In Genesis, we read of Adam and Eve (together called the first Adam) being appointed to rule over God’s creation, to go out from the Garden they had been placed in (which is a picture of the temple or tabernacle of God) into the rest of the world. They were to fill the earth with children who would follow in their footsteps of trust and obedience…they were to rule over creation in the pattern God had set. But they weren’t created as puppets, without choice. They didn’t have only one setting: obedience. They could disobey too. It mattered to God that they choose, and God wanted and meant for them to choose freely, and to use their freedom to choose God and God’s ways.
The first Adam, who had been made in the ‘image and likeness of God’, chose another way. We read in Luke 3:38 that Adam is called ‘the son of God’. This is because he was sent from and made in the image of his Father. God allowed the first Adam to be tested (Genesis 3) and this Adam turned away from God. So the first ‘son of God’ brought sin and death to the earth. All people were born in the image of this Adam. There is no way we can return to God. All bear the mark of sin, all our good works can’t reconcile us to God because of this sin nature we have inherited from the first Adam.
God sent another ‘Adam’, the last Adam, the Messiah, who was also called the son of God. He bore the likeness of the first Adam, but he also bore the image and likeness of God as the first Adam did (2 Corinthians 4:4, Colossians 1:15, Romans 8:3, Philippians 2:7). He too was tested as the first Adam was (Matthew 4) but this Adam did NOT turn away. This Adam trusted in his Father and obeyed Him even when it meant death. So God raised up this Adam, this last Adam, and gave him life! (Acts 13:33-38, Hebrews 1:5, 5:5). And we can choose to follow this Adam’s lead, instead of the lead of the first Adam. We can choose to follow God, trusting in Him to renew our character into that of Christ. You can read about that transformation in Romans 8:29, 1 Corinthians 15:49, 2 Corinthians 3:18, 4:4, Ephesians 4:4, Colossians 3:10.
Christ is the ‘Word made flesh’ (John 1:14) that is, he is the one that the Law or Word of God points to. He is all the truth of God’s way in a human form. He is greater than the first Adam, because he obeyed. He fulfilled the Law of God. And it is in him that we have life.
Now if Christ fulfilled the Law, does that mean that the Law is done away with? Well, look at it this way. If you are travelling along a highway, and the speed limit is posted, and you obey the speed limit…then you have obeyed and fulfilled the law, right? Is that law of the speed limit done away with? Of course not! Your actions have upheld the law and proved it valid. The Law is still there!
It is the same with God’s Law. Christ fulfilled God’s Law, he upheld the Law. He himself said that not one tiny bit of God’s Law would be done away with until all was fulfilled, that heaven and earth would pass away first (Matthew 5:17-18). We know heaven and earth are still here! God’s Law is too.
God gave His Law as our teacher, to point out what was right and what was wrong. You can read the foundation of God’s Law in Exodus 20, also in Deuteronomy 5. When we are young, we need to be taught. For example, a child needs to be taught the alphabet, and how to read. But once a child has learned the purpose of the teaching, he doesn’t need that teacher anymore. He knows the teaching. He can read all by himself!
God’s Law, His rules for how we are to live, was written on tablets of stone (Exodus 24:12). It was a Teacher for us. But it was never meant to remain on stone. God’s intent was that we would willingly take His teaching into us…that we would let Him write His Law on our hearts! You can read this in 2 Corinthians 3:3, Ezekiel 11:19-21, 36:26, Jeremiah 31:33, Hebrews 8:10. Now, as Paul taught, we don’t need the Law on the stone tablets anymore, because the very same Law is now written on our hearts! 1 John 2:7 reminds us that this isn’t a new (different) commandment that is on our hearts…it is the same command we had at the beginning. The difference is that we’ve chosen to receive it IN us! And unlike the first Adam (and Eve), who turned away to what seemed good to THEM (Genesis 3:6) if we are part of the last Adam (Christ) then we will RECEIVE the way and command of God…and OBEY it!
When Christ trusted in and obeyed God, and in doing so, fulfilled the Law…God gave him life, He resurrected him from death and called him His SON! When we follow Christ, we follow God. We die to the ‘first Adam’ and live to the last! And we are given the right to become sons (children) of God too (John 1:12, 1 John 3:10, Galatians 3:26)! Christ is called the ‘firstborn of many brothers’ (Romans 8:29, Colossians 1:18, Revelation 1:5).
Just as the first Adam was to go into the world, fill it with people who followed their Creator, and rule over the Creation according to the boundaries set by the Creator (Genesis 1:28-29) so Christ reminded his disciples of the same command. In Matthew 28:19-20 he sent them into all the world to make many disciples, who would be taught and who would follow all God’s ways. The same commission!
That is our call too…follow God, trust in Him enough to learn and obey HIS ways and not our own. We can trust that God has provided us a way to return to Him, through Christ! We live in this truth, and we share it with all those who ask (1 Peter 3:15) and we help and encourage them to trust in and follow God too! And in this we have peace with God and hope for the future!
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