This is a verse to which the Old School Baptists have made a lot of reference since 1832. They make a lot of reference to it today. It is one that we would do well to consider because it contains so much about salvation and our relationship to our Savior. "And so it is written, the first man adam was made a living soul; the last Adam, a quickening spirit." Not very many words is it? "And so it is written, the first man, Adam" it does not say "the first men but the first man. There was an original creation. This world didn't come into existence by chance or by a random "big bang." There may have been a big bang when God created the world. I don't know; I wasn't there. But it certainly wasn't the "bang" that science, falsely so called, tells us it was.
On this earth, which was without form and void and darkness covered the face of the deep, the spirit of God moved on the waters, and God said let there be light, and there was. God said there should be a firmament separating the waters above from the waters below. Let the sea bring forth its fish; let the ground bring forth all the herbs, plants and trees; let the cattle, birds, creeping things come forth. Then finally, in the last act of creation, God took the dust of the ground and formed a man: Adam. God formed a man. He was made. When we go back and read the Genesis account, "and God said let us make man in our own image and after our own likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth So God created man in his own image; in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them." Who was made? A man. We look at this as God said it in the 2nd chapter when the recapitulation of the order of creation was made. In the 2nd chapter he says, "and the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." This is the text Paul is quoting, isn't it? "The first man Adam was made a living soul." He didn't evolve; he came forth from the hand of his creator a man as much as you or I. His humanity was fully formed when God took of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and that man became a living soul. He didn't get a living soul from God. He didn't have some sort of principle of holiness and righteousness infused into his being that made him a living soul. He was made that in the act of creation, and if you and I are anything today we are a living soul just as Adam was. Because we came from him.
According to Genesis 1 God said let us make man in our image and after our likeness and how did he create him? "In the image of God created he him, male and female created he them." When as yet there was just the man. Adam was created a living soul with his bride in him. Adam was created a living soul with all of his seed that would proceed from him in him, as well. There he was in this full humanity, without having that bride taken from him, yet still possessing her within. Because she was to be taken from his side, bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh, God formed her from man, not as he had formed Adam, from the dust of the ground. I believe, brethren, this is the image of God in which Adam was created. God, in those annals of eternity we talk about, in the period before Adam was created, in the period before the earth was even created, with nothing but himself in his self-existing unity, chose a people in Christ Jesus. He did not choose them to get in Christ. Some have the idea that God thought of a bunch of people and said these people will get in Christ when they believe. That God thought of a bunch of individuals that would exist (and I have no doubt but what God thought of every one of them) but thinking of them and actually giving them to the Son as his eternal seed and the generation that should serve him are two radically different things.
People want election to not be real. They want it to be some kind of mystical thought process, some kind of idea that just exists in what they call the "mind and purpose of God." Well, God has declared by the mouth of the prophet Isaiah that as I have thought so shall it be, and as I have
purposed so shall it come to pass.
Now if a thought is something that's in the mind, brethren, it shall be exactly as God thought. If God thought. "I'm going to give a people to Christ," doesn't it stand to reason by the Scriptures that he would do so? If He purposed it, don't you think it also came to pass the same way? And yes, brethren, there are people who call themselves Primitive Baptists who try to put election strictly in the "mind and purpose of God" instead of a real choice of a real people actually given to Jesus Christ before they ever had a fleshly existence. They try to make fun of this and say, "Do you believe that they were stacked up like cordwood there?" Of course we don't. Election is not in Adam; election is not in anything of the flesh. Election is in Christ Jesus and people were really given to him before the world began, just as much as Eve was in Adam when he came forth a living soul from the hand of his creator. Just as assuredly as Adam possessed the seed of the entire race that would flow from him, so Christ possessed his eternal seed that seed that the scripture tells us in the prophets (I believe again Isaiah) "and a seed shall serve him." That's the seed that came forth in Him.
Why would the Apostle Paul call Christ, of all people, "the Last Adam?" The 1st man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. In this living soul came forth everything of all the posterity that would follow after and populate this world. You and I were in Adam before the fall when he came forth that living soul before Eve was taken from his side. We had an existence there. You may say. surely not. What was Paul's argument concerning the law when he said that Levi, the father of the priesthood, paid tithes to Melchizedek when he was still in the loins of Abraham.
Paul believed that Levi was there and faced again by the fact that we believe that every word of the original language that was penned by all of the prophets, all of the psalmists, all of lawgivers, all of the apostles, was put down correctly, and if we have, and I believe we do have, a very correct translation of that right here. We have the one God wants us to have, I can guarantee you that. He said Levi paid tithes to Melchizedek because he was in the loins of his father (he calls Abraham his father, but really he was his great grandfather) but Levi was there. So I have scriptural right to say that you and I were there in the loins of Adam, then. And what happened? "And the Lord God said it is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helpmeet for him". And the Lord God ..... taken out of man. Now we have, as it were, the channel through which that seed would be manifested. All that was there, was there in Adam. Now it's taken from him and we see through the course of history, then until now, its manifestation, don't we. Adam was a living soul. No more than flesh; no more than dust with life from God breathed into it. The life that God gave him was a natural life. He had a natural bride. He had a natural seed. He had a natural fall. Then he had a natural manifestation of that seed in the birth of sons and daughters.
Christ is now called the last Adam. "The last Adam was made" Now think about this for just a moment, in his eternal Deity was Christ made? Of course not. He has an underived godhead. "In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God." There was nothing made without him, without him was not anything made that was made. He formed Adam. He breathed into Adam's nostrils the breath of life. How can he be last? It's in the order they were manifested. The natural creation was manifested before the spiritual. Even though the elect of God were given to Christ before the foundation of the world, even though as the eternal God that one of whom it's said by the prophet Isaiah that he is the everlasting father, he had possession of his people in eternity, but that was not manifested until he was made. Think about this for just a second, something that Paul wrote to the Galatians, "but when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law" in answer, I believe, to the prophecy of Isaiah which we began to quote, when Isaiah was made to see the glory of the redeemer and say "unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be on his shoulders and his name shall be called wonderful, counselor, the prince of peace, the mighty god, the everlasting father. And the government shall be on his shoulders and of his kingdom and of peace there shall be no end."
When was this, brethren? When was Christ made? He was made when he became the Christ of God when god sent forth his son, made of a woman. This very one that was taken from Adam. This very one that Adam possessed in the beginning. This very one that was in him now becomes the channel for Christ Jesus to be made. The very one who was found in transgression. Go back and look again in Genesis, "Now the serpent...and he did eat" (Gen. 29: 10) She ate. She gave to Adam and he ate as well. And out of one piece of fallen humanity, the same one that was tempted by the serpent, Christ was made. That's agreeable to the prophecy after God cursed the Serpent, God said to the woman, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children and thy desire shall be toward thy husband and he shall rule over thee and the Lord God said unto the serpent because thou hast done this thou art cursed above all cattle and every beast of the field and upon thy belly thou shalt go and dust shall thou eat all the days of thy life. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed, and he shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel.
The very first prophecy of salvation that God revealed unto Adam and Eve in the garden was that He, the seed of the woman, would bring forth that which would bruise the head of that old serpent. And that's what Paul writes about in the book of Galatians, "when the fullness of the time was come," not before, ''God sent forth his son made of a woman."
Christ the Messiah, the Redeemer, this Jesus was made in the womb of Mary. "Thou shalt bring forth a son, and thou shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins." Mary said, "how shall these things be seeing I know not a man?" None was involved in that conception but God through his Spirit overshadowing her, that in her womb should be made Jesus who should be the deliverer of his people, who in priority, as John himself said, was before him, because he was eternal.
As the eternal God, who knows no beginning and no end, he was not made. As Christ the redeemer, as the mediator between God and man, the one who could lay hold on both remember, Paul, writing to Timothy, says, "there is one God, and one mediator between God and man, [and it's not the eternality he's stressing here, but he says] the man Christ Jesus" he was made by God. His humanity was made by God and like Adam, who had his bride in him and possessed the whole of his seed even though none of them were manifested, Christ Jesus when he was made of a woman, made under the law, according, if we continue reading there in the book of Galatians, where we began, he gives the reason, to redeem that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons. Now, what does that tell us? I believe it tells us that the people that was given to Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world, that eternal generation [generation here is a noun not a verb]. Some people think that Jesus Christ was eternally generated by the Father as a 2nd person in the Godhead. There is an eternal generation of the seed that will serve him, but HE did not need to be generated by any until he came forth to this earth and was formed in the womb of the virgin. This generation that should serve him, that, my brethren, was in him as his seed just as Adam's was in him.
When he was born into the world he was made of a of woman, made under the law. He was sent and made. Adam was made under law, wasn't he? Of all the trees you may eat ... except for one. Brethren, that was as much a law as the 10 commandments were the Jews, in fact, as the whole of the ceremonial law. Adam could no more keep that law than the Jews could keep theirs, or than you or I could keep it today. Christ was made under it because he could keep it. He was made under the law not so that he could get justified by it, rather it was to redeem them that were under the law. Think about that! Adam was made under it. And God said, Adam, in the day you eat of it you 'II die. The Jews were under their law and broke it before God finished giving it to them. Moses was still on the Mount receiving the law at the hand of God, and they were dancing around the golden calf. After making the brag, "all that the Lord God commands us we will do," they broke it before it was completely given. Christ wasn't under the law for himself. Adam was under law for himself. The Jews were under the law for themselves. If All the Jews that went out of Egypt with Moses would have kept all the law perfectly, it wouldn't have done the Egyptians, the Hittites, the Philistines, the Canaanites one bit of good, would it? Indeed if only one Jew that came out of Egypt would have kept the law perfectly, it wouldn't have done the whole nation any good, would it? Because that obedience under law was only good for the person doing the obeying. Our Lord didn't need to obey the Law for himself. He was made under the law, all right, but it wasn't so He could obey it to become righteous, get life (or any other thing), obtain the promise (natural or spiritual), it was to redeem them that were under the law. Redemption was the purpose of Christ's being made.
Adam was made a living soul. The 2nd Adam, the last Adam, who had the generation in him, was made not just living, but made a quickening or life-giving spirit. Now how can that be? Because he accomplished that redemption for all of the generation that was given him, for all of the seed he possessed. In Adam we all fell because we all were there and none can say today, "I stand on the same ground Adam stood." No, you don't; you're not in the garden. You haven't heard the voice of God walking in the cool of the day. God didn't take a rib from your side and make a woman. God didn't tell you not to eat of that tree. Any who say that think themselves more than what they are: a poor fallen worm of the dust. Our Lord came with a seed, with a hold on both remember, Paul, writing to Timothy, says, "there is one God, and one mediator between God and man, [and it's not the eternality he's stressing here, but he says] the man Christ Jesus" he was made by God. His humanity was made by God and like Adam, who had his bride in him and possessed the whole of his seed even though none of them were manifested, Christ Jesus when he was made of a woman, made under the law, according, if we continue reading there in the book of Galatians, where we began, he gives the reason, to redeem that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons.
Now, what does that tell us? I believe it tells us that the people that was given to Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world, that eternal generation [generation here is a noun not a verb]. Some people think that Jesus Christ was eternally generated by the Father as a 2nd person in the Godhead. There is an eternal generation of the seed that will serve him, but HE did not need to be generated by any until he came forth to this earth and was formed in the womb of the virgin. This generation that should serve him, that, my brethren, was in him as his seed just as Adam's was in him.
When he was born into the world he was made of a of woman, made under the law. He was sent and made. Adam was made under law, wasn't he? Of all the trees you may eat ... except for one. Brethren, that was as much a law as the 10 commandments were the Jews, in fact, as the whole of the ceremonial law. Adam could no more keep that law than the Jews could keep theirs, or than you or I could keep it today.
Christ was made under it because he could keep it. He was made under the law not so that he could get justified by it, rather it was to redeem them that were under the law. Think about that! Adam was made under it. And God said, Adam, in the day you eat of it you 'II die. The Jews were under their law and broke it before God finished giving it to them. Moses was still on the Mount receiving the law at the hand of God, and they were dancing around the golden calf. After making the brag, "all that the Lord God commands us we will do," they broke it before it was completely given.
Christ wasn't under the law for himself. Adam was under law for himself. The Jews were under the law for themselves. If All the Jews that went out of Egypt with Moses would have kept all the law perfectly, it wouldn't have done the Egyptians, the Hittites, the Philistines, the Canaanites one bit of good, would it? Indeed if only one Jew that came out of Egypt would have kept the law perfectly, it wouldn't have done the whole nation any good, would it? Because that obedience under law was only good for the person doing the obeying.
Our Lord didn't need to obey the Law for himself. He was made under the law, all right, but it wasn't so He could obey it to become righteous, get life (or any other thing), obtain the promise (natural or spiritual), it was to redeem them that were under the law. Redemption was the purpose of Christ's being made. Adam was made a living soul. The 2nd Adam, the last Adam, who had the generation in him, was made not just living, but made a quickening or life-giving spirit. Now how can that be? Because he accomplished that redemption for all of the generation that was given him, for all of the seed he possessed. In Adam we all fell because we all were there and none can say today, "I stand on the same ground Adam stood." No, you don't; you're not in the garden. You haven't heard the voice of God walking in the cool of the day. God didn't take a rib from your side and make a woman. God didn't tell you not to eat of that tree. Any who say that think themselves more than what they are: a poor fallen worm of the dust. Our Lord came with a seed, with a generation, with a bride wrapped up in him. When did Jesus say these words "behold, I and the children thou hast given me?" I believe it was in eternity when only he stood there. And he could say it just assuredly as Adam could say it, behold, I and the children, because they were all in him.
He was made under the law because those children that were given him became partakers of flesh and blood, so he also, himself, likewise must take part of the same for the purpose of redeeming them. He came "to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons." Now, let me ask you this question, What is the adoption of Sons? "And not only they but we also who have the 1st fruits of the spirit even we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body."
We're redeemed that we might receive the adoption of sons at the resurrection. We're redeemed that it might be made manifest by the resurrection unto life of the same body that's sown in dishonor that it will be raised a glorified body because of adoption. Jesus Christ is made that life-giving spirit. Think about this, the election of grace, you and I we hope, we're out there in our lives as we work and by a power that we don't understand the spirit of God comes upon us and what happens? We have life that we didn't have before. We have that because Christ Jesus our last Adam was made this quickening spirit to give life to every one of his people. To give them that which he had for them as that seed, as that eternal generation, the people that should show forth his praise must have life before they could do that and he was made, just the opposite of Adam who fell, he was made to give life, not to die, in this sense of the word. He was made to die, wasn't he, and he must die the death on the cross. He must hang there as a malefactor even though he wasn't that he might be raised again that it might be shown by the resurrection from the dead that he is the son of God. Not the son of Joseph, the Son of God. And now he's made a quickening spirit to give life where there was death. To give us something we didn't have before: a life, an eternal life. And more than that, because we're still possessors of the Adamic life this body dies. But it shall live. By Jesus Christ it shall live as well. IN the adoption he redeemed that which was under the law, and though the body dies, it shall rise incorruptible, eternal, glorious.
This life giving spirit, which he is made by God, in his incarnation, in his life, I am reminded of the words we quote a lot particularly when discussing with those who believe the preacher has to go call the elect, the hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live. Have you been dead? Paul said in the 7th of Romans, the commandment came, sin revived and I died. He said, I was alive without the law once, but the commandment came. Who did Christ come to redeem? Them that were under the law. When the commandment comes and shows you what you owe and that you are like that man I 0,000 talents in debt but without a farthing to pay. When you are blessed to see that when your eyes are opened and the commandment comes then sin revives and you're made to see that all of that you thought was good was in reality sin.
All the times that you thought you were doing so well, was sin. That thought of foolishness, everything not of faith is sin, lo and behold you are brought to see that your hope is not a faith hope, it's a legal hope. I can do this and God will then do that. But when the commandment comes you see the death of that legal hope because sin revives and you die. What do the dead need? Life. How do they get it? By the voice of the son of God that quickening Spirit that Jesus Christ himself comes to them and speaks their name as he said he goes before his sheep and calls them by name. And he doesn't need me to tell him where you are. He purposed every step, he declared every twist, he marked out every high and every low down the path that's yours. He knows right where you are because you're right where he wants you. He speaks that word and life in the midst of the death comes forth. You are made to see with open eyes the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, but this treasure is hid in an earthen vessel which you bear about in a warfare. Life is there and you can't deny it. You may not be able to explain it, but you can't deny it. That something is there that wasn't before and it came from without and God himself gave it to you. God alone has the power to give this life.
The last Adam because he is the last one to stand as the head of a generation. Adam stood as the head of a natural generation, as far as this world is concerned. Christ stands as the head of his spiritual generation and its manifestation in time was after Adam. And all of Adam's seed fell in him, and all of Christ's seed were made alive in him because he is that quickening spirit. Where do people look for life? They look for it in duty, in the church, baptism, getting out and doing.
There's only one place where this life is: it's in the last Adam, Jesus. It's in the Christ of God, the messiah, the child born, the son given. The government shall be on his shoulder and his name shall be called wonderful, counselor, the mighty God, the prince of peace, the everlasting father. Where are you looking? Paul said, let us run with patience the race set before us looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Brethren, if we have it, it comes from him. If we have life it comes from him. If we have faith it comes from him. All of these things come by the life of God given to us.
Indeed, Paul, Phillipians, for ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life shall appear then shall you also appear with him in glory. What I want you to consider is just that 1st part. When Christ who is our life. Do you have life, it's eternal. And it came from that life-giving spirit that Jesus was made when he was made under the law, made of a woman, died the death of the cross, rose again by the power God was declared to be the son of God, and ascended unto the father, and there, still yet, he gives that life to whom he will. That's his generation, that seed that's in him. They all haven't been taken from him yet, though some have been manifested in time, all haven't been, just as all of Adam's seed hasn't been. Brethren I believe when the last one appears and that last one is called by his name, that it will be folded up as it were, and then we shall know even as we are known and we shall be with the Lord forever.
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