Putin & Zelenskyy

Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy are giving the watching world a lesson in representative headship. Putin, the President of Russia, has invaded President Zelenskyy's native Ukraine. Putin's aggression, lies, and greed have caused dishonor and economic sanctions to fall not just on himself but on all of Russia. While Zelenskyy's bravery and selflessness (not to mention the tremendous bravery and selflessness of the Ukrainian people as a whole) have inspired admiration and adulation on a nearly global scale. 

Are all Russians to be hated and blamed for what is happening? No. I am sure they are not all in favor of Putin's actions. Are all Ukrainians brave and selfless? I would have to image they are not all that way, though many certainly seem to be. Yet the actions of both leaders necessarily spill over beyond themselves onto those they represent. Russia will have to bear the consequences for what Putin is doing because the actions of a representative head have implications for the people under that head. In the same way, the Ukraine as a whole will reap the benefit of Zelenskyy's actions. 

This is a biblical concept. Only in Scripture it isn't Putin and Zelenskyy, it's Adam and Jesus. Check out what Romans 5:12 has to say about Adam. "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned." Adam was the first man, the representative and head of all men. As he went, so do we all. Adam's sin plunged the whole human race into sin and death. His decision to rebel against God and declare war on Divine authority has dire consequences for us all. Death and condemnation trickle down from Adam onto you and me. 

But there is another representative head. Romans 5:15 says, "But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!" We don't have to keep Adam as our representative head! God has provided another option, Jesus Christ, and all those who are under Christ receive not death and condemnation but life and grace. In the same way that Adam's sin has been credited to us in the past, Christ's righteousness can be credited to us now and in the future! All we have to do is change representative heads.

How do we do that? You defect by becoming a Christian. "If you declare with your mouth 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9). Making Jesus Lord of your life is how you come up under His authority and receive His blessings. If you aren't a Christian, then you are still under Adam, and trouble is coming your way. So, are you under Adam or Christ?