Christ, the Second Adam

​Thus it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.  But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual.  The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.  As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.  Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. (1 Cor. 15:45-49 ESV)
 
Just as Adam was from the dust, lived, died, and returned to dust, so also will all those who are his physical descendants.  But just as Christ lived, died, and rose again in a glorified body, so also will all those who are his spiritual descendants.  In v.49, Paul states, “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust [Adam], we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.”  Christ came into the world as the second and greater Adam to do what the first Adam failed to do.  Adam was supposed to multiply and fill the earth with a progeny of God-worshippers, of image bearers of God, who would exercise dominion over all creation.  But because of sin, the world becomes populated with God-haters who are a damaged reflection of their Creator.  Christ, the second and greater Adam, who was born in Bethlehem two-thousand years ago, has been doing what Adam failed to do.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ruach of God, Christ has been and is filling the earth with people who bear the image of Christ, who are being transformed more and more into the image of Christ, who is the exact image of God.  And someday Christ and all his spiritual progeny will have complete and total dominion over all the earth and the earth will be completely filled with God-worshippers who are the image of Christ who is the image of God.  Advent is about celebrating Christ, the second Adam who came to accomplish what the first Adam failed to accomplish.