Week 12 - Friday

The Reign of Death

for until the Law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. (Romans 5:13-14)

Many Bible scholars believe that the period of time from Adam until Moses was about 2,500 years. The people who lived during that 2,500 year period from Adam until Moses, had no laws from God. This doesn't mean that God didn't give commands to people during this time. We know that He did. It just means there wasn't a well defined set of rules from God. Abraham lived long before Moses and the Bible says that Abraham obeyed God's commands. (Gen. 26:5). God finally did give a very lengthy and well prescribed set of laws through the prophet Moses. Before those laws were given by God, sin was in the world. The Bible gives us many accounts of all kinds of terrible sins that were being committed during this time. However because the Law had not yet been given, those sins were not imputed against anyone during this time by God. The word imputed has been translated from the Greek ellogeo which means to charge against someone's account. Even though their individual sins were not being charged against the people, death reigned. This means that everyone was still dying. The reason everyone died was because everyone was sinful. They were sinful both in their actions and in their nature which they inherited from Adam. At one point it got so bad that God destroyed the world in a flood. Another time He completely burned up the cities of Sodom and Gomorah because of their sinfulness. All throughout history, death has reigned over man. The world is one huge cemetary with billions of graves to prove it.

Adam and Eve broke the only law God have given them. As a result, they were evicted from the Garden of Eden. God then closed off all access to Eden (Gen. 3:23-24). Because no one else has ever had access to the forbidden tree, no other person has had an opportunity to sin in the likeness of the offense of Adam. Nonetheless, every single person has inherited Adam's sin nature and the consequences of his sin. Adam's sin resulted in death entering into the world. Since then death has spread to all men. That may not seem fair to you. You might think, "It isn't right that I should have to die because of a sin that someone else committed thousands of years before I was even born. How could God be so unfair?" You should be thankful that God wasn't fair. If God had done what He said He would do if Adam and Eve sinned, He would have killed them immediately and that might have been the end of the entire human race. Instead God chose to be merciful. God allowed Adam and Eve to live a long life and have lots of children whose descendants would populate the earth. God did that, even though He knew that their sin nature would be passed on to every single person. God not only allowed Adam & Eve to live, but He also promised to send them a Savior. That Savior would be Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Jesus came to this earth to save people from the curse of Adam's sin. This is why Paul says that Adam is a type of Him who was to come. What Paul means is that Adam is a type (or example) of Jesus Christ. Adam is an example of Christ, not because he was like Jesus in any way, but because what he did affected all people. Because of Adam's sin, all men are doomed to die. But through Christ's sacrificial death, eternal life is available to all.

Readings for today: Gen. 6:5; Gen. 6:13; Gen. 7:17,21; Gen. 13:13; Gen. 19:24; 1 Cor. 15:21-22