The Christ Man In Type, Boaz - Elder David Bartley (1827-1908)

 We have seen that the types of the Man of God’s right hand, whom he made strong for himself, are varied in name and character and mission, yet not antagonistic, but rather variety in unity, so that all make one symmetrical whole, and all find their full complement or perfection in the Brother born for adversity, of whom even the pagan Pilate said, “I find no fault in this Man.”  In every way and in all his life and ministry and work, Jesus of Nazareth was a perfect Man.  He alone, of all men, was this.  In him the blessed and holy God himself is well pleased.

We now come to another type of this faultless Man, BOAZ.  In his very name, which signifies fleetness and strength, he represented Christ.  Boaz was noble and good and great in Israel.  Bethlehem was his home, the home of his son David, and the birth place of David’s son Jesus.  Jesus was swift to run in the race that God set before him, and strong to finish the work he came to do.  Never did he falter or turn back.  To his mother he said, “Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?”  To his Father he said, “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God.”

In this virtue Boaz was a type of Jesus.  Naomi said to Ruth, “Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall: for the man will not be in rest, until he have finished the thing this day.”

In the little book of Ruth is given a very touching biography of Elimelech and Naomi his wife, their two sons, and Ruth and Boaz.  It says, “And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband’s a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz.”  Because of a famine in the land of Israel, Elimelech, with his wife and two sons, went to the country of Moab to dwell, and Naomi remained there about ten years.  But the Lord did not prosper them in that idolatrous place; or her husband died.  Then her two sons married maidens of Moab, named Orpah and Ruth.  But, alas! The sons, Chilion and Mahlon, also died, and the three childless widows were left alone in their poverty and sorrow.  It was then in the heart of Naomi to return to Bethlehem; “for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread.  Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah.”  

Naomi entreated them to return each to their mother’s house, saying, “the Lord deal kindly you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me... Then she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice, and wept.  And they said unto her.  Surely we will return with thee unto thy people.”  But she again plead with them to return, and said, “nay, my daughters; for it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD is gone out against me.  And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law; but Ruth clave unto her.  And she said, Behold thy sister-in-law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods; return thou after thy sister-in-law.  And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and they God my God; where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried; the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.  When she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her.  So they two went until they came to Bethlehem.  And it came to pass, when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi?”  (The name means pleasant.)  “And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Marah; for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.  I went out full, and the LORD hath brought me home again empty; why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the LORD hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?”

This was indeed another very mysterious and afflictive providence of God; for it seemed to have well nigh cut off the family of Elimelech; but really it was rich in wisdom and goodness and blessing, not only to the house of Elimelech, but as well to the house of Israel, and overflowing with mercy to the Gentiles.  Truly did Cowper write, “God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform.” &c.

We have read the words and sentiments of Naomi and Ruth, and have seen how they were received in Bethlehem.  Let us seek instruction from them, seeing that the Lord was dealing with them.  The sorrowful confession of Naomi showed bitter irreconciliation tot he dealings of the Lord with her, and also unbelief and distrust.  This was natural and of the flesh.  With her husband and sons she had left her home-land and inheritance and people, that they might do better for themselves among the idolatrous Moabites.  She returned in ten years to Bethlehem, bringing only Ruth with her, each of them widowed and empty handed.  Her husband’s inheritance in Judah had been sold for debt, and this left herself and Ruth, the widow of her younger son Mahlon, homeless, for they could not redeem the forfeited inheritance.  Naomi was old and infirm, and so the youthful Ruth was under the humbling necessity of gleaning after the reapers in the harvest field, to pick up the crumbs that fell from the master’s table, that Naomi and herself might have bread.  This sadly explains the words of Naomi: “I went out full, and the LORD hath brought me home again empty.”  She was willing to go out, that she might keep all she had, and not lose it by the famine in Israel; but now, because she was empty, she was willing to return home again.  It was in this way that the Lord brought her home again.

In all this there is a wonderful lesson of spiritual doctrine and truth.  Naomi was an Israelite, as were her husband and their two sons; so all their inheritance and fullness was under the first and legal covenant.  All this had been forfeited under the law, and was gone from her, and she had neither husband nor son to redeem it.  She was no longer a married wife, neither full nor rich, but empty, grieved and forsaken.  She had left to her the cleaving, loving, Ruth  only, but she was as poor and homeless as herself.  Naomi confessed that the Lord brought her home again in this sorrowful way, having Ruth only with her; still it was true that the Lord had brought her home, home to Bethlehem, home to his people and her people, home to her kinsman, the mighty man of wealth, the noble Boaz.

In all this sorrowful way, which was of the Lord, the bereaved and dear Naomi, who was still pleasant, was a beautiful and true type or figure of the Hebrew church of Christ.  For all that was true of Naomi in her experience in going out full, and in the Almighty dealing very bitterly with her, and in bringing her home again empty, was as touchingly true also in the Lord’s dealings with the gospel church among the Jews.  For he took away from them their legal head, their first husband, their children under the law, and all their inheritance and fullness in the old covenant.

As Naomi went away from Judah to the country of Moab, so did her legal people depart from that covenant, and they lost all their legal fullness.  To suffering Naomi it was a bitter way indeed, yet it was the Lord’s good and best way to bring her home to a better inheritance, and to rest in a richer faith and trust.  Paul clearly shows all this, by relating all his advantages and fullness in the law as an Hebrew, and then says, “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things.”  In this way only could Paul know and be brought into the fullness of Christ, and Christ become more than all else to him, and blessedly be all in all.

Having seen how the Lord was wonderfully shown us that in the typical Naomi, let us now return to the lovely Ruth in the little city of Bethlehem.  She was a Gentile, but had forever turned away from her natural people and their gods, henceforth to live and die with the people of Naomi, and to worship her God.  We have read her precious words to Naomi.  Truer love, stronger faith, firmer trust and more undying devotion to God and his people could not dwell in the heart of any one, even Mary the mother of Jesus.  It beautifully manifests the blessed and sweetly overcoming power of the God of all grace in bringing home to himself the stranger, the Gentile Ruth, to live to him in the same faith and can fail to be filled with hearty admiration and esteem for both the Jewish mother and her Gentile daughter, for their endearing love and union to each other.  This is a sweet wonder, seeing that the Jew looked upon the Gentile as unholy and unclean, as no better than swine.

We have seen that Ruth, whose name means a friend, the true and loving Ruth, was a woman of faith, a faith that could not be turned back, an overcoming and trusting faith in the God of Israel,  This was Naomi’s God, and now no less the God of Ruth.  In this faith and uniting love they two were one, and their people one.

All will now see in lovely Ruth a beautiful type of the Gentile church.  Poor in herself and a stranger, her faith in God had separated her from the world in which she once was at home, and it had joined her to Naomi and her people in Bethlehem.  Most touchingly Ruth walked by faith, and was saved by hope.  For her faith and hope in the God of Naomi was all she had in the world to look to and trust in.  True, Naomi was with her as her loving mother, but Naomi was as poor and needy herself as Ruth, and they were then both desolate widows, sorrowful and having no inheritance.  God alone could provide for them now, build them a house and give them an inheritance.  With nothing in their hands, having neither husband nor son, the God of Abraham had brought these two sorrowing women to Bethlehem.  O how sadly interesting they were!  It is no wonder “that all the city was moved about them;”  for our own hearts are moved about them in love and sympathy.

We behold in Naomi and Ruth, Jew and Gentile, thus united as one in the same faith and love to God, the one church of Christ in her desolate widowhood and poverty in herself, before the spiritual Bridegroom manifestly betroths her unto himself in bonds of love and faithfulness, and seals her upon his heart as his bride, all fair and lovely.

In this place it is edifying and profitable that we notice the commendable example the Lord has wisely given the church in Ruth, of a true believer in coming to dwell with his people in the church.  Naomi, a type of the church, did not urge or persuade Ruth to go, nor even invite her, but urged her to go back to her natural people, as Orpah had done, and told her of her own afflictions, and that she could offer her no natural inducement to cast her lot with hers in Bethlehem.  This proved the faith of Ruth, that it was in God, and she must be true to her faith.  “Faith worketh by love, and purifieth the heart.”  It was her faith that separated Ruth from her worldly people, and turned her willing feet to go with Naomi.  The same faith in Moses led him also to choose to suffer affliction with the people of God, rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin.  Seeing this in sweet Ruth, Naomi was content to have her with her.  Had she urged Orpah, as many are urged now, she would also have gone on with them to Bethlehem, as she had started to go.  But this would have been worse for both Naomi and Orpah, because she was moved by sympathy and natural affection only, and she could not have felt at home with the Lord’s poor and afflicted people.  It is needless and wrong, therefore, to urge any one to go to the church; for until they are drawn and moved, like Ruth, it were better to follow the example of Orpah.  The Lord in his perfect love and wisdom has given his people these true examples and patterns for our learning.

Boaz now appears to Naomi and Ruth, and he is another worthy and noble example.  The Lord, the God of his people Israel, raised Boaz up for that time, and specially honored him, so that he became renowned in Israel, as we shall see.  Yea, the Lord made Boaz the head of the house of Elimelech, the restorer of the lost inheritance to both Naomi and Ruth, and the illustrious ancestor of the house of David the king, of whom Christ came according to the flesh.  All this was through blessed Ruth, and for her sake.  For both King David and his son King Jesus were sons of lovely Ruth, the woman of faith.  “This is the LORD’S doing; and it is marvelous in our eyes.”  Do we wonder now that Elimelech and his two sons, in whose name was the inheritance, must be sent through famine into the country of Moab and there lose their inheritance through poverty and death, and there leave three desolate and poor widows?  For this was God’s way to take away the legal inheritance, to restore to his poor people the better gospel inheritance, to bring in the Gentiles as fellow-heirs with the Jews, and to bring salvation to both Jews and Gentiles.  The hand of the Lord directed it all.

It was the time of barley harvest at Bethlehem when the Lord brought his daughter Naomi home, and her trusting Ruth with her, to share her poverty.  And thus through hunger Ruth went into a near field to glean, or gather up the heads of grain that might be left by the reapers.  This was the law in Israel, that the poor might live.  The Lord blessed the poor, and they have the gospel preached to them.  It is because they are poor that they feast on its riches.

“And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him whose sight I shall find grace.”  Behold her faith!  “And she said unto her, Go my daughter.  And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers; and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.  And, behold Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The LORD be with you.  And they answered him, The LORD bless thee.”  Seeing Ruth gleaning, Boaz asked them, “Whose damsel is this?”  Being told, he said to her, “Hearest thou not my daughter?  Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens: let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them: * * * and when thou art athirst go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn.  Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him ‘Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?  And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother-in-law since the death of thine husband: and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore.  The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.  Then she said, Let me find favor in thy sight, my lord; for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine handmaidens.”

“So she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz to glean unto the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest.”  He had commanded his young men to let her glean even among the sheaves, and to let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them, that she might glean them.  Ruth related all this to Naomi, who said unto her, “Blessed be he of the LORD, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead.  And Naomi said unto her, the man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen.”

To the nearest kinsman in Israel belonged the right of redemption of the forfeited inheritance, that he might justly restore it to the family in rightful possession.  Naomi and Ruth were the only remaining heirs of the family of Elimelech, and they were equal heirs.  Now it was in the heart of Boaz to perform the kinsman’s part for Ruth, by making her his wife, thus restoring her and Naomi to the inheritance, and making them the happy possessors with himself of his own rich inheritance and home.  But there was a nearer kinsman than Boaz, as he told Ruth, whose claim upon Naomi and their lost inheritance was first.  So Boaz said to Ruth, “If he will perform unto thee the part of a kinsman, well, let him do the kinsman’s part: but if he will not do the part of a kinsman to thee, then will I do the part of a kinsman to thee, as the LORD liveth.”

Before ten of the elders of the city this one thus answered Boaz: “And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance: redeem thou my right to thyself; for I cannot redeem it.”

“And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the people, Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s, and Mahlon’s, of the hand of Naomi.  Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day.  And all the people that were in the gate, and the eldres said, we are witnesses.”

“So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife.”  Unto them was born a son, And the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the LORD, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel.  And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age, for thy daughter in law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath born him.  And Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse unto it.  And the women and her neighbors gave it a name saying, There is a son born unto Naomi, and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.”  Obed means worshiping God.  How true this name was of Boaz and Ruth and Naomi, and how true the prophecy of the women, that this son should be famous in Israel, and should restore the life of Naomi; for of his sons there should be raised up unto Naomi and Ruth and the house of Israel a line of famous kings, from David unto Christ.  And so Ruth was indeed better to Naomi than seven sons.

Now all this is truly blessed and wonderful.  The infinite love and wisdom and omnipotent power of the God of Boaz and Ruth only could have accomplished it.  Here was poor Ruth, a Gentile stranger, who had come from afar, an humble gleaner, now exalted to honor and riches, and made the happy wife of Boaz, a Jew!  Yea, she became the near ancestress of the renowned King David; yea, too, of King Jesus, the Son of David, and the last King to reign upon the throne of his father David; for he was of her family in Israel!  It is al most blessed and glorious.  God, and not man, had wrought it all.  Most wonderfully did the Lord fulfill the blessing of Boaz upon Ruth at their first meeting, saying, “The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.”

Boaz and Ruth are one, she the happy bride, he the rejoicing bridegroom; and in them the Gentiles are one with the Jews, their fellow-heirs to the same inheritance.  And better still, through the lovely Ruth, our friend, the holy child Jesus, the Son that God gave unto us, is one with us Gentiles.

Now this leads us to enquire, By what law of righteousness Boaz redeemed the forfeited inheritance of Elimelech, restored it to Namoi and Ruth, made her his bride, and raised up a son and heir to Elimelech and kindredship.  This was God’s law in Israel.  The right of redemption and of marriage to the widow of the kinsman belonged to the brother or nearest kinsman.  This was a sacred right.  Boaz was a noble son of Abraham, the friend of God, and he esteemed it an honor to himself to honor this righteous law.  But there was a nearer kinsman than himself and this one held the first claim against this poor family.  But we have seen that Boaz redeemed this claim unto himself, and then fulfilled all the law of redemption, most happily to Naomi and Ruth.  In all this it could be truly and righteously said of him, “Then I restored that which I took not away.”  These are the words of One greater than Boaz, even of the Redeemer of his father’s family, our spiritual near kinsman.

Thus it was in all these respects, as we have seen, and very specially as the near kinsman and redeemer, the restorer, that Boaz was the noble and renowned type of our Brother Redeemer.  What, then, did the nearer kinsman typify? Who said, “I cannot redeem it,” and whose claim Boaz honored by redeeming it to himself.  He evidently represented the law of justice; for we know that the law could not redeem that which was forfeited and held under bonds.  Yet the claims of the law were just, and they must be met righteously, and met, too, by a near kinsman, one in whom was the right of redemption, as shown in the typical Boaz.  Paul therefore says, “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, (not by us,) who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

We may truly say of Naomi and Ruth, that in the spirit of the law of redemption it was fulfilled in them, and they walked in its fulfillment rejoicingly, but their rejoicing and their happy freedom from condemnation, and justification unto righteousness, was in Boaz, their near kinsman and redeemer, and not in themselves.  In this Naomi and Ruth personated the church under the law, and the redeemed church under grace, even as Boaz personated Christ, the spiritual Bridegroom and Head of the church.  In Boaz there was a blessed redemption and free inheritance for both Naomi and Ruth, Jew and Gentile.  The same is more blessedly true in Christ Jesus the Savior of the Jews and also of the Gentiles.

“Wherefore my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.”  This is true as well of the Jew as of the Gentile.  “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into on Spirit.”

“But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in his flesh and enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby; and come and preached peace to you which were afar off and to them that were nigh.  For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.”

How happily this was prefigured by Naomi and Ruth in the house of Boaz, and how dear was their love and sacred their peace!  We have seen that Boaz was the same near kinsman to Ruth that he was to Naomi, before he married Ruth, he being the brother of their husbands, or their near kinsman.  In the absence of this kindredship, which must be near, the right of redemption could not have vested in Boaz, but because of it, Naomi and Ruth, representing the children of God among the Jews and the Gentiles, are made one blessed family in Boaz and in Jesus.  For Jesus was no less the near kinsman of Ruth than he was of Naomi and Boaz, both in the flesh and in the Spirit.  As the Son of David, Jesus was descended from no less than four Gentile women.  Of these our typical Ruth, the bride and the joy of the mighty Boaz, was the most illustrious, because she was the very embodiment of overcoming Faith and blessedly personified the bride of the Son of God, the household of faith.

Boaz loved Ruth, and gave himself for, her that all his honor and riches might be hers with him; so likewise did Christ love the church, and gave himself for it, that he might present it to himself a glorious church.  Boaz, the near kinsman, redeemed Naomi and Ruth up out of poverty, putting them in possession of his own inheritance; and so Christ brings home all his kindred from legal bondage and Gentile idolatry, to love and worship God in the beauty of holiness, and will say to them.  “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

Excerpt from Elder David Bartley's work, The Christ Man In Type

The Christ Man In Type, Adam - Elder David Bartley (1827-1908)

"Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of Him that was to come. But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. " Romans 5:14-17

These wonderful testimonies of the Scriptures reveal to us the truth that God made Adam in the image and likeness of his beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

The figure or image of the Man Christ Jesus. This figure Adam is. No other man is called the figure of Christ, although others were also types of him, but not in the pre-eminent way that Adam is.

It will instruct and comfort us to trace in the Scriptures this likeness of Adam to Christ. The first is, God gave Adam dominion over all the earth, and put all things under his feet. In this Adam is a noble figure of the second Man, the Lord from heaven. To no other man has God ever given this dominion, authority and honor. This entire dominion, power and glory is perfectly fulfilled in the last Adam, to whom God said: “Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.”

 When the risen Jesus had put death under his feet, he came to his disciples and said: “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” Paul speaks of the working of God’s mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all Principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the Head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.” This is the glorious anti-type of Adam.

 Adam is the head of Eve and all her children. In this he is the figure of Christ. Paul says: “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the Head of the church: and he is the Savior of the body.” It is in this oneness of the head and the body, the husband and the wife, that Adam is specially the figure of him that was to come. “And Adam said: This’ is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” In life and nature and name they two were truly one. Yea, also, in estate, whether of goodness or woe, life or death, they were one. Neither life nor death could separate Adam and Eve. When she sinned, and death passed upon her, it behooved him to partake with her and suffer and die with her and for her. Life and Love united them. God had made them one. How touchingly they are the figures of Christ and the church: “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”

In this Christ is infinitely greater than Adam. For the first Adam could only die with Eve, and remain with her under sin and death, but the last Adam had power both to lay down his life, and had power to take it up again. He said: “Therefore doth my Father love me, 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.” This is most wonderful and glorious. To no other man or being did God give this power. Power here means, lawful and rightful authority. “There is a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends,” said our heavenly Friend to us.

This wonderful Man is the Head and Husband of his Bride. “He that hath the bride is the Bridegroom, said John the Baptist, the friend of Jesus. It was only because of this union or oneness, a unity in life and substance, in name and interest, between the Bridegroom and his bride, that Jesus had the power to lay down his righteous life for the church. In all things Christ and the church and all her members or children are one; therefore he loved the church, which is his body and fullness, and gave himself for it.

In this oneness with his bride and love for her which sin nor guilt nor death could sever, Adam is a beautiful and wonderful figure of our heavenly Bridegroom. Paul says that Adam was not deceived; but Eve had been deceived and had sinned unto death. In every dear and sacred way they were still one, and this bond of life and love behooved him to give himself and his life for her. So he willingly partook of her sin, and went down into death with her. Thus far Adam is a figure of Christ, and Eve is a figure of the church.

 O how pathetic is their betrothal and oneness under the law of sin and death! Let us go with them to lovely Eden, and view them in their innocence as God put them there, and said of all his work that he had created and made that “It was very good.” In perfect wisdom and goodness God made all his work, and ordained it unto his own glory. In all his great and wonderful work which the LORD God created and made, there was not the least mistake or blunder. Wisdom and Knowledge, Counsel and Purpose were with him, and presided over all his manifold works. Not only do his perfect attributes establish the certainty of all this, but the holy Scriptures fully testify that it is so. Believing this truth, we in spirit go back to Eden, from whence we were driven out.

Here we look, behold with wonder and read: “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.” But, lo, the man is there alone in his beautiful paradise! How strange this is to us. As we gaze in wonder and surprise at this, our vision is raised to heaven, and with still greater wonder we behold in the paradise of God a glorious One, and he speaks and says: “The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth; while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there; when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: when he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: when he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment; when he appointed the foundations of the earth; then I was by him, as one brought up with him; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights, were with the sons of men.” We look to behold the objects of his delights, but our vision sees only him with the omnipotent Maker.

 Seeking light, we read again: “My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.” So God clearly saw from the dateless beginning that which we could not see.

Again we read: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. “And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.” To the church in Christ Paul said: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ; according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.” In spirit we are now carried up to Christ in heaven; and, behold, the bride, the Lamb’s wife, was there in him in her spiritual substance before the world was, before God made Adam, who is the figure of Christ. And certainly the figure could not exist before its substance. Just before he died, the Son of God asked his Father to glorify him with the glory which he had with him before the world was.

 Our vision now beholds wonderful Eden again; and, lo, the voice of God says: “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. * * * And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.” God had raised Adam up out of his deep sleep; and now, behold, Eve stood by his side! spotless and fair, and Adam was blessed and happy in her, and could well say, as the divine Bridegroom said, “Thou art all fair, my love:” “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.” O lovely bride and bridegroom! blessed of God, your Maker. His hands made and fashioned you. And he made you lovely types of the wonderful Bridegroom of heaven, his beloved Son and his bride.

Oh! with amazement and sorrow, we see the scene all changed in Eden, and in vision we follow the man and his wife, as hand in hand, with bowed heads and tear stained faces, they slowly turn away from lost Eden, and go forth to till the ground and eat their bread in sorrow, until their mother Earth received them into her bosom. For they sadly know now that their darkened way surely leads them down, down to death. Oh! How dreadful the word DEATH!! Why must it be so? Did not God bless them? Did he not pronounce all that he had made “very good?’ Has his beneficence and goodness failed? Does he hate this yet lovely pair that he had blessed? All is fearfully dark, and seems against them and lost. Looking back to Eden, with terror they see that the fiery cherubim and a flaming sword guard the tree of life, and the weeping man and woman flee away. Blind unbelief would say, that God himself was defeated and all his grand purpose was a woeful failure.

But O, look and wonder again at penitent Adam and Eve! for they are clothed with the seamless skins of innocent animals, whose blood and life have been taken; and their Maker himself has wrought their robes and put them upon them. Yea, also, they hear him say to the beguiling serpent: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

This decree of God is absolute, and it must be accomplished. God himself put this enmity between the woman and the serpent, the devil, and between her seed and his seed. Here in type is Christ and the church, the seed of the woman, for they are all born of woman, and are all partakers of flesh and blood, both the Son of God and all the children of God. The devil and his seed of evil doers all hate and persecute the woman, the church, and her Son and children. And so in their flesh they must all be bruised, suffer and die, even as Adam and Eve and all their children must die because of sin. So of Christ and the children God gave him it is written: “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”

 This decree of God is absolute, and it must be accomplished. God himself put this enmity between the woman and the serpent, the devil, and between her seed and his seed. Here in type is Christ and the church, the seed of the woman, for they are all born of woman, and are all partakers of flesh and blood, both the Son of God and all the children of God. The devil and his seed of evil doers all hate and persecute the woman, the church, and her Son and children. And so in their flesh they must all be bruised, suffer and die, even as Adam and Eve and all their children must die because of sin. So of Christ and the children God gave him it is written: “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”

 Thus the purpose of God is unfolded by the solemn events in Eden, and his infinite goodness and the exceeding riches of his mercy are made known. All was as he purposed. God made the subtil serpent; he planted the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the midst of the garden, and gave the command to Adam not to eat of it, and made the penalty of disobedience death. He then caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, took a rib from his side, near his heart, made woman, the companion and help meet of man, and brought her to Adam. She was beguiled by the serpent to eat and sin. This brought Adam down under the law of God, that he might die with her. All was thus fixed and sure, and resulted in the determined end. In this wonderful way God made Adam the figure of the Christ-Man, whom God had verily foreordained to come into the world and die for the church, his bride and body. Neither Adam nor Christ were deceived, but the bride of each were deceived, and were in the transgression. But the sin and death of these two brides brought the head and husband and life of each one down into death with them. God ordained that it should be so. In this way God and his Christ were to be glorified, and heaven was to be filled with the happy people saved by the Lord.

 It was not possible for almighty Power, guided by infinite Wisdom and Love, to be at fault or err; therefore every thing that God created and made was according to his perfect counsel and eternal purpose, and was very good, and his purpose was fulfilled in all the deeply solemn events of Eden, and not the least thing in all the counsel of God failed. To say it did, and that God would have had it different, would be to charge him with both weakness and folly. None that fear God will do this, but all who thus do are themselves irreverent, ignorant and foolish. “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.” They have not this wisdom.

 In this fear and wisdom, let us now again look upon a profoundly wonderful event in Eden, in which Adam is the figure of him that was to come. With awe and deep amazement and sorrow we behold him prostrate as one dead, his eyes closed and the life-blood flowing from his wounded side. While we look and weep, that the life of this lovely man should end so early, our sorrow is turned into astonished joy; for the lonely Adam not only revives and lives again, but out of his wounded side, lo, there is with him a living and loving bride, most beautiful and lovely to behold! The bridegroom rejoices over his bride. They now both live a new life. To him Eden is all the more beautiful because she is there to enjoy it with him. O how blessed and good is the work of God! So far from complaining at his deep sleep and suffering, without which there had been no living and happy help meet with him, Adam the more adores and praises God for all his great and marvelous works, and Eve joins in the praise.

 How touchingly wonderful is this type! Our faith beholds in it the beloved Son of God, the devoted Bridegroom of heaven, wounded and bleeding; then in a deep sleep, out of which God raises him up; and, O wonder of wonders! out of his wounded side there arises with him the happy queen of heaven, the living and glorious church of the First-born from the dead! The word is fulfilled that says, “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” The lovely Man of sorrow said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” He spoke this of himself and the church, for it should come forth with him out of death, a living, spotless church. “It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him,” says Paul to us. Death is first, and out of the death of Christ, and our death unto sin with him, there arises a living Christ and living church, a glorious Bridegroom and his bride, and they two are one. This is God’s own way. Out of it there arises an exceeding and eternal weight of glory. The infinite wisdom and love of God only ordained this way, and his almighty power fulfilled it. The unbelieving world fights against it; but saints and angels will love and praise him for ever for it.

Adam and Eve shall be with the church in that new song of joyful praise; for God himself made the atoning sacrifice and clothed them with salvation. We shall never cease to behold and admire with joyful wonder this figure that God gave us, with its spiritual and heavenly antitype. Upon the first Adam, who was alone in Eden, he causes a deep sleep, symbol of death, to fall. Then God awakes Adam and raises him up, and wonderful to tell, his fair and lovely Eve is with him in beautiful Eden! From Eden we look away to the beautiful paradise of God to see the meaning of this picture, and with joyful praise to God we see the last Adam and his heavenly queen.

Now the vision changes, and, alas! the husband and the wife are going down from Eden to the dark tomb! For her sake he must die with her; for she is life of his life, bone of his bones, and flesh of his flesh. Her sin and woe and death are his, because she is his and he is hers. In life they two are one, and in death they are one. As yet all their countless children are unborn; so they, too, are one with them in sin and death. All is lost! not only Eden and its innocent joys, but themselves as well, their life, their all is lost! This is the dark picture or figure.

The vision changes now, and angels and men are filled with adoring wonder: A child is born in Bethlehem; and, behold, he came down from heaven! and God was his Father!! This is the last Adam. But Oh, he is under the law, and is bruised and persecuted, afflicted and sorrowful. He calls a little flock to follow him, but they, too, are under the law and its curse, are sorrowful and poor. He teaches them that the kingdom of heaven is near, when the Bridegroom shall enter into it with his bride; but it had not come yet. He says that he will build his church upon the living Rock.

But he sorrowfully assures them again, and again, that he must first suffer and die, and thus do the will of his Father; that for this cause. he came down from heaven, and came into the world; and that only in this ordained way could he enter into his glory, and redeem his bride, the church, and present her unto himself and to his Father in glory. His Father gave him the commandment to lay down his life, that he might take it up again. The people that God had given Christ, who should be the members of his body and of his flesh and of his bones, as Eve was of Adam, were all sinful and guilty under the curse of the holy law of God, as was Eve and her children. Yet they were the people of his choice and the objects of his love. They were in the world, yet they were his own, and he loved them unto the end. He said to his sorrowing disciples, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” And all his beloved people were to be his bosom friends for ever in the perfect love of his Father, who also loved them as he loved his Son.

The love of Adam for his sinful Eve was strong and beautiful, and so he gave his life for her; but the love of Christ for the church far surpassed all finite love. The bond that made him one with his people is infinitely near and dear, and it is divine and heavenly. God made them one. This Beloved says to his bride, “And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord.” In the deathless bonds of this holy betrothal, he says, “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues: O grave, I will be thy destruction.”

O sorrowful hour! Satan bruises the heel of the Son of the woman, and in the body of his flesh the last Adam, the only hope of Eve and her sorrowing children, goes down into death and the grave closes over him. His sorrow had been exceeding great, but his love to his Father and his brethren was greater. “In his love and in his pity he redeemed them.”

Through Satan beguiling Eve, the first Adam and all his race or people must follow them down into death. And now, because of sin, the last Man is dead. This is the end of the law. Satan sought to defeat the counsel and work of God. He spoiled the happiness of Eden and it was lost. This last deadly enmity is aimed to destroy heaven and shut all people out of it. Sin and death and the grave seem indeed to have the victory. All now turns upon whether the last Adam, the Man of the cross, shall awake and rise up again, to die no more. For unless he has bruised the serpent’s head, destroyed the devil, that had the power of death, made an end of sin, abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the power of an endless life, then hopeless infidelity obtains, and there shall be no redeemed gospel church with him on earth, clothed with his salvation as his loving bride, to rejoice in his name, and no glorified church in heaven. If he rises not, then sin has dominion over all, heaven is void and all are perished. This is the claim and boast of black infidelity. So the resurrection of Christ in the power and glory of his new and holy life is the salvation of his people, the birth of the gospel church, the bride, the Lamb’s wife, the ushering in of the new covenant and the new heavens and new earth, wherein dwelleth everlasting righteousness. All this is gloriously fulfilled in the Son of the woman. The death of the Bridegroom gives life to his bride, and she glorifies him.

“It is finished,” cried the dying Man on the cross. “Finished,” sin and death; “finished,” justice and the law; “finished,” redemption and righteousness; “finished,” the devil and the power of darkness; “finished,” the suffering and the warfare; “finished,” the covenant with death and the league with hell; “finished,” the debt and the bondage; “finished,” the cup of woe and the baptism of death; “finished, “the sting of death and the victory of the grave; “finished,” the night and the darkness; yea, “finished,” the way to the tree of life and into heaven! All hail to conquering Jesus! “Glory to God in the highest!” “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony.” “Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me. Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.”

Of the risen Christ and his apostles Luke says, “And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.” In vision we now are with John on Patmos, who saw Jesus in heaven, and says, “And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold, lam alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. * * * And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.”

The above is the beautiful mount Sion, the gospel church, that Christ said he would build. It is not earthly, nor worldly, nor legal, for it is not under the law; but it comes down from God out of heaven, and is spiritual, holy and heavenly, and is the bride, the Lamb’s wife. He, the Head and the Husband, came down from heaven; his doctrine is the doctrine of God; his ordinances and order are heavenly; his brethren are all born of God, and the heavenly Jerusalem is their mother, and his words are spirit and life.

The church of Christ was not manifested under the law and the old covenant, but he built it under the gospel of salvation and the new covenant of life and peace. It was first organized and built and adorned as a bride for her husband on the day of Pentecost, when the apostles were endued with power from on high. “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” “The number of the names together were about an hundred and twenty.”

After the resurrection of Christ, and before he ascended up to heaven, being assembled together with his disciples, he “commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. * * * Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

This baptism of the church of Christ by the Holy Spirit was divinely glorious and blessed. She was now anointed and illuminated, and was clothed with salvation and adorned with the robe of righteousness, her glorious wedding, dress. This church was shown to John by an angel, who came and said to him, “Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain; and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God,” &c.

As shown to John it is a glorious and heavenly city, having no need of any worldly light. “And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it. * * * And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” And now, most wonderful and glorious, the angel showed John in this city of God, “a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life.”

O praise the Lord! the flaming sword was not there, to smite the one who would eat of the tree of life, as it was in lost Eden. For the Man who is the equal of the Lord of hosts had fought the fearful battle with death, and had been cut down by the sword that awoke against him; but O, all glory to his precious name! he had taken the sword away from his church, and had planted the tree of life in the midst of the holy city. “And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: and they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.” And now, Jesus, who over came for us, says, “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.”

Now, turning to Paul, who writes of Adam and of the Man of whom he is the figure, comparing them, we read: “But not as the offence so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.

Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation: even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteousness.”

How strong and unconditional and absolutely sure this doctrine is! It is the imputation of sin unto the condemnation of death by the first man, and the imputation of righteousness unto the justification of life by the last Man, by virtue of the close relationship of each one of these two public heads to their respective bodies or families or people, as has been shown in these pages.

 By the offence of Adam judgment came upon all men in him to Condemnation of death; and even so by the righteousness of Christ the free, gift of God’s grace came upon all men in him unto justification of life. The disobedience of Adam brought all his people down into sin and death with him, and they could do nothing to bring them back into life. His death was theirs in him, and for all men in him there is no possible escape.

Just so, the obedience of Christ for all his people shall bring all men in him up out of sin and death into holiness and life with him, and it is not possible for one of them to perish. Christ’s righteous life is theirs in him, and to them he says, “Because I live, ye shall live also,” The body either dies with its head, or lives with its head.

This shows that Adam is truly a great figure of Christ. And God has thus shown to his people in a clear strong light both his justice and his Grace. He has here shown them also that there is not the least condition on their part in their salvation, but that it is entirely “the gift by grace,” and “the free gift.” ‘For since by man came death, by Man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”

The all in Adam die because they are in him, and their life is his dying life. On the other hand, all in Christ shall be made alive because they are in him, and his eternal life .is theirs in him by gift of his Father.

The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have born the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.”

Excerpt from Chapter 1 (Adam) of Elder David Bartley's work, The Christ Man In Type.