As we read the opening verses of
John’s Gospel, our minds instinctively go back to the opening lines
of the book of Genesis. Both speak of the beginning—John in relation
to One who already existed, Genesis of that which was called into
existence “In [the] beginning was the Word … In the beginning God
created the heavens and the earth” (John 1: 1; Gen. 1: 1). Yet the
similarity between the two books does not end there. With different
themes for their subjects—Genesis dealing with the first Adam and
his descendants, John with the last Adam, His words and His
works—there is nevertheless a marked agreement in the subjects of
the first few chapters and the order in which they are narrated.
This is surely not coincidental.
The first chapter of Genesis brings before us
the creation of man, and a world prepared for his rule: “And God
said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them
have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the
heavens, and over the cattle, and over the whole earth, and over
every creeping thing that creepeth on the earth. And God created Man
in his image, in the image of God created he him; male and female
created he them” (Gen. 1: 26, 27). A creature representing God on
earth and, like Him, pure and free from sin—this was the one placed
as head over the physical creation. Turning to the first chapter of
John, we have brought before us another Man on earth, a Head like
Adam, but the Head of a new race, for “as many as received him, to
them gave he [the] right to be children of God” (John 1: 12). Again,
just as God expressed His emphatic approval of “everything that he
had made” (Gen. 1: 31), and the man he had set over it, so God
expressed His deep delight in the Word made flesh when the Spirit
descended like a dove and abode upon Him (see John 1: 32, 33). If
Adam was made in the image of God, and was given dominion over the
whole earth, what shall we say of the One who is the “image of the
invisible God, firstborn of all creation” (Col. 1: 15)? Surely He
must take the first place in all things, and be marked out as such
by heaven?
All creation could see in the first Adam one
representing God on earth; all who had had their eyes opened by the
Spirit of God, could see in the last Adam “a glory as of an
only–begotten with a father” (John 1: 14). Furthermore, he declared
this Father (see v18), something which Adam, though made in the
image of God, could never do. Again, Adam was created, but the Word
became flesh. Both
had a beginning in flesh on earth, but there the similarity ends.
Adam had no life before He lived here—One gave life, the other was
given life. The Lord Jesus came in flesh (see 2 John v7), but He
ever existed. Adam appeared on a scene prepared to receive him, the
Lord Jesus entered a world ready to reject Him. Adam walked about
surrounded by the works of
God’s hands, the Lord
“came to
his own, and
his own received him
not” (John 1: 11, my emphasis). Adam was to
receive the
unqualified submission of all God’s creatures upon the earth; the
Son came to
give grace upon grace
(see v16), and to
give to all who would
believe on His name the right to be children of God (see v12).
Adam’s dominion is brought out by the fact that
God brought all the animals “to Man, to see what he would call them;
and whatever Man called each living soul, that was its name” (Gen.
2: 19). Placed in the garden to dress it and keep it, all
acknowledged his sway. To own Adam was to submit to God. To receive
a name from him was as if it was conferred by God Himself. As the
Psalmist could say, “Thou hast made him to rule over the works of
thy hands; thou hast put everything under his feet” (Ps. 8: 6). Now
if God acted in this way to Adam, what of His own beloved Son? God
has “subjected all things under his feet. For in subjecting all
things to him, he has left nothing unsubject to him” (Heb. 2: 8). So
that when the Word was made flesh and dwelt among men, He also gave
names to men. To
Simon, He gave the name of Cephas (see John 1: 42), and to James and
John “the surname of Boanerges” (Mark 3: 17). A day is yet to come,
when the overcomer will receive from Him “a white stone, and on the
stone a new name written, which no one knows but he that receives
[it]” (Rev. 2: 17).
Of course, the glory of Adam, seen in
that day in Eden long ago, soon passed away, never to be restored.
Not so the King of kings. He will one day enforce the subjection of
all to His authority, and “Of the increase of his government and of
peace there shall be no end” (Is. 9: 7). Adam was commissioned to
subdue the earth, but had no rival to dispute his sway and no one to
reduce to subjection. Christ came on this earth, on which His glory
and His kingdom is to be one day revealed, with every opposition
ranged against Him. In Eden there was real subjection to God; when
the Lord appeared in Jerusalem, the subjection was professed, but
was coupled with deep hostility to God’s anointed. And yet, as God’s
Man, He
will exercise the
rights of sovereignty over the world. His cleansing of the
temple—“my Father’s house” (John 2: 16)—provides a glimpse of that
authority.
The happiness of Eden gone and gone forever,
the miracle of the Lord at Cana (see John 2: 1–12) teaches us how
joy can and will yet be enjoyed on this earth. Wine speaks of that
which “gladdeneth the heart of man” (Ps. 104: 15), and the wine that
the Lord provides, not only is superior to the transient and trivial
mirth that fallen man fashions for himself, but lasts for the
duration of the feast. So the Lord will minister everlasting joy
when He comes back to earth in power to reign. The happiness of
Eden, brought to its climax when Adam received his wife (see Gen. 2:
22), was soon marred by the bitter fruit of sin. In the happiness of
the coming kingdom, the Lord’s people will know no such bitterness,
for “the Lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from off all faces” (Is.
25: 8).
Yet this promised display of power,
beneficence and joy cannot take place without deeper matters being
addressed and settled. Thus while Genesis 3 tells us of the entrance
of sin into the world, and the consequences of such disobedience,
John 3 brings before us the remedy, and its blessed results. In both
chapters we get God and man brought face to face. In the former it
is the last meeting before they parted, never again to meet on earth
as they had done (see Gen. 3: 8–24). In the latter, we learn how
they can meet so as never again to part, if man will only hearken to
the claims of God. At that meeting in Eden, God passed a sentence of
death as the penalty of disobedience (see v19). At His interview
with Nicodemus, the Saviour spoke of life eternal as the portion of
those who believe (see John 3: 15).
Yet another point in these two narratives must
be noticed. Genesis 3 tells us of a voluntary act on the part of
Adam in wilfully taking of the forbidden fruit, and an act of
necessity on the part of God in driving him out of Paradise, in case
he should also take of the tree of life (see Gen. 3: 6, 22-24). John
3 tells us of a spontaneous act on the part of God in giving His Son
(see vs 16, 17), and an act of necessity on the part of the Son of
Man, in being “lifted up” (v14) to die. It was necessary to banish
Adam from Eden to prevent him living forever in sin; it was
necessary for Christ to be delivered up, in order that all who had
sinned might have opportunity to live forever in God’s presence. The
God who executed judgment on Adam (see Gen. 3: 17–19), is the same
God who sent His Son into the world, not “that he may judge the
world, but that the world may be saved through him” (John 3: 17).
There are more points of comparison.
Previously, Adam had been placed by God in the garden “to till it
and to guard it” (Gen. 2: 15), but Genesis 3 tells us how he
betrayed that trust. As a result, the garden had now to be guarded
from man (see Gen. 3: 24). By contrast, John 3 tells us of One in
whom God has placed all His trust: “The Father loves the Son, and
has given all things [to be] in his hand” (John 3: 35). Adam
forfeited what he had; Christ has been given everything. Again,
Genesis 3 relates how God told Adam that “In the sweat of thy face
shalt thou eat bread, until thou return to the ground: for out of it
wast thou taken. For dust thou art; and unto dust thou shalt return”
(v19). Adam was thus to be returned to the dust from which he had
originated. John 3 tells us of another Man who has also returned
from whence He came: “and no one has gone up into heaven, save he
who came down out of heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven” (v13).
The one man had his “origin in the earth”, the other Man “comes out
of heaven” (v31), and has returned to the place to which He belongs.
The next subject that the writer of Genesis
takes up is that of the family of Adam, and the respective
sacrifices of Cain and Abel (see Gen. 4: 1–16). How to approach God
with acceptance is a question of all importance for fallen
creatures, and, of necessity, follows closely on the entrance of sin
into the world.
The parallel passage in the fourth
chapter of John also deals with a sinner approaching God, but this
time of one who had no sacrifice to bring (see John 4: 4–42). How to
worship God rightly is a question which must follow closely on the
unfolding of divine grace in the previous chapter.
Abel brought of his flock a sacrifice. In this
he admitted his condition and acknowledged that death was his just
desert as a sinner, and that life for one born in sin could only be
procured by the death of another. But the need of a sacrifice was
not the only consequence of the fall. Sin being in the world, its
fruits are rapidly made apparent, not only entailing death for Adam
and his descendants, but also bringing about the murder of Abel by
his brother. Just as worship and death are the prominent subjects of
Genesis 4, so worship and life are the leading themes of John 4.
How Abel learned of the divine requirement for
sacrifice we are not told, though, it being “By faith” (Heb. 11: 4)
means that he must have answered to a distinct message from God. By
contrast, in John’s Gospel, we
do find out how the
true principles of acceptable worship were made known—and that to
the last person in the world we might have imagined. To this poor
sinful Samaritan woman (who had no real relationship with God) was
unfolded the new and blessed relationship in which God will now
stand to all that believe on the Son. If in Genesis 4 we learn
simply about the acceptance of an offering by God, in John we get a
clear advance, for on the basis of “one sacrifice for sins” (Heb.
10: 12), we learn that God is to be known as
Father: “But [the]
hour is coming and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship
the Father in spirit and truth; for also the Father seeks such as
his worshippers” (John 4: 23).
Moving on to the fifth chapter of Genesis, we
see there in a very full way how the sentence of death pronounced in
Eden was carried out on Adam and his descendants. “He died” (Gen. 5:
5, 8, 11 etc.) is the simple statement appended to the close of the
lives of all but one of the names listed in Genesis 5, for “There is
no man who hath control over the spirit to retain the spirit; and no
one hath control over the day of death; and there is no discharge in
that war, neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to
it” (Eccl. 8: 8). Furthermore, the one exception in the list is not
an exception to the rule that no one can deliver himself from death,
for it was God’s act, not Enoch’s effort that kept him from the
grave (see Gen. 5: 24). Such is the helplessness of Adam’s race in
the face of death.
Turning to the fifth chapter of John, we find
death and the grave brought before us again, but how different the
presentation! The grave closed on Adam and on all his children; the
grave shall one day open at the voice of the Son of man: “Wonder not
at this, for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs
shall hear his voice, and shall go forth; those that have practised
good, to resurrection of life, and those that have done evil, to
resurrection of judgment” (John 5: 28, 29). By Adam’s fall, death
obtained power over all his offspring, but by the Lord Jesus it
shall be swallowed up in victory and finally destroyed: “For since
by man [came] death, by man also resurrection of [those that are]
dead. For as in Adam all die, thus also in the Christ all shall be
made alive” (1 Cor. 15: 21, 22). How cheering that this enemy, which
entered the world by one man, shall be overcome by another, better
Man! Adam involved all in death, and that not merely of the body,
but also in the eternal judgment of the soul—the “second death”
(Rev. 20: 6). The Lord can not only give life in resurrection to the
body, but He can also quicken souls: “Verily, verily, I say unto
you, that he that hears my word, and believes him that has sent me,
has life eternal, and does not come into judgment, but is passed out
of death into life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, that an hour is
coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of
God, and they that have heard shall live” (John 5: 24, 25). If the
“first man Adam became a living soul”, then “the last Adam” is “a
quickening spirit” (1 Cor. 15: 45). One was made alive; the other
makes alive.
With Genesis 5, the history of Adam closes. Of
his career after the fall, beyond that he had sons and daughters,
Scripture says nothing. We read in Hebrews 11 of a catalogue of
worthies, but his name is not in the list. Adam’s future position,
too, is shrouded in mystery, except that before Christ (whose
genealogy in Luke 3 is traced up to Adam) he will one day stand. But
of the last Adam, there is no uncertainty at all. The Lord Jesus,
like the first man, passed out of this world by death, but we also
know He lives, and lives for evermore (see Rev. 1: 18). He has life
in Himself. “For even as the Father has life in himself, so he has
given to the Son also to have life in himself” (John 5: 26). He has
full authority from God, and all shall honour Him as they honour the
Father (see v23). The place of pre–eminence, from which Adam fell,
is filled, and more than filled, by Him. Another Man has been found
to be set over the works of God’s hands, both worthy to be there and
able to maintain His place. We, who never saw the first Adam as head
of this creation, will see the last Adam wielding supreme power, and
all creation brought into subjection to His sway.
What have we received from Adam? Of what have
we to boast? For a nature, we have what is wholly corrupt and “not
subject to the law of God” (Rom. 8: 7), and which cannot be changed.
For an inheritance—a life of sorrow, “vanity and pursuit of the
wind” (Eccl. 1: 14). For a prospect—death, that “house of assemblage
for all living” (Job 30: 23). What did Adam give creation? All the
living creatures were indeed named by him, but because of his sin,
the ground was also cursed, and the creation made subject to vanity
(see Gen. 3: 17; Rom. 8: 20). Blessed be God, this condition is not
irremediable, for another Man has been found who was obedient unto
death (see Phil. 2: 8). Through Him we receive, a nature which
cannot sin, an inheritance which cannot fade away, and a prospect of
a life which death cannot touch (see 1 John 3: 9; 1 Pet. 1: 4; John
11: 26). Furthermore, once received, these things cannot be
rescinded. As for the wider creation, the curse upon it shall be
removed and it shall be brought into “the liberty of the glory of
the children of God” (see Rom. 8: 21).
Ruin, misery, death, follow the track of the
first man; blessing, happiness, everlasting life, flow from the
Second. Christ gives—gives to the unworthy, gives to the undone, and
gives to sinners. Giving characterises Him. Adam only left to his
posterity the awful and ruinous consequences of his sin (see Rom. 5:
12). The Lord, by great contrast, gives everything the sinner needs,
and to His death we owe everything that we as saints shall enjoy
throughout all eternity.
