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8 And they heard the sound 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 among the trees of the garden. 9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” ~ Genesis 3:8-10
Today, we continue our study of Genesis 3 where the serpent has tempted Eve and she has bit off his lies. As a result, without even noticing it, Adam and Eve died to God that day; they died spiritually and in time they would realize that they were dying physically, as well. One cannot understand redemptive history and its ending unless we understand its beginning. We cannot understand why it is important to have a Savior until we understand the Fall of man.
In v.8 of today's passage we read, "And they heard the sound 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 among the trees of the garden."
The Hebrew word translated "walking" means "to move amongst in order to be conversant with someone." After Adam chose to violently rebel against the LORD God, the Lord still kept their special time where the couple would ask of Him questions. But, sin changed all of that because when God came to have fellowship with them after the Fall, the man and the woman ran away and hid from Him.
It was "in the the cool of the day" that God came walking in the Garden in search of Adam and Eve. It was at the end of the day that the One who had no beginning Himself came seeking the pair who had openly rebelled against Him. Their sin instantly separated them from God and it necessitated the eventual death of the perfect One who would come thousands of years later.
In Genesis 2:17 we read, "In the day that you eat thereof you'll surely die." The first expression of death for Adam and Eve was distrust of one another. We know this because back in Genesis 3:7 they sewed fig leaves together in order to cover themselves in the presence of one another. The second expression of death for the couple was their distrust of God. Motivated by fear, the pair thought they could avoid the eyesight of the Creator by hiding behind the trees in the Garden. In Psalm 139 we read, "Where shall I go from Your spirit? Where shall I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, behold You are there; if I make my bed in hell, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell on the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your right hand shall guide me." There was no hiding from God, but that didn't prevent Adam and Eve from trying. Even in this attempt, we see that their rational abilities had been affected by the fall.
In v.9 of today's passage we read, "Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, 'Where are you?'"
God's response to Adam's rebellion was a gentle response which was certainly not what they had expected since they had disobeyed God. Adam and Eve expected that God would end their life since He earlier had said that if they sinned they would die. But what they discovered was the God who seeks out sinners. This is the first time we see grace in the Bible. This wasn’t grace that granted them salvation, it was grace that withheld them from destruction.
The omniscient and omnipresent God of the Bible knew exactly where Adam was hiding when He called out to him. This question from God to the fallen couple was much more than a question about their whereabouts, it was a self-revelatory question. It was a direct question that gave Adam the opportunity to come clean with the God who created him. This was a compassionate, loving, gracious, merciful God who is by nature a sinner seeking Savior. The word "called" here is a word used often in the Old Testament for summoning someone to give an account. This was God compassionately serving a gentle warrant for Adam’s arrest.
In v.10 of today's passage we read, "So he said, 'I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.'"
Adam had been stripped of his ability to be completely rational and truthful. This is the mark of depravity; when we cannot tell the truth about our own condition which was obvious to anyone in sight. Adam had been corrupted and now he evaded the question and he resembled the deceiving serpent. Adam was not repulsed by his sin for it was not the sin that he didn’t like. It was the consequences that he feared and that was why he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid." Adam said nothing about his sin. He said nothing about offending God who gave him life and gave him everything he had ever needed. Adam never confessed his sin, and, neither did Eve.
Adam and Eve had been naked since God had created them, but now, all of a sudden, they knew evil and they were made aware of their vulnerability. Up till this point, they did not have a self-consciousness. They, up to the point, were selfless. Now that Adam and Eve had invited the rule of the enemy into their lives, they had a deep, self-conscious awareness that led them to frightening fear. And, their ability to appraise properly had been destroyed. Self-absorption is what causes us to feel shame before others and most importantly, God.
Satan had promised the first couple freedom from God’s limiting control. He had told them that God was less good than He purported to be, and that by eating the forbidden, they would be like God. As a result, they did in a way become like God, but they could not handle it. They thought they would be free, but what they got was slavery to sin. Sin brought them shame, guilt and fear. With depravity, there is no confession of sin, nor is there repentance from sin. With depravity, there is no asking for forgiveness. And, due to the Fall, man has deemed that God is now the bad guy. Sinners love to say God is this overbearing, unkind, judgmental, threatening executioner while all along He has been our faithful and true friend.
