"The first man
Adam became a living soul. The last Adam a life-giving
spirit" (1 Cor.15:45).
A
Lost Impact
We are going to be
occupied with the meaning of Christ. Before we come
immediately into touch with that matter, there are a few
preliminary words that I want to say, and they have to do
with something of which we are all conscious, a matter
which is troubling, I think I can say, the majority of
real Christians. It is the matter of the lost impact of
Christ, of the Gospel, of Christianity. We are suffering
from a handicap, and that handicap is tradition.
Christianity has become that - a tradition so largely,
something handed down from generation to generation. It
has become a theology, a set of doctrines, of statements
about God, about Christ, about the Holy Spirit, and many
other things, and as such it has passed very largely into
the mental realm - a thing to be worked out in thought, a
matter of reason. It has also become a great mystical
cult. It has passed into the realm of art, and music, so
that you can accept Christianity on that basis and be a
Christian along that line, and yet that it shall stand
completely out of relation to your inner life. Think of
all that goes to make up Christianity as it is known
today, of the external, the soulish appreciation; and it
has no impact. There is the great need,
surely, - and this is what we are seeking to come to at
this time.
The great need is to
get back to the real meaning of Christ, so that a new
impact may come upon ourselves, and there shall come a
new impact upon the world through us.
The
Peril of Specific Teachings
Before I go on to that,
let me point out another peril. It is the peril of
specific teachings and specific movements. So often,
specific teachings, although they may be right, become
something in themselves, turn in upon themselves, and
before long, run to seed, and have no positive impact.
For a time they go on by their own momentum, the
enthusiasm of those who are in them. They are carried on,
and then they fade, they lose out. Now, the point is
this, that everything must be a direct emanation from
Christ and a directive to Christ, and not something in
itself. It must come out of Him, it must be a living
expression of Him, and it must draw back, lead back, to
Him. It must be Christ as source, and Christ as goal,
Christ Himself. We have to ask ourselves the question - How
do we teach this or that? Are we teaching it or talking
about it as an 'it', as some thing; or is it
always kept immediately and directly related to Him, that
this is but an expression of Christ, this is but a part
of Him as the whole? When we detach something and begin
to talk about it, whatever it might be, and begin
to make a teaching around it, it is going to run to seed,
it is going to lose impact sooner or later, the thing is
going to come to an end; we are simply going to box the
compass of truth, and then we shall have difficulty in
finding something fresh to say in a living way. No, that
will not do. It is Christ and only Christ Who is the
power of God to effect the purpose of God, and we must
see how everything is but Christ in expression. In a
word, we must see the meaning of Christ. So much for this
preliminary word as to the need of recovering impact, and
the nature of our present limitation and weakness.
Man,
the Climax of Creation
Let us come right to
this matter for a little while - the meaning of Christ.
In the verse which we read, the first half of the
statement takes us back to the first chapters of the book
of Genesis, to the bringing in of man. God made man,
created man, and it is said of that man that he became a
living soul. And when that was done it says "there
was evening and there was morning, the sixth day". I
am not going to discuss any of the old questions about
time periods and so on, but in an order and arrangement
of this world's history, we are now in the sixth day (a
thousand years being as one day), and in this sixth day
the supreme thing is the bringing in of a man in this
Divine sense, the last Adam, the second Man, the bringing
in of Him personally in the Person of Jesus Christ, and
the bringing in of Him corporately in the person of His
Body, the Church. That lies in the background; and
thinking of the original bringing in of man in Genesis 1,
how crisic that was in the whole course of Divine
activity! What an immense point of arrival that was, how
tremendously significant it was! We can say that it was the
thing supreme in the Divine thought, and the bringing
in of this second Man, firstly Christ Himself and then
the Church which is His Body - called definitely and
positively the "new man" (Eph. 2:15) - is as
climactic as was the bringing in of Adam on that sixth
day.
Man
in the Divine Scheme of Things
(a)
The Answer and Explanation of All Things
What did the first Adam
mean in the whole scheme of things? Firstly, he was the
explanation of all, and the answer to the question of the
universe. Why the creation of this universe, heaven and
earth and all things therein? Why all this Divine
activity and labour, this expenditure of power and
wisdom? Why this projecting of Divine energy? Go through
the whole account fragment by fragment and ask why? The
universe waits for an answer; it is full of questions on
Day Five. Day by day the question has been growing; every
fresh touch of the Divine hand, every fresh exercise of
the Divine energy, wisdom and power, is intensifying the
question - What is it for? The universe is one big
question when it is said, "And there was evening and
there was morning, a fifth day". When it comes to
"And there was evening and there was morning, the
sixth day", the question is answered, the
explanation is given - man is here! "Thou madest him
to have dominion over the works of thy hands; Thou hast
put all things under his feet" (Psa. 8:6). So Adam
One was the explanation of all things, and the answer to
the question of the universe.
So also is the Christ,
but infinitely more so. The last Adam, the second Man, is
the explanation of all things. John tells us that quite
clearly. "All things were made through him; and
without him was not anything made that hath been
made" (John 1:3); and Paul says, "All things
have been created through him, and unto him" (Col.
1:16 ). That is the meaning of Christ, to begin with.
But remember there is
this one new man, the Church which is His Body of which
He is Head. It, in the larger, corporate, spiritual
sense, is Christ in expression. It is unnecessary here
for me to remind you that the article is very often used
in relation to the Church: it is called "the
Christ". "As the body is one, and hath many
members, and all the members of the body, being many, are
one body; so also is the Christ" (1 Cor. 12:12 Gr.).
One body, many members. That does not rule out His
separate personality, but in this Divine thought He has
joined Himself to, or constituted by Himself, a Body of
many members, which is the answer to the questions of the
universe and the explanation of all things; and there are
more than hints in the Scriptures that in the end it will
be manifested that Christ, the Son, with the sons, in
unveiling, is the answer and explanation of all things.
"The earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for
the revealing of the sons of God" (Rom. 8:19), and
in that day of the manifestation of the sons of God the
declaration is that the creation itself shall be
delivered. Why is this creation always so abortive,
getting so far and stopping short, not going through?
Why, with all its tremendous potentialities and resources
and abilities - why, with all this, does it turn in upon
itself to destroy itself, not deliver itself? Why even
today when secrets are being unearthed, divulged, when
men have reached such a point of knowledge and
understanding, why not an emergence into Utopia, instead
of a degenerating into barbarism and self-destruction?
With everything so wonderful it is all toward more
suffering, more evil, more destruction. However far it
goes, the creation cannot get through, cannot break away,
cannot emerge to be a glorious creation; but here is the
definite statement that the creation itself shall be
delivered from bondage and from corruption in the hour of
the manifestation of the sons of God. What is the answer
to the question of the universe? - and there is a big
question. Why this universe, why even this part of it,
this fragment of it, this world? What is the explanation?
Give us the answer! My soul, the answer is here. As in
that smaller, limited realm Adam was the answer to, and
the explanation of, that first creation, so in a far
larger way, Christ is the answer to, and the explanation
of, all things.
(b)
The Terminal Point Between Purpose and Fulfilment
But that is only the
beginning. What did Adam mean in the scheme of things? He
was the terminal point between purpose and fulfilment. I
hope that is not too difficult. We are let into this by
the Word of God, that before ever that Divine hand set to
work to constitute this creation, this present world
order, there were counsels purposing the eternal purpose.
A great Divine thought was worked out, and it was
projected, put into operation, and it reached a terminus
when man, Adam, was created, because it was unto him and
then to be through him for realisation. There are the
simple indications in the story that God worked up to
man, put things into man. 'I have made you custodian of
My purposes and intentions; upon you rests the great
responsibility for My purpose'. He was the terminal point
at which the purpose arrived, and from which its
fulfilment was intended to begin. We know, of course, his
tragedy, and how the purpose stopped short with him in
realisation, but God has never abandoned His purpose, and
immediately Adam broke down, the last Adam was mentioned,
intimated, the "Seed".
As with Adam in that
limited way, that intended way, so with Christ. He is the
terminal point of all Divine counsels and purposes and
thoughts and intentions. They are all unto Him. For Adam,
we are told, was, after all, but a figure of Him that was
to come. (Rom. 5:14). In Christ, all that ever was in the
purposes of God found its point of arrival, and blessed
be God, through Him and by Him all those Divine purposes
are worked out and perfected and realised without any
breakdown. The meaning of Christ is that He is the
terminal point of all the thoughts of God from eternity
to eternity, as to purpose and fulfilment.
In the corporate, we,
"chosen in Him," "called according to (the
eternal) purpose", are to be instrumental in the
working out of the purpose to its final realisation, and,
as a centre to the universe, the Church will be the
embodiment and representation and expression of all those
Divine intentions and purposes, as we are in Christ
Jesus.
(c)
The Climax of Divine Energies
Again, Adam was the
climax of Divine energies. God had worked, and worked
steadily, developing, increasing, moving up period by
period, day by day - whatever that might mean, there is
room for quite a lot in it, it does not matter - He had
been progressively putting forth His energies in an
evergrowing way, and phase by phase, step by step, there
had been added and added increase, measure by measure,
enlargement upon enlargement; and man was the climax of
those Divine energies. When you come to Day Seven, there
is no evening or morning mentioned. It is eternal in
principle, the climax of Divine energy.
We are not just
thinking about material and temporal things, we are
talking about the last Adam, a life-giving Spirit; we are
talking about things spiritual and things eternal now. In
this far greater realm, which will doubtless involve the
lesser - it will involve the material creation, it will
involve our very physical bodies at length - but in that
which is above all and over all, supreme to all, that is,
the spiritual, Christ is the climax of all Divine
energies, for in Him God finishes His work and comes to
rest. God finds His final satisfaction in His Son, the
Lord Jesus, and the fact that He has raised Him and
glorified Him - and remember that it is a part of
apostolic attestation that God glorified the Son, clothed
Him with glory; and what they saw by the Spirit, and what
Saul of Tarsus met even in the flesh, was the glorified
Son of Man - the fact that He glorified Him was God's way
of attesting Him as His complete satisfaction; and the
Church is ultimately seen as coming down out of heaven,
having the glory of God, which means that God has found
His satisfaction, not only in an individual, but in a
Body, the one new man, the climax of Divine energies. God
is working now. That very word in our New Testament
translation - 'work' or 'working' or 'worketh' - is in
the original, the word from which we get 'energy'. It is energeo:
"It is God who worketh (energizeth) in you both to
will and to work, for his good pleasure" (Phil.
2:13). Again Paul says, "Working in us (energizing
in us) that which is well-pleasing in his sight"
(Heb. 13:21). So we might go on. The Divine energies are
at work. What for? To bring about the climax in the Body,
as it has been brought about in the Head - the climax of
glory. So was Adam in his realm; so is Christ in His far
more transcendent realm.
(d)
The Instrument for Answering the Iniquity of the Universe
Again, Adam was the
intended instrument for answering on earth the evil that
had broken out in heaven. An evil thing had occurred. One
occupying a place of very great influence and glory, the
"Covering Cherub," had said, "I will be
like the Most High" (Isa. 14:14). Iniquity was found
in him. "I beheld Satan fallen as lightning from
heaven" (Luke 10:18). "How art thou fallen from
heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!" (Isa. 14:12
). "And angels which kept not their own
principality, but left their proper habitation, he hath
kept in everlasting bonds under darkness unto the
judgment of the great day" (Jude 6). An evil
conspiracy, an iniquitous thing somewhere in heaven, had
broken out, and evidently multitudes of angels were
implicated and were cast out of that realm and they
turned to the earth; and Adam had this great opportunity
and great responsibility of answering that thing, so far
as this earth was concerned. It was given to him in
faith, in loyalty, to shut the door of this world to that
iniquity, to keep it outside. We know he became the open
door to it. "As through one man sin entered into the
world, and death through sin" (Rom. 5:12); the door
was opened. We are not speaking now of the issue, we are
speaking of what Adam was in the scheme of things. He was
intended to be the answer on this earth to that iniquity
which had broken out in the universe: he failed.
Ah, but how easy it is
to see this in all that we know now about the Lord Jesus.
He has shut the door of a new creation so that that
iniquity will never get in, so that that death will never
have a place." There shall be no more curse"
(Rev. 22:3); there shall be no more sin; "there
shall be no more death" (Rev. 21:4). He is a door;
but a closed door to that, and an open door only to life.
He has answered that iniquity so far as the creation is
concerned; He has met the full force of that very same
evil power. The devil and all his angels, with all the
evil that they bring in their train, all the spiritual
evil that surrounds them like an atmosphere, He has felt
it, He has registered it, He has known its impact upon
Him; He has known conflict even unto a bloody sweat. He
has known it, and He has answered it. "To this end
was the Son of God manifested, that he might
nullify" (that is the word) "the works of the
devil" (1 John 3:8); and in Himself it is done. The
meaning of Christ, the last Adam, is that He answers the
iniquity of this universe, He has answered it by His
Cross, and He has answered the instigator of it all; the
prince of this world He has cast out (John 12:31).
(e)
The Channel of Life to a World Race
Adam was the intended
life channel to a world race. We do not know by definite
statement, we can only conclude by deduction, what would
have happened if they had chosen another tree instead of
the one which they did choose. If they had refused the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil and had chosen the
tree of life, our deduction is, from fairly good
intimation, that the tree of life signified, symbolised,
Divine life, uncreated life; what, in the New Testament
we know as eternal life; for when Adam sinned, the Lord
said "...lest he put forth his hand, and take also
of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"
(Gen. 3:22). He put that tree out of their way and put
them out of the way of that tree. Talking about spiritual
principles, (you can forget the symbolism if you like),
if Adam had chosen the alternative and repudiated the
forbidden, he would undoubtedly have produced after his
kind, and have been the door and the channel of life to a
world race. On the other side, our other deduction - and
it is more of a definite statement this time - is that
through him death came upon all, through him, the one
man; and through this other One Man - life. "The
last Adam" then does really mean that He is the
channel of life to a world race. That is the meaning of
Christ.
But His Body is a
channel also of His life, life to be transmitted from
Him. How much we would like to say about that! We are
simply indicating things at the moment.
(f)
Spiritual Head in Terms of Life
Finally,
for the moment, Adam was, in the scheme of things in the
Divine thought, the spiritual head of creation and of the
race in terms of life through faith and righteousness;
head in terms of life. The key to everything with God is
life. You begin with life, you end the Bible with life,
and the whole history of things is, the battle for life,
life and death locked in this terrific conflict. Christ
in the higher spiritual realm than the first Adam is
God's appointed Head of the creation and of the race in
terms of life. It is not official, ecclesiastical, it is
life. We must realise that Christ's ascendancy,
supremacy, power, ability and all that goes with
Headship, is in terms of His prerogative of life. He is
the Son, vested with life; He has the right given Him of
God to give life to as many as believe. That is why He is
Head. You can set up people in office and make Popes of
them and they may make great claims, but what does it
amount to? When you come up against death, what can they
do? But bring in one who has the power of life over
death, be he ever so humble on this earth, he is head, he
is master, he is lord. You may bring all the greatest
physicians that the world knows into the presence of
death, and when death takes charge, they are helpless.
But supposing you bring in a little, insignificant person
who is nobody, with no capabilities whatever in this
world, no training, and that one be invested with the
power of life over death, he rules out all these others,
they are as nothing in his presence, he is lord of the
situation.
Christ is
Head, not just by appointment, but in terms of life. We
may be very insignificant people on this earth, nothing
at all to be taken account of by the world, but if only
we have Christ in fulness of life we are in a
supreme position, we make all the great organisations and
institutions as nothing. It is a spiritual thing, the
impact of Christ; not tradition, not history, not
theology, but the spiritual power of His presence in
terms of life through faith and righteousness.
Through
Faith and Righteousness
Life
through faith - I expect you have fought that battle out.
You know as well as I do that the sooner we settle it,
the better. Immediately doubt comes in, death comes in.
It does not matter how difficult the situation is, and
how real and genuine may seem to be the problem, as soon
as we give way to doubt we are encompassed by death, and,
although the situation may seem to be an utterly
impossible one, if only faith can hold, death is kept at
bay, there is life through faith.
Let us
look at the first Adam in this matter. The whole thing
pivoted upon faith. It was through unbelief of God that
death came in through the first Adam. We substitute
another word for faith, in order to get nearer to it.
Suppose we use the word 'loyalty' for, after all, that
was the issue - loyalty to God. Loyalty is good faith.
Oh, how much of death and limitation and defeat the
Church is suffering today because of this disloyalty of
its own people, not only to the Lord, but to one another;
and the enemy has an immeasurable degree of advantage
because of this disloyalty. It may seem to be coming down
to a lower level, but I do think that we have to learn
very much more of this lesson of mutual loyalty, standing
by one another, being true to one another; even though
there may be doubts and reasons for questions,
nevertheless, being loyal, finding a ground of loyalty.
Loyalty is a grand thing. Adam failed in loyalty to God.
He listened to the Evil One; he accepted the insinuation
about God; he took on the unholy inference that the devil
made; he allowed it to get in and gave an assent to it
instead of standing true to God, being loyal to God,
saying, Well, I do not understand, I cannot explain, but
I believe God! Faith and loyalty are really one in
essence, and it is the only way of life.
The Lord
Jesus fought that battle. Note the utter loyalty of
Christ to the Father. Yes, there was plenty for the enemy
to play with. He was hungry and weak from His long fast,
yet He was not going to be disloyal to the Father at the
suggestion of the enemy. Yes, He was suffering, and was
going to suffer, ostracism, discount and persecution in
this world, and it was a hard way of deprivation. That
pinnacle-of-the-temple way might have been a quick road
to fame and popularity, but at the expense of loyalty to
the Father, and He was having none of it. "It is
written"; "it is written"; "it is
written". And all the way through, it was that, His
solid loyalty of faith to the Father, that made Him Head
in terms of life. It is a big lesson and a very difficult
one. We are probably all in that hard school, but we are
learning that it does not do to let in doubt, to cede any
ground to the suggestions of the enemy. We know that we
are involved in spiritual death immediately we begin to
question the Lord. Something comes over our spirits, and
we know we are paralysed until we take that ground back
again, get that cleared up and recover a position of
faith.
Righteousness;
for our present purpose, all we will say is that
righteousness means bringing everything unto God - His
rights. That is where Satan sinned; he sought to draw
from God to himself, to get God's worship transferred to
him. That is where Adam failed; to take out of God and
have it in himself. "Ye shall be..."; "ye
shall know" (Gen. 3:1-5). And that is where the Lord
Jesus overcame. He held everything for God and unto God;
He drew everything to the Father. He attributed
everything to the Father. 'The words that I speak'; 'the
works that I do', (John 14:10); everything to the Father.
He lived worshipping, and thus He became Head over the
creation and the race that was to be, in terms of life,
for worship is life, and life is because of
righteousness. So says Paul.
We must
stop there for the time being. Are you beginning to see
something of the meaning of Christ? If we can really see
the Lord anew, and come back into a more living, utter
oneness with Him, there will be a recovery of the lost
impact, there will be a living testimony - not just
teaching and not just a movement - there will be the
impact of Christ Himself. May the Lord accomplish it
soon!