Morning, December 26
Go To Evening Reading
“The last Adam.”
1 Corinthians 15:45
Jesus is the federal head of his elect. As in Adam, every heir of
flesh and blood has a personal interest, because he is the covenant
head and representative of the race as considered under the law of
works; so under the law of grace, every redeemed soul is one with
the Lord from heaven, since he is the Second Adam, the Sponsor and
Substitute of the elect in the new covenant of love. The apostle Paul
declares that Levi was in the loins of Abraham when Melchizedek met
him: it is a certain truth that the believer was in the loins of Jesus
Christ, the Mediator, when in old eternity the covenant settlements
of grace were decreed, ratified, and made sure forever. Thus, whatever
Christ hath done, he hath wrought for the whole body of his Church.
We were crucified in him and buried with him (read Col. 2:10-13 ), and to make it still more wonderful, we are risen with him and
even ascended with him to the seats on high ( Eph. 2:6 ). It is thus that the Church has fulfilled the law, and is “accepted in the beloved .” It is thus that she is regarded with complacency by the just Jehovah,
for he views her in Jesus, and does not look upon her as separate
from her covenant head. As the Anointed Redeemer of Israel, Christ
Jesus has nothing distinct from his Church, but all that he has he
holds for her. Adam’s righteousness was ours so long as he maintained it, and his sin
was ours the moment that he committed it; and in the same manner,
all that the Second Adam is or does, is ours as well as his, seeing
that he is our representative. Here is the foundation of the covenant
of grace. This gracious system of representation and substitution,
which moved Justin Martyr to cry out, “O blessed change, O sweet permutation!” this is the very groundwork of the gospel of our salvation, and is
to be received with strong faith and rapturous joy.