Thank you Rev. John Bunker
The Second Man
Rom 8:16-23
16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Gen 2:7-8
7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
The Second Man
Eden was the place that God prepared for man on the earth.
Adam was still in the world, but he was separate from the world.
This represents the church.
When you show desire to return to where you came from, - by your actions - the weak and beggarly elements of this world.
Gen. 3:23 God sent Adam out from the garden to till the land from where he came.
'If they had been mindful'
You are in the church but you have the opportunity every day to leave.
You must make the choice every day to stay in the garden
There will always be that 'nature' in you to return from where you came.
Think about Adam, the perfect situation, God walking and talking with him, but still he chose to return.
God created Adam outside of the garden ch. 2 vs.7-8.
You are being created now, God is preparing paradise for you.
The creation process -
Formed from the dust of the earth.
The word formed
To squeeze into shape; to press, to be narrow, to be in distress
The forty years in the wilderness.
God was creating them, forming them
The trials were hard
The load was heavy
They struggled
But God was with them, taking care of their needs,
Mannah
Quail
Shoes never wore out
Their clothes never wore out
Sweetened the bitter water
Water out of the rock
Those that made it had in view, the promised land.
Our sufferings now cannot compare to the glory that shall be revealed.
Rom 8:18-23
18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later. 19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. 20 Against its will, everything on earth was subjected to God's curse. 21 All creation anticipates the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay. 22 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us.
NLT
The first man (Adam) is of the earth, earthly - the second man is the lord from heaven.
1 Cor 15:47-49
47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
We are striving to become the second man.
1 John 3:2-3
2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is .
3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
