Adam v. The Eschatological Adam

We are trekking through Genesis on Sunday mornings. I've read through Genesis a number of times and God has been gracious to me in revealing different and deeper realities to me from His Word each time through (some places more than others). Two Sundays ago we arrived at what seemed like the most tragic event in human history--The Fall. Man disobeys God's command and neglects responsibility, leading to the total depravity of Adam and Eve and all of their descendants. This is tragic, is it not? Think about it, man has gone from what is seemingly untroubled and uninterrupted bliss, in the garden, into the complete ruin in sin because of their actions and it's their fault:

And to Adam he said,

Because you listened to the voice of your wife

and have eaten of the tree

of which I commanded you,

You shall not eat of it,

cursed is the ground because of you;

in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life

Genesis 3:17

As I read this I thought to myself, "Wow. Aside from the Cross, this has to be the most tragic event in human history." Then I thought, "Where is Jesus in this text? How does this text reflect Christ and how does He shine through to make this text both tragic and wonderful, just like the Cross?" 

Answer: Jesus is everything that Adam was not. He accomplished, by His obedience, everything that Adam's disobedience ruined. Adam was next to his bride while she was being deceived by the serpent and did nothing. Jesus protects His bride, loves her her and never lets her go (John 10:28). Indeed, God fights for His children. Adam blame shifts when He is called out by God in the garden, blaming his sin and laziness on his bride (Gen 3:12). Jesus accepts the blame and punishment for the sins of His bride, owning them without complaint or a word of accusation (2 Cor 5:21). Adam runs from the presence of God so that he doesn't have to face the shame of his own sin in the presence of the God he's disobeyed (Gen 3:8). Jesus joyfully runs toward his cross, despising the shame that sin brings (Heb 12:2; Luke 9:51). Adam's sin brought "sight" and knowledge of good and evil to mankind but this sight is one that doesn't actually see, it's a "blind-sight" (Gen 3:7; Matt 13:3; Luke 8:10; 2 Cor 4:4). Jesus is a light to the blind and His finished work purchases a grace for believers that gives them spiritual eyes to truly see (John 9:25). Adam works to try and cover his own sin with leaves from a tree that God created (Gen 3:7). Jesus covers the sins of believers with His blood and His righteousness; sinners are forgiven in Him (Rom 3:25, 4:7, 5:9, Eph 1:7). As a result of the curse Adam is made to work the ground for fruit so that he can live. Consequently, this fruit and these plants will die, just like Adam (Gen 3:17-19). Jesus' finished work and the forgiveness that is found in Him brings forth lasting fruit by His Spirit, fruit that will never die and that leads to eternal life (Rom 6:22, 7:4-5; Phil 1:9-11). Jesus is the ultimate and perfect Adam.

I'm confident there are more contrasts you can draw from Genesis that shed light on Christ. Needless to say I am truly enjoying seeing Christ in Genesis and all the Scriptures.

"Biblical Optimism" and Strip Clubs

And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.

Acts 4:3-4

Last Tuesday night I had the unfortunate opportunity to sit in front of a new building with three of my closest friends, brothers and co-laborers; the building, when finished, would be the largest of it's kind on the entire east coast . . . It was a strip club, with it's construction nearly finished. Worst of all--it's in our neighborhood, roughly a mile from the church and when it's complete, our neighborhood will be sandwiched by two strip clubs. 

In the midst of our silent disgust, one of the men our caravan said, "This is going to ruin a lot of families . . ." My initial reaction was anger. I wanted to burn it down. I hate the array of sinful, wicked possibilities that an establishment like this presents--hate them. My feelings moved from anger to sorrow and a lump crept up in my throat, "God. Sin is killing people. It's killing them. This is going to kill people God." (Rom 6:23) I was grieved. All of those feelings happened in about a minute or two. Then, another thought came to mind; it was a verse. It was several verses actually, one of them being the verse I quoted from Acts 4. Have you ever had several verses from Scripture flash before your mind all at the same time; kind of like clicking through slides super-fast so that you only get a glimpse of each, then those glimpses produce a single thought? It was like that. The thought that this "slide show" brought forth was an optimistic one--The Spirit of God, particularly the Gospel, tends to thrive in situations like this, doesn't it? Satan means things for bad, for ruin and for misery and God uses them for good. 

Isn't this the constant picture in Scripture and even today in places like China and Africa? As I've done my best to keep up with and pray for the growth of the church in China and Africa (and other places as well) it seems that the general report is that people are doing anything and everything to stop it (the Gospel and the growth of the Church) and the more they kill and arrest, and maim, the more the Church grows stronger, and bigger, and bolder, and fervent! 

So, I sat in the mini-van thinking, "Why can't that be the case here? Aren't these the kinds of things, with fervent and laboring prayer and Gospel proclamation, that precede revival?" 

Picture it: men and women, coming to Jesus as a result of the biggest strip club in the east coast dropping down on the edge of Northeast Philadelphia. People saying, "That place was destroying my marriage, my sexuality, my family, my health, but praise God! I once was blind and now I see! I hate my sin and I love God and His righteousness and His grace that was bought for me with the blood of His Son Jesus!" Isn't that the way the Gospel works? Doesn't thrive and flourish in the face of what seems like real opposition? The truth is, nothing stops the Gospel because it is indeed, the power of God (Rom 1:16,17).

I have been made a minister of the Gospel. In the jar of clay that is my body, I carry the greatest treasure in the entire world. A treasure that outshines money, success, fame, family, vane glory and good looks and every strip club and porn shop on the face of the planet. 

God, please give me the courage and love to be a light, with the rest of your saints, shining in the darkness of this wicked city. Give us a sense of urgency and obligation as ones who carry the Truth in our hearts and minds. Help us to see, increasingly that our lives are not our own and that we're free to give and give away because we will (and do) own everything when everything is made new. We've been born again, for the purpose of making you look beautiful in a world where people think wicked things are beautiful. Give us grace Father, so that we can make you look beautiful with our lives and proclaim your Gospel with our mouths so that people who think that strip clubs are beautiful will be given eyes to see that You are the most glorious, most infinitely precious treasure in all the world. For from you, through you and to you are all things. To you be glory forever. 

Amen

Salutary Sunday Quotes

Off to worship, listen, commune, pray, encourage and be encouraged by the Kingdom. While I'm there, I'll be on the hunt for evidence of God's grace in the lives of His kids.

"It is an evidence that we are partakers of God's grace, if we can look upon the lives of others much better than ours, and love and esteem them glorious. A man may see grace in others with a malignant eye, for natural men are so vainglorious that when they see the lives of other men outshine theirs, instead of imitation, they darken them; that grace they will not imitate, they will defame; therefore when persons can see grace in others and honor it in them, it is a sign they have grace themselves. Men can endure good in books and to hear good of men that are dead, but they cannot endure good in the lives of others to be in their eyes, especially when they come to compare themselves with them, they love not to be out-shined."

Richard Sibbes

Salutary Sunday Quotes

Two nights ago I had the privilege of preaching on Grace at church in our network--a church filled with many beloved and close friends who genuinely love Jesus, which made the privilege an even greater honor. My message came out more like a proclamatory conversation over Titus 2:11, 3; Eph 2 and Acts 11:22-24. Nonetheless, I've been thinking about grace. Here's something to stoke the embers of the heart towards the God of Grace.

"Grace" is more than mercy and love, it superadds to them. it denotes, not simply love, but the love of a sovereign, transcendly superior, one that may do what he will, that may wholly choose whether he will love or no. There may be love between equals, and an inferior may love a superior; but love in a superior, and so superior as he may do what he will, in such a one love is called grace: and therefore grace is attributed to princes; they are said to be gracious to their subjects, whereas subjects cannot be gracious to princes. Now God, who is an infinite Sovereign, who might have chosen whether ever He would love us or no, for Him to love us, this is grace.

—Thomas Goodwin