_^V6am as a ^figure of (Tfyrist
3 . "pollock. Roma ns 5:14.
pear. Yet it is and must be true, or else Adam and Eve could not have been wrapped up in those coats of skin, nor could Abel have been accepted because of his offering, nor could one bit of blessing ever have reached sinful man. The expression, " t h e figure of Him taac was to come," (Rom. 5:14) refers directly to Adam. It occurs in a very striking place and manner. The latter half of Ro- mans 5 is occupied with comparing the HEADSHIPS JOF ADAM AND CHRIST. One brought on the curse; the other, bless- ing. One brought in condemnation; the other, justification. One brought in death; the other, life. And it is just in the midst of the de- scription of the utter failure of Adam in contrast with the perfection of Christ, that we get tnis striking expression, ' ' the figure of Him that was to come." We should not have expected the ex- pression to come in just there. It looks disjointed and out of place. But the ap- parently disjointed place in which it oc- curs arrests and detains us. A moment's thought and our soul is filled with a flood of light. Christ comes before us in two ways; by figure and contrast. Adam, as God made Him, was the figure of Christ; as he made himself in his fall, he becomes a contrast to Christ. What a valuable les- son, if we learn it right. Never was a finer man placed in -finer circumstances than Adam—yet he fell; and, as fallen, became the head of a race of men like himself. What can come from such a source? If the fountain is polluted we shall not expect clean waters to flow there- from. Let us once and for all ' ' cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils," and turn to Him in whom alone incomparable perfection dwells. The earlier a type is found in Scripturt; the more forcible it is. Such a type is made up or very few but very bold strokes. Later types will bring in details, and the more removed the type is from what is
I have in my possession the photograph of an animal. The person who held it in position for the picture is not seen in the picture, but against the wall there is the sharply defined shadow of a man. When the light threw the shadow on the wall, it must have struck the substance first. The form of the man gave form to the shadow. This photograph may illustrate for us the meaning of the old Testament, for there the sharply defined shadow of a MAN is clearly seen on the pages of it. Much more than a man, surely—"God over all blessed for e v e r ," a wonderful glorious Person, "whose being none can k n o w ;" but yet a Man, the Son of God, the Son of Man, the Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ. From Genesis 1 to Malachi 4, we find the sacred page full of the shadow of Christ. He Himself talking to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, "begin- ning at Moses and all the prophets—ex- pounded unto them in all the Scriptures THE THINGS CONCERNING HIM- S E L F " (Luke 24:27.) No wonder their hearts burned within them as they listened to such an unfolding from such a Person. Adam, Abraham, Melchizedek, Isaac, Jo- seph, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, David, Soltf- mon, and a host of others prefigured Christ. In them in divers ways we see the shadow of Him who was to come. Our illustration brings out a most im- portant point. The expression, ' ' the figure of Him that was to come," emphasizes it with all the direct force of Scripture. The light must have shone upon the man before the shadow was cast upon the wall. In the same way all the perfection yet to be manifested in Christ in manhood, and all the excellency of His work, was present, before God, before ever the types set Him forth. The substanee was before the shadow. The antitype was before the type. The New Covenant was before the Old, paradoxical as such a statement may ap-
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