Among the types in the Old Testament concerning Christ and the church, after the light and the tree of life, there are Adam and Eve. Christ is light and life in order that those who are enlightened by Him and who receive Him as life may become His church as His counterpart. Therefore, it is spiritually significant that the types of Adam and Eve follow the types of the light and the tree of life.
In the Bible Adam as the first man is a type of the Christ who was to come (Rom. 5:14). As a type of Christ, Adam prefigured Christ. Whatever purpose God had for Adam and whatever work He did in Adam were to be carried out in and through Christ. Adam was the head of the old collective man, that is, mankind. Whatever he did and whatever happened to him are participated in by all mankind. Christ is the Head of the new corporate man, that is, the church. Whatever He did and whatever happened to Him are participated in by all His members.
In God’s creation Adam was the center of all creation. God first established the heavens and prepared the earth, and then He created man. He first made the light, the expanse, and the land, and then He created the grass, the herbs, the trees, the fish, the birds, the cattle, the beasts, and the creeping things. Eventually, He created Adam. Thus we see that the heavens are for the earth, and the earth with the different kinds of living things is for man. Therefore, man is the center of God’s creation. This is a type of Christ as the real center of God’s creation, because in Him, through Him, and unto Him all things were created, the things in the heavens and on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones, lordships, rulers, or authorities. He is before all things, and all things cohere in Him (Col. 1:16-17). Moreover, the purpose of God’s creation is to glorify Him (v. 18). He is the center of the entire creation of God and He is also the holding center.
Adam was created as the head of the human race, and the human race was the center of God’s creation. Therefore, Adam was the head of God’s creation. This is a type of Christ as the Head of all God’s creation. Colossians 1:15 says that Christ is “the Firstborn of all creation.” Christ as God is the Creator. However, as man, sharing the created blood and flesh (Heb. 2:14a), Christ is also part of the creation, and He is the Firstborn of all creation, having the preeminence in all creation.
Adam was created in God’s image and according to God’s likeness (Gen. 1:26). This typifies that Christ bears God’s image and likeness. Colossians 1:15 says that Christ “is the image of the invisible God.” God is invisible. But Christ, who is the effulgence of His glory and the impress of His substance (Heb. 1:3), is His image, expressing what He is. John 1:18 also says, “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son [Christ], who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” Actually, Christ was the very image in which Adam was created (Gen. 1:27; Rom. 5:14); Christ is the image of God (2 Cor. 4:4).
After the creation of Adam, God wanted man to have dominion over all the living created things in the seas, in the air, and on the earth (Gen. 1:26, 28). God wanted the man whom He had created to be His representative to execute His authority and rule for Him on the earth. Therefore, man was not only created to express God but also given the authority to represent God to rule over all. This is a type of Christ as God’s expression and also as God’s representative. Christ as God’s Anointed was anointed and commissioned by God for the carrying out of God’s purpose in dealing with God’s enemy to recover the enemy-usurped earth and bring in God’s authority.
Adam was the first ancestor of the human race. When he was created, the entire human race, which was included in him, was created by God (Gen. 1:26). Thus, he became the head of all men. This is a type of Christ as the head of every man (1 Cor. 11:3). In Ephesians 1:22-23 the headship of Christ over all things is to His Body, the church. In 1 Corinthians 11:3 the headship of Christ over every man is related to individuals. Christ is the Head of the church corporately and of the believers individually. He is the Head of every one of us directly; as such, He has been the One appointed by God in the divine administration to rule over all men.