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HOUSMAIL HM024
1 April 1999 THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM -- WHEN ADAM REPENTED EVERYONE
seems to talk about when Adam sinned. Almost NO ONE ever seems to take the
time to mention that Adam REPENTED! However,
this must have been the case! The penalty incurred by Adam's sin was: “IN THE DAY that you eat ..... you shall SURELY
DIE” (Genesis 2:17) Note: "IN THE DAY" means "that very same day". According
to Young, the words "SURELY DIE" describe the CERTAINTY of the
event. i.e.,
It was absolutely certain that Adam was supposed to die that very day. (Which
would explain why Adam and Eve hid. The day was almost over .... and when
they heard the sound of God walking in the garden, they thought He was coming
to carry out the sentence!) Did
Adam die on the very same day that he sinned? NO!!!
HE DIED 930 YEARS LATER! Why
didn't Adam die that VERY SAME DAY? The
answer is in Ezekiel 33:14-19: “Though I say to the wicked, 'You shall SURELY
DIE,' .....” (v14) (That
was what God SAID to Adam) “Yet if he turns from his sin and does what is
lawful and right, if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has
taken by robbery, and walks in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity;
he shall surely live, he SHALL NOT DIE .....” (v14-15) (That
is how God DEALT with Adam) “None of the sins that he has committed shall
be remembered against him; he has done what is lawful and right, he shall
surely live." (v16) (That
is what HAPPENED to Adam - he did not die that very same day - he
lived on for another 930 years!) The
reason given by Ezekiel - REPENTANCE!! "Yet your people say, 'The way of the Lord
is not just'; when it is their own way that is not just. When the righteous
turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, he shall die for it. And
when the wicked turns from his wickedness, and does what is lawful and right,
he shall live by it." (v17-18) CONCLUSION Because
Adam did NOT die that very same day, it seems obvious that he must have made
the same repentance offered in Ezekiel and experienced the same promised
forgiveness. Therefore,
when Adam died at the age of 930, this was NOT as a PENALTY for his sin. (God
does not forgive and then punish!) Rather it was because from the beginning, CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY has always been an essential part of the original creation plan
..... and the Gospel of the Kingdom! All
of this is part of the Gospel preached in Eden when God told the serpent that
one of Eve's seed would eventually "bruise his head". (Genesis 3:15) By that
"promise" to the serpent, God restored to Adam and Eve the GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM ON EARTH (which had been declared in Genesis
1:26) That
same ancient Gospel is renewed for ALL OF US by Jesus. When we REPENT, our
sins are pardoned, and God does not deal with us as our sins deserve! "He does not deal with us according to our
sins, nor requite us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high
above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as
far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions
from us." (Psalm 103:10-12) And
when we die at the end of this mortal life, it is NOT because of Adam's sin,
and it is certainly NOT because of our own sin! It is because: "All these, though well attested by their
faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had foreseen something
better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect." (Hebrews 11:39-40) Allon |