024 is drawing to a close, and 2025 is almost upon us. As Adventists, members of God’s end-time remnant movement, we are called to boldly speak forth God’s last offer of mercy for our sin-sick and dying world. In essence, we are called to reflect what God initially created His children to be and to do.

In Genesis 1-2, we find God’s original purpose for men. Genesis 2:15-17 reads, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 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 die.’” To till (awbad), Strong’s 5647, means to work, to serve, to till. God’s purpose for Adam was to be in a dynamic, productive relationship with God’s natural creation, thus producing food. Adam was to be a provider. To keep (shawmer), Strong’s 8104, means to hedge about, to guard, to protect, to be circumspect, to take heed to, to preserve, to regard, to watch (as a watchman). Adam was to be a protector.

In the instructions about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God gave Adam a priestly role, i.e., to represent God to the world and the world to God. Thus Adam was a moral being with freedom of choice, cognizant of God’s revealed will, and accountable to His Creator for how he responded to God’s revealed will. Provider. Protector. Priest. God’s original role for godly men.

But as AFM missionaries seek to restore the image of God among the unreached, there is a deeper role we are called to play. Genesis 1:27 states that we all — male and female — are created in the image of God. Thus, a society that is male only or female only can never fully reflect God’s image. Males and females need each other to fully reflect God’s image. “Male” means the one who remembers (zakar). Strong’s 2145, from Strong’s 2142, means to remember, to make mention of, to be mindful, to recount, to record, make to be remembered, bring to remembrance, to cause to remember, to remind, to mention, to make a memorial, to make remembrance. The male is the one who remembers. To remember what? To represent God and His revealed will to creation.

The first thing God explained to Adam was the tree of knowledge of good and evil. When Satan questioned what God had said (Genesis 3:1-7), and Eve brought the fruit to Adam, it was Adam’s responsibility to accurately remember and tell forth God’s instructions. Yet he was silent, preferring to eat than speak up. In that silence, in the silence of a “good” or unfallen man, comes the entrance of sin and death into planet Earth, together with all the sufferings and woe for humanity and the natural world. 

Silent men are those who refuse to speak up and speak forth God’s will when Satan undermines the authority of God, His Word and His revealed will. Such men are a curse upon society and humanity at large. Edmund Burke wrote in 1770 that, “When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.” This has evolved to “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

Deeper yet, men created in God’s image reflect God’s character. Zakar is used for God’s forgiveness in Isaiah 43:25, so godly men reflect God’s image by choosing to forgive the sins committed against them (Matthew 6:12, 14-15). Zakar is used of God remembering His covenant with Noah (Genesis 9:12-15), so godly men enter into and keep the New Covenant with Jesus Christ. Zakar is used in the 4th Commandment, so godly men reflect God’s image by upholding the Decalogue. Zakar is used in Psalm 137:7 to remind us of the final judgment, so godly men treat others in light of the final judgment and give that judgment over to God. Zakar is used in Malachi 3:26-27 of God remembering and coming for His own, so godly men fear God, respond to and preach the Three Angels’ Messages, and eagerly await and work for the Second Coming.

2024 is almost over. We can’t change our past, but what we can be — begins today. We can ask for the infilling of the Holy Spirit to write this coming chapter of our lives so that we faithfully represent our Heavenly Father in ways never seen before. At AFM, as we bring the Gospel to the unreached, we are seeking to restore God’s image among the lost. Oh that God’s character might be fully formed in our own characters so all may know there is a God in heaven, that He transforms penitent sinners, and that He is coming for His own!

• Twitter