Biblia

406. ROM 5:14. ADAM A TYPE OF CHRIST

406. ROM 5:14. ADAM A TYPE OF CHRIST

Rom_5:14. Adam a Type Of Christ

"Who is the figure of him that was to come."’97Rom_5:14.

The person, offices, and work of Christ, were not only predicted by the prophets, who all bare witness to him, but a variety of striking types shadowed him forth. Hence Christ is called the truth; that is, the exemplification of what before had been exhibited in figure. The term type, as one observes, signifies the mark or impression made by one thing upon another; but the term is usually employed to denote a prefigurative action or occurrence, in which one event, person, or circumstance, is intended to represent another, similar to it in certain respects, but future and distant.

It must be observed, that none of the personal types could perfectly represent the Saviour, as they were all fallible, sinful men; so that it is necessary, while we pursue the parallel points existing in their history, not to forget the things in which there was an obvious disparity.

The text refers us to Adam, the father of mankind, and says, that "He is the figure of him that was to come."

Let us then, in noticing the typical character of Adam, consider,

I. The Points of Resemblance between Adam and Christ.

II. The Points of Contrast.

I. The Points of Resemblance between Adam and Christ.

1. Both were formed and directly proceeded from God.

All, except our first parents, have been born in the usual mode of generation; and one generation has descended from another. Not so, however, with Adam; his body was moulded and fashioned by God. Jehovah breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, &c. See how this typified the wonderful formation of the nature of Christ. He was conceived of a virgin, by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost, and was thus immediately formed by the power of God.

2. They resembled each other in the perfection of their nature.

Both were formed in the glorious likeness of God. "He created man," &c. Thus, too, Jesus was holy, undefiled, &c., the express likeness of the Father. "Whoso hath seen me hath seen the Father."

3. They resembled each other in their fatherhood of a numerous race.

Adam was the father of mankind. All have descended from his loins; and all have borne the general features of then first progenitor.

Jesus Christ is called the first-born of many brethren And, by Isaiah, he if styled, "Everlasting Father," or "the Father of the age to come." All spiritual persons are Christ’s seed. Hence the promise, "He shall see his seed," &c., Isa_53:10-11 And all his descendants resemble him. All bear his image. As they bore the image of the earthly, by nature; so, by grace, they bear the image of he heavenly.

4. They resemble each other in the lordship and dominion with which they were invested.

God made Adam but a little lower than the angels, &c., Psa_8:5. He gave him a kind of proprietorship over all earthly things. Now Jesus is fully invested with authority and power over all things. "The Father loveth the Son," &c., Heb_1:2, Heb_1:4. Eph_1:20-23, "And set him at his own right hand," &c.

5. They resembled each other in the conjugal union appointed by God.

God cast Adam into a deep sleep, and took from his side woman, who was thus found a help-meet and companion for him. Now the union of the husband and wife is one of the most striking types of Christ’s union with the church. He is the bridegroom, and the church is the bride, the Lamb’s wife. See Eph_5:25-32. Now the sleep of Adam seems to exhibit in a striking typical manner how Christ obtained the bride’97the church. It behooved him to sleep the sleep of death. His side had to be opened; his heart pierced. "Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it," Eph_5:25.

Such, then, are some of the more striking points of resemblance between Adam and Christ.

II. The Points of Contrast.

1. The first Adam was earthly, the second Adam is heavenly.

He came from heaven, was in heaven, and ascended to heaven.

2. The first Adam effaced the divine image from his mind, and polluted human nature; the second Adam was the express image of God, and came to restore our nature to purity and glory.

3. The spirit of apostatizing Adam was proud, unbelieving, discontented, and rebellious; the spirit of the second Adam was humble, submissive, obedient, and faithful.

4. The first Adam brought sin and death upon his species; the second Adam brought salvation and life 5. By the first Adam paradise was lost by the second Adam paradise was regained.

In the paradise lost, we were deprived of the pleasures of earth; but in the one regained, we obtain the felicities of heaven 6. By the first Adam all men were brought beneath the curse; by the second Adam’s death, redemption from that curse has been procured for every man, Rom_5:15, Rom_5:16.

Application

1. Learn our natural connection with the first Adam. We are all his posterity. Have all his fallen nature. Heirs to all pains and miseries his fall produced.

2. We have all imitated Adam’s sin. He proudly aspired after that which was beyond his reach. He desired what was prohibited. He disobeyed Sod. Which of us has not done the same? "We have all gone astray," &c.

3. See then the importance of an interest in the second Adam. Here is our help. "O Israel, thou hast destroyed," &c. We must be of the nature of the second Adam We must be coheirs with him. We shall then have a sure and certain hope of a resurrection with the just, and the enjoyment of eternal life.

Autor: JABEZ BURNS