Will Adam and Eve Be Resurrected?

Will Adam and Eve Be Resurrected?

This is an interesting question to ask a Jehovah’s Witness (JW). The line of reasoning used by the Watchtower Society is as follows: Since Adam and Eve sinned in perfection they have no chance of being resurrected. The Watchtower 1/15/1960 page 53 third paragraph says,

“Since the supreme Judge never makes a mistake, there is no need for him to take under review any judgment that he has passed. His judgments are final. That means the people who perished in the flood of Noah’s day will never be resurrected to stand trial again. The same is true with the people of Sodom and Gomorrah as well as Adam and Eve. All had their judgment day before the great Judge of the universe and all were sentenced to destruction. They will never have a conscious existence again. ”

All of my life I have heard the above reasoning and it always made sense to me. I also have to agree that Jehovah does not make mistakes in judgment. However, as I have continued to read and study the Bible my understanding has changed a bit regarding Adam and Eve. Is it true that there is no hope for them and that they will not be resurrected? Is it possible that they cannot be forgiven? Please consider the following:

The Bible teaches that Adam and Eve were created, Adam first, then Eve. (Genesis 2:18, & 2:21-22, and 1 Timothy 2:13) Also the Bible teaches that it was to Adam that the command was given, “But as for the tree of the knowledge of good and bad you must not eat from it, for in the day you eat from it you will positively die.” (Genesis 2:17 New World Translation or NWT) This means that if Adam and Eve had never eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and bad, and had only eaten from the other trees of the garden including the tree of life, they would still be alive to this day and we would not be born into sin as we are today. Thus far I believe that the Watchtower and most Christians would be in agreement.

As a JW when I studied with non-JW’s I was asked many times, why didn’t Adam and Eve die the very day that they ate the fruit as God said they would? I was taught to respond with the following answers. First I would say, “Adam and Eve did die Spiritually that day”. (I still believe that is true.) Then I would say, “In the Bible we are told that a day to Jehovah is as 1000 years to man,” and I would show them the Scripture in 2 Peter 3:8 which says, “However, let this one fact not be escaping YOUR notice, beloved ones, that one day is with Jehovah as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.” (NWT) Next I would show them that Adam lived to be 930 years old, (Genesis 5:5) and I would reason based on 2 Peter 3:8 and Genesis 5:5, that Adam’s dying before he reached 1000 years old, from Jehovah’s perspective Adam died in the very day he ate from the fruit. To this day this sounds reasonable to me. However, I believe there is much more to it than this.

For many, this answer was only partially satisfying. Quite a few still wanted to know just why did Adam and Eve live so long after sinning, when they were clearly told, “for in the day you eat from it you will positively die” (Genesis 2:17) I believe that in searching for the answer to this question we will also find the answer to the title question of this article, namely, “Will Adam and Eve Be Resurrected?”

Please follow this carefully. When both Adam and Eve had sinned they realized that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. (Genesis 3:7) During a conversation with God, neither Adam nor Eve wanted to take responsibility for their sin. (Genesis 3:12-13) As a result of their sin, they must suffer the consequences which ultimately is death. In Genesis 3:15 God said to the serpent: “And I shall put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He will bruise you in the head and you will bruise him in the heel.” (NWT) This is the first prophecy in Scripture. The beautiful thing about this is that God provides a way out of the inherited sin from Adam. This verse applies to every person who shows faith in the shed blood of Jesus. I believe this includes Adam and Eve. How can we be sure of this? Notice what happens next. God tells Adam and Eve of the immediate and long term consequences of their sin which would affect every living thing on earth. (Genesis 3:16-19)

Now we have come to an important part of this situation. Genesis 3:21 says: “And Jehovah God proceeded to make long garments of skin for Adam and for his wife and to clothe them.” Think about it for a moment. Adam and Eve were not physically naked at this time, as they had already covered themselves with fig leaves in Genesis 3:7. My question to you is, where did God get the long garments of skin from and why did God clothe them? The only logical answer is that the skin must have come from an animal. Likely a lamb. (Genesis 4:2, John 1:29) In other words, an animal (or animals, one for Adam and one for Eve) had to die or be sacrificed in order to make garments of skin. What was the purpose of an animal sacrifice? To atone for sins. (Leviticus 17:11 & Hebrews 9:22) In this way the animal sacrifices covered -- so to speak-- Adam and Eve the same as it did all of God's servants who sacrificed animals for their sins until Jesus came to officially pay the price with His blood! The skins of the lambs physically covered their bodies and the lambs blood spiritually covered their sins. For the first time in the history of the earth one of God’s creatures had to die. Our loving God chose to apply the literal lamb’s blood which temporarily covered Adam and Eve’s sins until Jesus, the Lamb of God came and shed His blood which would blot out their sin permanently! (Acts 3:19 & John 1:29)

When the Patriarchs and Prophets of old performed these sacrifices they were in essence showing their faith in God and their faith in the power of the blood of the coming Jesus. They were exercising faith and demonstrating that they believed that Jehovah accepted the blood of the animals as forgiveness for their sins. The only reasonable Biblical explanation as to why Adam and Eve did not literally die that very day is because Jehovah substituted the life of those lambs in the place of Adam and Eve! This kept Adam and Eve from having to give their lives that very day. We must understand that Jehovah’s justice must be met. This is the whole purpose of the Sanctuary service which points directly to Jesus as the Lamb of God! (Exodus 25:8 & Exodus Chapters 26-27) Something or someone had to die! Blood had to be shed so that Adam and Eve could live long enough to procreate. (Genesis 1:28) That is why the animals used for the skin must have been the temporary sacrifice which was made on the day they sinned. The sacrificial system was a way to cover sins until Jesus came and died for all. Without a doubt, Adam and Eve from this point knew about animal sacrifices for forgiveness. Otherwise, how would Abel have known that God wanted the firstlings of his flock? (Genesis 4:2-4) The answer is, Adam and Eve passed this structure of worship on to their progeny.

The Sanctuary service is a tremendous study in itself. I may cover more on this at a later time. However, the point of this article is, it seems clear that the Bible teaches that Adam and Eve will be, or at least have the potential to be resurrected into God‘s Kingdom. If Jesus came to buy back what Adam lost, then why would Jesus’ blood not cover Adam? Yes, Adam was a perfect man, but so was Jesus! Is Jesus’ blood lacking anything? Would Jesus’ blood not cover Adam and Eve if they were truly repentant? Adam not only suffered the immediate consequences of sin, but he died just as God said he would. Did Adam die the second death? Not according to the Bible because the second death occurs after the 1000 year reign. (Revelation 20:13-14)

Here are a few Scriptures that should be considered in this regard. The infamous Scripture of John 3:16 says: “For God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life”. (NWT) Emphasis mine.

1 Timothy 2:5-6 says: “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, a man, Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself a corresponding ransom for all—[this is] what is to be witnessed to at its own particular times“. (NWT) Emphasis mine.

John 17:1-2 Says: “Jesus spoke these things, and, raising his eyes to heaven, he said: “Father, the hour has come; glorify your son, that your son may glorify you, 2 according as you have given him authority over all flesh, that, as regards the whole [number] whom you have given him, he may give them everlasting life.” (NWT) Emphasis mine.

For the Watchtower to say that Adam and Eve will not be resurrected is to assume that they were never sorry for their sin. It also sells short the love of God and the power of the ransom sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus! When Adam and Eve were ousted from the Garden of Eden and had to cultivate the land in the sweat of their faces, when they felt the physical pain caused by sin and saw the weeds, thorns and thistles growing among their beautiful surroundings, when they looked past the flaming sword and the Cherubs guarding the entrance to the beautiful Garden and saw that the tree of life was unattainable, when they witnessed the sacrifice of the lamb and saw the life blood pouring out because of what they had done, when their son Abel was murdered by his brother Cain, at one of these points if not all of them I have to believe that there was remorse and even repentance for what they had done.

Will Adam and Eve be resurrected? I believe that the evidence shows they will. I suppose when we get to the Kingdom we will find out for sure. :-)