) was present within them (Rom. 7:5-11). After Cain and Able brought their approach presents to Yahweh, and Yahweh did not give heed to Cain's present (Gen. 4:5 - CVOT), Cain grew emotionally hot, and his face (or: countenance) fell. Yahweh then asked him why he had this response. Yahweh goes on to remind him:
"If you had done what is well, would you not lift up your face? But since you have not done well, [there is] a sin offering [Heb. chat'a] - [a flockling] reclining at the portal, and for you [is] restoration [in] his [sacrifice] (or: its urge and impulse is toward you), and you are ruling over him [cf Gen. 1:26]" (Gen. 4:7, CVOT; additional brackets, mine).
Rotherham's, The Emphasized Bible, renders Gen. 4:7,
"... at the entrance, a sin-bearer is lying - unto you, moreover, shall be his longing..."
Young's Literal Translation reads:
"at the opening a sin-offering is crouching, and unto you its desire..."
Here, the story presents us with a picture of the little Lamb, lying at the entrance of the Garden with the cherubim guarding the entrance (and recall the cherubim motif on the walls and in the inner entrance to the Holy of holies). Recall that the altar of sacrifice was positioned in front of the entrance to the holy place of the tabernacle. We suggest that this word about the sin offering is a metaphor that relates to the same metaphor in our opening verse, Rev. 13:8b. The little Lamb would become a sin offering only by being slaughtered, for that purpose. Christ's offering goes all the way back to the Genesis story.
But what does that Genesis story tell us about what died? It was what Paul called "the first Adam" (1 Cor. 15:45), the one with the "natural body" (1 Cor. 15:44) - the one that is "of the earth, earthy" (vs. 48).
In Rom. 5:12, Paul instructs us that:
"Because of, and through, this (or: Therefore; That is why), just as through one man (or: So it is that, even as through the act or agency of one person,) The Sin (or: the miss of the target; "the derangement of our nature") entered into the aggregate of humanity (ordered system of religion, culture, society and government; or: world; cosmos), and through The Sin (failure; the mistake; the miss of the target; the deviation), The Death [also entered]. In this way, The Death thus also passed through in all directions (or: came through the midst causing division and duality; pervaded; permeated throughout) into all mankind (or: into the midst of all humanity; or: to all people), upon which [situation and condition, the result is that] all people sin (or: whereupon, everyone failed and fell short of the goal, and thus all make mistakes, deviate from the path, and become sinners)." [cf Rom. 8:6; Gen. 2:17; 3:1ff]
The first human, Adam (corporate) was "dead in trespasses and sin" (Eph. 2:1) until the Last Adam (the heavenly one) was resurrected from the grave, and we with Him (cf Rom. 6:2-14). Paul makes another astounding proclamation in 2 Cor. 5:14,
"for you see, Christ's Love (the urge of the Anointed One, toward accepting reunion, and the full giving of Himself to [all]; this Love, which is Christ,) continuously holds us together. Upon deciding (discerning and concluding; judging) this: that [some MSS add: since] One Person (or: Man) died over [the situation of] all people (or: for the sake of all humans), consequently, all people died (or: accordingly, then, all humans died)." [cf Rom. 5:12, reversed]
It is not hard to see, from the joining of Rom. 5:12 with 2 Cor. 5:14, that humanity is inherently joined and united together with Christ. All people died in both Adams, but then, in 1 Cor. 15,
22. Thus, just as within Adam all humans keep on (or: everyone continues) dying, in the same way, also, within the Christ, all humans will keep on being made alive (or: everyone, or all, will one-after-another be created and produced with Life, in union with the Anointed One) [cf Rom. 5:18; Rev. 21:5]
23. - yet each person within the result of his or her own set division, or position [in line] (or: effect of ordered placement; appointed class; proper rank; arranged time, or order, in the procession [cf 2 Cor. 2:14]; or: = place in a harvest calendar, the season of maturity): Christ a Firstfruit (First one reaped); or: after that, those belonging to the Christ (or: those from the Anointing; those who are [body members; cf 12:27-28, above] of the Christ) within the midst of, in union with, and in the sphere of, His presence, [cf Rom. 16:22b; Phil. 3:16]
This leads us to consider the risen Christ's words in Rev. 22:13,
"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning (Origin; Source; Headship) and the End (Goal; Finished Product; Purposed Destiny)."
And then there is the enigmatic statement by the risen Christ in Rev. 3:14,
"'The Amen (The It-is-so; [cf 2 Cor. 1:20]), the Faithful (or: Trustworthy, Reliable) and True Witness, the Beginning of God's Creation (or: the Prime Source of God's creation; the First Principle, Place, or Chief, of God's Framing; the Origin of God's act of building and founding; the Starting Point from God's act of reducing from a state of wildness or disorder) is presently saying these things, [cf Isa. 55:4; Jn. 1:1; Col. 1:15; 1 Jn. 5:20]
Christ was the Beginning, as well as the Goal, of God's creation, and is the Redeemer of this creation, right from the start. The whole creation has Christ, the Anointed (which is the Spirit of God resting upon the human being which God formed), as the thematic thread of the story from Genesis to Revelation. It is all about God and mankind.
When God breathed Himself (for God is this Breath) into Adam, Adam became the Holy of holies (God's inner sanctuary) within the Garden of Eden (a proto-temple). Jesus taught us, in Jn. 15, that:
12. "This is My implanted goal (impartation of the finished product within; inward directive; interior purpose and destiny): that you keep on loving, urging toward union, and accepting one another - correspondingly as (to the same degree as; in the same sphere as) I love and accept you folks.
13. "No one continues holding (or: having) greater Love (full self-giving; urge toward reunion) than this: that someone should place (set; lay; put) his soul (or: inner being; self; person; consciousness which is him) over [the situation or circumstances of; = cover] (or: on behalf of) his friends.
14. "You folks are (exist continuously being) My friends...
Jesus said this to those who would become the first members of His body, also functioning in the metaphor of a wife (recall that Israel functioned as the wife of Yahweh), and thus Paul explains to us, in Eph. 5:
25. Men: continue giving yourselves for, and accepting, the women (or: O husbands, be constantly loving, and urging to unity with, [your] wives), accordingly and correspondingly as the Christ also loved (or: to the degree that, and commensurately as, the Anointed One loves, gives Himself to, and unambiguously accepts) the called-out community, and gave Himself up (or: commits and transfers Himself over) in behalf of (for the sake of; over [the situation of]) her....
32. This secret (or: mystery) is great (= important), but I am speaking unto, and into (or: laying it out with a view to) Christ, even (or: and; as well as) unto (or: into; with a view to) the called-out community (or: the called-out person; or: the summoned-forth covenant assembly).
In connecting the verses in Jn. 15 with these of Eph. 5, it is our view that this is what the first Adam did for his wife, Eve. Remember, Yahweh's instruction was,
"Therefore, a man shall forsake his father and his mother; he will CLING to his wife, and both of them will become one flesh" (Gen. 2:24).
Now we add to this the teaching found in 1 Tim. 2:13-14,
"For you see, Adam was molded and formed first, thereafter (or: next), Eve. Also, Adam was not seduced and deceived, but the woman being completely cheated out by seduction (or: thoroughly deluded; [cf Rom. 7:11]) had come to be, and continued existing, within the sphere of deviation, from a false step (centered in transgression; in union with the stepping aside; [cf Rom. 5:12])."
Since Adam was not deceived, it means that he knowingly - and we suggest purposely - partook of the tree which brought death to him. He entered into the realm of death where his wife was now residing. He became a lamb, slain for her. We see this echoed in the incarnation of the Last Adam (who later became a Life-giving Spirit - 1 Cor. 15:45) as we are instructed in Phil. 2:
6. Who, starting and continuing as inherently existing (or: beginning under; subsisting) in union with God's form, and centered in an outward expression denoting the inner reality, ability, and coordination of action, which is Deity (or: in an outward mold, from God), He does not consider this [situation] - [i.e.], to be equals in, and by, God - a plunder (or: a pillaging; a robbery; a snatching; or: a thing or situation seized and held), (or: Who, [although] constantly humbly and supportively ruling in union with an external shape and an outward appearance from God, did not give consideration to a seizure: the [situation] to continuously exist being the same things with God, even on the same levels in God, or equal [things; aspects] to God,) [cf Mat. 17:2]
7. but to the contrary, He empties Himself (or: removed the contents of Himself; made Himself empty; or: impoverished Himself; divested Himself) upon receiving (or: in taking; then accepting) a slave's form (external shape; outward mold) in coming to be (or: by birthing Himself) in union with an effect of humanity's likeness (or: centered in a result of a likeness from people; within the sphere of an effect of being made like [one] belonging to people; in the midst of a result of people's likeness). [cf Mat. 20:28; Heb. 10:5b]
8. And so, being found in an outward fashion, guise, mode of circumstance, condition, form-appearance (or: character, role, phase, configuration, manner) as a human (a person; a man), He lowers Himself (or: humbled Himself; made Himself low; degrades Himself; levels Himself off), coming to be (or: birthing Himself) a submissive, obedient One (one who gives the ear and listens) as far as (or: to the point of; until) death - but death of a cross (from a torture stake)! [cf Jn. 13:1-17; Heb. 10:9]
When the first Adam made the choice to join his wife in partaking of the tree that would bring him into the death realm, he was still Yahweh's anointed one, the ruler of all creation (Gen. 1:26). We suggest that he had the same mind and way of thinking that the Last Adam had when He chose to do what Phil. 2, above, tells us. Our conclusion is that the first Adam was the first lamb that was slain on behalf of another. He was the lamb lying at the portal to the Garden, in Gen. 4:7 embodying the Spirit of self-sacrifice, which was available for Cain. The tree in the Garden killed Adam, just as the tree of the cross killed Jesus. The Spirit of self-sacrifice for the sake of another brought death to the first Adam, and this first lamb remained dead (throughout the story of mankind) until this Adam (humanity) was raised to Life in the Last Adam.
For your consideration.
Jonathan
PS: John Gavazzoni comments: "My thoughts are expressed in a Gospel song's lyrics, "Oh, the wonder of it all," and with E. Stanley Jones' seminal insight: "The historical cross of Christ highlights the cross in the heart of God." His crucifixion at one point in history was a consummation of a historical (eonian) process begun way back there when the first Adam gave Himself over His Bride in self-emptying love and care, followed by the little Lamb as God's Way with, and for, Cain in his sin."
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