Adam - A Type of Christ
I. The Bible - Picture book with descriptive portraits on almost every page.
A. Two Types of pictures.
1. Visual - Those drawn by pen, pencil, or brush, or taken by photography.
2.Mental - Images drawn on the canvas of the mind - word pictures either seen or heard.
B. Contains the outline of the central person of the book.
1. It has been said: "Son , you have never found the true interpretation of any passage until you have found in it somewhere a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ."
2. Jesus made this claim when people questioned His authority
John 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
Continuing on in John 5:
5:45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is [one] that accuseth you, [even] Moses, in whom ye trust.
5:46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.
3. Jesus once more asserted this after the resurrection. On the road to Emmaus He said:
24:25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:....
24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
II. The word pictures of Christ are etched upon every page of Scripture - Only need spiritual perception to recognize the outline.
A. The first mention of Jesus - very first verse:
1. Gen 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.
2. We would never recognize the outline if we read no further.
But in the Gospel of John...
1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 1:2 The same was in the beginning with God.
1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
That great Creator was Jesus Christ - reading on we find this
concept without a shadow of doubt:
1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
B. Jesus is the Creator and the Word of God. No less than 10 times in Genesis do we read "and God said" - It was by the Word of God that all was created.
1. Paul says of Jesus in Colossians:
1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
2. David says in Psalms
33:6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.
3. Without the rest of the Bible we would not be able to identify Jesus in Genesis - they illuminate the faint outline so there is no doubt.
III. Second word picture
A. John says:
1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
B. And Jesus Himself declares, at the healing of the blind man:
John 9:5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the
world.
C. Again Jesus declares:
John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
D. And again Jesus declares:
John 12:46 I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.
IV. The second day of creation, God separated the warters of the earth from those of the heavens
A. Jesus, the Light of the World, is the great Separator between things of the earth and heaven. The presence of of light attracts and awakes some, but repels others. (Ex. Birds wake in the morning with a song, but bats and other blood thirsty animals seek cover under darkness.) In the separation of the waters, we see a picture of the work of Christ.
John says:
3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
3:20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
3:21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
V. Creation of woman - Adam is a picture of Christ. This will be expounded on later. Christ is called the "Second Man" (I Corinthians 15:47), and "Last Adam" (I Corinthians 15:45)
A. A superlatively beautiful picture
2:21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
B. Adam slept - God created from his wounded side a wife - part of himself - He paid for her by the shedding of blood. When Adam woke up he said:
2:23 And Adam said, This [is] now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
C. A dim picture - Let Paul shed some light. Speaking of the union of believers in Christ he says in the book of Ephesians:
5:31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
5:32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
D. Now all is clear - Adam is a picture of Christ, who left His Father's house to gain His bride, at the price of His own life. Jesus, the Last Adam, like the first, must be put to sleep to purchase His bride, the church, and Jesus died on the cross and slept for three days in the tomb. His side too, was opened after He had fallen asleep, and from that wounded side redemption flowed.
E. The church - His body also purchased. The church, like Eve, was a new creation, not by a natural birth, but by a supernatural operation by God.
F. Conclusion: This is the picture of our great Redeemer, as seen on page one of God's picture album. Jesus died on the cross, His side was opened, and by the Holy Spirit today a bride is being prepared, and when the last member has been added, He will bring her unto the man Jesus.
Paul said in the book of Ephesians:
5:25 ... even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
5:27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.