I couldn’t understand why there should be 39 redundant books in the bible. Putting that to one side I set about my task of reading the New Testament. Towards the end of the book of Romans I came across a verse that changed the way confirmed my suspicion that these 39 books were in the bible for a good reason:

I have often remarked that it is not experience that is the best teacher it is evaluated experience is the best teacher. Suddenly I saw that if I evaluated the experiences of the characters in the bible it would a source of encouragement to me and others as I sought of make sense of my own life experiences.

That simple thought turned the key in the Old Testament lock and swung open a door that led me into a vast expanse in which I would discover that there was grace in the shadows.

I would subsequently come to discover that the events, places and people in the Old Testament foreshadowed the events, places and people in the New Testament. Moreover, the Old and New Testaments fitted together seamlessly. In Genesis, we have the beginnings; in Revelation we have endings; and from Exodus to Jude we see how God’s eternal purpose unfolded. Bible history takes us into the unknown past of eternity and its prophesies take us into the otherwise unknown future. As Saint Augustine so neatly put it:


The New is in the Old containe The Old is in the New explained, The New is in the Old latent, The Old is in the New patent, The Old Testament and the New Testament constitute a divine library, one sublime unity, origins in past to issues in future, processes between, connecting to eternities.


Knowing that the two books belonged together was a giant step. However, the real breakthrough came when I learned how to read them together. And that did not become apparent to me until I learned what I still hold to be the most important truth of all about the bible namely; The bible’s purpose is not to tell me how to live but to reveal to me the one who is my life.”

That person is Jesus. However, in order to receive his life I must accept that I needed it. And to do that I need to be introduced to the one who cost me my life. I would meet him on the first pages of the book of Genesis, his name was Adam or as the apostle Paul called him First Adam. He would be contrasted by the apostle Paul with Jesus who Paul referred to as Last Adam. (1 Cor 15:45)

"The first man Adam became a living being." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. 50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption.

Attempting to understand the relationship between these two men First and Last Adam is what this lecture is about.

The prize awaiting those who grasp what the Apostle Paul called the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. Col 1:26 is the true prosperity gospel. As the Apostle puts it 27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

You’re going to find out that there really is grace in the shadows …

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