War In Your Heart # 57

Christ Our Provision (continued)

In Adam - the Ruin of the Race (continued)

satan's five "I wills" are outmatched by God's one "I will." "The battle is joined" and God has done it. The warfare between the Lord God and satan is now out in the open and will be fought to a finish. However battles may be lost or won by either side in the agelong conflict, certain victory is pledged to the Seed of the woman, and the prophecy of Genesis 3:15 clearly forecasts through whom the victory will come; also where and how it will come, as we compare Scripture with Scripture. Genesis 3:15 was both a prophecy and a promise which predicated two comings; the coming of a Saviour and the coming of a Sovereign.

In Christ - The Redemption of the Race

Victory was promised through the Seed of the woman. A Child will be born. But the Child would be unlike any other child ever born or to be born, for this Child born would be the Son that was given. The Babe of Bethlehem would be the Son of the Highest (Isaiah 7:14; Luke 1:30-33).

In Adam, God's first man, the human race had gone down into utter ruin and defeat. But God had pledged redemption and victory through a second Man. As the race had been ruined through the first man's sin, it would be redeemed through the second Man's sacrifice. As though the first Adam's disobedience all were made sinners; so through the last Adam's obedience all might be made righteous. The union of the race with God broken by the first man's death would be bridged through the second Man's death.

Through incarnation God gave humanity a second Man, a last Adam to supersede the first, Adam. The eternal Son became the incarnate Son. In Christ Jesus God gave mankind a Saviour (Luke 2:11).

Christ - The Representative Man

God's second Man was not a man, but a Representative Man, who had the right and power to stand for all men in recreation as Adam had stood for all men in creation. As the first Adam stood for the old race which was latent in him, so would the last Adam stand for the new race contained in Him. As Adam's one disobedience brought sinnerhood and death to all in him, where there was no personal sin, so Christ's one obedience brought salvation and life to all in Him, where there was no personal righteousness.

Sin - Righteousness

In God's sight the sinner is nothing but sin. There is "no good" in him (Romans 7:18). He is utterly devoid of righteousness. However righteous the sinner may seem in his own estimation or even in that of others, in the sight of God he does not possess one shred of righteousness which is acceptable to God (Romans 3:9, 10, 12; Romans 3:23).

~Ruth Paxson~

(continued with # 58)