Search
III. The last Adam
IV. The peacemaker
V. The grain of wheat
VI. An all-inclusive death
First Corinthians 15:45b says that Christ was the last Adam. When Adam was created by God, he represented the entire human race. Through Adam's race God intended to fulfill His eternal purpose. But Adam failed God to the uttermost; instead of taking in God, he took in Satan, and thus brought all of mankind into a fallen condition. Instead of expressing God, man began to express Satan. So God had to terminate the first man Adam and all of Adam's race, which includes you and me. God accomplished this through Christ's death on the cross. Christ was the last Adam; after Him there were no more Adams. God could then start a new race with Christ as its Head in resurrection.
Adam was also the head of the entire creation. He was given the rule over all the created things. The heavens and the earth were made for Adam, and Adam was made to contain Christ. But Adam fell and brought the whole creation down with him (Rom. 8:20-22). Without Christ, man, the heavens, and the earth are vain, without purpose. This fallen creation is what we call "the old creation." When Christ died as the last Adam He also terminated the entire old creation.
Christ also died as the peacemaker. One of the results of man's fall was division. God wanted man to express Him in oneness, but man became separated into many races, nationalities, and classes. There are often hatred and fighting among these groups — between black and white, German and French, rich and poor. The list is endless. The greatest difference is probably between the Jews and the Gentiles. The Jews have many ordinances (regulations) which separate them from other people. With all these differences, how could we all be one to express God? It is impossible. So Ephesians 2:14-16 tells us that on the cross Christ broke down all the dividing walls, abolished all the ordinances, and slew all the hatred between different people, races, and countries — even between you and your brother or sister. Christ is the peacemaker. He nailed all our differences to the cross.
Now in Christ there is no Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, black or white (Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:11). The cross terminated all such differences. If such differences still bother us, that shows we have not experienced enough of Christ's crucifixion. People always talk about ending wars and ending prejudice, but without the cross it is impossible to end anything. If you are fighting with someone, the best way to end the fight is to have both of you die. That may sound funny but it is the truth. When you are both dead, how peaceful you would be — there would be no more fighting! When Christ died as the peacemaker He crossed out everyone. We all died in Christ. This is why in the churches we can have people of every race, culture, and class. This is a glorious declaration of what the Lord Jesus did on the cross; by the cross we can be truly one. This oneness is real only in the Spirit. Therefore, whenever we have problems with people, we should turn to our spirit and allow the cross to terminate us.
All of the first four aspects of Christ's death dealt with the negative problems such as sins and Satan. Now we must see that Christ also died as the grain of wheat. This is something on the positive side. In John 12:24, Christ described Himself as a grain of wheat: "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." When you plant a seed in the ground, that is a kind of death, a burial. But what happens after that? Life comes up! It even bears fruit to produce more seeds.
The life of a grain of wheat is hidden inside its outer shell. When the grain falls into the ground, the shell breaks and the life inside is released. In the same way, Christ's divine life was contained and concealed within the "shell" of His body. His death on the cross broke that shell so that His divine life could be released. His life was released so it could get into us! Before, He was the only God-man, a single grain. But through His death He has released His life. When we believed and called on the Lord Jesus, He came into us and we became His multiplication, the many grains! We became the many God-men just like Him. We can express God in our humanity as He did in His. How wonderful!
The Lord's crucifixion was neither a small nor simple event. It was an all-inclusive death. When Christ died, He accomplished a work much greater than the creation. That cross was the focus of the entire universe. Through it God cleaned up every negative thing and released His divine life! That One on the cross was not a simple man. Christ died as the Lamb of God to take away our sins and release us from God's judgment. He died as the brass serpent to crush Satan's head, crucify our serpentine nature, and destroy the world. He died as the last Adam to terminate Adam and the old creation. He died as the peacemaker to end all of man's differences and make peace. And He died as the grain of wheat to release His wonderful life into us.
If we had been at the Lord's crucifixion watching with "spiritual" eyes, we would have witnessed a tremendous scene. God was there working out His eternal purpose, and Satan and all the powers of hell were there battling, trying to frustrate Him. What a war it must have been! But Christ triumphed over them, putting them to open shame (Col. 2:14-15). Every negative thing in the universe was nailed to the cross and God's divine life was released. Hallelujah for Christ's work on the cross!
