Manuscript Releases, vol. 8 [Nos. 526-663]

MR No. 546—Christ, the Second Adam

Christ took upon Himself humanity, and laid down His life a sacrifice, that man, by becoming a partaker of the divine nature might have eternal life. Not only was Christ the Sacrifice, but He was also the Priest, who offered the sacrifice. “The bread that I will give,” said He, “is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (John 6:51.) He was innocent of all guilt. He gave Himself in exchange for the people who has sold themselves to Satan by transgression of God's law,—His life for the life of the human family, who thereby became His purchased possession. 8MR 38.1

“Therefore doth the Father love Me,” said Christ, “because I lay down My life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father.” (John 10:17, 18.) 8MR 38.2

“The wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23.) To Adam before his fall the Lord said, “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Genesis 2:17.) “If you transgress My law, death will surely be your punishment.” By disobeying God's command, he forfeited his life. 8MR 38.3

Before his fall Adam was free from the results of the curse. When he was assailed by the tempter, none of the effects of sin were upon him. He was created perfect in thought and in action. But he yielded to sin, and fell from his high and holy estate. 8MR 38.4

Christ, the second Adam, came in the likeness of sinful flesh. In man's behalf, He became subject to sorrow, to weariness, to hunger, and to thirst. He was subject to temptation, but He yielded not to sin. No taint of sin was upon Him. He declared, “I have kept My Father's commandments [in My earthly life].” (John 15:10.) He had infinite power only because He was perfectly obedient to His Father's will. The second Adam stood the test of trial and temptation that He might become the Owner of all humanity.—Manuscript 99, 1903, 3, 4. (“Christian Education in Our Schools,” September 1, 1903.) 8MR 38.5

This world is a vast missionary field. Christ is the greatest missionary the world has ever known. The wonderful love He manifested in our behalf is without a parallel. Willingly He passed over the ground where Adam fell, redeeming Adam's failure. 8MR 39.1

Christ is called the second Adam. In purity and holiness, connected with God, and beloved by God, He began where the first Adam began. But the first Adam was in every way more favorably situated than Christ. The wonderful provision made in Eden for the holy pair was made by a God who loved them. Everything in nature was pure and undefiled. Fruits, flowers, and beautiful, lofty trees flourished in the garden of Eden. With everything that Adam and Eve required, they were abundantly supplied. But Satan came, and insinuated doubts of God's wisdom. He accused Him, their heavenly Father and Sovereign, of selfishness, because to test their loyalty, He had prohibited them from eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Eve fell under the temptation, and Adam accepted the forbidden fruit from his wife's hand. He fell under the smallest test that the Lord could devise to prove his obedience; and the floodgates of woe were opened upon our world. He was furnished with a holy nature, sinless, pure, undefiled; but he fell because he listened to the suggestions of the enemy; and his posterity became depraved. By one man's disobedience many were made sinners. 8MR 39.2

When Christ came, He entered a world disloyal to God, a world all seared and marred by the curse of rebellion against the Creator. The arch deceiver had carried on his work with intense vigor, until the curse of transgression had fallen upon the earth. Men were corrupted by Satan's inventions. He had been leading men astray by his false representations of God's character. Claiming [for] himself the attributes of mercy, goodness, and truth, Satan attributed his own attributes to God. These misrepresentations must be met and demonstrated as false, by Christ in human nature. 8MR 40.1

Christ was tempted by Satan in a hundredfold severer manner than was Adam, and under circumstances in every way more trying. The deceiver presented himself as an angel of light, but Christ withstood his temptations. He redeemed Adam's disgraceful fall, and saved the world. There is hope for all who will come to Christ, and receive Him as their personal Saviour. 8MR 40.2

Christ, the Commander of all heaven, One with God, clothed His divinity with humanity, that humanity might touch humanity. He humbled himself, taking up His abode on the earth, that He might become acquainted with the temptations and trials wherewith man is beset. He placed Himself among the poor, that as a human being, He might understand their affliction. Before the heavenly universe, He unfolded the great salvation that His righteousness would bring to men, if they would accept it,—an inheritance among the saints and angels, in the presence of God. 8MR 40.3

With His human arm Christ encircled the race, while with His divine arm He grasped the throne of the Infinite, uniting finite man with the infinite God. By transgression the world had been divorced from heaven. Christ bridged the gulf, and connected earth with heaven. In human nature He maintained the purity of His divine character. He lived the law of God, and honored it in a world of transgression, revealing to the worlds unfallen, to the heavenly universe, to Satan, and to all the fallen sons and daughters of Adam that through His grace humanity can keep the law of God! He came to impart His own divine nature, His own image, to the repentant, believing soul. 8MR 40.4

The faith that grasps Christ, and believes in Him will work by love and purify the soul. “If our gospel be hid,” Paul declared, “it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.... For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:3-6.)—Manuscript 20, 1898, 1-3. (“His Wonderful Love,” typed February 18, 1898.) 8MR 41.1

Released May 20, 1977.