There are two descriptive titles of our Lord Jesus Christ, found in the great resurrection chapter of the Bible. There we read of “The Last Adam” and “The Second Man” (1 Cor. 15:45, 47). The former title illustrates finality; the latter illustrates displacement.
The word, last, denotes finality. There can be nothing after the last. The word, last, certainly implies a first, and it may be many intermediate links, but the last means completeness, nothing further to expect, conclusiveness, finality. We read:
“The first man, Adam, became a living soul; the last Adam a quickening spirit” (1 Cor. 15:45, N.Tr.).
The first Adam received life, and was a dependent man; the last Adam is the source of life and the communicator of it. The first Adam sinned, and dragged down his posterity after him in ruin and shame. The last Adam is Divine as well as Human, never to be superseded, for there is, and can be, no breakdown with Him. The first Adam was the Head of a fallen race; the last Adam is the Head of a new creation.
“As in Adam all die; even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22).
That is to say, all, that are “in Christ,” shall be made alive in resurrection, for in Christ there is a new creation, in which every believer has his part. (See 2 Cor. 5:17.)
There is finality in our Lord. None will succeed Him. He will never die, nor break down. He continues ever. It is a trying experience to lean upon a friend, a counsellor, who becomes by age and experience more and more able to give wise counsel, but death comes along, and just when he is most valuable and helpful, in a moment your prop is no more. But it is not so with our blessed Lord, for He continues ever, “after the power of an endless life” (Heb. 7:16). There is, blessed be His holy name, finality with Him.
We read the difference between the types and the Antitype:
“They truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death: but this Man [the Lord Jesus], because He continues ever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come to God by Him, seeing He ever lives to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:23-23).
The poverty of human language to express divine thoughts, entirely outside the range of time and sense, is seen in the following Scripture:
“I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, says the Lord, which is, which was, which is to come, the Almighty” (Rev. 1:8).
Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, but here is human language, utilised to present to us the thought that with the Lord there is no beginning and no ending, that He is from eternity to eternity. We do not read that in the beginning is the word, but that “in the beginning was the Word” (John 1:1). That “was” stretches back without a beginning. In this verse our Lord is described as having a present, a past, a future, and in that order—a present, that is always a present; a past, that never had a beginning; a future, that will never know an end. This is our Lord, whose Being is stamped with finality. How comforting in this changing scene to be told of
“Jesus Christ, the Same yesterday, and today, and for ever” (Heb. 13:8).
We have to do with One who can never die, who will never cease His tender solicitude and activities on our behalf, the One who sticks closer than a brother, One who is able to save to the uttermost, to the very last step of the journey home. “Underneath are the everlasting arms” of love and power (Deut. 33:27). How wonderfully well off are we! What resources we have in our Lord!
Scientists may tell us this earth was created millions of years ago. It surely had a beginning, but it is going to have an ending. This very earth in which we live will one day perish, the very elements will melt with fervent heat. We read of the things around us:
“They shall perish; but Thou remainest … they shall be changed; but Thou art the Same, and Thy years shall not fail” (Heb. 2:11-12).
How precious are the words “Thou remainest” in all changing circumstances.
The Apostle Peter had a grand idea of the finality of our Lord, when he so powerfully declared to the Sanhedrim, who had so recently played their wicked part in crucifying the Lord of glory:
“There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
In these sadly degenerate days we hear of modernistically inclined missionaries doing the devil’s work, telling the natives of heathen lands, that they come out to make Buddhists better Buddhists; Mohammedans better Mohammedans; Confucians better Confucians; that there is good in all religions. Peter’s announcement sweeps all this wicked nonsense out of the way. In the matter of salvation our Lord is the only Saviour, and we cannot build a superstructive of Christianity on a foundation of heathen and devilish religions.
Our Lord stated the exclusivism of Christianity very definitely:
“I AM the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father but by Me” (John 14:6).
Outside of Christ there is no way back to God; outside of Him there is no truth to illuminate our path and guide us aright on a journey, whose terminus is either heaven or hell, a very vital matter; no life suitable for God, save that which emanates from Him alone.
Only in the realm of grace are we glad to see all mediatorship in the hands of One, whom we can supremely trust. In the world the monopolist generally speaking has a questionable name, as one who corners some necessity of life, and puts a prohibitive price on that, which no one can procure, but from him alone, and amasses thereby a fortune at the expense of the many. How vastly different is our Lord. Using the symbolic language of the Old Testament, here is His invitation:
“He that has no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price” (Isa. 55:1).
In this market the multi-millionaire is as powerless to buy, and the poorest mendicant with perfectly empty pockets is welcome to receive, as a pure and gracious gift from God, all the blessings of the Gospel of the grace of God, through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
THE SECOND MAN
This title referring to our Lord is only mentioned once in the whole of the Scriptures. We read:
“The first man is of the earth, earthy; the Second Man is the Lord from heaven” (1 Cor. 15:47).
Here we have in sharp contrast the difference between the first man and the Second Man. The first man is of the earth, earthy, he does not rise above his origin, nay more, there would have been no need for a Second Man, if the first had not failed to maintain the position in which a Creator-God had placed him. And so the contrast is still further emphasised. We read
“As is the earthy; such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly” (1 Cor. 15:48).
The origin of the first man was earthy; the origin of the Second Man is heavenly. We see, too, how these stand for two headships.
Romans 5:12-21 is the portion of Scripture which brings out the contrast between the two headships. By one man sin entered the world, and death passed upon all men, for all men have sinned. The judgment came by one to condemnation, that is through Adam; the free gift is of many offences to justification, that is the atoning death of our Lord lifted for faith the sinner from the headship of Adam to the Headship of Christ, so we read:
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away: behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17).
What a happy displacement this is, to be relieved righteously through the death of our Lord Jesus Christ from sin and its consequence, and to find ourselves under the Headship of our Lord, which speaks of eternal and blessed association with Him, so that we can say:
“As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly” (1 Cor. 15:49).
How careful is Scripture to tell us the Second Man is the Lord from heaven. Even our Lord when here on earth could say:
“No man has ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven” (John 3:13).
Our Lord was a true Man. His manhood stood alone by itself, perfectly unique. He never was a member of Adam’s fallen race. That is the meaning of the virgin birth. Our Lord had no human father. He was begotten of the Holy Spirit of God. As to the manhood He was pleased to take, He was the Lord from heaven. The angel Gabriel, addressing the virgin Mary said to her:
“The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee; and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).
What a happy displacement from utter ruin under the first man, to the blessedness of association with the Second Man, our blessed risen Lord in glory! Well may we sing,
“Called from above, and heavenly men by birth
(Who once were but the citizens of earth),
As pilgrims here, we seek a heavenly home,
Our portion, in the ages yet to come.”