And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died
The life and death of Adam
I.
THE SUBJECT OF THIS BRIEF NARRATION. Adam, the first of men. Here it may be profitable to notice him most attentively.
1. As a compound being, formed of different component parts.
(1) Composed of matter, or earth, as to his body.
(2) Composed of pure spirit, called “The Breath of Life,” as to his soul.
2. As to the common head of mankind; both our natural and moral head.
(1) He is our natural head, or common parent; for Adam must have been the father, as Eve was the mother, of all living (Gen_3:20). This renders the blood of all mankind the same (Act_17:26); and our interests the same; for all mankind are brethren. Being thus united, we should live in unity (Psa_133:1).
(2) He was our moral head, or representative. He acted for us, and his conduct affected the state of all his posterity.
3. As the chief of sinners.
4. As a subject of God’s redeeming mercy.
5. As a figure or type of Christ.
II. HIS LIFE. He lived nine hundred and thirty years. His life may be considered--
1. In its origin. Divine (Luk_3:38).
2. In its progress, as singularly diversified.
3. In its duration, as graciously protracted. From the protracted life of Adam learn the great end for which our lives are continued; that we may glorify God by getting and doing good.
III. HIS DEATH; HE DIED. His death may be considered--
1. As a dissolution of first principles. He died; he was not annihilated, but merely dissolved. His body returned to dust, his soul to God Ecc_12:7).
2. As the fruit of sin.
3. As a release from the vanity and evils of this world.
4. As a certain indication of our own. (Sketches of Sermons.)
Preparation for death
A man, who lived in forgetfulness of God and of his soul, went one day into a church while the chapter which has furnished us with our text was being read there. When he heard that long and monotonous catalogue of the names and ages of the patriarchs, his first inclination was to smile; he said to himself that there might have been chosen for the reading a less dry and a more edifying subject. He remained, however, and continued to listen, compelled to attention in spite of himself. Soon a thought struck him. He could not long listen with indifference to that solemn refrain, which came back always the same after these lives, so lengthened, of the patriarchs, “And he died.” That is, he said to himself, what all these men had to pass through who lived so long on earth; they have all finished by dying. What happened to the patriarchs, happens also to all men without exception. All finish with death. What happens to all men must, therefore, happen to myself. I also shall finish with death. How am I prepared to receive that death which every day advances towards me, and from which no power in the world can shield me? What will be its consequences in my case? Will they be happy or unhappy? Will it be a heaven? Will it be a hell? Solemn question, which I have lost sight of till the present, but which I can no longer let remain unsolved. And from that moment he became as serious as he had hitherto been careless, with regard to his eternal interests.
I. The first way of acting with regard to death, is NOT TO THINK ABOUT IT AT ALL; that is the way of men of the world. They can so occupy themselves with the things of this life, that they forget, in some sort, that this life is to have an end.
1. Such a young man thus forgets death in the stupefaction of pleasures.
2. Another young man is thus brought to forget death in the preoccupation of work.
3. The old man himself often comes to conceal from himself the death which is already so near him. He can no longer work; he can no longer deliver himself up to the noisy pleasures of youth, but he can still procure distractions for himself, which beguile his ennui, and remove from him the thought of death; he can stir throw the dice, or hold the cards, and the game will make him forget the flight of time. Or in the moments of idleness; say, when he is thrown back upon his own reflections, he will transport himself in idea into the past; he will turn over in his memory, and with inward satisfaction, too, the scenes of his youth and of his riper age, and that preoccupation with the past will hinder him from thinking about the future. And, in a word, there are many means of diverting one’s thoughts, and deceiving one’s self with regard to death; but is such conduct wise and reasonable? is it really for our interest?
II. A second manner of acting with regard to death consists in PERSUADING ONE’S SELF THAT EVERYTHING ENDS AT DEATH; this is the way of infidels. The men whom I have in view do not at all divert their thoughts from the necessity which is laid upon them to die; they do not fear (at least, to judge from their pretensions), to look in the face the thought of death; they speak voluntarily and coolly of it; they believe that they possess the secret of not fearing it. They mock the people simple enough to trouble themselves with what is to follow death. As regards themselves--more enlightened and freed from those vulgar prejudices--they are convinced that what is called our soul is but a result of physical organization, and that, in consequence, it cannot survive the dissolution of the body; that judgment to come, heaven, hell, and life eternal, are so many idle fancies of weak minds. By means of such a conviction they pretend to live tranquilly, and not to fear death. Annihilation is a sad prospect; there is in the thought of annihilation something which horrifies our nature, and which we cannot look at without shuddering. What strange consolation to oppose to the trials of life is the future expected by the infidel! There is another existence after this, and the infidels themselves are forced, sooner or later, to do homage to that truth. At the approach of death they see the fragile stage of their infidelity fall in pieces like a house of cards at the breath of a child; and the anguish of their conscience becomes then an argument, tardy but terrible, in favour of a life to come. It is not, then, in the ranks of infidels that we shall find the best way of preparing for death.
III. A third way of conducting one’s self with regard to death consists in MAKING AN EFFORT TO MERIT BY ONE’S WORKS FUTURE HAPPINESS; it is the Way with self-righteous men. If, then, a man observed the law of God perfectly, he could wait fearlessly for death, assured beforehand that the consequences will be happy in his case; he could present himself with confidence at the judgment of God, and ask from Him eternal life as a recompense which he has merited. But, as there is not a single man that has perfectly observed the law of God, there is not one who can procure for himself by that means a solid peace in view of death.
IV. But that peace which we seek in vain in ourselves, might it not be found in CONFIDENCE IN THE GOODNESS OF GOD? It is there at least that many persons seek it. Here again, we are forced to overthrow that pretended peace as dangerous and illusive. No! it is in vain that you pretend to found your peace in presence of death on the goodness of God, while leaving in the shade His justice. The goodness of God, separated from His justice, is but a frail reed, which will pierce the hand of the imprudent one who rests on it.
V. We shall need, you see, in order to our being able to die tranquilly, A MEANS OF PREPARING FOR DEATH THAT WOULD SATISFY THE JUSTICE OF GOD, AT THE SAME TIME THAT IT WOULD DO HOMAGE TO HIS GOODNESS. It would be necessary that at the very time when His goodness displayed itself in the pardon of the sinner, His justice should preserve its rights in the punishment of the sin. If there existed a System founded on truth, and satisfying that double condition, it would assuredly be the best means, or rather the only means, of preparing us to die tranquilly. Now, that system exists, that means is found, and you have already named it in your thought; it is faith in Jesus Christ. After all human systems have been tried in succession, and been found false and powerless, how joyfully the means which God Himself has proposed, and which is the only one that can give peace to our hearts, is returned to; that system, simple as well as Divine, which is summed up in the words, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved!” Faith in Christ presents the secret of satisfying at once the justice of God and His goodness. The Cross of Christ unites what an eternal abyss seemed to separate. (A. Monod, D. D.)
Adam dies
Then he died! He by whom death came in at last fell under it. He returned to dust. His sin found him out, after a long pursuit of nine hundred and thirty years, and laid him low. The first Adam dies! The tallest, goodliest palm tree of the primeval paradise is laid low. The first Adam dies; neither in life nor in death transmitting to us aught of blessing. He dies as our forerunner; he who led the way to the tomb. The first Adam dies, and we die in him; but the second Adam dies, and we live in Him! The first Adam’s grave proclaims only death; the second Adam’s grave announces life--“I am the resurrection and the life.” We look into the grave of the one, and we see only darkness, corruption, and death; we look into the grave of the other, and we find there only light, incorruption, and life. We look into the grave of the one, and we find that he is still there, his dust still mingling with its fellow dust about it; we look into the grave of the other, and find that He is not there, He is risen--risen as our forerunner into the heavenly paradise, the home of the risen and redeemed. We look into the grave of the first Adam, and see in him the first fruits of them that have died, the millions that have gone down to that prison house whose gates he opened; we look into the tomb of the second Adam, and we see in Him the first fruits of them that are to rise, the first fruits of that bright multitude, that glorified band, who are to come forth from that cell, triumphing over death, and rising to the immortal life; not through the tree which grew in the earthly paradise, but through Him whom that tree prefigured--through Him who was dead and is alive, and who liveth for evermore, and who has the keys of hell and death. (H. Bonar, D. D.)
And he died
It is said that the striking thing in this chapter is the painful repetition of the words, “and he died.” In a popular magazine some years ago there appeared an article, “An Hour Among the Tombstones,” in which the writer gives the following:--“In memory of Richard B--, who died August 1, 18--. He was for many years an inhabitant of this parish.” Was he? Well most people are “inhabitants” of some “parish”; and if they live long enough, and are not over fidgety, of the same parish for “many years.” That is little enough to say of Richard B--. But what sort of an “inhabitant” was he? Cross and surly, miserly and close-fisted, selfish and ungodly; or, a good man, fearing his God, and blessing his neighbour? Good stone mason, come hither. You have written too much or too little. Either cut out what is on yonder stone, or else cut in something more creditable to him “who was for many years an inhabitant of this parish.”
The dissolution of past ages a memento for posterity
One Guerricus, hearing these words read in the Church, out of the Book of Genesis: “And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died; all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died; and all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years, and he died; and all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years, and he died,” etc.,--hearing, I say, these words read, the very conceit of death wrought so strongly upon him, and made so deep an impression in his mind, that he retired from the world and gave himself wholly to devotion, that so he might die the death of the godly, and arrive more safely at the haven of felicity, which is nowhere to be found in this world. And thus should we do when we look back to the many ages that are past before us, but thus we do not: like those that go the Indies, we look not on the many that have been swallowed up by the waves, but on some few that have got by the voyage: we regard not the millions that are dead before us, but have our eyes set on the lesser number that survive with us; and hence it comes to pass that our passage out of this world is so little minded. (J. Spencer.)
