The Very First Person

(This is the first of what I hope to be many devotions based on the people of the Bible. Since we are children of God by faith in Jesus, all the believers in the Bible are our brothers and sisters. The more we learn about our family in the Bible, the more we learn about Jesus’ love and salvation for us. The devotions will be written with children and families in mind, but I hope that they are beneficial for Christians of all ages.)

The very first person did not have a very unique name. Do you remember what it was? Adam. Adam is simply a Hebrew word that means, “Man.” I suppose that makes sense, doesn’t it? What should the first man be called? “Man.” “Adam.”

Although Adam did not have a very unique name, there were all sorts of unique things about Adam. Can you think of some? Adam was formed by God himself from the dust of the ground (Genesis 2:7). You and I weren’t created that way. Adam got to name all the animals (Genesis 2:19-20). Wouldn’t that have been cool? Adam got to live in the perfect Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:8-9). Can you imagine what that was like? Perfect weather. Fruit trees all over. Beautiful scenery. There were all sorts of unique things about Adam. God blessed Adam in lots of special ways.

But Adam did something very sad and surprising: He sinned (Genesis 3:1-24). After God had done all those special things for Adam, don’t you think Adam would have loved God more than everything else? Don’t you think Adam would have always done what God asked? But Adam didn’t. Adam and his wife disobeyed God’s command. 

Do you? Do you disobey God’s commands? Maybe by disobeying your parents’ commands or by being angry or stealing or lying or complaining or cheating? You and I are more like Adam than we might think. God has blessed us in so many ways, yet we sin against God every day. We have disobeyed God so many times.

Thankfully, there’s one more super special thing about Adam: He points us to Jesus! Listen to this Bible verse and try to understand what it’s saying: “As in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22). Adam brought sin and death into the world.

So whom did God send? Another unique Man. A Man who was perfect. A Man who was God himself. A Man who brings forgiveness to people who have sinned and life to people who have died. Do you know who the Bible is talking about? Jesus!

Jesus is our true and better Adam. Jesus kept all of God’s commands perfectly in our place, and he died on the cross for our sins. More than that, Jesus rose from the dead to win eternal life in heaven for all who believe in him.

Adam was the first to do a lot of things: Live. Name animals. Sin. But here’s the most important thing: Adam points us to Jesus our Savior.

Dear Lord God, thank you for making Adam—and for making me! Just like Adam, I have sinned against you. I’m sorry. Thank you for sending Jesus to save me. Amen.

(To learn more about our brother Adam’s story, read Genesis 1:1-3:24.)