The Two Brides of God

The Second Adam—and Eve

Behold the second Adam

  And the scar upon His side

From which God created

  His pure and blameless bride.

To the methods of the schemer

  Leave her not forsaken.

From Your deathly slumber, rise.

  In Your garden, waken!

Icon of the hidden,

  Firstborn of Your Father,

You have paid with life

  And sacred blood and water.

Serpent-Crusher, Head,

  Perfect Substitute,

And Offerer to Eve

  Of the better fruit,

Raised for new dominion

  To love as no other could—

Behold Your scar and see

  Whom God presents to You as good.

First Corinthians 15 makes clear that Adam is a type of Christ. However, perhaps more similarities or comparisons exist than we notice at first.

For example, meditating on Genesis and the story and suffering of Jesus, I began to slowly see how the divinely initiated wound in Adam’s side mystically foreshadows the Roman spear in the side of Jesus. Both sink into a deep sleep—or death—and likewise wake in a garden to a new reality because of what God has accomplished.

Even so, Christ is not only the second and last Adam. He is also the greater Adam. He is the firstborn Son that will not fail in His charge to exercise dominion and walk humbly with His God. He shall lead His bride, not blame her, and escort her not into a broken, fallen, thorn-infested, conflict-ridden world of death but into a restored heaven of peace.

In Genesis, God observes the world as He created it—beautiful and good—and yet perceives something that is not good: Man is alone. To address this void, He creates a special counterpart, who eventually and tragically leads him astray.

The difference in the Jesus story is that while we too have trespassed, unlike Adam, He takes responsibility for us and dies and rises again. The lies we believed do not have the final say. The Serpent-Crusher has prevailed, and because of His work, God can pronounce us good (2 Pet. 1:4).