Characters of the Bible

This week we will begin profiling characters of the Bible. Where else to begin than with Adam? Who was Adam? He was the first zoologist - namer of the animals. He was the first landscape architect, placed in a garden to care for it. Father of the human race. The first person made in the image of God.

The man said, "The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." Genesis 3:12

We can hardly imagine what it must have been like to the first and only person on earth. It's one thing for us to be lonely, it was another for Adam, who had never known another human being. He missed much that makes us who we are - he had no childhood, no parents, no family or friends. He had to learn to be human on his own. Fortunately, God didn't let him struggle too long before presenting him with an ideal companion and mate, Eve. Theirs was a complete, innocent, and open oneness, without a hint of shame.

One of Adam's first conversations with his delightful new companion must have been about the rules of the garden, with the responsibility to tend and care for it. But one tree was off limits, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam would have told Eve about all this. She knew, when Satan approached her, that the tree's fruit was not to be eaten. However, she decided to eat the forbidden fruit. The she offered some to Adam. At that moment, the fate of creation was on the line. Sadly, Adam didn't pause to consider the consequences. He went ahead and ate.

In that moment of small rebellion something large, beautiful, and free was shattered. . . God's perfect creation. Man was separated from God by his desire to act on his own. The effect on a plate glass window is the same whether a pebble or a boulder is hurled at it - the thousands of fragments can never be regathered.

In the case of man's sin, however, God already had a plan in motion to overcome the effects of rebellion. The entire Bible is the story of how that plan unfolds, ultimately leading to God's own visit to earth through His son, Jesus. His sinless life and death made it possible for God to offer forgiveness to all who want it. Our small and large acts of rebellion prove that we are descendants of Adam. Only by asking forgiveness of Jesus Christ can we become children of God.

1 Corinthians 15:22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.