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Jesus as the Last Adam is one of the most powerful truths in Scripture, as Christ came to save us from the consequences of Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden. Unpack Jesus as the Last Adam from 1 Corinthians 15:45, Romans 5:12-20, and Luke 22:42–43, learning how the obedience of Christ brought redemption where the first Adam brought sin and death.
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We forget things, so it’s good to be reminded. That’s why, throughout the New Testament, we are reminded of spiritual truths. Here are two examples of many I could give you:
1 Corinthians 15:1 I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand.
Paul wanted to remind us of the gospel, which I don’t think we could be reminded of too many times.
2 Peter 1:12 I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have.
Peter’s referring to the qualities he mentioned earlier: virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. Then he says:
2 Peter 1:13 I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder.
As long as Peter’s alive, he’s going to keep reminding believers. So, when I preach, I like reminding people of truths that they’ve heard many times before. It is a joy for me to be reminded of truths in my studying, and then to remind people of them when I preach. But I also hope to help people see new things they haven’t seen before. This is one of my other joys when studying.
Helping people see new things in the Gospels can be difficult because they are the most familiar area of Scripture. And beyond that, Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane is one of the most familiar accounts in the Gospels. But there is something deep and powerful in this account that I hope prevents people from reading this account the same way. It requires looking past Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane to the first Adam in the garden of Eden. That’s where this account truly begins.
Jesus Is the Last Adam
Jesus has over 200 names in Scripture. We know Him as the Son of God, Son of Man, Lamb of God, and Prince of Peace. But a lesser-known title is the Last Adam:
1 Corinthians 15:45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam (referring to Jesus) became a life-giving spirit…47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man (referring to Jesus) is from heaven.
The clearest passage contrasting Jesus and Adam is in Romans 5:
Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
Adam is a type of Jesus. For something to serve as a type of Christ, it must look like Christ. You might be quick to say, “Then how could Adam serve as a type of Christ because Adam looks like the opposite of Christ?” But there are many ways Adam serves as a dramatic type of Christ:
- Adam and Jesus were the only two people in all of human history created without a sinful nature; they are the only ones to enter the world sinlessly.
- Adam is the head of all humanity, and Jesus, as the head of the church, is the head of all redeemed humanity.
- They both affected humanity more than everyone else – past, present, and future – combined: Adam brought death into the world for all people descended from him, and Jesus brought eternal life into the world for all people who believe in Him.
Jesus’s salvation is contrasted with Adam’s sin:
Romans 5:15 But the free gift (Jesus’s free gift of salvation) is not like the trespass (Adam’s sin). For if many died through one man’s trespass (Adam’s sin), much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift (eternal salvation) is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass (Adam’s sin) brought condemnation, but the free gift (of salvation) following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man’s trespass (Adam’s sin), death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
The word free was repeated five times, revealing another similarity between Adam and Jesus: Adam gave us death for free (when you get to heaven, you can thank him for it), and Jesus gives us salvation for free.
Romans 5:18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners (this refers to the sin natures we received from Adam… something else you can thank him for), so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
Adam and Jesus both imputed something to us: Adam’s sin nature is imputed to us, and Jesus’s righteousness can be imputed to us by grace through faith
Romans 5:20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,
The phrase all the more reveals one of the most important themes in these verses: Jesus did more than Adam. Because Adam had such an effect on the human race, we might be tempted to see him as Jesus’s equal. But Paul wants us to know that what Jesus did was much greater, which is repeated throughout the account:
Romans 5:9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation…15 If many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many…17 If, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
So, yes, Adam affected mankind, but Jesus affected mankind in an even greater way. It’s not minimizing what Adam did; it maximizes what Jesus accomplished.
The Last Adam Had to Resist the Devil
Jesus isn’t called the Last Adam only because Adam serves as a type of Him. Instead, Jesus is called the Last Adam because He came to save us from the consequences of the first Adam’s trespass. To do that, Jesus had to be victorious where the first Adam failed.
Luke 4:1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness.
Before Jesus did anything else, He went right from being baptized to going out into the wilderness to take on the devil. And Jesus’s temptation in the wilderness resembles Adam’s temptation in the Garden:
1 John 2:16 All that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.
This verse looks back to Adam’s temptation:
Genesis 3:6 the tree was good for food (the desires of the flesh), and that it was a delight to the eyes (the desires of the eyes), and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise (the pride of life),
This is how Jesus was tempted, too:
- Satan said, “Command this stone to become bread,” the desires of the flesh; they were both tempted to eat what they shouldn’t.
- Satan showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world: the desires of the eyes
- Satan told Jesus to throw Himself down, and the angels would catch Him: the pride of life
But although their temptations are similar, there are also differences. Adam was tempted once and gave in, but Jesus was tempted and resisted for 40 days. Adam’s temptation occurred in the most ideal circumstances imaginable, but Jesus’ temptation took place under the most unpleasant conditions:
- Adam was in a Garden called Paradise: beautiful, perfect, and untouched by The Fall. It’s almost hard to believe Adam could desire anything else, but Jesus was in a barren, desolate wilderness.
- Genesis 3:8 describes the Garden having a nice, cool breeze, but the Judean desert averages one inch of rain per year and reaches temperatures of 120-125 degrees.
Adam was with his wife, but Jesus was utterly alone. Sort of. Mark 1:13 says, “[Jesus] was with the wild animals.” This is another contrast, because Adam was surrounded by animals that weren’t wild since they hadn’t yet been affected by The Fall.
Adam had all the other trees in the Garden to eat from, so he was satisfied and healthy, but Jesus went without food for 40 days and was utterly exhausted, close to death. But Jesus triumphed despite all these differences that made His temptations far worse than Adam’s.
God’s Wrath Builds Up Against Us
Romans 1:18 The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
God’s wrath is against all sin.
Romans 5:12 sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.
We all sinned in Adam. He is our head. Because we are united with him as our representative, his guilt is passed on to us as his descendants:
Romans 5:14 death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those [who did not sin like] Adam.
So, God’s wrath is against us, too:
Ephesians 2:3 [We] were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
To truly save us from what Adam did, Jesus must confront the wrath directed against us.
The Last Adam’s Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane
Luke 22:44 And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
This verse reveals an incredibly shocking part of Jesus’ time in the garden that I want us to think about: His suffering. When we think of Jesus’ suffering, our minds often go to the beatings, the flogging, and most of all, the crucifixion. But we should also think of the garden of Gethsemane.
His agony was so bad that His “sweat became like great drops of blood.” He was experiencing a condition known as hematidrosis, which occurs when individuals are under extreme emotional stress. Capillaries burst beneath the skin, causing blood to mix with sweat as it exits through the sweat glands, making it look like they are sweating blood.
Luke 22:43 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.
Wouldn’t we expect an angel to strengthen Him on the cross? Yet He had to be strengthened in the Garden because His agony was so great. The parallel account in Matthew’s gospel records Jesus saying:
Matthew 26:38 “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.”
This is shocking: the sorrow Jesus experienced in the garden was so great that He knew He could die from it. It brought Him to the very brink of death.
Thinking About the Cup Caused the Last Adam Such Agony
What caused Jesus such agony? Jesus gives us the answer in all three synoptic Gospels:
Matthew 26:39 [Jesus prayed], “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”
Mark 14:36 [Jesus prayed], “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
Luke 22:42 [Jesus prayed], “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
Jesus dreaded this cup. Why did just the thought of this cup cause Jesus so much agony? Why did just thinking about consuming it bring Him to the point of death? Did it represent His upcoming crucifixion?
No. Many people have known that an excruciating death was approaching without sweating blood or going through this agony. If we make this as similar to Jesus’s situation as possible, the Romans crucified tens of thousands of people. The slave, Spartacus, revolted, and after the Romans crushed that rebellion, they crucified 6,000 rebels along the Appian Way to warn others. Josephus, the Jewish historian, says the Romans crucified so many Jews during the siege of Jerusalem that there were no crosses or bodies left. But we don’t know of any others sweating blood as they thought about being crucified.
The truth is that Jesus’s agony had nothing to do with any physical suffering. Consider what Jesus Himself said:
Matthew 10:28 “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Jesus wouldn’t say this and then fear what man could do to Him. He wasn’t agonizing over the beatings He would endure, the scourging, the nails driven through His hands and feet, or anything else man could do. These were all things Jesus said not to fear. Instead, Jesus agonized over what His Father would do to Him. He thought about the outpouring of divine wrath He would have to endure to save us from our sin, and it almost killed Him.
The Last Adam Had to Consume God’s Wrath
Consider this. Jesus spoke seven times during His crucifixion. He managed to:
- Pray that the Father would forgive those crucifying Him.
- Tell the thief that he would be with Him in paradise.
- Take care of His earthly mother.
- Say He thirsted
- Say, “It is finished.”
- Finally, He said, “Father into your hands I commit My spirit.”
None of these statements was about His suffering. Similarly, He never said anything about His suffering when He was being beaten, flogged, or even when the nails were going through His hands and feet. Instead, He was silent like a lamb led to the slaughter.
There’s only one time he spoke about His suffering, and it had nothing to do with what man was doing to Him:
Matthew 27:46 Jesus cried out with a loud voice… “My God my God why have you forsaken Me?”
The cry of anguish was about what God was doing to Him. This cry reflected the bitter cup He was drinking. We know from the Old Testament that this cup is a well-known symbol of God’s divine wrath against sin. There are many verses I can provide, but here are two:
Isaiah 51:17 Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering.
Jeremiah 25:15 Thus the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it.
A cup is a fitting symbol of God’s wrath because it can be filled over time. And God’s wrath has been building up since Eden:
Romans 2:5 Because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.
You can almost picture the cup getting fuller. God’s wrath stands in contrast to His anger, which strikes quickly. Let me give you an example.
When Israel was in the wilderness, the men committed adultery with Moabite women, and then started engaging in idolatry with them. Because this happened quickly, God’s wrath didn’t build up. Instead, His anger struck quickly:
Numbers 25:3 So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. 4 And the Lord said to Moses, “Take all the chiefs of the people and hang them in the sun before the Lord, that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.”
These men were executed, and God’s anger was extinguished as quickly as it arose. But God’s wrath, on the other hand, is patient. It waits. I can’t imagine how much wrath was in that cup, but just the thought of consuming all of it and being the object of God’s fury made Him sweat blood.
The Last Adam Wanted Us to Know There’s No Other Way for Man to Be Saved
We know Jesus regularly went off to pray by Himself. We don’t know what He prayed during the sessions because He didn’t bring anyone with Him. But when Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane:
Matthew 26:37 And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled.
Jesus brought these three with Him so they could hear what He prayed…39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”…42 Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” 44 So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again.
Three times, Jesus prayed that He wouldn’t have to drink this cup. Jesus made it right up to this point, only hours before His crucifixion, and so now, is He trying to turn back? No, that’s not it at all.
Jesus said, “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” If what be possible? If it be possible for man to be saved any other way. Jesus didn’t pray this because He was trying to avoid consuming this cup, or because He wondered if there was some other way for us to be saved. He prayed this to show us that there is no other way for us to be saved.
We might be tempted to think, “I can be saved by… Being good enough…Going to church enough…Praying enough… Reading the Bible enough.” The fact that Jesus consumed this cup shows us there is no other way for us to be saved. And Jesus brought Peter, James, and John with Him, so they could share this with others, allowing it to be recorded in the Gospels. He kept returning to wake them, not just to get them to pray but as if to ensure they heard Him.
Have you ever thought, “What if God said yes to Jesus’ prayer?” What if God said, “I love My Son so much I don’t want Him to go through all this suffering and die?” If God said yes to Jesus, He would be saying no to us. So God said no to His Son, so He could say yes to us:
Romans 8:32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?…37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Jesus Drinks the Cup of God’s Wrath for Us or We Drink It
Jesus drank the cup of God’s wrath against believers, so there is no longer any wrath against us:
1 Thessalonians 1:10 Jesus…delivers us from the wrath to come…1 Thessalonians 5:9 God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
But Jesus didn’t take the wrath of God against the whole world. He didn’t take the wrath God feels against those who have rejected His Son. We have two choices: either let Jesus take the cup for us by repenting and believing, or choose to drink this cup of God’s wrath ourselves.
