Genesis 3:6-9, “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice 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 amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?”
The Image and the Likeness of God
Anthropology is the study of mankind; however, anthropology is also a strong foundation for the revelation of theology. We can look at the things the Bible said that are seen and understand the things that are not seen. Romans 1:20 says, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.” The study of man can also give us a vision of the revelation of the deep understanding of God.
I want you to note that man was made in the image and the likeness of God; however, I want to emphasize that only Adam and Jesus Christ were made in the image of God, and since there was only one person of Adam then we must simply conclude that there is only one person of God, because Adam was made in the image and the likeness of God! If God was three persons, then Adam would have had to have been three persons, because Adam was made in the image and in the likeness of God. And since Adam is only one person, we can only conclude that God is one person. If you are so blessed, privileged and selected by God that you should make heaven your home, and if your eyes ever behold God, you will see Him in the body of Jesus Christ!
Adam, Where Art Thou?
Nobody celebrates Christmas like true Apostolic Pentecostals because the one in the manger was not a stranger to us! He was born the mighty God, the everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace. I want you to understand that the earthly body of Jesus (God manifested in
the flesh) was not made in the image of Adam, but rather Adam was made in the image of the One who was to come. I don’t believe that Adam ever looked like a cave man. If you want to know what Adam looked like, look at Jesus Christ, because Adam was made like Jesus was going to be made when He came.
When God called unto Adam and said, “Adam, where art thou?”, I believe that it was a deep sigh of hurt and disappointment in the very heart of almighty God. I pose for your consideration that it was the result of God not being able to recognize and identify Adam after he sinned, because after he sinned he lost his image and likeness of God. When God looked at Adam, he saw the man that He had created that no longer bore His likeness or His resemblance or His identity, and so He said, “Adam where art thou?”
The Creator was to be seen in His creation, but sin stripped man of that image and likeness of God. How strange it is because of sin that when God looked for man, He did not recognize him, and when Christ came and men looked for God, they didn’t recognize Him! When God looked at a fallen Adam, He said, “I don’t know you! Adam, where art thou?” And when Christ came, God manifested in the flesh, the Bible said in John 1:10, “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.” Adam was created to reveal God but sin had stripped him of his power to reveal God, so Jesus came as God manifest in the flesh.
The Purpose of Your Sonship
The purpose of the Sonship was to be the revelation of the Father through Jesus Christ, and the purpose of your sonship is to reveal Jesus Christ. The reason why we are the sons of God is because God wants to look down on this world and see Himself again in flesh and see Himself in a human body, so that He can recognize the body and the world can recognize the body as God in flesh!
Now let me establish my point further here in Genesis 5:1-2. “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.” God called THEIR name Adam. One reason God would call THEM Adam is because Eve came out of Adam. Don’t miss the point. Out of HIM came HIS Bride! Genesis 5:3 says, “And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth.”
This is what I want you to see: after Adam fell, men were no longer created in the image of God. Adam procreated and his offspring was not in the likeness and the image of God, but in the image and the likeness of a fallen Adam. That’s why man cannot justify and prop up his sinful lifestyles and his sinful residence by saying, “God made me that way!” God did not make man a sinner! When Adam fell, then all of the DNA was passed on through him. The only man apart from Christ that enjoined the true image and likeness of God was Adam, and I am not sure how long that lasted, but it was not an eternal relationship because Adam blew it when living in the Garden of Eden! With the best of every opportunity, he blew it and failed God, and when he did, sin stripped him of that unique privilege and power. After the fall, men were begotten not in the image of God but in the image of a fallen man named Adam.
When Adam sinned, He lost his likeness of God and he lost his image of God, and what God was saying was, “Where are you, Adam? I don’t recognize you anymore, Adam. I don’t identify with you anymore, Adam,” Before when God saw Adam He saw Himself, and now he did not.
You have to understand that God formed man, but sin deformed man, and God was saying, “Adam where art thou,” because throughout the entire Old Testament history there was not a body that bore His image in which He could truly see Himself. Something was lost in Adam that was gone for 4,000 years. There was nothing on earth now that God could look at and see Himself.
The Apostolic New Testament Church
Thus I bring you to a greater understanding of Pentecost and the power of the gospel, and the New Birth experience being revealed in all of us. The purpose of the church is that God wanted again a body on earth in which He could one more time see Himself and reveal Himself to a world! The Church is the body of Christ in the earth. We are here to reflect Him, reveal Him, illustrate Him and to be a representative of Him here on this earth. It’s about God looking down at a body and not seeing a body that is cursed by the effects of the world but is sanctified, separated, set apart, Spirit-filled, water baptized, and born again! That’s the key word: born again. Born again so that we regain the image and the likeness of God!
Matthew 22:17-19 says, “Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny.” He said, “All right, we are going to decipher whether you should pay taxes or not, and this is how we are going to determine if it is right or wrong to pay taxes.” True ownership and possession is proven by two points: Whose image do you bare and whose name do you wear? If you bare His image and you wear His name, then you belong to Him! And that is why for 4,000 years God was asking “Adam where art thou?” Because until men are born again of the Spirit, which imparts to them His image, and born of the water which imparts to them His name, God cannot find the body on earth that He wants to reflect Him and to reveal Him.
The Joy of Pentecost
That was the joy of Pentecost because it was at Pentecost that they got His image and name, and now because of rebirth, God sees Himself in the Church! What was lost in Adam is regained in the miracle of the new birth experience — being born again of the water and the spirit.
Rev. Scott Lewis
Pentecostals of West Houston