---

---

The Keys To The Kingdom of Heaven – Part 7

“The First Man Adam… The Last Adam…”

1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

Introduction

I have often said the entire Bible, and all scripture, whether speaking of individuals or nations, is actually concerned only with a preordained momentous struggle between two men, and those two men are “the first man Adam… [and] the last Adam”. The first man Adam is physical, temporary and evil, and the last Adam is spiritual, permanent and righteous.

Another way of expressing this struggle is the process of “put[ting off… the old man… [and the] put[ting] on [of] the new man” as it is expressed in:

Eph 4:22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
Eph 4:23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
Eph 4:24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

In our study today we will give some of the examples and the scriptures which will bear out the simplicity of this “key to the house of David”.

We need to notice that the first man Adam, the old man, is indeed first and that he lives and becomes “rich and increased with goods” and fat and old long before the new man, the younger man, appears to begin to supplant the dying old man. The old man develops quickly into a powerful nation with many cities and a capital, before the new man even begins to prosper.

The story of these two men is foreshadowed by the creation of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which Christ placed right in the middle of the Garden of Eden, right beside the tree of life:

Gen 2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

It is important to note that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life are both placed by Christ Himself in the middle of the Garden of Eden. It is also very important that we notice that both of these trees come “out of the ground”. What this tells us is that it is in the earth where God begins His ultimate work of placing the crown jewel of His creation in His garden “paradise” (Rev 2:7).

It begins as “the first man, Adam” a physical man in a physical garden, but it ends with “the last Adam” being a spiritual man in a spiritual body in a spiritual garden.

Here is the beginning and the end of what God, through Christ, is doing:

Gen 2:7  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.
Gen 2:8  And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
Gen 2:9  And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Rom 5:14  Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who [“the first man Adam”] is the figure of him that was to come.

1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48  As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

Rev 2:7  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise [Greek: garden] of God.

Christ’s ‘garden’ is His saints in whom He dwells. He is the “tree of life”, and it is He who is in the midst of His garden, because we are told “His inheritance [is] in the saints”:

Eph 1:18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

The seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent
The two men of all scripture

This revelation of ‘the first Adam and the last Adam’ is introduced to us at the very beginning of the ages, while our original parents were still in the Garden of Eden:

Gen 3:14  And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
Gen 3:15  And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

“Thy seed and her seed” – those who are given eyes that see “the things of the spirit” know that ‘the first man Adam’ is “thy seed”. The seed of “the woman”, on the other hand, is Christ, “the last Adam”. “Thy seed” is also known as ‘the seed of the serpent’, or as Christ Himself put it, “You are of your father the devil.”

Joh 8:43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

The serpent was a murderer “from the beginning”. He did not begin as a righteous angel who then rebelled against His Creator as those who twist Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14, want us to believe. Read this link for proof of the truth of John 8:44.

It is of utmost importance we realize that when Christ said “You are of your father the devil”, He was not speaking to the scribes and Pharisees who did not believe on Him. These words are being addressed to “those Jews which believed on Him”:

Joh 8:30  As he spake these words, many believed on him.
Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

It is those who believe on Him but “cannot hear [His] word” who do not “continue in [His] word”. What this reveals is that believing on Him and not abiding in His word is the same as being the son of “the god of this world”, which is the same as being “of your father the devil”.

2Co 4:4  In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

What this reveals to us is that we are worshiping the devil when we worship and serve our own flesh. What the scriptures teach is that when we worship our own ‘beastly’ self, we are actually “worship[ing] the dragon” who gives power to the beast:

Rev 13:4  And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

Understanding what it means to be “of your father the devil…believ[ing] in [Christ but not] continu[ing] in His word”, and understanding that “the first man Adam… [is our] old man” is one more of “the keys to the kingdom of heaven”.

Cain and Abel

Soon after being cast out of the garden of Eden, we are again shown the struggle between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, the first and the last Adam, in the story of Cain and Abel.

Gen 4:8  And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.
Gen 4:9  And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?
Gen 4:10  And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.

The blood of Abel typifies the blood of Christ. The struggle between Cain and Abel typifies the struggle between the first and the last Adam. The blood of both Abel and Christ demand justice, and God is a just God who will make Himself known to all men, and at the appointed time He will take His revenge upon our old “first man Adam”.

Rom 12:19  Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

Rev 6:9  And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
Rev 6:10  And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

“Them that dwell on the earth” is the flesh of all men, including the flesh of God’s elect.

There is an appointed time when all men will discern who serves God and who serves Him not.

Mal 3:15  And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.
Mal 3:16  Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.
Mal 3:17  And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
Mal 3:18  Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

The day has already been appointed. It is appointed individually within, and it is an appointed day dispensationally without. ‘Then [we] will return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serves God and him that serves Him not.’ Then the first Adam will be distinguished from the last man Adam for all to see and to know.

Abraham and Lot

While it is true that Egypt typifies this world and Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, most often typifies the man of sin, yet Pharaoh is also given a positive application in scripture. In the story of Joseph, the Pharaoh typifies God the Father, who gives the kingdoms of this world over to be ruled by Christ and Christ’s Christ. Without going into great detail, there is another key to the kingdom of God which reveals to us that there is a bright, positive application to every word of God, and at the same time there is a dark, negative application to every word. That is a subject for another study which we will do in time.

I have said all that to introduce Abraham and Lot as our next type of the first and last Adam. While Lot is, in a positive sense, mentioned as a “righteous man” in:

2Pe 2:7  And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
2Pe 2:8  (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)

Yet when we see his name in the Old Testament, he is presented as the very family Abraham was told to leave behind:

Gen 12:1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred [Lot], and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:

Abraham typifies God’s elect who at first are slow to be obedient to His words. So instead of leaving his father’s house, it is Abram’s father, typifying the strength of our old man, who at first leads Abram to leave Ur of the Chaldeans, from which he goes only half way to Canaan, stopping to set up house in Haran, still on the Chaldean side of the Euphrates. Being led by his father, who he was told to leave behind, and stopping at the half-way mark, all typifies the “carnal… babes in Christ” (1Co 4:1-4), which we all are at the beginning of our spiritual walk. Our old man is still leading, and even after leaving Haran, our flesh and our father’s family, the family of our old man, our “kin”, still clings to us. This condition is typified by the words, “and Lot went with him” wherever Abram goes:

Gen 12:4  So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.

Gen 13:1  And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south.

Gen 13:5  And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents.

This is who we are as carnal babes in Christ until the day we come to see that we simply cannot continue in fellowship with our flesh, which longs to remain in this world as these verses reveal:

Gen 13:7  And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land.
Gen 13:8  And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren.

‘For we are brothers’ demonstrates the attachment we still have to our own flesh at this stage of our walk. It is a time of great struggle between these two men, and it is most instructive that this separation is precipitated by struggles between the shepherds who feed the flocks of Abraham and Lot. What that little fact tells us is that it is doctrinal issues, concerning those things which feed the Lord’s flock, which will separate us from our old “first man Adam, who is our physical, carnal families.

Notice where our “kin”, our physical families, go when they finally come to realize that they can no longer walk with us:

Gen 13:11  Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.
Gen 13:12  Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom.

Ishmael and Isaac

It is only after we make this final break with our “father’s house”, our ‘old man’s’ house, that the heavens begin to open up to us and we are granted to see much more of the Lord’s plan for us:

Gen 13:14  And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:
Gen 13:15  For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.
Gen 13:16  And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.
Gen 13:17  Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.

Here is this same promise in New Testament terms:

Rev 21:7  He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

Paul put these verses about Abraham’s seed becoming as numerous as “the dust of the earth” together with all the verses which tell us that Abraham’s children will be as numerous “as the stars of heaven”, and he was made by the spirit to realize that Abraham was actually a type of Christ, who was to become “the heir of the world” and would be the father of all men of all time:

Rom 4:13  For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

Gal 3:29  And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

After the death of Terah, Abram’s father, Abram at long last arrived as a stranger and a pilgrim in the promised land. He had no sooner arrived than the Lord smote the promised land with a famine. Famine is one of the Lord’s “sore judgments” (Eze 14:21). We are told that judgment comes out of the north (Eze 9:1-2). Judgment and famine come upon us when we have failed to be obedient. It took the death of Abram’s father, the symbol of our “old man”, before Abram was obedient to what the Lord had commanded him. As we always do when judgment comes upon us, we want to go back into Egypt, back into the comfort of the world to avoid the pain of the Lord’s judgments upon our lives, just as Israel did. Our brother Larry Groenewald pointed out in his study Thursday that the ‘south’ is the opposite of the north, signifying our spiritual attempt to avoid the pain of the judgments of God, and our desire to go back to Egypt when those judgments come upon us. So Abram goes down into Egypt where he denies his wife and has to be admonished by a pagan king for his lies.

It is here in Egypt that Sarai is given an Egyptian handmaid as a gift from the Pharaoh, and it is through this bondwoman, this Egyptian handmaid, Hagar, that Sarai and Abram conspire to help God keep His promise to make Abram a great nation. It is the son of Abram by this bondwoman who becomes another type of the ‘first Adam’, our ‘old man’, and who “mocks [and] persecutes” the son of the freewoman, Isaac, who as a type of God’s elect, was miraculously given to Abraham and Sarah in their old age.

Gen 21:8  And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.
Gen 21:9  And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.
Gen 21:10  Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.

Gal 4:28  Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
Gal 4:29  But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
Gal 4:30  Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman [our old man, the first man, Adam, the flesh] shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman [the last Adam, the new man].
Gal 4:31  So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

Contrary to what many think, the “son of the bondwoman” is not speaking of the physical Palestinians, and the son of the freewoman is not referring to the physical Jews.

“We brethren” is being addressed to Gentile Galatians who have accepted Christ as their head and as their Savior, and the son of the bondwoman includes “Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children” as Paul make clear in:

Gal 4:25  For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

The only ‘Jerusalem’ that is “the son of the freewoman [is] Jerusalem which is above [which] is free, [and] which is the mother of us all.”

In terms of this study “Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children” is the first Adam, our old man, who cannot hear the words of Christ because they are spiritually discerned”.

Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
Joh 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Joh 8:45  And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.

All who still think that “Jerusalem which now is” is not Hagar the bondwoman, are still in bondage with physical Jerusalem and her children, and they are all the sons of the bondwoman because:

1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Jacob and Esau

The first man Adam is next typified by Esau, and the last Adam is typified by Jacob. In this story, Jacob is displayed to us in the manner which his name confirms. He actually supplants his brother Esau, just as Christ supplants our old, “first man Adam”, with “the last Adam, [our] new man”.  With each new revelation of these two men, the distinction between them become more and more physically blurred and harder to discern.

In the story of Jacob and Esau, both are born of the freewoman, and both are the sons of Abraham. This makes it much harder to distinguish the first Adam from the last man Adam. However, Christ and His Christ spiritually discern immediately the voice of a stranger, the voice of the first man Adam as opposed to the voice of the last Adam:

Joh 8:37  I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.
Joh 8:38  I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.
Joh 8:39  They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.
Joh 8:40  But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.

What we learn from this revelation of these two men is that the first man Adam matures much faster than the last Adam. Both Ishmael and Esau become great nations with many cities and capital cities, long before the type of the last Adam, Jacob, becomes a mere clan of “seventy souls” going down into Egypt to avoid another famine:

Gen 25:16  These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their towns, and by their castles; twelve princes according to their nations.

Gen 36:9  And these are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in mount Seir:

Gen 36:43  Duke Magdiel, duke Iram: these be the dukes of Edom, according to their habitations in the land of their possession: he is Esau the father of the Edomites.

Exo 1:5  And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already.

The lesson for us is that our old man, the first man, Adam, is born and comes to full bloom as the beast he is before our new man, the last Adam, even begins to grow and supplant our old, first man Adam.

King Saul and David

Both of these kings were anointed by the same prophet, Samuel, and as such both were “the Lord’s anointed”. Samuel is at first, pleased with the first king of Israel, King Saul, who stood head and shoulders over all others in Israel.

1Sa 10:22  Therefore they enquired of the LORD further, if the man should yet come thither. And the LORD answered, Behold, he hath hid himself among the stuff.
1Sa 10:23  And they ran and fetched him thence: and when he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward.
1Sa 10:24  And Samuel said to all the people, See ye him whom the LORD hath chosen, that there is none like him among all the people? And all the people shouted, and said, God save the king.

Like the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, our carnal-minded, first-man Adam, is physically handsome, and ever so appealing to our flesh. Just look at Abraham’s response to Christ when he was informed that Isaac was to replace Ishmael. This is just how attached we are to our own flesh and blood:

Gen 17:18  And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!
Gen 17:19  And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.
Gen 17:20  And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great [“son of the bondwoman”] nation.
Gen 17:21  But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.

In this our final example of these two men as a key to the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, we learn that this struggle between these two men continues over into the realm of God’s elect. In this appearing of these two men, King Saul typifies God’s rejected anointed. Ishmael was the seed of Abraham, but he was not the son of the freewoman.

Esau was the son of Abraham and was also born of the freewoman, but he did not value what he had been given, and like Judas, Esau was easily swindled of his birthright and his blessing by Jacob the supplanter. In this story of these two men, both King Saul and David are the Lord’s anointed.

One of the Lord’s anointed, the first king, King Saul, typifies “the Lord’s chosen” who betrays and attempts to destroy the Lord’s “very elect”, as a type of those in our midst who are trusted counselors, who yet, like Judas, are rejected of God and are given over to the adversary as his tool to persecute and destroy the Lord’s elect.

King Saul actually twice cast a javelin at David to kill him:

1Sa 18:10  And it came to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house: and David played with his hand, as at other times: and there was a javelin in Saul’s hand.
1Sa 18:11  And Saul cast the javelin; for he said, I will smite David even to the wall with it. And David avoided out of his presence twice.
1Sa 18:12  And Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with him [the last Adam], and was departed from Saul [“the first man Adam].

King David, as a type of us who are promised to “be hated of all men”, is betrayed by his own trusted counselor, Ahithophel, when his own son, Absalom, attempts to destroy him:

2Sa 15:12  And Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counsellor, from his city, even from Giloh, while he offered sacrifices. And the conspiracy was strong; for the people increased continually with Absalom.
2Sa 15:13  And there came a messenger to David, saying, The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom.

2Sa 15:31  And one told David, saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, O LORD, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.

Later King David wrote in the Psalms about the pain he experienced when his own trusted counselor turned against him:

Psa 41:9  Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.

Then again in:

Psa 55:12  For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him:
Psa 55:13  But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance.
Psa 55:14  We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.

This all happened to King David, and it is written for our admonition as it was for Christ Himself:

Joh 13:18 I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.

So King David, when He was fleeing from his own son and fighting for his life against his own family and against the counsel of his own trusted counselor, Ahithophel, typified Christ, and Christ tells us that we are Him, and that we must expect to be treated exactly as He was treated:

Mat 10:24  The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.
Mat 10:25  It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?

Act 22:8  And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

It is truly one of the keys to the kingdom of heaven to be given to know that we are given not only to believe on Christ but to also fill up in our bodies that which is behind of the sufferings of the Christ of Christ, for His body’s sake which is the church.

Col 1:24  Now, am I rejoicing in the sufferings on your behalf, and am filling up the things that lack of the tribulations of the Christ, in my flesh, in behalf of his body, which is the assembly, (REV)

Php 1:27  Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;
Php 1:28  And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God.
Php 1:29  For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;
Php 1:30  Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me.

That is the blessing and the honor which is ours in the service of our Lord. Our suffering “in the behalf of Christ” is the daily dying of the old first man Adam, through whose death our new man, the last Adam, is being birthed daily. This honor is ours only because Christ has given us “the keys to the kingdom of heaven”.

[Part eight can be found here.]