Harkening the Heralds: Reflecting

Submitted by Alan Marsden on Wed, 25/12/2024 - 00:00

Adam's Likeness now efface,

Stamp thy Image in its Place;

Second Adam from above,

Work it in us by thy Love.

Curiously, Whitefield took the opening of Wesley’s fifth verse and used it to conclude his fourth. It describes the change that takes place in the true believer. Old Adam’s image or likeness is scrubbed away, and the Second Adam’s, Christ’s, replaces it. Ironically, few in Britain today believe in the first Adam, and even fewer accept the second. Yet each human to have ever lived resembles the one or the other. There is Old Adam, with selfishness, pride and impiety, versus New Adam with His humility, obedience and righteousness. The test of the Christian is not just that which issues from his mouth, but the one who is reflected in his heart’s mirror: the Old Man of earth, or the New Man of heaven.

For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:21-23)

Harken!

Image by Marc Bossart from Pixabay