The First Adam

Preface This is the account of the creation of the heavens and earth. —Genesis 2:4 (NLT) While growing up in a culture that encouraged children to be seen and not heard, I learned at an early age to keep my questions to myself. Being a particularly mild-tempered child who was fairly malleable, it was easy for me to retreat into an inner life, which was resplendent with juvenile introspection and often amounted to little substance. As I emerged from childhood, my inner conversations spilled out as many questions posed to the world around me. I found some answers through life’s experiences (always the best teacher, they say), a voracious appetite for books, and a keen, quiet observance of the world around me. These habits fit perfectly with my personality, but an unsettling disquiet remained. It was something I could not quite describe, much less frame into a question. This disturbed me, as I wondered how I could go about finding answers to a question I didn’t know. This introspection led me to my first big question, Who am I? Obviously, the second question that followed this was, Why am I here? or What’s my purpose” After several failed attempts at seeking solutions in the wrong places, it was a pleasant yet slightly unsettling surprise to find that the book of Genesis in the Bible yielded tangible insights into the basics of human experience. These fundamentals are the vertical relationships that we ascribe to as human beings, which are often expressed through religion and worship of a higher being and our horizontal relationships, which are often expressed through our interpersonal relationships with family, friends, and people in the communities we live in. As I picked through the storylines of the first three chapters of Genesis, I discovered that the Bible revealed attributes of God, which were packaged into morsels that the human mind could consume. As I saw glimpses of God’s nature through scripture, I also found the surprising discovery that my own identity, as a person created in God’s image, became sharper. I gained a new appreciation for who I was and why I was here. It also became clear that I did not belong to myself. There was One who was greater than I was. He was fully responsible for my existence. I had to give an account to Him for every moment and breath of my life. Through this resplendent revelation, I also discovered, rather distressingly, that there was a reason behind all the disaster, decay, and devastation that we witnessed in the world around us. I understood more deeply, the extent of the horrific implications that befell Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden when they chose to disobey God. I also understand how these consequences still plague us today. Like an archeologist who stumbles upon precious relics while excavating the remains of ancient civilizations, I unearthed the mighty beginnings of God’s marvelous plan to redeem humankind from the deadly effects of Adam’s sin. The principal purpose of this book is to examine the biblical narrative in Genesis so that we can discover the divine attributes of God. It is my firm belief that God, who is the divine inspiration behind the Bible, used human authors to write a library of books, which would not only serve as a superior repository documenting the chronological rise and fall of ancient civilizations but also reveal His ubiquitous involvement throughout human history. God’s power, presence, and personality permeate every page of scripture. My ultimate intention is that in illuminating specific examples from scripture, many will believe in a God who loves us deeply and who has already provided a pathway to redemption through Jesus Christ—if we will only believe.