The Last Adam

Paul said: "And so it is written, 'The first man Adam became a living being,' The Last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man" (1 Cor. 15:45 - 49, NKJV, emphasis added).

The apostle Paul here compared the first Adam and the Last Adam. Jesus was called the Last Adam. He became a life-giving spirit. Adam was of the earth; Jesus is the Lord from heaven. Jesus, being spiritual, comes after Adam who was natural. This is a spiritual principle. Jesus was called "Last Adam" because there would be no other man after Him who would affect the destiny of the human race in the same way.

Significance and necessity of the Virgin birth

After the serpent had deceived Eve, the Lord God said to the serpent:

"Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel" (Genesis 3:14, 15, 16, emphasis added).

Notice that God was talking about the Seed of Eve (a woman). We all know that, biologically, a woman has no seed, the male carries the seed. Every person born after Adam is born in sin - a born sinner. He has the nature of his illegitimate stepfather - Satan.

Jesus had no earthly father. He was born of a woman. This is what makes the virgin birth a must - the bloodline follows the father. Medical science has found that under normal birth conditions not one droup of blood passes from the mother to the child. The mother does not furnish blood for the child. The blood is formed from the union of the child's father and mother.

The embryo formed in Mary's womb was the Word of God. Therefore, it produced pure blood, filled with life. God was the Father and Mary was the mother. Jesus was on earth, born of a virgin, with the blood of God in His veins. The Bible calls Him " the Last Adam." If He had an earthly father, He would have had death in His blood. Man is born with both life and death in him. But Jesus' blood was not polluted. Ther was no death in Him, You and I die because there is death in our blood.


Jesus, the willing supreme sacrifice

It is impossible for Jesus to die before the appointed time given by the Father. In the Gospel according to John, Jesus made several profound statements:

"No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father" (John 10:18).

"I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me" (John 14:30).

People tried to kill Jesus several times, but they could not (Luke 4:29, 30); He simple walk out from their midst. The anointing of God was on Jesus so strong that none could lay hold on Him. There was no death in Him. There was no sin in Him. He was filled with love!

Jesus was born of a woman, but God's blood flowed in His veins. It had to be so or He could not have been the supreme sacrifice. The sacrifice had to be a man (male) who was perfect - following the Old Testament sacrificial law. He had the life of God flowing in Him, and He gave it as a sin offering for the world.

If Jesus had not been born of a virgin, you would still be in your sins. It had to be so, or redemption could never have become a reality.

Jesus and His Anointing

Have you notice that Jesus was thirty years of age when He was baptized? Until that time, He had not healed one person. He had not raise anyone from the dead; He had not done a single miracle - not one! Surely He was as much the Son of God at age twenty-nine as He was at age thirty.

The real reason Jesus healed the sick, raised the dead, and cast out demons was because He was anointed with the Holy Spirit to destroy the works of the Devil. He didn't heal the sick because of His divine power, because He was the Son of God, or because of His deity. He stripped Himself of His divine power. He didn't use any power inherent in Him as God's Son to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, or destroy other works of the Devil.

Notice that it was after the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus in the bodily form of a dove (Luke 3:22) that He began to heal the sick, cast out demons, and perform miracles (Luke 4:34 onward).

Peter said: "... how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him" (Acts 10:38).

The power Jesus used in His ministry was not something He brought from heaven with Him. It wasn't inherent in Him as being the Son of God. The Bible says God anointed Him.

Let us think a little. If Jesus healed the sick because of His divine power, why did God anoint Him? He was God manifested in the flesh. Jesus healed the sick and worked miracle because of the anointing of God!


The Son of Man; the Son of God


Jesus came to earth as a man. He did not take the nature of angels nor the nature of God in His divine power. He took on Him the nature of man. Jesus became a man. Jesus continually affirmed, "I am the Son of Man." The Bible says you will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven. He will still be the Son of Man when He comes back. Jesus identifies with man. Because He was in the earth as a man, He could legally destroy the works of the Devil.


Satan didn't know who Jesus was until the day the Holy Spirit came on Him. In fact, John the Baptist began to have doubts also. When John was put into prison, he sent two people to ask Jesus if He was the One to come or should they look for another. Jesus simply said: "Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them" (Matt. 11:4 - 6, emphasis added).


Jesus came to preach the truth - the Good News which is the Gospel. He entered the earth legally because He was born here. He was born of a virgin; the blood of God flowed through His veins. He was the Son of Man; yet He was God manifested in the flesh and therefore, He was also the Son of God.


John said: "... For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8).


Jesus came to earth to get back everything Satan had stolen from Adam. Yes, Jesus was the Son of God. Yes, He was deity in this earth. But He did not operate in divine power. He performed miracles by the anointing of the Holy Spirit - the same Holy Spirit that is available to you and me today!


The legal aspect of being born in the earth


We need to understand that God only give authority to man who is born in the earth. This is of utmost importance.


Jesus said: "Most assuredly, I say to you he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other say, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep" (John 10:1, 2, NKJV).


The sheepfold is the earth. We who are in the earth, are the sheep of His pasture (Psalm 95:7). The door represents the legal entry. Any being coming into the earth by any other way than through the legal entry (door) is a thief and a robber. Now, what is the door? The door is Jesus - being born here in the earth of a woman. He that enters not into the earth by being born here, but by attaining entrance some other way, the same is a thief and a robber and he does not have legal authority on earth.


Satan is the one who is here illegally. He climbed up some other way - not being born here and therefore, has no right to be here. He is the thief and the robber! He comes to steal, and the kill and to destroy (John 10:10).


Out of His own mouth, Jesus revealed a great truth of the Bible: Only people born on earth have authority here. God delegated the first authority to Adam, but Adam turned it over to Satan who entered this earth illegally. But the Last Adam (Jesus) has come that we may have life. He has come to destroy and take away those things Satan perpetrated upon man. He came to restore man to his rightful authority.


When Adam became subordinate to Satan, he was born from life unto death. Jesus came to reverse the process and cause man to be born from death into life - the born-again experience. Jesus was the last Adam; there won't be another. He obtained eternal redemption for us!


The born-again experience


Jesus told Nicodemus: "You must be born again" (John 3:7). Even though man is legally born in the earth, he is a child of the Devil and he must be born again from the spiritual death to spiritual life.


Jesus, The Way


Jesus is the only way to heaven. It is not through a Church door. It is through Jesus - the Door. Jesus is the Way. Many religious systems claim to be "the way," but they are not. There is no other way except through Jesus. If you don't go through Jesus, you are not going to make it. You can't climb up the backstairs!


Demons and evil spirits came into the earth illegally by climbing up the back way, but you are not going to get into heaven any other way except through the Door, which is Jesus, He is the Door of the sheep.


Jesus became sin


Paul said: "For He made Him who know no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. 5:21).


God made Jesus to be sin. Jesus never sin but He became sin for us. The sin problem is cured. What about the sinner's problem? Yes, the sinner's problem is also taken care of.


The writer of Hebrews said: "For by one offering He ahs perfected forever those who are being sanctified. But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, 'This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord; I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,' then He adds, 'Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.' Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holies by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh (the Sin Offering) ..." (Heb. 10:14 - 19).


Let us go back to Hebrews 9:


"Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption" (Heb. 9:12, emphasis added).


Eternal redemption is ours! He entered the Most Holy place (heaven) to obtain redemption for us. Let us read further:


"For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God" (Heb. 9:13, 14, emphasis added).


Jesus offered Himself to God through the eternal Spirit within Him. In other words, He opened His eternal Spirit to God once He died on the cross (Luke 23:46).


Adam and the Last Adam - contrast


In order to obtain eternal redemption, an eternal Spirit had to be sacrificed. Notice that Jesus' Spirit did not cease to exit. In fact spirits never cease to exist. Jesus' Spirit became spiritually dead so that our spirit can be spiritually alive.


Adam died spiritually when he ate of the fruit. Jesus died spiritually when He opened Himself to sin. He allowed it to come. God put it upon Him. The Holy Son of God didn't sin! He became sin for you and me. He became a spiritually dead man. He was separated from His Father - a spiritual separation.


Jesus came to undo what Satan had done. Adam committed sin and died spiritually. Adam's spiritual death produced physical death - for the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).


See this contrast: Jesus became obedient to a physical death wheich was not due Him. He made the decision before He died to bear the sins and iniquities of the world. Also, He born the full penalty for those sins which was spiritual death or separation from God, to restor man to fellowship with God. Jesus reversed the process: Adam died spiritually, the physically. Jesus died physically, then spiritually.


Conclusion


Jesus made the decision to die while He was alive - to obtain eternal redemption for us. Men today must make the decision to live before they die - to receive eternal redemption!