Reminders – Bearing His Image
On the sixth day of creation, God created Adam and Eve in His own image. Their body, soul, and spirit, lived in perfect harmony with God, always submitting to His perfect will. Genesis 1:24-31 When they decided to obey Satan instead of God, their human spirit died, Genesis 2:17 and in its place a conscience was born, where they processed this new knowledge of good and evil. This conscience became the seat of guidance and awareness of moral good and bad. It was the place that Adam made decisions (by his free will) to either follow his conscience or obey the desires of the flesh. It works the same way today as it did then. There is a big problem though. God’s standard is not in a balance scale of good versus evil. That is Satan’s standard. Satan wants man to try hard to do good, in hopes that God will accept those good intentions and efforts. However, God’s standard is perfect righteousness and holiness, versus anything less than perfection. Uh-oh. If that is true, (and it is) we’re in big trouble, except for one thing.
When Adam fell, he realized he was no longer perfect, and had lost the perfect and glorious covering of God. He saw that he was naked. He then did what his conscience prompted him to do, which was to cover his nakedness. But instead of turning to God, repenting, and asking Him to restore his former covering, Adam, by his own efforts, covered himself. That was not acceptable to God. God stripped him of his leaves, shed the blood of an innocent animal, and covered his nakedness with the skin of that slain animal. Now, being clothed in animal skins, he bore the image of God’s provision. Instead of Adam eternally dying for his sin, (“The wages of sin is death,”) God provided a sacrifice to die in his stead and give him a new life. Adam didn’t know it yet, but he was receiving the work and provision of God by proxy that would appear 4,000 years later in answer to God’s promise. Genesis 3:15 (“but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”) Romans 6:23
Final Thoughts: Adam is the titular head and father of all sin plagued humanity. When he sinned, all humanity was condemned with him. And with that condemnation we received his sin nature, which is the cause of our sinful actions. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23 Contrarywise, Jesus is called the last Adam, 1 Corinthians 15:45 and is the true head of all humanity and the spiritual life giver of the redeemed. Jesus is the fulfillment of the shadow portrayed in Adam’s animal skins. Jesus’ innocent blood was shed, not only to cover our nakedness, but to clothe us in His perfect righteousness. Paul reminds us, “For he hath made Him, [Jesus,] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21 For those who have not yet had their human spirits made alive by an act of God, that is, by being born again, they must do as Adam and Eve did to be accepted by God. They repented, quit relying on their own efforts to cover themselves by their good works, and received the provision of God by faith. That provision for humanity is, 1) To trust in the death of Jesus on the cross as payment for our sins. 2) Accept the fact that He was truly dead in a tomb for three days, and 3) that He was raised alive from the dead to give His eternal life to whosoever receives it. When we have done that, we will, like Adam, bear the image of Him who was slain for us. “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD…for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness.” Isaiah 61:10. (ph)
