“Where are you?”

Genesis 3 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

The Fall of Man

Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” ² The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; ³ but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” ⁴ The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! ⁵ For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶ When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

⁸ They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” ¹⁰ He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” ¹¹ And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” ¹² The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” ¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” ¹⁴ The Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life; ¹⁵ And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.” ¹⁶ To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.”

¹⁷ Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. ¹⁸ “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; ¹⁹ By the sweat of your face
You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”

²⁰ Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. ²¹ The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.

Before they ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil Adam and Eve lived in obedience and innocence. They had fellowship with God. It was not an abnormal thing for God to come and walk in the garden to fellowship and converse with them. Disobedience, because of the knowledge of good and evil causes guilt. That’s they age old problem with sin, while it may feel good for a moment and satisfy our lusts and desires, the knowledge of good and evil causes us to feel guilt. Our conscience lets us know when we have done something wrong.

Sin and disobedience cause us to be separated from God. It interferes with and breaks the fellowship and communion that we are created to have with God. There are two ways that sin causes this separation from God. The first is that because God is holy and righteous,  1 John 1:5 says: God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. In Exodus 33:20 God responds to Moses request to see His face by saying, "You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!"  In Isaiah 6:5, we see the prophet’s response to seeing the holy God: “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”

God though, is always looking to repair the breach in the fellowship and communion we have with Him. It was God, the omniscient God, already aware of Adam and Eve’s disobedience who went and sought them out. For them: The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them. Something was sacrificed to cover their sin. For Moses, though he could not see the face of God, we see in Exodus 33:        the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; ²² and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.”    Finally for Isaiah, we see in Isaiah 6:6:    Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. ⁷ He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.”     Each one of these actions of God, to restore the fellowship of sinful man to His righteousness represents, in some way, the ultimate action God did to restore man to fellowship with Him. God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.(Romans 5:8) Hebrews 4:14-16 says:       Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵ For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶ Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.     Jesus sacrifice on the cross is represented in the death of a living creature to cover the sin of Adam and Eve. Moses saw the back of the Lord, on His back are the scars and the evidence of the price He paid for the sin of all. The coal from the altar of sacrifice, which cleansed and forgave the iniquity of Isaiah was also a symbol of the eternal sacrifice of Christ, which is before God in heaven, the sacrifice through which all those in Christ are seen and judged.

Still though there is another thing which causes our separation from God. It is that we, like Adam and Eve become aware of our sinfulness, we feel the guilt and the shame and though God comes seeking us, we hide from Him. The unfortunate part of our believing the lie of our guilt and shame is that we can’t hide our sin from God. He already knows what we have done. He, in His great love and compassion, has made the way to restore the fellowship we have with Him. The story of the prodigal, in Luke 15, gives us a beautiful picture of how God waits and watches for us to return, to run to Him rather than run from Him to hide.

¹⁷ But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! ¹⁸ I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.”’ ²⁰ So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. ²¹ And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ ²² But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; ²³ and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; ²⁴ for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.         “While he was still a long way off, his father saw him… and ran to him…”

God has made the way. Jesus says: “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”(Luke 5:32)   "For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.(Matthew 18:11) Jesus came so that the fellowship that God intended and desires to have with us, the fellowship which was broken through disobedience and sin, could be restored.  Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. ² For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. Romans 8:1-2)  Your sins are forgiven, the is no condemnation, nor should there be any shame. Run to God. Do not hide.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ, my Savior and Redeemer thank You for Your great love which has restored me to You. Thank You Holy Spirit for the revelation of the truth of that great love. May I walk in the fullness of the great privilege of this fellowship and communion with You every day and all my days. Thank You.   Amen.