Jeremy - MPACT Men’s Ministries
The Bible’s account for creation is one of the most well-known stories across all religions and regions in the world. The Fall of Man, in Genesis 2, is as well. In fact, it has been portrayed in popular movies, stories, and slang. There are even pornography shops named after Adam and Eve as if the story of man’s
separation from God has gained us pleasure. Most people have heard the story of creation and the fall, but few understand or study what really happened and how man’s identity is dependent on these events.
When Adam fell to temptation in the garden, he committed the first sin and thereby handed over the dominion of the world to Satan. From that point forward, all men are identified with Satan and spiritual death at birth. We are doomed to death the moment we enter this world because our identification lies with Adam. We are born men, from the seed of man, which originated from Adam in the garden as he went forward and multiplied. Adam’s children quickly fell to sin themselves as we find in the first murder; a crime of passion and jealousy in which Cain bludgeons his own brother, Able, to death with a stone. One must assume this wasn’t the first time Cain felt a sinful emotion toward his brother, but this time when he was tempted, by Satan, he did something about it.
Cain identified with this fallen world and its spiritual death. A world in which pain, suffering, disease, death, and sin entered through his father. This was Cain’s identity. Just as Judas betrayed Jesus in the garden for 30 pieces of silver, Adam betrayed God through the treasonous act of eating the forbidden fruit for the promise of wisdom; a wisdom Adam didn’t even require in his current state of dominion over the world. Remember, it wasn’t until Adam ate of the tree of knowledge that their, Adam AND Eve’s, eyes were opened. At that point and only then, after Adam ate the fruit, sin entered the world. Spiritual death entered the world and man fell out of union with God.
Just as Cain identified with his father Adam; men also identify with the first man in our lineage, Adam. We fall prey to the ways of this world. Our earthly sensations founded in the biological “sense” knowledge that stimulates our minds and tempts our souls to sin. Our senses tell us, “The food tastes good, you should eat it and have seconds. That alcoholic beverage is what makes you happy, one won’t hurt and two will make you feel good!” It tells that a little porn never hurt anyone; and lying to win the deal is just sales, not greed.
Those are worldly and unwise thoughts which we gain through Satan's most powerful tool, our own sense of knowledge. The Adam inside of the worldly man does not see that gluttony will cause you to live a shortened, impeded, unhealthy life. Our inner Adam won’t tell us, it’s the people you are with that make you happy, and that your uncontrolled drinking will drive them away. The inner man isn't about to mention the girl in the video is part of a sex slavery ring, forced into an unimaginable, tumultuous trial. The worldly “Satan ruled” man inside of us; refuses to admit that the money we made during the sale has become our new, false god. The “god” we now hold in higher regard than our Creator Himself. The “world ruled” inner Adam we have become, through time and our sense knowledge, is now rapidly separating us further from the Father God as our identity becomes more like him. Our identity in this world becomes that of the first and fallen man, Adam.
There is HOPE. The moment Adam fell, our perfect, omnipotent Father, had a plan for us. He alluded to it in the 4th world of the bible. “Elohim” is the plural version of the Hebrew word for God. Yes, Jesus was there. It is spelled out to Satan himself in the Garden of Eden in Genesis chapter 3. Prophets, for thousands of years, will predict Jesus’ coming. If we look closely we can see He shows Himself throughout the Old Testament. In the story of Daniel in the lion’s den or with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the furnace: just to name a few. Our God, our Father, promised us a Redeemer; a man born of this world but not from the seed of man. God promised us a new Adam. A perfect man, which would not fail the tests of this world. A man, fully God, and a real man, who would go on to live a perfect life and die for our sins. He would experience physical death and also the brief agony of separation from God that we were born into and experience every day of our lives. Our Savior would then rise from the dead and then ascend to the right hand of God the Father in Heaven; His original place, since
the beginning.
Jesus brought to us new hope and a new life in His teachings of the Gospel. We as Christians have accepted Jesus Christ as both our Lord and our Savior. We believe and know He paid the price for our former identity. Finally, we accept his teachings and understand that through His teachings, and the Holy Helper (Spirit), our identity is no longer in Adam, but in Jesus Himself.
As we begin to understand this change in identity, the ruler of this world will use our worldly senses against us. Satan will do this to try and distract us from knowing who we now are in Christ. However, through prayer and repentance, our identities will grow stronger. Just like a child will grow and learn; a born again Christian accepts Christ into his heart, and over time, grows in the knowledge of WHO he is. His identity is now Christ. The total righteousness of God. We are no longer in Adam. When we identify with Christ we realize that we were also crucified on that cross. Just as Jesus rose from the dead, we too are risen from spiritual death and will be granted eternal life as an identified son of God, an heir to the throne.
So ask yourself this today, whom do I identify with most, the first Adam or the second; perfect Adam; Jesus Christ; Lord and Savior? Grow in your identity and experience the freedom God promised through His Son.