The Last Adam

1Corinthians 15: 21-22, ESV.

For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 

This week we’ll be looking through five different biblical 'lenses' at our salvation through Jesus. Although each 'lens' will offer a different view of what Jesus has done, each one will point to the exact same reality: that Jesus saved us. Our aim and our prayer will be to understand more fully our salvation through Jesus, and so to be grateful and more eager to praise him. 

First up, let’s get fundamental:

‘Why do we need saving?’ Because of sin. ‘Why?’ Because sin leads to death. ‘Can’t we just dodge sin by ourselves?’ No… it’s not a collection of actions, it’s a condition – and every human is born with it. ‘How come!?’ …

Well… the way God’s Word describes things, at the very beginning of humanity, Eve and Adam were deceived and tempted into disobeying God by the enemy. In this act, sin entered the world. The goodness of God’s creation was tainted and it needed redeeming. 

Adam and Eve’s story is not unique or outdated: its pattern maps onto all of our lives! You and I are loved and desired by God, deceived and tempted by the enemy, and ultimately plagued by sin. In a very real way, we are all Adams and Eves. 

Thank God that the cycle has been broken! When Paul wrote Romans 5: 12-21, which can be subtitled ‘Death in Adam, Life in Christ’, he framed salvation in a profound way. More than just forgiving us, God’s actions through Jesus offered healing to the chronic, hereditary condition of our humanity. To do so, he became one of us. Though we all seemed destined, like Adams and Eves, to repeat the sin-cycle of our kind, Jesus made sure he was the Last Adam. He took humanity’s curse of death and he died with it on the Cross. 

Three days later, Jesus rose… but the curse didn’t. 

Prayer — Thank you, Jesus, for securing my destiny. Today, please inspire gratitude in me for what you have done.