254 – THE  LAST  ADAM  II

The apostle Paul reveals that the Adam of the Garden of Eden is a picture of someone who was to come, and one who was linked to the law of Jehovah. “For until the law, sin was in the world; but sin is not charged when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those whose sins weren’t like Adam’s disobedience, who is a foreshadowing of him who was to come” (Rom. 5:13-14). Is it possible to identify what person Adam is a picture of? Was he a picture of Jesus Christ? It cannot be, for the following reasons:

1. Adam transgressed, that is, he sinned (Heb. 4:15; 1 Pet. 2:21-22). Adam was a picture of someone who sinned.
2.  The wife of Adam, seduced by the serpent, led Adam to sin (Gen. 3:1-6; 1 Tim. 2:14). Jesus, on the contrary, sanctified his wife (Eph. 5:25-27). There, the woman caused the man to fall; here, the last Adam lifted up the woman (2 Cor. 11:2-3).
3. The first Adam left a legacy: and death (Rom. 5:12). Jesus Christ, the last Adam, left a glorious heritage from the Father to all who believe: RESSURRECTION AND ETERNAL LIFE (1 Cor. 15:21-22).
4. The first Eve, and this is how Adam called her, meaning THE MOTHER OF ALL LIVING (Gen. 3:20).But this is not true, for she is the mother of all mortals. “For if by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; so much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, JESUS CHRIST” (Rom. 5:17). The Church, that is, the last Eve and the wife of Christ, is the mother of all living; and the seed that gives birth to all these immortals is THE WORD OF GOD (Luke 8:11; 1 Pet. 1:23).
5. The first Adam is the father of captivity, for he brought the slavery of corruption to all (Rom. 8:19-21). Christ, the last Adam, totally delivers men, with a total and perfect deliverance, for he delivers men from sin (Rom. 6:17-18).  Delivered from sin, they are also delivered from death, for the strength of sin is the law (1 Cor. 15:56). And the Christian, seeing that his flesh is a friend of sin(Rom. 7:25), and that the flesh opposes the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:16-17), and that living in the flesh he would be condemned to eternal death (Rom. 8:13), comprehends that the flesh is the great evil of the Christian life (Rom. 7:18). Christ himself affirmed that the flesh profits for nothing (John 6:63). The only way out for the flesh is the cross; and the Christian, because he loves Christ, goes to the cross. Paul declares by the Holy Spirit, “Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts. If we live by the Spirit, let’s also walk by the Spirit” (Gl. 5:24-25). So these words of Jesus were fulfilled: “If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).
6. The first Adam is the author of the condemnation that weighs upon all humanity (Rom. 5:18). The last Adam is the author of the grace of Salvation. “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men” (Titus 2:11; Heb. 12:2).
7. The first Adam is the founder of Satan’s kingdom of death, and established the kingdom of the resurrected living, which is the kingdom of God (Heb. 2:14-15; Col. 1:12-13), and it is already among us (Luke 17:20-21; Col. 3:1-3).

In these biblical arguments we saw that Adam is not a picture of Jesus Christ, but Paul declares that Adam is a picture of the one who should come (Rom. 5:14). Who could be this one who should come? It is not Satan, for Satan was the one who caused Adam to fall through the woman. Who would this one be? Satan was a sinner and was perverse from the beginning (1 John 3:8), a liar and a deceiver from the beginning (John 8:44; Rev. 12:9). Adam is a picture of someone who would come after him, and Satan came at an earlier time. Let us uncover the mystery: The Garden of Eden brings us the final solution to the problem, for that garden was a pale picture of the true one, who would also come later on. Let us read the prophecy of Ezekiel. “Son of man, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude: Whom are you like in your greatness?  Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with beautiful branches, and with a forest-like shade, and of high stature; and its top was among the thick boughs. The waters nourished it, the deep made it to grow: its rivers ran all around its plantation; and it sent out its channels to all the trees of the field. Therefore its stature was exalted above all the trees of the field; and its boughs were multiplied, and its branches became long by reason of many waters, when it shot [them] forth. All the birds of the sky made their nests in its boughs; and under its branches did all the animals of the field bring forth their young; and under its shadow lived all great nations. Thus was it beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches; for its root was by many waters. The cedars in the garden of God could not hide it; the fir trees were not like its boughs, and the plane trees were not as its branches; nor was any tree in the garden of God like it in its beauty. I made it beautiful by the multitude of its branches, SO ALL THE TREES OF EDEN, THAT WERE IN THE GARDE OF GOD, ENVIED IT” (Ezek. 31:2-9).Fantastic! Jehovah reveals through Ezekiel that the true Garden of Eden historically existed during the time of Egypt, of Assyria, of Chaldea and Persia. These four large kingdoms existed during a period of 1,5000 years, ending with the kingdom of Judah, in the year 587 BC. In this Garden of Eden, the nations were trees. Assyria was a cedar, and Egypt, another cedar (Ezek. 31:2-3). Waters were peoples (Rev. 17:15). The channels sent were armies of conquerors (Ezek. 31:4). The birds of heaven were angels and demons (Ezek. 31:6; Matt. 13:4,19). The animals symbolized races (Ezek. 31:6; Ps. 32:9; Mt. 23:33).

Adam eating from the trees (Gen. 2:16) symbolizes the supremacy of Israel over the other nations (Is. 2:1-3; 61:6). The tree of life is the law (Lev. 18:5; Ezek. 20:11). The tree of the science is the disobedience. The four rivers of the garden are also four nations. The first one is Pishon (Jordan, which is the kingdom of Israel). The second one is Gihon (Nile, that symbolizes Egypt Jer. 46:8-10). The third one is the Tigris, which symbolizes Assyria (Is. 8:7). And the fourth is the Euphrates, which passed through the city of Babylon. So, four rivers bathed the Garden of Eden, that is, Israel was bathed by the Egyptian’s yoke, then the Canaanites’ yoke bathed Israel in the period of the judges. The Assyrians bathed Israel with blood and slavery (2 Kings 17:20-23). Lastly, they were bathed with blood in the Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar. It is enough to read the book of the lamentations of Jeremiah, especially chapter 5.

Two characters are missing in this story: Adam and Eve. Eve is the picture of Israel, the wife of Jehovah(Ezek. 16:8; Is. 50:1). The puzzle is solved. The Adam that Paul mentions in Rom. 5:14 is not Jesus Christ, but he is someone with similar power, and this was, and is Jehovah, the head of Israel, who delivered his people into the hands of Satan, as it happened with Adam and Eve. Adam should have protected Eve, and Jehovah should have protected Israel and abandoned it. And if Jehovah is the husband, he is the figurate Adam in Genesis chapters 2 and 3. Adam and Eve, cast out of the Garden, are Jehovah and his people, cast out of Canaan (the Garden of Eden) (2 Kings 23:27). There is something that needs to be explained. Jesus is not the head of Israel, but of the Church (Col. 1:18; Eph. 1:22-23). And Paul makes a terrible revelation. “Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:3). Now, if God is not the head of men, and Jehovah was the head of Israel (Is. 43:15), Jehovah is not the Father. Only God is the head of Christ, because Christ is submissive to the Father, and he is the mediator between the Father and men (1 Tim. 6:16). Israel was bathed by wars, vengeances and curses (Is. 58:11; Jer. 31:12). The Church of Jesus is bathed only with love.

by Pastor Olavo Silveira Pereira