The Divine Covenants

The Adamic Covenant (Part 6)

· Gen. 3:24, After He drove the man out, He placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree.

Being driven out from the presence of the tree of life, and the way into the Garden being guarded by the flaming sword has several meanings for us. First, Adam was prevented from re-entering the garden. This leads to an apparently unanswerable question: Was Adam eternally lost? We cannot authoritatively answer this question. However, we can make an educated guess by making inferences from the Bible. He was mentioned only once again in Genesis, and he was missing from the list of the persons of faith in the 11^th chapter of Hebrews. And in the New Testament he is uniformly mentioned as the source of death, as Jesus is mentioned as the source of life. But that is only speculation, which is not worth very much.

But let’s take another look at the tree of life. It has deep significance as a type of Jesus. First, its very name obviously pointed to Him.

· John 1:4, In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.

All life resides in Jesus---natural life, spiritual life, resurrection life and eternal life. Second, the position it occupied “in the middle of the Garden”. As we have already mentioned, Revelation makes reference to the position of the tree. Jesus is the center of heavens glory. Third, the tree has sacramental significance. It stood as the seal of the covenant, as the pledge of God’s faithfulness and as the ratification of His promises to Adam. Fourth, it was attractive, according to the Genesis description. And how absolutely true this is of Jesus. Fifth, from this symbolic tree of life, the apostate rebel was excluded; he was cast out of the garden.

· Rev. 22:14, “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.”

Here is the final mention of the tree of life in the Bible, quite a contrast to what is recorded in Genesis where we see the disobedient rebel under the curse of God, excluded from the tree of life. And remember, under the old covenant no provision was made for man’s reconciliation. But here, under the new covenant, we see a blessed company that have a right to the tree of life for all eternity.

As we have just seen in the covenant with Adam a requirement was made---obedience. A penalty was to be enforced---death as the penalty for disobedience. A reward was promised for obedience---confirmation in life. Adam consented to the terms of the covenant and the seal of the covenant was the tree of life, so called because it was the outward sign of the life promised in the covenant.

Adam was put to the test of whether the will of God was sacred in his eyes or whether he preferred his own will. And we know the answer. He failed to love God; he had contempt for God’s authority; and he deliberately defied Him, resulting in the fall.

Did you notice that in the 5^th chapter of Romans we read that “just as sin entered the world through one man, etc. This calls for our close attention. Eve sinned too, in fact she sinned before Adam did. Why do you suppose the Bible doesn’t say, “sin entered the world through one woman? There is only one answer. Adam was the federal head that was our representative and not Eve. He was the legal representative of Eve as well. Look closely at Genesis 3:6-7.

· Gen. 3:6-7, When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

At what point did they realize they were naked? Why did they not realize they were naked after Eve ate the fruit? My thought is that because Eve is entirely omitted from verses12-19, it indicates that it was the guilt of our federal head that sin was imputed to us, not the depravity of nature. The act of disobedience was first committed by her, so why did they not notice their nakedness after she ate the fruit? Because he was the federal head and representative of humanity. (I’m sure comedians would have a field day with this if they ever thought of it.)

In full-grown manhood, with all of his faculties perfect, in an ideal surrounding, Adam rejected the good in favor of the evil. He was influenced by his wife and he chose her rather than God. There were serious consequences to his choice, as we now know. But how wise was God! Had he allowed Adam to continue in a state of perfection and eternally happy, all who followed him would think of him as their savior and would have proclaimed how indebted they were to him, their first parent.

No, only the last Adam was entitled to and capable of the title of “Savior”. In permitting Adam’s fall, with the imputation of the guilt of his offense to all mankind, God wronged no one. He is totally righteous and everything He does is right.

Now let’s be clear about one thing. In saying that the guilt of Adam’s sin is imputed to all of us, we do not mean that the human race is suffering for something in which they had no part, that innocent creatures are being condemned for the act of another which cannot be laid rightly to their account. It must be clearly understood that God does not punish another for the personal sin of Adam. But we were legally represented by him when God instituted the covenant of works. Adam acted as a public person and as a surety of his race.

Of necessity the creature is subject to the Creator and his loyalty must be proved. Therefore, there were only two alternatives in the case of Adam: The human family must either be placed on probation in the person of a responsible and suitable representative or each individual must enter the world on probation himself.

As we have said, what God does is right. The principle of representation is an essential concept of human society. The father is the legal representative of his children while they are young. The politicians are the representative heads of a nation and represent the people in foreign agreements so that the people are bound by such agreements. This is such a fundamental principle that it cannot be ignored. By the principle of representation we were lost and by the same principle we are saved.

The experience of Adam in the Garden of Eden with God was called the “Covenant of Works”. Why?

Because it was up to Adam what he did, how he behaved. He was in control of his behavior. In what sense is the covenant of works still in effect and in what sense is it no longer in effect?

Because of Adam’s representative sin none of his descendents are able to be saved by works. Therefore it is no longer possible to fulfill its conditions. And so it is only through Jesus that salvation is offered because He has fully complied with the provisions of the covenant. But the covenant of works is still in effect for those who reject Jesus.

All that remains for us now is to point out wherein the Adamic covenant suggested the everlasting covenant. It is true that the covenant of works and the covenant of grace are exactly opposite in their character---the one being based on do and live and the other on live and do ---yet there are some striking points of agreement between them. We see this foreshadowed in the Garden of Eden.

Adam, the one with whom the covenant was made, entered this world like no other person. He was not begotten by a human father; he was miraculously created by God. The same is true of Jesus. No one other than Adam entered the world with a pure and holy nature. The same is true of Jesus. Adam’s wife was taken out of him, so that he could say, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh”; of Jesus’ bride it is said, “We are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.”

Adam voluntarily took his place along side his fallen wife. He was not deceived, but had such love for Eve that he could not see her perish alone. In the same way Jesus voluntarily took on Himself the sins of His people. In consequence of this, Adam fell beneath the curse of God: likewise Jesus bore the curse of God.

The father of the human family was their federal head; Jesus the last Adam is the federal head of His people. What Adam did was imputed to all those for whom he was the federal head; the same is true of Jesus. “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”