Foundational Themes in Genesis – Study 19
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The theme of temptation is foundational to our understanding of God’s work in the generation of the first man Adam. Without the right and solid foundations no building will stand. Jesus Christ is our foundation and builder, and what He starts He also finishes to perfection, as His Father ordained it unto Him (Mat 25:34, 1Co 3:10, 1Ti 6:19, 2Ti 2:19, Heb 1;10, Heb 11:10). He also created evil and darkness which is ‘all that is in the world’ of the first Adam (Gen 1:2, Mat 4:16, Mat 6:23):
Isa 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
1Jn 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
Adam and Eve experienced this darkness of evil through their inherent lusts before they even touched the forbidden fruit. God created and “works all things” with a holy and loving purpose according to His one will (Eph 1:11). After the serpent tempted and “beguiled Eve through his subtlety”, the evil lusts in her were ‘enticed’, and that also happened inside Adam “with her” (Gen 3:1-5, 2Co 11:3):
Gen 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food [the lust of the flesh], and that it was pleasant to the eyes [the lust of the eyes], and a tree to be desired to make one wise [the pride of life], she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Jas 1:14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
We know that Jesus was created by God, the Father, to be the Creator and God of this creation (Rev 3:14, Joh 16:27, Joh 17:8, Col 1:15-17, Heb 1:1-4, Joh 1:1-4). With Jesus’ incarnation He was made of the same weak and corruptible flesh as all in the generation of the first Adam (1Co 15:42-44). As we see in the story of Adam and Eve, all in Adamic flesh are preordained by God to go through temptations and trials for His purposes (Isa 46:10-11). Jesus, “in the days of His flesh”, was not exempted from anything which all in the first Adam are subjected to by God’s design:
Heb 2:16 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
Heb 5:7 Who [Jesus] in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death [“the body of this death” (Rom 7:24)], and was heard in that he feared;
Heb 5:8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.
Heb 5:9 And being made perfect [Greek aorist tense], he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.
Jesus, as a “son of man” (or son of Adam), had to grow through a process of maturing like all of us and had no problem to associate Himself, even in that respect, with the generation of the first Adam. The first man Adam’s flesh was ‘not good’ – it is called “corruption” (1Co 15:42-44, Psa 8:1-9, Heb 2:6-9, Mat 8:20, Mat 11:19, Mat 12:40, Mat 19:17). As the spiritual “son of God”, Jesud was subjected to ‘all points’ of temptation in His flesh, yet “without sin”. Jesus was indeed separated from sinners – He did not give in to those temptations to conceive and to bring forth sin (Mat 4:1-11, Joh 1:14, 1Jn 1:1):
Jas 1:14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Jas 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities [our fleshly nature with all its lusts]; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
1Pe 1:19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
Heb 7:26 For such an high priest became us, who [Jesus] is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;
Although Jesus was conceived in His earthly mother by the holy spirit of God, He shared this same ‘body of sin’ through Mary, who also was of “the loins” of David (Mat 1:18-20). Mary had the same egg as any other natural woman who becomes pregnant, and any false teaching of an “immaculate” conception of Mary is foreign to the Scriptures. Jesus was “made of a woman”, and any natural woman can only bring forth a natural offspring which links him directly to the generation of the first man Adam (Mat 19:17, Luk 3:23-38, Act 2:30, Rom 1:3). The spirit of the antichrist cannot accept this truth (1Jn 4:3). All things in Adam applied to Jesus “in the days of his flesh” also these verses:
Psa 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Gal 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.
2Co 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Jesus’ resistance to the temptation in the wilderness and surrendering His will to that of the Father shows us why He was “yet without sin” and “knew no sin”, even while He was “after the flesh”:
Luk 22:42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
2Co 5:16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.
Jesus Christ is indeed our sin offering. His “body of sin” was subject to corruption and had to die or ‘go away’ to open ‘the way’ for the new ‘body’ to come, even “the body of [the] Christ” for all in the generation of the first Adam (Heb 10:20, Joh 14:6, 1Co 12:27):
Rom 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Joh 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I [in flesh] go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
Lev 4:3 If the priest that is anointed [Lev 21:10-23, Psa 133:2. The Greek Septuagint also has ‘chief priest’ which is the high priest as a type of Christ] do sin according to the sin of the people [have a ‘body of sin’]; then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the LORD for a sin offering.
“Christ after the flesh” had to grow up as a normal human being ‘under the law’ (Mat 3:15, Mat 5:17-20, Mat 9:16-17). When He started His spiritual ministry, He openly defied the carnal laws of Moses (Heb 7:9-28, Mat 5:21-48, Joh 5:1-18, Joh 8:3-11, Mat 12:1-8). Natural laws in their various forms apply to the natural man. This relates to all in the first Adam who is “under the law” or “under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the Father”. When grace and truth come, the elected ones are given “the spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance” while they are yet in natural bodies of flesh. They are ‘reaching forth’ and ‘follow after’ the final “redemption of the purchased possession” at the resurrection of the dead (Joh 1:17, Gal 4:2, Eph 1:13-14, 1Co 15:17-20):
Php 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
Php 3:11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
Php 3:12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Php 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
Php 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
As Jesus associated with the flesh of our old Adam, so His church now associates with the “purchased possession” of a spiritual “body” of incorruption – the “church of God” (Act 20:28, 1Ti 3:15, Heb 12:23). Through Jesus, this is ‘now made manifest’ to those who can receive it. The first Adam was preordained by God to come in a body of corruption and to suffer patiently under temptations and trials:
Eph 5:30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
Col 1:26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Jesus is making it known to them whom He has chosen to overcome sin by His spirit – which is His Word (Joh 6:63):
Joh 3:34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.
Joh 16:15 (1912 WNT) Everything that the Father has is mine; that is why I said that the Spirit of Truth takes of what is mine and will make it known to you.
Temptations influence and affect young and old the same, and not one person without the spirit of God can stand against the serpent’s wiles and devices. It is only by the “blood of the Lamb” and the “word of their testimony” anyone will know and discern the ‘devices’ of the serpent:
Rev 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
2Co 2:11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.
His “devices” are always following the same pattern, as the events in the garden of Eden and in the wilderness with Jesus demonstrates. He misrepresents the commandment or law of God. The serpent approached Jesus with the same challenge to God’s words:
Mat 3:16-17 to Mat 4:1-3 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased
Other related posts
- Will Satan And His Angels Be Saved? (March 28, 2009)
- Why Was Israel Given Both Sin And Trespass Offerings? (July 1, 2008)
- Why Was Eve Deceived but Not Adam? (July 21, 2014)
- Who Was Cains Wife? (May 23, 2011)
- Who Is My Brother? (October 5, 2008)
- Where Did Cain Find His Wife? (March 6, 2008)
- Was Adam Made Subject To Vanity? (May 26, 2005)
- Was "The First Man Adam" Made In God's Image? (August 17, 2017)
- The Trespass Offering (September 1, 2010)
- Names In Scripture (October 6, 2008)
- Mortal Adam And The Two Trees In Eden (April 20, 2005)
- Made In His Image (April 18, 2005)
- How Can God Kill And Still Love? (April 21, 2009)
- Four Stages Of Mans Free Will (November 7, 2008)
- Foundational Themes in Genesis – Study 19 (October 4, 2013)
- Foundational Themes in Genesis – Study 15 (September 20, 2013)
- Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 "To Every Thing There Is A Season, and A Time To Every Purpose Under The Heaven" (August 19, 2013)
- Did God Give Adam Dominion Over His Flesh? (November 21, 2015)
- Can Mankind Love God Without Free Will? (March 28, 2008)
- Are We All Failures? (November 18, 2009)
- Are The Seraphim Evil Spirits? (June 3, 2009)