From Garden to Glory
Adam's Fall, Christ's Victory, and the Crown to Come
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
The Bible is the story of God’s plan of redemption, revealed by Him through His people in both the Old and New Testaments, fulfilled in Christ, and extended to the world. From beginning to end, God reveals Himself as the God of covenants, binding Himself to his people through blessings and curses, and unfolding his redemptive purpose for salvation through them. Yet this story is not simply about forgiveness—it is about maturity and glory. From the garden to the temple, from Israel to the Church, God is bringing His people into the fullness of what Adam failed to reach: fellowship with Him, reigning with Christ, and the restoration of all creation.
The entirety of The Old Testament continues to remain vital for Christians, for it lays the foundation of God’s covenant promises and must be read in the light of the Messiah, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As Paul writes, “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” When God created the heavens and the earth and everything in them, He declared it good. With Adam, God established the first covenant directly with man. Adam was appointed as the covenant head, receiving both the promise of blessing for obedience and the warning of curse for disobedience. The condition was that he and his wife were not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, lest they should surely die. Yet Adam failed, and the covenant was broken, bringing sin and death into the world. Throughout the course of history, God continued to create covenants with his people–the Noahic covenant, the Abrahamic covenant, the Mosaic covenant, and the Davidic covenant, ultimately pointing to everlasting covenant made in Christ, who came as the second Adam to fulfil the role of true covenantal headship, of which the first Adam could not. In the incarnation of Jesus, His death on the cross, His resurrection on the third day, and His ascension into heaven, God’s plan of redemption was accomplished and revealed in full. Until His return, Christ has given His church the great commission to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that He has commanded. As Scripture promises, when this gospel has been proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, then the end will come.
Throughout the Scriptures, God raises up men to serve as covenant representatives, prophets, and leaders in His redemptive plan. Adam, the first covenant head, failed and brought sin into the world, bringing about the ultimate necessity of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross to defeat death and rid the world of evil. Noah was then preserved through the flood, showing the nature of God’s patience and judgment. Abraham was called to be the father of many nations—the bearer of covenantal promises. Moses brought God’s people out of slavery in Egypt, pointing them toward a promised land through their faith in God. While David was established as king, pointing to the throne of Christ. The prophets throughout the Old Testament, from Isaiah to Jeremiah to Ezekiel, repeatedly called Israel back to covenantal faithfulness while prophesying the coming of the Messiah. In the New Testament, the apostles witnessed the resurrection of Christ and carried on the good news, spreading the word that Christ is King.
As we have already established, our God is a God of covenants—and more than that, He is faithful and unwavering in keeping His word. Time and again His chosen people have turned aside in unfaithfulness, yet the Lord has continually shown His goodness and mercy. It is in this same merciful nature that our Lord has redeemed us. As Calvin reminds us, “We say that faith justifies, not because it is a work that is worthy in itself, but because it receives the righteousness of Christ, which alone reconciles us to God.” In His covenantal mercy, God has also given us signs and seals of His promises in Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Baptism is the covenantal mark of belonging to Christ and His church. “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Baptism declares God’s claim upon us and His promise of new life in Christ, a promise to which faith must cling. The Lord’s Supper, likewise, is the covenant meal given to us to partake in by Christ. By faith, through the Spirit, we are nourished with His body and blood. In this sacrament we proclaim His death until He comes again and are bound together as one body in Him. These means of grace—the Word and the sacraments—serve as God’s instruments to sustain His people and to teach us how to live in faithful obedience.
Adam failed in his task. He was called to resist the serpent and to grow into the full maturity of kingship under God. Instead, he grasped too soon, turned aside, and plunged mankind into sin and death. But where Adam failed, Christ triumphed. He is the one who came to destroy the works of the devil and bring humanity into the destiny that was always intended to be in. This is the story the Bible tells from beginning to end. The Church, as the temple of the living God, is already the beginning of that restored creation, where He sings over His people and binds them together in Christ. The end of history is itself the restoration—the happy ending that Adam never reached, but Christ has secured for us. In Him, we grow up into maturity, into the likeness of our risen King, until the day when the kingdoms of this world bow down to the kingdom of our Lord and Savior. Then we shall reign with Him as kings and queens, delighting in His everlasting fellowship, being brought to full stature in His plan. This is the telos of Scripture: Christ reigning, His people matured, and the world restored to glory. As Paul writes, “Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”