Our Savior Jesus Is A Man
The Second Adam
Taken from Chapter four of Joel Hemphill's book:
"To God be the Glory"
The Chapter is titled, "The Man Christ Jesus."
Jesus Christ is the supernaturally conceived, virgin born, sinless Son of God. He is the perfect man, unique man, the mirror image of God, "the express image of His person, " but man nevertheless: "One mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (I Tim. 2:5).
Jesus himself said so -
• "But now ye seek to kill me, a man that has told you the truth, which I have heard of God " (John 8:40).
• "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends..." (John 15:13-14).
• "If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin" (John 15:24). Please note: Jesus never once in Scripture said he is God, but these three times he clearly referred to himself as a man.
The Old Testament Prophets said so -
• " A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" (Isa. 53:3).
• "David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel" (Jer. 33:17).
• "Awake, O sword against the man that is my fellow" (Zech. 13:7; Matt. 26:31).
• "And this man shall be the peace" (Micah 5:5).
John the Baptist said so -
• "After me cometh a man who is preferred before me" (John 1:30).
• "All things that John spoke of this man were true" (John 10:41).
The Apostle Paul said so -
• "Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins" (Acts 13:38).
• "(God) will judge the world...by that man whom he hath ordained" (Acts 17:31).
• "The gift of grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:15).
• " Every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits" (in resurrection) (I Cor. 15:23).
• "And being found in fashion as a man" (Phil. 2:8).
• "Put on the new man" (Christ) (Col. 3:10).
• "For there is one God , and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus " (I Tim. 2:5).The writer of Hebrews said so -
• "For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses" (Heb. 3:3).
• "But this man ...hath an unchangeable priesthood" (Heb. 7:24).
• "It is of necessity that this man have somewhat to offer" (Heb. 8:3).
• "But this man ...sat down on the right hand of God" (Heb. 10:12).Jesus is the second Adam, not the first God-man. Listen to the Apostle Paul:
• "For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive" (I Cor. 15:21-22).
• "The first man Adam was made a living soul: the last Adam was made a quickening spirit" (I Cor. 15:45). "The first man ...the second man" (v. 47).Jesus as "the last Adam" was genetically equal to the " first man Adam." Adam was created by God from the dust in Genesis one. Jesus was created by God (the Holy Ghost) in the womb of the virgin Mary in Matthew one and Luke one (Matt. 1:20; Luke 1:32; Rev. 3:14; Col. 1:15 & 3:10). Study carefully Galatians 4:4:
"But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, madeunder the law." The word " made " is "ginomai" in Greek and means "to generate - cause to come into being." This was a creative act of the Holy Spirit and not an incarnation.
Jesus is a glorified man at the right hand of God -
• "Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God" (Peter speaking of the ascended Jesus, at Pentecost) (Acts 2:22).
• "Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God" (Stephen) (Acts 7:56).Note: Jesus is called "Son of man" 84 times in the Gospels and it means "a human being." The phrase comes from Psalms 8:6 according to Hebrews 2:6. God called Ezekiel "son of man" 90 times in the book of Ezekiel. Whatever Ezekiel was as to manhood, Jesus was. Jesus came as a human being. He had a human body, mind, spirit, soul, will and personality. The "first Adam" was made with a sinless nature, but as an act of his will he sinned anyway. The "last Adam" was made sinless, with blood untainted by the sin of the first Adam, and as an act of his will he "did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth" (I Peter 2:22). He did it, not as a God-man, but as a man. Jesus "condemned sin in the flesh" (Rom. 8:3)." Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him" (Phil. 2:9).
What held Jesus and kept him from sinning, though "he himself suffered being tempted" (Heb. 2:18)?
1. His awesome God awareness. "I must be about my Father's business" (Luke 2:49).
2. His Love for God his Father. "I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do" (John 14:31). "I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love" (John 15:10).
3. His fear of God. "The spirit of the Lord (God) shall rest upon him (Messiah), the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord" (Isa. 11:2-3). Christ prayed "with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared" (Heb. 5:7). "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered" (Heb. 5:8). "Immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness" (Mark 1:12).Jesus is coming to reign on earth for 1000 years as a glorified man -
• "And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory" (Mark 13:26; Matt. 24:30; Luke 21:27).
• "Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth" (Luke 18:8).
And we shall be like him, not Gods but glorified men, who have attained immortality through Jesus' death, burial and resurrection.
• "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" (I John 3:2).Listen to Jesus' own words about who God is -
• "The honor that cometh from the one and only God ...the Father" (John 5:44-45 NASB).
• "(Father) this is life eternal that they may know thee the only true God" (John 17:3).
• " One is your Father, which is in heaven" (Matt. 23:9).
• "I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God" (John 20:17).
• "These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God" (Rev. 3:14).
Love in Christ Jesus,
Joel Hemphill
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