Overview:
Today we’re going to start our series called, “Personalities
of the Old Testament.” We’re going to
look at a number of people in the Old Testament and see what we can learn from
them. We’ll begin with Adam and then
move through nine others. Some we will
look at in depth in a later study. For
example, David, Daniel and Jacob may need a more in-depth look. The purpose of this study is like an
introduction. I would encourage you to
look at each of the characters we discuss in more depth on your own. What I’m trying to do is two things. First, I want you to see these characters,
not only as historical personalities but also as a lesson for us to learn a
truth that God is teaching us. Second, I
want to encourage you to read and study your Bible on your own.
If you are a computer person there is an app called
Esword. You can download the program, a
number of Bibles including a Chinese Language Bible. Commentaries and
dictionaries for free. It can be found
at Esword.net. This is the program that
I use. I recommend it.
So, today we want to start with the beginning – Adam.
First what can you tell me about Adam?
Let Us Make Man in Our Own Image
Here’s the first mention of Adam in the Bible:
Genesis 1:26-27 NKJV
Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
So, Adam was made in the image of God. No other creation was made in God’s
image. All of the plants, animals, stars
and everything else was created by the spoken word. The Bible says, “Then God said let there be…”
But with Adam He didn't say, “Let there be…” He said, “Let us
make man in our own image…” Look at what transpired when Adam was created:
Genesis 2:7 NKJV
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
God formed Adam from the dust of the ground. He was personally involved in the creation of
people. He was called Adam. The name Adam means man or mankind, but it
speaks of dust. So, Adam was the first
man. Question, did he have a
bellybutton? No, he was created not born
he had no need for an umbilical cord.
God formed him out of the dirt and breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life: “and breathed into his nostrils the breath of
life;”. This is interesting because the
Hebrew word for spirit can mean breath and also life (according to the Strong’s
Concordance). So, when God breathed life
into Adam, He also breathed His spirit into him. Mankind is the only creation of God that was made
by Him personally and has the Spirit of God breathed into him. We are different from animals. We contain a part of us that is a part of
God.
Adam is like God in that there are three parts that make him
complete. 1) The Mind. We have a mind that contains our intellect,
will and consciousness. This relates to God the Father. 2) The Body is our
physical manifestation. This is a
picture of Jesus who is the physical manifestation of God on Earth. Finally, 3) The Spirit represents the
core of whom we are. It influences our
behaviors, and how we relate to the world and people. Our spirit relates to the Holy Spirit who
guides us in our relationship with and our connection to His will, direction
and commands.
This is what we mean by being created in the image of
God. “Let us make man in our own image.”
Placing Adam in the Garden
Genesis 2:8 NKJV
The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.
I want to look at the Garden of Eden for a moment. God planted a garden:
When God created the Garden, He carefully met every need of
mankind. As human beings there are basic
needs that we all have. Food, shelter, purpose, companionship, and a spiritual
need (We are looking for a spiritual relationship). God met all of those needs in the Garden:
Genesis 2:9
And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The trees provided food and shelter.
Genesis 2:15
Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
Genesis 2:19 NKJV
Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.
Adam had a job. These
things gave him purpose and meaning in his life. He was serving God with these tasks. It is interesting how men will often identify
by their work. How many times have you
heard one man say to another, “What do you do for a living?” Often our purpose in life is defined by our
job.
Genesis 2:18 NKJV
And the LORD God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him."
God realized our need for companionship. People are social animals, we need each
other. Eve was created for Adam as a
helper.
Genesis 2:21-22 NKJV
And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
But what does that mean helper? Why did Adam need Eve’s help? Look at Genesis 1:28:
Genesis 1:28 NKJV
Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
God told them to go forth multiply and subdue the
earth. He created us male and
female. Adam could not multiply without
Eve’s help. So, she was created for
him.
Genesis 2:23-24 NKJV
And Adam said: "This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man." Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
This is the first marriage.
Adam and Eve joined together by God, and become one person. We are a part of each other. We complete each other. Men have a tendency to be logical and woman
are more emotional and nurturing. A
partnership for raising children.
Finally, let's look at the spiritual aspect of the Garden:
Genesis 3:8-10 NKJV
And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?" So he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself."
I will go into this in more detail in the next section, but
I wanted to show that Adam and God had a relationship. God walked with them in the garden and Adam
recognized the voice of God as God called him.
So, we can see that all of Adam’s needs were met there in the
garden.
The Sin of Adam
In order to see this we have to go back a few chapters to
God’s one command in the garden:
Genesis 2:9 NKJV
And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 2:16-17
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every 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."
God put two trees in the midst of the Garden. 1) The Tree of Life – A symbol of eternal
life. It’s position in the garden made
it a daily reminder of God's intended future for mankind. Adam was able to regularly eat the fruit of
that tree if he desired. 2) The Tree of
the knowledge of Good and Evil – A call to a choice. To know good – is to be obedient to God’s
commands. To know evil is to choose not
to obey God. It isn’t that suddenly you
will gain some useful information. It is
that you will understand that to obey God is good, but to disobey God is evil.
Genesis 3:1-6 NKJV
Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?" And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.' " Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
The serpent came and spoke to Eve and in that conversation
caused her to begin to doubt God. And it
led her to disobey God and eat of the fruit.
Look at this:
This is the description of sin in 1 John 2:15-16:
1 John 2:15-16 NKJV
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
The Bible describes Eve’s thought process:
1)
the woman saw that the tree was good for
food – Lust of the flesh
2)
that it was pleasant to the eyes – Lust
of the eyes
3)
desirable to make one wise – Pride of
life
She gave it to Adam to eat.
Look at what happened when he ate:
Genesis 3:7 NKJV
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
After Adam sinned innocence was lost. They knew that they had done wrong They “knew”
evil and they were ashamed.
Genesis 3:9-10 NKJV
Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?" So he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself."
As a result, Adam and Eve were driven from the garden. They lost all of the blessing of the God’s
graciousness in the garden. Those things
that God had given them as blessings of meaning and purpose were turned to
curses, and they were kept from the tree of Life:
Genesis 3:24
So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
One last comment, God held Adam accountable for the
violation.
Genesis 3:11-12 NKJV
And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?" Then the man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate."
Isn’t it human and interesting that Adam immediately tried
to justify his sin by blaming Eve. Isn’t
that just like people today? The bottom
line is Eve was deceived, but Adam made a choice that was where the sin was
found. Their eyes weren’t opened until
Adam ate the fruit.
A Lesson for Christians
As Christians we are given our own “Tree of Life” in the way
of eternal life in salvation of Jesus Christ.
Adam was given the Tree of life as well in a beautiful paradise. The Garden of Eden is a picture of Eternal
Life in Heaven in the presence of God, a personal relationship with Christ in
just the way Adam had. You can see
though, that we make choices and decisions, and those decisions affect our
relationship with God and the blessings of Eternal Life. The Tree of Life was given as a reminder of
God’s promise of Eternal Life, it was placed in a place where it would always
be accessible to them. That is the Tree
we should concentrate on and eat from.
Note: All posts are property of Taiwan Adventure Publications and may be used for private study or within a church setting but cannot be 1) reprinted and sold as a part of a volume or in any way for profit, and/or 2) used in a for-profit setting. The Word of God is free!
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