ADAM THE FIRST MAN, PART ONE.
Reading: Genesis 1:26-30, 2:21-24.
“Let us make man in Our image” Genesis 1:26.
The name Adam was registered with “mankind,” a sense in which it occurs in the Old Testament some 500 times. The first man (Genesis 3:17) was placed in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:8). He was put there to work and watch over it. The first trade in the Bible is a gardener; “to work it” is commonly used for labour. So Adam was not to be idle.
At the fall, he disobeyed God (Genesis 2:17; 3:6) and was sent away from the Garden (Genesis 3:23). Adam was punished by hard labour, toil and sweat. The fig leaves and God's coats of skin, speaks of the warnings of colder weather and uncontrolled bushes and thistles.
Adam was 130 years old when Seth was born and he lived 800 years after this event, making him 930 years old at his death (Genesis 5:3-4). It is supposed that Adam had other children then the three mentioned in Genesis. Some give a date of 4004 B.C. for Adam. But no one knows for sure, only the Lord God.
Adam was formed out of the clay of the newly created earth and quickened by the breath of God into a living being. Adam was a man with a particular existence; a being with existence in itself. In him dust and deity met to form the noblest of God's creatures. God's last and best work of creation, “and it was very good.”
Adam was perfect, newly minted by the hand of God with God's divine image stamped upon him. Man became body, soul, and spirit. This image was threefold; it included;
1. RATIONALITY.
The practice of explaining the supernatural in religion in a way that is constant with reason, Job 32:8 “There is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding.”
2. RIGHTEOUSNESS.
A moral goodness; correctness of behaviour, Ecclesiastes 7:29 “This only I have found; that God made man upright.”
3. RESPONSIBILITY.
Something which one is responsible, Genesis 2:16-17 “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of the tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
This gives man the ability to think, to have power over moral behaviour, and freedom to choose good or evil. Adam was the apex of God's creation; before him things were “good” Genesis 1:4, 10, 12,18,21,25.
But after him things were “very good” Genesis 1:31. For Adam was physically, mentally, and spiritually a “son of God,” Luke 3:38 “Adam, the son of God.”
In short Adam was a free spirit in judgement and grace; he towered above the world of nature; he was its lord, its king and it governor, he was complete in his manhood and rule, Psalm 8:38 “What is man? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honour, you have made him t have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet.”
Adam complete in form and function, yet capable of endless development, the mould of humanity, placed in a perfect environment. Adam in this perfect environment was given a pleasant occupation and a challenging task; granted a companion as himself, the beautiful Eve. Enjoying a radiant fellowship with his Maker. What more could a man want? What possibilities! What possibility for the future!
He did not have a past, but he had a wonderful present and a promising future. Around him lay beauty and order, above him shone the brightness and expanse, before him were the times of greatness and achievement. BUT he lacked one thing, that was experience, and there lies the snag.
Perfect in qualities, but he was imperfect in realities, he had no tradition to guide him. No earthly monitor to instruct him. He was in these things a loner, a pioneer of life. Look out Adam! Danger lies ahead!
