FROM ADAM TO THE LAST ADAM

• “For as IN Adam all die, so also IN Christ ALL will be made alive.” 1 Corinthians 15:22.
• “For just as within Adam all keep on (everyone continues) dying, in the same way, also, within the Christ all (everyone) will be made alive” Jonathan Mitchell NT

“FOR AS IN ADAM ALL DIE”:

There is a Greek word - apoptosis - that means “programmed cell death”: Simply said, from the beginning our physical bodies are in a state of dying. Our bodies are constantly shedding cells that no longer are living. This is in accord with what the LORD God said to Adam. “but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die." Genesis 2:17 [NASU]. This literally means “dying you will die.” The immediate effect was spiritual death in relation to our Father, and mankind was left to live after the flesh - the soul and the physical. While we have a human spirit living in a body, our outer expression is of the soul, unless our spirit is quickened in union with the Holy Spirit.

“IN CHRIST ALL WILL BE MADE ALIVE”:

There is a glorious hope to be found in Romans 6:5. “For if we have become united with Him IN the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be IN the likeness of His resurrection,” [NASU]. The NEB has it this way, “For if we have become incorporate with him IN a death like his, we shall also be one with him IN a resurrection like his.” Simply said, when He died, we died! When God raised Him from the dead, we also rose from the dead. Who died in Christ? Just the Christians, or was it every person who has ever lived and will yet live. Now I regret to inform you that the word “everyone” includes a whole lot of unsavoury characters. In case you didn’t realize it, we too in God’s eyes were wicked sinners, outside of Christ.

In Paul’s letter to the Romans, in Chapter Five, he made it clear that since Adam’s transgression brought condemnation to all, making all sinners by nature, the obedience of Jesus Christ brought righteousness to “the many,” that is ALL - everyone.

When Paul wrote his letters (epistles) to the various churches, he presented powerful revelation truth for them, us believers, and many more. Now, since ALL were included in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, then when Ephesians 2:5 says, “even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) [NASU], the question is, “Is this exclusive or inclusive?”

How about Verse Six where it reads, “and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” The problem is that not only do a multitude of believers personally not accept this fact and slither about in their Christian walk as but a worm, a greater multitude see it only as applying to those who are under the ‘Christian’ label. To rephrase it, we believe in a partial, not inclusive, death, resurrection, ascension, and glorification of Jesus Christ to the right hand of our Father.

Now if you understood what I just wrote, it may seem radical to you. In God, it is DONE, or completely FINISHED, because in these matters, He sees us IN CHRIST. When my wife Dale was asked by a child as to why they had a belly button (navel), she said, “When God finished making you, he would touch you in the stomach and say, ‘You’re done!’ That is how you got your belly button.” We need to be clear that, this is not based upon our decision to receive Christ as our own personal Savior, it was so even when we were still spiritually at war - enemies.

We look on the natural appearances, and judge accordingly. Our perception may be right from our natural reasoning - What evidence is there that so and so is a Christian, or for that matter of the salvation of all? What evidence is there of life in a seed? It looks rather dead, does it not? Yet, within, and in the due time, life can spring forth. As 1 Corinthians 15:23 says, “each in his own order.” The timing of our Father’s purpose for mankind is not in our hands, but his. Thank God for that!

Not only was the Cross earth shattering, so were the Resurrection, the Ascension, and the Glorification of Christ shattering! The old order was destroyed! Both sin and the sinners were successfully dealt with. How do we know? When Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost, he made reference to the patriarch King David as being a prophet and that, David “looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay.”This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. "Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. Acts 2:31-34 [NASU] The proof of success, the mission being accomplished was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Something unique also happened at that time. No longer was God limited to living in the body of just one man. The special entity known as the Body of Christ came into being. It is proof that God is alive in this world as Christ, in effect, transferred his God-life to us by our being included IN him.

Dr Paul Brand & Philip Yancey in their book, “Fearfully and Wonderfully made,” said this; “Note that Paul, a master of simile and metaphor, did not say the people of God are ‘like the body of Christ.’ In every place he said we are the body of Christ. The Spirit has come and dwelt among us, and the world knows an invisible God mainly by our representation, our ‘enfleshment,’ of Him.” Did you get that? The world knows an invisible God because he is manifest in the flesh - our enfleshment of him - the body of Jesus Christ.

This reminds us of the phrase in Hebrews 10:5 - “a body you have prepared for me.” It is true that this reference is about Jesus, however, this preparation also involves the Body of Jesus Christ, for as he was prepared, so were we. To put it simply, either we are IN Christ or we are not. If we believe the Scripture, we are IN Christ and members of his glorious body, and it is all his doing.

The inclusiveness of our Father’s ways can confuse our religious thinking. Such a verse as Romans 11:32 is an example. ”For in making all mankind prisoners to disobedience, God’ purpose was to show mercy to all mankind.’ [NEB] With this revelation it is no wonder that Paul burst out with, “O depth of wealth, wisdom, and knowledge in God!” - - - “Source, Guide, and Goal of all that is - to him be glory for ever! Amen.” (Verse 36).

It seems clear that not only, did God in his wisdom, allow, permit, choose, designate (take your choice) mankind to be “deprived of the divine splendour” [NEB], and thus cause all to become a prisoner of disobedience, but that he also planned for the ultimate reconciliation of all mankind. This reconciliation was through the “blood of the cross.” This processing was necessary in producing Emmanuel - God with us - in a many membered body which will set creation free into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Consider what Paul had to say about this in Romans 8:18-22:

Why, what we now suffer I count as nothing in comparison with the glory which is soon to be manifested in us. For all creation, gazing eagerly as if with outstretched neck, is waiting and longing to see the manifestation of the sons of God. For the Creation fell into subjection to failure and unreality (not of its own choice, but by the will of Him who so subjected it). Yet there was always the hope that at last the Creation itself would also be set free from the thraldom of decay so as to enjoy the liberty that will attend the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole of Creation is groaning together in the pains of childbirth until this hour. Weymouth NT.

The phrase, “the whole of creation is groaning,” reminds us that today we are very much aware today of what is going on in our world with the kind of instant communications we have. Regrettably much of what we hear is negative. Not just about wars and other forms of terror, but the fear being raised about the warming climate of the earth, the projected change, and that man alone seems to be deemed responsible, both for it and to stop it. In the early 1960's I recall reading about the earth cooling. Only God knows the truth about the current ideas, but it is factual that the earth has warmed up over thousands of years.

There is indeed change happening in the realm of the Spirit, and we will see it happen in the natural realm in accordance with our Father’s purposes, as it will create change to all creation.