By Chris Surber

Not one word is wasted in the Bible. The revealed Word of God reveals layers upon layers of profound and practical meaning.

Take the name of Adam for instance. The Hebrew word “aw-dam” can be translated as the proper noun name of the first created man — Adam — or when the Hebrew “ha” is attached to it as in “ha-awdam” is can mean mankind.

As progenitor of the human race, Adam is at once the prototypical male and his very name is the name for mankind. What’s more, the Hebrew word for earth or dirt is “adamah.” “Ha-awdam” means mankind because all of potential or future humanity was bound up in Adam and “adam-ah” means dirt because God breathed life into dust and created a man, from whom all humanity sprang.

We are all Adam. We are all breathing dust. That means at least these three things.

First, every human bears the image of God. God created Adam according to His image. (Genesis 1:26) We are bearers of the image of God. Adam was brilliant! He was something like the first zoologist and environmentalist. He named all of the animals of creation. (Genesis 2:20)

Like our father Adam, we have the great capacity for intelligence, creativity, memory, creativity and useful labor. We are all Adam. We are all made in the likeness of God!

Next, every human bears the mark of the fall. We are the descendents of exiles from the Garden. Every generation of humans has lived after Eden. Adam rebelled against the authority of God, choosing moral knowledge and therefore moral culpability over obedience and innocence.

Cain killed Abel. Jacob tricked Isaac and betrayed Esau. Abraham and Sarah weren’t willing to wait for God. You and I and every person alive choose our own way. Humanity is at war with itself, seemingly bent on despair or destruction or both. We are a lot of rebels like our father Adam.

We bear the beautiful image of God and the mark of exile from Eden alike. What are we to do? The first thing God did after the fall of Adam and Eve into sin was to declare that a new Adam would come to redeem us all! (Genesis 3:15)

Finally, we are all in need of a savior, and the second Adam has come! “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:22 NASB) My Father’s Day message to every son of Adam and daughter of Eve is simply this.

We are all Adam. We are wonderfully made! We are all Adam. We are living life after exile from Eden. There is a new Adam. His name is Jesus! He is beautiful and without sin. He is our rescuer from travail outside the Garden.

Everyman can come back to Eden. The gate is the Cross. The key is faith. The call home is grace.

Chris Surber is the pastor at Liberty Spring Christian Church in Suffolk. Email him at chris@chrissurber.com.