God did not create “many men” – He created one man, one corporate man, Adam, in which we all are included. If you read Gen. 1:26-28 and 5:2 you will see that God created one man, but this man is corporate, collective, since the pronouns, “them” and “their” are used to refer to the corporate man God created. This means that God’s view of His creation of man is totally different than how man understands it to be.
Later in the New Testament we see that Christ came, and this One was the real Adam, the last Adam, the One who fulfilled God’s purpose in creating man. Whatever God intended to do with and through the first man He created was accomplished in full in Christ as the real Adam.
And there’s even more: through His death and resurrection, Christ regenerated millions of people, and now all the believers in Christ compose Christ’s Body and are the new man, the corporate man which God intended to obtain through His creation of Adam.
It was through Christ individually that God was fully expressed and His dominion was manifested, and it is now through the church as the one new man that God is corporately and universally expressed and His kingdom is being brought in.
Hallelujah! We are today not merely “created men” in Adam, but we are regenerated men, God-men, part of the new man, the corporate Christ, who fulfills God’s intention in creating man! What a privilege to see this and be part of this in Christ!
God Created Adam, One Corporate Man
After the council held in the Trinity in eternity past, God decided to create man in His image and according to His likeness (see Gen. 1:26-28). Most people know that God created Adam, but what most people (and even most believers) don’t know is that God didn’t create many men – He created Adam as a corporate man, including all mankind.
If you read Gen. 1:26-28 and Gen. 5:2 you will see that, even though God created man (singular), the man is referred to as “them” and “their”. God created mankind collectively in Adam – He created a corporate man in His image and according to His likeness so that mankind (the corporate man) would express Him corporately on earth.
God Himself is corporate – He is Three in One, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, distinct yet not separate, co-existing, co-inhering, and co-working together as one. In His image and according to His likeness God created man in the last part of the sixth day of God’s process of creation, and then He rested.
God rested not because He was tired, or because He finally finished His work of creation. God rested because He created the highest life on earth, the human life, the corporate man, who has His image and bears His likeness, and this man expresses God in His image and represents Him with His dominion over all the earth!
After God created man, He said, “Very Good!” and then He rested. Man is the pinnacle and the climax of God’s creation, since man has a spirit to receive God, contain God, and express God in His image!
Adam is a Type of Christ; Christ is the Real Man
The first man, Adam, failed God in fulfilling His purpose, but Christ as the last Adam fulfilled God’s purpose in creating man (1 Cor. 15:45). Adam as the first man is a type of Christ who was to come, the real “Adam” (see Rom. 5:14). God’s purpose in creating Adam was fully fulfilled in Christ as the second man, the real Adam.
Christ, as an individual was God mingled with man, a man living by God’s life, fully expressing God and representing Him on earth. As seen in Genesis, there are some particular characteristics of Adam that Christ has fulfilled to the uttermost:
1. Adam was the Center and Head of All Creation – Christ is the real Center and Head of All Creation. Adam was created last, since God had to prepare the setting for man to come in. God first created the heavens, the earth, the light, the land, grass, herbs, trees, fish, birds, cattle, beasts, creeping things, and then, He created Adam.
The heavens are for the earth, the earth with all the living things on it are for man’s existence and sustenance, and man is the center and head of God’s creation! Adam is the head of both the creation and of the human race. Christ is the Head of all things to the church (Eph. 1:10, 22), the Head of all (Eph. 4:15), and the Head of the Body (the church, the new creation, Col. 1:18).
Christ is the center of God’s plan, God’s old creation and new creation, and of the entire universe. He created all things, upholds all things, and unto Him are all things. Adam as the head and center of God’s old creation failed God but Christ as the Head and Center of God’s old and new creation fully fulfilled God’s purpose!
2.Adam was created in God’s image and according to His likeness – Christ is the image of the invisible God (Heb. 1:3). Adam failed to express God’s image and bear His likeness, but Christ as the image of the invisible God made God real to man, defined God, explained God, and fully expressed God on earth. The invisible God is looking for a solid visible expression, and Christ as the image of God expressed the bountiful God in all His rich attributes through His aromatic human virtues.
3. Adam was entrusted with God’s dominion – Christ was commissioned to deal with God’s enemy and bring in God’s kingdom on the earth. Adam was given dominion over all the earth, the living things on earth, in the sea, and in the air – God wanted Adam to be His representative executing His authority and ruling for Him on earth. Adam was a type of Christ – Christ is God’s anointed and appointed to carry out God’s purpose in dealing with God’s enemy and recover the earth back under God’s authority!
4. In Adam all men were created – in Christ as the Head all things were created, and He is the Head of every man (1 Cor. 11:3). God created one corporate man, and Adam was the head of the old creation and the human race. Christ is the real Adam and He is the head of every man (who is the head of the woman), being the Firstborn of all creation (the old creation) and the Firstborn from the dead (the new creation). Whatever God intended for Adam to be and to do Christ fulfilled individually to the uttermost!
The Church is the New Man Fulfilling God’s Purpose
Christ expressed God and represented God individually while He was on earth. But God wants a corporate man, a corporate expression! For this reason, through His death and resurrection Christ was reproduced, multiplied, and expanded to include millions of believers in Christ who constitute the church as the new man who fulfills God’s plan!
Today God gets all the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all the generations forever (Eph. 3:21). We are God’s masterpiece, created in Christ to express God and represent Him corporately as the one new man (Eph. 3:20; 2:15; 4:24; Col. 3:10). As the new man, the church is being renewed unto the full knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.
As we enjoy Christ, spend time with Him to be infused with Him, and allow Christ to grow in us, together we all bear His image and exercise His dominion. As we take Christ as our life and our person, Christ becomes the One living in us – no longer I but Christ (Gal. 2:20).
When Christ lives in me and Christ lives in you and Christ lives in hundreds and thousands of believers, God gets His corporate expression in man, His heart’s desire! Hallelujah for the church as the new man, the corporate man fulfilling Gen. 1:26 by expressing Christ corporately and exercising God’s dominion on the earth!
Lord Jesus, open our eyes to really see Your intention in creating man and how You will fulfill it! May we see Christ as the real Adam, the One who fulfilled God’s purpose in creating man. May we be filled with Christ and live Christ for God’s expression. Lord, grow in us. We take You as our life to be Your Body and express You, and we take You as our person that we may corporately represent You on earth. May Your kingdom come and Your will be done! We give You all the glory in the church unto all the generations forever, Amen!
References and Further Reading
- Inspiration: bro. James Lee’s sharing in the message and portions in, The Central Thought of God (chs. 1-2), and, Truth Lessons — Level Three (vol. 1, lsn. 2), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on the Crystallization Study of Genesis (1), week/msg 4, God Creating Man in His Own Image for His Expression.
- Further reading: recommending Gen 1:26 (and footnote 4) and Eph. 4:24 (note 2) in the Recovery Version.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Born into Adam, we— / But transferred now to Christ; / Made one with Christ, as baptized ones, / Growing togeth’r with Him.
# One new man is the Father’s plan; / He redeemed us from the sons of men. / Every kindred, tribe and tongue, / In Himself He called us to be one. / God’s expression on the earth / Now reveals His glorious worth. / One new man is the Father’s plan; / He redeemed us from the sons of men.
# As the product, the fulfillment, / Will the church in glory stand, / Consummation of the purpose / In eternal ages planned. / God will have His corporate vessel, / All His glory to contain; / Lord, we’re wholly for Thy purpose / All Thy goal in us attain.
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