Transcript & Slides: The New Adam Rises

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The New Adam Rises
By David Feddes

The first Easter was a time of discovery and of great joy for Jesus' disciples. They had given up. They knew that Jesus was dead, and they expected him to stay dead. They went to the tomb that first Easter morning to honor his memory, but when they got there, he wasn't there. At first, it was puzzling, even disturbing. Some of them wondered where the body had been moved. They didn't know what to make of it. But when angels told them that he was risen, and when Jesus himself appeared to one after another after another, they were filled with joy.

Their joy came first of all because they loved Jesus, and it was such a thrill to know that their friend was alive again. When Mary Magdalene heard that voice say "Mary," she knew it was the Lord, and her heart leaped with joy. When Cleopas and his friend invited the stranger on the road to have supper with them, and then he blessed the bread and broke it and they recognized him, they remembered that their hearts had already been burning on the road even while he was talking and they didn't yet recognize him. And when Peter met Jesus and saw that he was alive, he was full of joy. One after another, they rejoiced to find that their friend was alive.

At the same time, they knew that he had not been defeated, that the accusations against him had not stuck, that the condemnation had not lasted, but that God had raised him up and made him alive again. They began to realize, with a lot of help from Jesus himself and from the Holy Spirit, the magnitude of what had happened. Not only had their friend come back, but the universe was different. Something had happened that changed everything. The reign of God had come in a fresh way. A new creation was being launched. It was not just their friend who had arisen; it was the new Adam who had arisen, the Son of God who had arisen and was taking charge of all things.

Resurrection gospel

Today I want to reflect with you on some of the earliest statements about the resurrection that were written down by the apostle Paul. Paul had started out as an enemy of Christ. He opposed Jesus. He opposed Jesus' first followers. He led the lynch mob that killed the first martyr, Stephen. And yet he too had met the risen Christ and had been changed completely from a killer of Christians to the greatest Christian missionary. 

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul says: "Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born" (1 Corinthians 15:1–8).

Paul is not just saying once upon a time somebody came back to life again. He says this is the gospel. This is the good news that saves you when you believe it. If you want to know the gospel in a nutshell, the apostle gives it to us here. 

Christ died for our sins. Because we're sinners, because we rebelled against God, because all of humanity was involved in that sin, somebody had to pay the penalty and rescue us from those sins. And Christ died for those sins to suffer the judgment and the penalty for his people. He died for our sins. 

Christ was buried, then arose. He conquered death.

How do we know these things? For one thing, the Scriptures predicted this. The Old Testament had spoken of someone who would have his hands pierced, who would say, "I thirst," who would be mocked, who would cry out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Psalm 22) These things were written down a thousand years before they happened. Isaiah 53 says, "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows. He took up our infirmities, he carried our sorrows, he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. He bore the sin of many." But it also says, "After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied and will justify many" (Isaiah 53:3–11). The Scriptures foretold Jesus' suffering, death, and return to life.

We also know resurrection reality because after he arose, eyewitnesses saw Jesus alive. The risen Jesus came to his followers, not only to the apostles, but to hundreds of others. 

So the gospel is: Christ died for our sins, and he rose again to conquer death. This was foretold in the Old Testament, and the New Testament is the message of eyewitnesses to Jesus' resurrection. 

You are saved through believing this. You're saved by believing that your sins were punished in Jesus and you don't have to suffer for them anymore. You're saved by believing that Christ rose from the dead and gives you eternal life, a taste of it now and the fullness of it when he raises your physical body to eternal life in the future.

This is the gospel. Gospel means "good news." It is not good advice. It is good news. It's an announcement of what Jesus Christ has done. When you believe in what Jesus Christ has done, then you're saved. This is the saving gospel. Easter is all about the saving gospel and the way of salvation that God provides for humanity in Jesus Christ. This is what all the apostles preached. If you want to know the gospel, this is it.

Some church people in Corinth were wondering if resurrection is for real or not. Paul says that if resurrection isn't real, we apostles are a bunch of liars, your faith is useless, you're still in your sins, and you are pitiable (1 Corinthians 15:9-19).

"But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. [“Fallen asleep” is his way of saying “died.”] For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all" (1 Corinthians 15:20-28).

The first Adam

• Dust: mortal without tree of life
• Son of God: made in God’s image to represent and relate to God
• Gardener: defend and expand God’s garden-temple to fill the earth
• Link: bring God’s reign to creation and creation’s praises to God

The Bible says that Adam was made from dust. It's not just talking about a bit of dirt being thrown together; “dust” in the Bible always indicates you're mortal. Adam was not automatically going to live forever. He didn't have immortality embedded in him. He could be made immortal, but he made choices that made him all too mortal. He was dust, and he would return to dust, because instead of choosing the tree of life, he chose the one tree that God said, “Don't take it.”

Adam was son of God: made in God’s image to represent and relate to God. He was to be like God in some important ways, and also to represent God in ruling over things and in relating to God. When Luke gives Jesus' genealogy in the New Testament, there's a long list of men who are the “the son of” so-and-so until the list gets back to "Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God” (Luke 3:38).   One thing "son of God" probably indicates is that Adam was to be included in God's divine council. “Sons of God” is sometimes used to describe angelic beings who God's heavenly council. Adam was meant to be included in the divine council and in God's rule over the creation. 

Adam was a gardener, appointed to defend and expand God’s garden-temple to fill the earth. God gave him and Eve this area of the Garden of Eden to tend and to defend. When a serpent start telling lies about God's love, they need to defend the Garden from the serpent, not go along with him. Eden was a garden-temple, a place for God to dwell in a special way, and God wanted it to expend to fill the earth. God said to Adam, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.” Make the whole world like this garden, this dwelling. The whole earth was meant to be a beautiful, wondrous garden and temple for God to dwell in. Adam's calling was to be the gardener who governed it and expanded it. 

Adam was the link between God and God's wonderful creation. He was to bring God's reign to creation and bring creation's praises to God. When Adam fell into sin, he stopped reigning well over creation on God's behalf. He stopped being a fit link to bring creation's praises to God. He did not fulfill what he was called to do. When Adam was first created, he wasn't yet immortal, but he was meant to become immortal through faithfulness to God and eating from the tree of life. He was meant to govern well. But he failed.

The first Adam failed. "In Adam all die" (1 Corinthians 15:22). "By the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man… sin reigned in death... The creation was subjected to frustration… and bondage to decay" (Romans 5:17, 21; 8:20-21). Sin and death affected Adam, and through Adam affected everybody who would come from Adam and Eve, and affected all the creation that they were meant to govern and tend and to care for.

The creation was subjected to frustration. The creation fell into bondage to decay. The created world is not the way it's supposed to be because humanity is not the way it's supposed to be. Humanity is not the way it's supposed to be because Adam wasn't the way he was supposed to be. And so you have this big problem. Adam has blown it, and his disaster has brought in disaster on all humanity, brought sin and death to all of us, and indeed to the whole creation.

We desperately needed a new Adam. And the announcement of Easter is: we've got a new Adam.

The new Adam rises

"Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive" (1 Corinthians 15:20–22).

When Christ comes to life on that first Easter Sunday, it is a great blessing to his followers to see their friend back. But it's not just that. He's the first of a new humanity. He is the new Adam. And because he is the new Adam, he rescues those who are in him from sin and even rescues them from death itself. “In Christ all will be made alive, but each in his own turn: Christ the firstfruits, then when he comes, those who belong to him” (1 Corinthians 15:23).

Here the apostle speaks of a two-step resurrection. Many Jewish people expected the resurrection to happen all at once. Many believed in the resurrection of all the dead at the end of the world. So it was a shock to the disciples to have somebody raised from the dead and glorified, and it wasn't yet the end of the world.

What was going on? A two-step resurrection. Jesus' body rose first; that's the first step. The next step will come later: believers in Jesus will have their bodies raised to life. Jesus is the firstfruits, the first part of the crop, but the rest of the crop is coming. Christ has risen and conquered death. And because he has, so will all who are in him. Just as Adam's fall had such a disastrous effect on many besides himself, so Christ's resurrection has this glorious effect on many others. There's a two-step resurrection in the sense that Jesus rises first, and later those who belong to Jesus will rise.

Twice dead, twice resurrected

There's also a two-step resurrection in another sense: those who belong to Jesus rise in two stages. First, when we believe in Jesus, the Spirit of Jesus puts his resurrection life into us right now, into our spirit. The Holy Spirit brings us alive inside right now. This can be called the first resurrection. When Jesus returns, then the second and fullest resurrection comes, when he gives us bodies like his resurrection body.

Paul says, "If Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you” (Romans 8:10-11). You see what it's saying? Your spirit is already alive. And because you have the Holy Spirit living in you, the same Holy Spirit who brought Jesus’ body back to life, he’s going to bring your body back to life too. “Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:20-21).

That’s the second stage. The first stage is: he makes you come alive now, inside, and starts changing you now. And then when he comes again, there is that resurrection of your physical body, not just bringing it back to life again, but also transforming it and making it glorious and immortal. It can’t be destroyed or ever die again.

A new creation happens already now. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). 

Therefore, we're told, “Put off the old man [Adam]... put on the new man [Jesus], created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:22, 24). Sometimes that gets translated “put off the old self ... put on the new self.” It's true that we do have an old self that we need to leave behind and a new self that God gives us that we need to grow into. But the literal translation is, "Put off the old man. Put on the new man." We need to get rid the old Adam and put on the new Adam. "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 13:14). In this world, Christians still have some of the legacy of the old Adam still hanging with us, so we need to put off the old Adam and put on the new Adam.

Jesus himself spoke of a two-stage resurrection: first, what happens when he first brings us to life in the Holy Spirit, and then what happens when he brings us to life at the resurrection of all the dead.  Jesus said, “Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live… a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out" (John 5:24-29)” (John 5:24–29).

Notice the two stages: first, “the time has now come,” so that if you hear the voice of the Son of God and you respond in faith, then you live. You're dead in Adam, but when you hear the voice of the Son of God, you live right now. Second, "a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out” (John 5:28–29). Jesus first refers to resurrection to spiritual life in Christ right now, and then he refers to a future time when everybody in the graves comes out at the voice of the Son of God. 

We're twice dead: we die spiritually in Adam and sin, and eventually our bodies die. But Christians are twice resurrected. Though we're dead in sin, Christ makes us alive when we hear his voice and put our trust in him. After our body dies, Christ will speak again and raise our bodies to life. Twice dead, twice resurrected.

Two-stage reign

The Bible speaks of the new creational reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes Jesus announced this as "the kingdom of God," the reign of God. Adam was meant reign and apply God's kingship over creation, but Adam blew it. Where Adam failed, Jesus succeeded. When Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is near,” he meant that God's reign had showed up anew and was about to take charge. He gave glimpses of it in the way that he healed people and did mighty miracles. And he entered fully into his reign when he rose from the dead. He declared, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18).

The New Testament speaks of two world ages or eons, and these ages overlap. Jesus came to put an end to the passing world age and to begin the coming world age of eternal life. But for a while, those ages overlap in the period between Jesus’ first coming and his second coming. The Bible calls this period "the last days." We're living between the time of Jesus’ resurrection and the time when he raises everybody else. And when he does that, then the old age we be totally done and the new age will fully arrive and God will be all in all.

“Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority, and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:24–26).

“Put everything under his feet”—that phrase goes back to a creation psalm. Psalm 8 says that God takes notice of little man and puts all things under his feet and gives him glory and honor. Those words were originally directed to humanity after Adam, but they are fulfilled in Jesus. He is putting everything under his feet again, and he is ruling until the last enemy, death, is completely eliminated.

Don’t think that Jesus rules only when he comes again. He has begun his reign already. He’s working in his people. He’s working in his world. And he’s ruling in such a way that he’s mowing down his enemies one after another. Sometimes he’s dealing with enemies by changing them into his friends. But he’s also dealing with enemies in the unseen realm: the demonic powers and Satan himself. Jesus is going to rule and keep on ruling until all the enemies are subdued. The last enemy to be destroyed is death itself. When the resurrection of the dead happens for all of Jesus' people, death then will be the utterly destroyed last enemy.

In the book of Revelation, Jesus reveals this same reality in visions. "The beast and the false prophet were thrown alive into the lake of fire." Those enemies are going into the lake of fire one after another. "The devil was thrown into the lake of fire." Those who reject the Lord Jesus and join with the devil and the beast and the false prophet are also in the lake of fire. And what's the last into the lake of fire? "Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire" (Revelation 19:20; 20:10, 13-14).  "The last enemy to be destroyed is death" (1 Corinthians 15:26). 

1 Corinthians 15 continues: “For 'he has put everything under his feet.' Now when it says that 'everything' has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all" (1 Corinthians 15:27-28) Jesus is the eternal Son of God, equal in all ways with the Father and yet always obedient to the Father and always doing everything to glorify his Father. Similarly, the Father does all things to glorify his Son. When God has put everything under Christ, and when Christ has taken charge of everything, he will gather it all up, and then hand it over to God the Father so that God is all in all.

That is the final purpose of Jesus coming into the world: to bring everything back to God and to make everything rejoice in God and to set all the creation right.

Universe reborn

The very universe itself is reborn with the rise of the new Adam. When Jesus rose from the grave on that first day and his disciples were filled with joy, they had hardly begun to discover what really had happened. But as Jesus explained the kingdom of God and the reign of God, the disciples understood. They understood that something huge had happened and that Jesus was taking over the universe. The final result would be the whole universe is reborn, where God is all in all. 

The Bible uses different phrases to speak of this, but they are pointing to the same thing. Jesus speaks of "the rebirth, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne" (Matthew 19:28-29). Jesus uses the same word that’s used for individual persons being born again, except here he is talking about the rebirth of everything. Jesus doesn't just intend to save individual souls; he intends the rebirth of the universe.

The apostle Peter says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade” (1 Peter 1:3–4). He's talking about rebirth into a tremendous inheritance, and that inheritance is nothing less than the rebirth of the creation.

In one of his first sermons proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus, Peter said, “He must remain in heaven until the time of the restoration of all things” (Acts 3:21). That’s when God is all in all, at the restoration of all things, when the animal world is set in harmony, when the earth is working the way it’s supposed to, when we humans are governing creation the way we were meant to do, when everything is beautiful and pure and perfect.

We can hardly imagine what such a world will be like. We get tastes of it because, despite the fallenness of our creation and its brokenness, there are some wonderful things in it. But what would it be like if it weren't messed up? Now, when we enjoy something in creation, we're eating an appetizer that’s been dropped in the dirt. At the restoration of all things, we're going to be eating the main course perfectly clean.

At the restoration of all things. “The creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). This is the ultimate destiny of the universe. And it is the new Adam and his resurrection that brings it there, causing us to be reborn through faith in him, causing the entire universe to be reborn.

Two-stage renewal

Again, this renewal of the universe occurs in two stages. 

In light of this glorious news of Easter, what’s the upshot?

The apostle Peter, in that same sermon, says, “Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away. Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and he will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah. For he must remain in heaven until the time for the final restoration of all things, as God promised long ago through his holy prophets."(Acts 3:19-21)

The gospel is good news. If you put your faith in Jesus, your sins are wiped away. You’re forgiven. You’re not going to get punished. You’re made clean. And not only are your sins wiped away, but even now, in this life, God is going to refresh you. He’s going to come to you just when you feel ready to give up, when your strength is gone, and times of refreshment are going to come to you. Times of refreshment are going to come on the church, just when the church is weary and weak. These times of refreshment come from the presence of the Lord, where Jesus reigns at God’s right hand.

But that’s just the taste. Times of refreshment keep us going, but when Messiah Jesus comes from heaven, he will bring the final restoration of all things. Through his holy prophets, God promised that the wolf will live with the lamb, the little child will play near the cobra. All people and animals and created things are going to be living in harmony (Isaiah 11:6-9). Even the mountains and the hills will burst into song (Isaiah 55:12). The whole creation will be a great song of praise to God. That’s what’s going to happen at the final restoration of all things.

New Adam

• Son of man: from Adam’s line
• Son of God: man from heaven
• Defeats death: rises and reigns
• Expands empire: conquers evil
• Restarts humanity: now & future
• Completes creation: God all in all

The new Adam, Jesus, is son of man because he was born into Adam’s line.

He’s the Son of God, and not just in the sense that Adam was was called "son of God." Adam was made in God’s image and could have been one of the "sons of God" along with the angels in God's heavenly council. Someday what Adam missed will become true of us through the second Adam: we're going to rule with angels, even judge angels (1 Corinthians 6:2-3). But Jesus is more than one among many sons of God made in God's image.

Jesus is God the Son, the eternal Son of God the Father. There are other sons of God in a certain sense, but there is no other Son of God like Jesus. Jesus, the Son of God, came to earth so that he could exalt us as sons of God. The Bible speaks of Jesus as "the man from heaven" (1 Corinthians 15:48). Adam was the man from the earth. Jesus is the man from heaven, because he's the Son of God who came down from heaven as a man.

The new Adam defeats death. He rises and reigns. 

He expands his empire and conquers evil until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

The new Adam gives humanity a new start already now, and a completely new start in the future. The new Adam is transforming humanity and will eventually transform his people so completely and so gloriously that we will at last become all that we were meant to be.

The New Adam completes creation. The original creation was very good, but not yet what it was meant to be. It would have become what it was meant to be if the first Adam had carried out his mandate, but he didn’t. So God did it all himself in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. When he comes again, then he's going to complete the creation where God is all in all.

Imperishable

What does the new Adam's resurrection mean for us? Let's examine the last part of 1 Corinthians 15.

"If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body" (1 Corinthians 15:44). "Spiritual body" does not mean it's just spirit, like a ghost, but rather a body that is fully glorified, with great powers, and fully controlled by the Holy Spirit. Think of Jesus’ resurrection body. When he came to his followers on that first Easter Sunday, they could touch him, they could hear him, they could see him, they could watch him eat—and then all of a sudden he was somewhere else. The risen Jesus was really physical, but he was no longer bound by the kind of physical laws that bind us. He was glorified. And so he could go where he wanted at will. That's the kind of "spiritual body" we will have: one that has complete control of its physical properties and is completely in tune with the Holy Spirit.

"So it is written: 'The first man Adam became a living being'; the last Adam, a lifegiving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven. I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” (1 Corinthians 15:45–45).

There are two Adams. If you only have one Adam in your body, you're not able to inherit the imperishable kingdom of God. You need God's life in you now, the life of the second Adam, or you will not be able to inherit the kingdom of God with that glorious resurrection body.

In a church that I previously served, a young man came to his mother in March and gave her some miracle seeds. He told her, “Mom, plant these, water them, and they will come up and flower in less than two weeks.” So she took those little specks and planted them in a pot filled with dirt. She put the pot on her windowsill in the sunlight and waited for the wondrous flowering of the wonder seeds. She checked a few days later—nothing happened. She checked another few days later—nothing happened. She watered them faithfully, but nothing happened. On April 1, her son came and said, “April Fools, Mom! Those 'miracle seeds' are the tips of turkey beaks.”  Seeds must have life hidden in them, or nothing comes of them. The dead tips of turkey beaks don't turn into flowers. 

Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. You need a different kind of life in you. You need the life of the second Adam inside you now in order for God to give you a different kind of body to live in that eternal new reality that God is bringing.

"I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed–in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory.'  … Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:57).

The dead will be raised with bodies like Jesus’ resurrection body, and if you still happen to be living when Jesus comes again, you're going to get a body like his resurrection body too. 

The new Adam has risen. This means that already now you can come to life in your spirit and become a new person, and in the future you will be transformed to have a body like the body of the risen Lord Jesus Christ himself. When everything is put right, then those who belong to the new Adam will reign with him. And as we reign, and reign well, we bring the praises of creation to God, and we bring the reign of God to all of creation.

If you're a real environmentalist, you will want to take good care of the earth as we have it now. But true environmentalists will be praying that Jesus will come again and make us the kind of people who can take care of the creation the way it was meant to be. 

God starts by working inside you, changing your spirit through the gospel. Then, when Jesus comes again, he raises you to everlasting life. By that point, the last enemy, death, is defeated. God is all in all. And creation is the way it's supposed to be.

So rejoice. If Jesus is your friend, if you already love him, then trust and rejoice that your friend is alive again. But rejoice in something bigger today. Rejoice that the new Adam has arisen, that the creation itself is in the process of being put right, and that all things are destined to be the way they're meant to be. "Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Take all this to heart. Take your stand on this gospel. Christ died for our sins. Christ rose again. Repent. Times of refreshing are going to come now, and the renewal of all things is coming soon.

Prayer

Thank you, Father, for raising Jesus from the dead. Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you reign even now, that we can share in your victory. Help those of us who know you and love you to grow in faith each day and in the joy that you give us and in peace that surpasses all understanding.

Help those of us, Lord, who grieve the loss of loved ones, to know that they are in your hands, if they belonged to you by faith, and that we will rejoice with them in your new creation.

Help those too who have not yet believed this gospel, who have not yet put their trust in you and do not experience the life of your Holy Spirit working in them and transforming them. Lord Jesus, help them to believe the good news of your death and resurrection and to trust that you’ll take away their sins, that you'll give them eternal life through faith in Jesus our Lord. Give them that wonderful new birth.

Cause your gospel to go out around the world to many today as the risen Christ is proclaimed and celebrated. Bring your salvation to many more people.

We look forward to the day when you come again, when we receive our glorified bodies that are like yours, when this creation which you made so wonderful and which has been broken in so many terrible ways, is perfected. Hasten that day, when heaven comes to earth, and all things are made new.

We pray for that day in Jesus’ name. Amen.

 

The New Adam Rises
By David Feddes
Slide Contents 

  ¹ Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. ² By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 
   ³ For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, ⁵ and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. ⁶ After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷ Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, ⁸ and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. (1 Corinthians 15:1-8)

The saving gospel

• Christ died for our sins.
• Christ was buried, then arose.
• The Scriptures predicted this.
• Eyewitnesses saw Jesus alive.
• You are saved through believing.

²⁰ But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹ For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. ²² For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. ²³ But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. ²⁴ Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. ²⁵ For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶ The last enemy to be destroyed is death. ²⁷ For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. ²⁸ When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15:20-28)

The first Adam

• Dust: mortal without tree of life
• Son of God: made in God’s image to represent and relate to God
• Gardener: defend and expand God’s garden-temple to fill the earth
• Link: bring God’s reign to creation and creation’s praises to God

In Adam all die
By the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man… sin reigned in death... The creation was subjected to frustration… bondage to decay. (Romans 5:17, 21; 8:20-21)

The new Adam rises
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:20-22)

Firstfruits
But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. (1 Corinthians 15:23)
Two-step resurrection:
  1. Jesus’ body rose first.
  2. Believers’ bodies will rise later.

Two-step resurrection
  1. When we believe, Jesus’ Spirit puts his resurrection life into our spirit.
  2. When Jesus returns, he will give us bodies like his resurrection body.
See Romans 8:10-11; Philippians 3:21

New creation now
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Put off the old man [Adam] … put on the new man [Jesus], created after the likeness of God. (Ephesians 4:22, 24)

Twice dead, twice raised
Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live… a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out. (John 5:24-29)

 

NT speaks of two world-ages (aions). These overlap between Jesus’ first and second coming. God’s kingdom is “already/not yet.”

Reigning till the end
Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. (1 Corinthians 15:24-26)

End of enemies
The beast… and the false prophet… were thrown alive into the lake of fire… The devil… was thrown into the lake of fire… Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them… Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. (Revelation 19:20; 20:10, 13-14)

God all in all
For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15:27-28)

Universe reborn
… the rebirth, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne… (Matthew 19:28-29)
… new birth into a living hope (1 Peter 1:3)
He must remain in heaven until the time of the restoration of all things. (Acts 3:21)
The creation itself will be freed from its bondage to decay into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. (Romans 8:21)

Two-stage renewal
Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away. Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and he will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah. For he must remain in heaven until the time for the final restoration of all things, as God promised long ago through his holy prophets. (Acts 3:19-21)

New Adam

• Son of man: from Adam’s line
• Son of God: man from heaven
• Defeats death: rises and reigns
• Expands empire: conquers evil
• Restarts humanity: now & future
• Completes creation: God all in all

 

… If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. ⁴⁵ So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a lifegiving spirit. ⁴⁶ The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. ⁴⁷ The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. ⁴⁸ As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. ⁴⁹ And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.

⁵⁰ I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. ⁵¹ Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed– ⁵² in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. ⁵³ For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. ⁵⁴ When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”  … ⁵⁷ Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.