In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. God created all that exists out of nothing (ex-nihilo). God not only created, but He also sustains the universe. He rules the universe, and His government is one that cannot be overthrown. God foreordains whatsoever comes to pass. He created the first man and woman (Adam & Eve), and they were real historical people. God created everything good, and mankind was in perfect fellowship with God at this time. God created man after His own image, and man was to rule over all of the creation. Man was to reflect God's glory to the rest of the creation.

God made a covenant with Adam in which Adam represented the entire human race. God promised life if Adam obeyed and death if Adam disobeyed. The promise of life included physical, spiritual, and eternal life; the threat of death included physical, spiritual, and eternal death. Adam and Eve were made upright, and they had the ability to obey God, but they also had the ability to choose to disobey. This covenant is sometimes called the "Covenant of Works" because it was conditioned on the obedience or disobedience of Adam.

Adam and Eve disobeyed God and fell into sin. Sin can be defined as breaking God's Law or falling short of perfectly obeying God's Law. Instead of trusting God's Word, Adam rebelled against his Creator and decided that he could make decisions without reference to God. Because God is perfectly holy and righteous, He must punish sin. The curse of sin is death, and after Adam sinned he earned physical, spiritual, and eternal death for himself and for all his posterity (descendants).

Adam represented all of mankind in the same way that parents represent and make decisions for their young or unborn children; he represented all mankind in the same way leaders make decisions that represent all of their country.

If you are alive today, Adam represented you in this covenant. You were born alienated from God, an enemy of God, and you are by nature an object of wrath. Perhaps you think this is not fair? Well, there are many things that you did not have control over. You were born in a certain country, you were born with certain parents, you received a certain type of upbringing, you were taught a certain language, and you were taught a certain worldview (religion) when you were young. All of these things were out of your control, and they were decided for you. You could complain that all of this is unfair, but what good would that do? It would not change the reality.

And it is the same with our relationship to Adam. He represented us and we fell together with him. The proof of this is in the fact that we all die. If we were not guilty of sin, we would not be under the penalty of death. We are all under a death sentence, and sooner or later we will all die.

We get upset when a large number of people die in a short period of time, as in the bombing of the twin towers of the World Trade Center, but the truth is, the daily death rate (in North America alone) is higher than the number of people that perished in the terrorist attack.

Every time you get sick, every time you go to a funeral, every time you hear about wars on the news, every time women experience pain in childbirth, and every time you get tired after a long day at work, you are simply experiencing a foreshadow of death. It is like a delayed death sentence with irrefutable proof that the dreaded day is surely coming. If you are not a believer in Christ, you are still under the "Covenant of Works." What are you going to tell God when He calls you out of this life? Are you going to tell Him, "I know I am not perfect, but I tried to be a good person. There are a lot of people that are worse than me."? Do you think God is going to compromise His perfect justice for your failed efforts?

If God had left it all there, this would indeed be a sad story. But He did not. He made a new gracious covenant with man and provided a solution to the problem. This covenant is now made with those already under God's judgment. It has been called the "Covenant of Grace". In this covenant God provides a solution to the problem. God cannot ignore sin; He is perfectly pure, holy, righteous, and just. To simply forget about sin would be like a judge letting criminals go free for no reason. This would not be justice--it would be injustice.

Because the penalty for sin is death, all those guilty of sin must die. God's solution to this problem was that He promised to send One who would be perfectly obedient, who could take upon Himself the guilt and the penalty of sinners. This promise was even given to Adam and Eve in "seed" form (Gen. 3:15).

The Old Testament of the Bible is the unfolding of God's plan to send a Redeemer. The sacrificial system taught the people of God that their sin required death, but it also taught that a substitute could be provided. This was pointing forward to Jesus Christ, who was the fulfillment of all the promises of the Old Testament.

The New Testament of the Bible is the climax of God's unfolding plan of redemption. God the Son came and took to Himself a human nature in the Incarnation. Jesus is at the same time fully God and fully man. He took on this role so that He could become the Mediator between God and man. Since God and all mankind are now separated by sin, it was necessary that there should be a Mediator who would perfectly obey the Law of God and offer Himself to take the full penalty of sin.

Jesus accomplished this by, first of all, living a perfect life in full obedience to the Law of God. This is something no human can do because we are all born with a sinful nature. Adam was the only one who had the ability to perfectly obey. Second, Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice to pay for the sins of His people by going to the cross. Jesus willingly took upon Himself the sins of His people and was punished for them.

In the same way Adam represented the whole human race, Jesus represented the new race of humanity. He became a substitutionary sacrifice for them, fully paying for their sin. The question then is, of course, does the work Christ accomplished on the cross benefit all who were represented by Adam? In other words, does He become a substitute for the whole human race?

The whole human race is benefited by Christ's work in the sense that the offer of this redemption is proclaimed to the whole world. All tribes, tongues, and nations have equal access to God if they come through Jesus Christ.

But the Bible teaches that the substitutionary benefit of Christ's work is only applied to those who are "in Christ." The Bible uses "in Christ" as a technical term for those who have faith in Christ. These people are those who have recognized themselves to be guilty sinners, who have believed the message of the Gospel, who have repented from their sin, and who have forsook their sinful lifestyles and have become followers and disciples of Jesus Christ.

Another term for this group of people is the "Church of Jesus Christ". They are not a particular denomination, but all those who truly believe and obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Their children are included by promise, but in order to remain in the covenant, must also repent and believe. Believing and repenting is not a one time thing; it is a lifetime experience.

What about all of the different denominations? Certain denominations may be more or less faithful to the Scriptures (the Bible), but all individuals who have true faith in Christ are included in the universal Church. Some denominations have distorted the message of the Gospel so badly that they have become "synagogues of Satan." If you are in a church that has distorted the message of the Gospel, you need to run for your life and find a church that believes and preaches the whole counsel of God.

So what about you? Are you part of the human race? If you are, then you have been represented by Adam. You are guilty of sin and are under the curse and wrath of God. God will eternally punish all those who are in rebellion against Him. For God to be just, He must punish all sin.

There are only two ways that sin will be dealt with. People must personally pay (eternally) for their sins, or their sins must be paid for by the only Redeemer, Jesus Christ. These are the only options available. The way we all got into this mess is by representation, and the only way out is also by representation. All those who by faith have been united to Christ are represented by Him. His life of obedience becomes ours, and His death on the cross pays the penalty for our sin.

For those who are in this gracious relationship with God, Christ's merit becomes theirs, and they are now freed from the curse of sin so that they can live a life of belief and obedience to God in gratitude for what Christ has done for them. God promises eternal life for all those who are in Christ, so they will not have to experience the eternal punishment they deserve for their rebellion against their Creator.

If you are considering what has been said in this brief explanation, we encourage you to turn from your sin and rebellion against God and trust in Christ for your salvation. You need to learn about God by reading the Bible, and you need to join a local church so that you can regularly gather with God's people for encouragement and instruction.

If you do not know Jesus Christ, or are not sure about your relationship with God, we urge you to think about it. If you have any questions please drop us a line and we will do our best to answer them.