The Bible is very clear that obedience is something to be learned; and that it is learned through suffering, Hebrew 5:8.
The first man, Adam, was fashioned as an adult. He was placed in a garden of paradise, on holy ground, and with no suffering. He was given a command by God, and he disobeyed God. From that moment on, the image of God in which he was created was stained with sin; so much so, that sin actually dwelt within him, and now dwells in every one of his descendants, Romans 7:17, 20.
The last Adam appeared as an infant child. He was placed on a cursed earth filled with suffering. From childhood, He was trained up in the way He should go. He learned obedience from the things He suffered. And He kept the commandments of God.
The first Adam – adult – no suffering, did not learn obedience – sinned against God.
The last Adam – child – suffering on cursed earth – learned obedience – obeyed God.
At the end of His obedient life, Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the first Adam, and his descendants.
He was crucified, buried, and raised from the dead by the God who created the first Adam. He then entered heaven and sat at the right hand of God, where He became a life-giving spirit. He began giving His Spirit to all who believe in Him, and they, being born anew by the infilling of His Spirit, became members of a new body, and thereby forming a brand new creation, which is His spiritual body on earth, the church.
“The first man, Adam, became a living soul; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit,” 1 Corinthians 15:45. As the last Adam, Jesus did away with sin in the flesh for all who would believe in Him, for He carried our sinful flesh on the cross with Himself. He who knew no sin, became sin for us. And since having died with Him, our lives are now hidden with Christ in God, and we have been set free from our slavery to sin, and have become slaves to righteousness.
Unlike the first Adam, we can now obey the commands of God, for we have been given the Spirit of the One who overcame sin. And not only that, but because the Father is training us up in the way we should go, just as He trained Jesus, we are learning obedience from the things which we suffer, and growing stronger each day. When we become adults like the first Adam, we will still be walking in obedience to our heavenly Father, and we will not eat the fruit of any tree He tells us not to eat.
Dear chosen of God, the Father could have taken each of us when we were born again, but chose to leave us in our mortal bodies, knowing that we would still be tempted to sin. Yet, though He left us here, we need not continue in sin, for He has provided the way of escape from every temptation common to man, and will not allow us to be tempted above what we are able to bear.
What do you think that way of escape is? It is Jesus! Jesus is our way of escape from every temptation known to man. When we are tempted, we need only look to Him, and He will come to our aid, for He cares so much for us that He intercedes for us, and awaits to show us that His strength is made perfect in our weakness. We need only call out to Him in faith, and place ourselves in His trust.
By walking in this way, we will become stronger each and every day in our obedience to the Lord. If we keep pressing, we will one day attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ.
“Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation,” Hebrews 5:8,9.
“Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God,” 1 Peter 4:1, 2.
Jon David Banks, God’s most unworthy servant
jondavidbanks.com 