God Speaking with Adam in the Garden of EdenBibleWorld
3:9Genesis 3:9
And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
After eating the forbidden fruit Adam and Eve covered themselves with fig leaves and hid among the trees when they heard God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, though before sin they had joyfully welcomed Him in innocence and holiness. As Lawgiver God sought out the hiding pair and asked where they were, not for information but to bring them to conviction of guilt and draw out confession of fear, nakedness and eating from the forbidden tree. Their nakedness was loss of the covering garments of purity and heavenly light, leaving the soul polluted with sin and without righteousness, with terror, shame, estrangement from God and subjection to suffering and death. God did not leave them without hope but began in that encounter to open the way of escape through Christ as mediator and substitute, giving the first gospel promise that shines from Genesis to Revelation and placing fallen humanity on probation with another trial. The call stands as a warning to all that God's word must be sacredly respected and implicitly obeyed, for no one can hide from Him, disobedience brings death, and all are summoned to know their spiritual standing and be clothed again with Christ's righteousness by repentance and faith.
Words and Setting in Eden
After eating the forbidden fruit Adam and Eve knew they were naked and sewed fig leaves together for aprons, then heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and hid themselves from His presence among the trees of the garden. The call, Where art thou, was addressed to Adam in that hiding place after this disobedience. All their wants had been supplied and only one prohibition laid upon them, so Adam was left without excuse for falling from his high estate by listening to Satan's misrepresentation of God, through whom sin entered the world and death by sin.
Before sin they had been glad to see their Creator when He came to walk and talk with them, and in innocence and holiness they had joyfully welcomed His approach and delighted to meet Him. After disobedience that gladness was gone, and in sinfulness they were afraid to meet Him. On hearing His voice among the trees they fled in terror from that presence, sought to hide in the deepest recesses of the garden, and hid from His face in guilt rather than meet Him as before. Before the fall Adam walked and talked with God in Eden, but afterward humanity was driven from the garden and from God's visible presence.
Eve had separated from Adam despite the angels' caution to remain together, and wandering alone she gazed with curiosity and admiration on the forbidden tree and questioned why God withheld its beautiful fruit. Instead of fleeing she lingered when the serpent, in a musical voice with subtle praise, echoed her thought questioning God's command, without thinking the fascinating serpent could be the medium of the fallen foe. Adam and Eve were privileged to behold the beauty and loveliness of Eden and were permitted to eat of every tree of the garden but one, yet when the serpent tempted Eve she tempted her husband and they both ate of the forbidden tree and became sinners and transgressors. By that eating they lost the beautiful Eden God had given them and opened the floodgates of woe upon the world.
God then manifested His divine presence in the garden as the great Lawgiver and made Himself known to make known to Adam and Eve the consequences of their transgression. He came to visit them after they disobeyed His word and became transgressors against His binding law, and sought out hiding Adam. With the question Where art thou He began the encounter that confronted their disobedience. That call opened His questioning of Adam about his fear and nakedness and whether he had eaten of the tree God had commanded him not to eat, drawing out Adam's confession that he heard God's voice and hid because he was afraid and naked, and exposing that they had eaten from the tree of knowledge.
Purpose of Divine Question
God's question to hiding Adam is not asked for information but to bring the guilty pair to conviction of guilt. After disobedience Adam and Eve hid from the One they had delighted to meet while innocent and holy, and Adam's fear and shame mark the change from the innocence and holiness in which he had welcomed God's presence.
The call manifests divine presence as Lawgiver to make known the consequences of transgression against binding law after eating the forbidden fruit. In innocence and holiness they had joyfully welcomed the Creator's approach, but after sinning they fled in terror from that presence, sought to hide in the deepest recesses of the garden, and hid from His face in guilt. Seeking out hiding Adam, the question opens inquiry about his fear and nakedness and whether he ate of the tree commanded not to be eaten, confronts that disobedience, draws out his confession that he heard the voice and hid because afraid and naked, and exposes that they had eaten from the tree of knowledge. That law given in Eden is the basis of all right conduct with reward for obedience and penalty for disobedience, Adam's transgression introduced sin into the fair world God had created, afterward men and women became more and still more bold in disobeying, and later judgment of impenitent transgressors exhibits power and exemplifies the truth that those who will not keep heaven's commandments receive death. Wicked works separate men from God so they love not to behold Him or retain Him in knowledge and want to see Him no more than Adam did, yet Adam's hiding must not be followed, for no one of the human family can hide from God, a man may turn his face so he cannot see Him but cannot place himself where God will not see him, for darkness is as light to Him and He knows every secret thing, and Adam fell through Satan's lying sophistry framing lies to substitute for Thus saith the Lord.
After sin God would no longer communicate on the same terms as when man was without sin, for Adam separated himself by transgression, open communion was lost, and humanity was cut off from close access to its Maker. God had planned clearsightedness in all His work for Adam with cooperation between man and God, but transgression interfered with that plan when Satan led Adam to sin, and man's only safety is entire obedience to all God's words, never making experiment of testing the evil course with all its results, which brings weakness through disobedience. Adam's relation to his Creator had changed and he was still fallen, people could no longer approach God directly, and access and communication would henceforth be through Christ alone, revealing the relation of the Son to the Father and His position in Heaven and His mediatorship between fallen man and Creator. The sentence of death was delayed and wrath restrained because Christ undertook to redeem humanity and bear the wrath due to sinners, and He opened a door of hope.
God did not leave them then but gave a star of hope to illuminate the dark future in the first gospel promise. That talking with Adam and Eve in Eden to give heavenly instruction began the gospel shining forth with clear light from Genesis to Revelation, a light that has continued to shine down through the ages. Though the transgression became the cause of woe to the world leaving humanity to labor ever since under the oppressive load of sin, provision was made for the fallen ruined race, with the Son opening a way of escape by taking man's transgressions and their just penalty upon Himself, laying aside robes of royalty, clothing divinity with humanity, and coming as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief who suffered insult and reproach and mockery though He was the Majesty of heaven.
Loss Through Transgression
The call finds Adam and Eve stripped of the covering God had given them, for the garments of purity and brightness, the heavenly light that had enshrouded them as a garment of innocence, had fallen away and the robe of light disappeared. With that light gone they could no longer discern God's character in nature, and they tried to fashion a covering for themselves because they could not meet the eye of God and holy angels while unclothed. Nakedness in the question means being deprived of the divine covering of light and innocence, a soul polluted with sin and without Christ's righteousness. The same nakedness and fear belong to all who yield to temptation and give themselves to obey Satan, whose need is to be clothed again with white raiment, the white robe of Christ's righteousness obtained by repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ, by buying gold tried in the fire. Through sin Adam lost the glory that had covered him and the purity, dignity, and divine favor he had received, and poverty, sickness, suffering, and the curse became the portion of his descendants.
Their imagined higher existence gave way to terror over sin, loss of love and peace, a sense of sin, dread of the future, shame and ruin, and anticipation of condemnation never known before. Their eyes were opened not to godhood but to their own shame and ruin, and even the mild air seemed to chill them. Seeking the knowledge God had withheld brought them an acquaintance with sin and its results, whereas the knowledge God would have given would have brought lasting joy without sin's curse. That disobedience estranged humanity from God, separated earth from heaven, and began a separation in which man becoming a law to himself and following carnal desires brought discord, unhappiness, sin and wretchedness upon the race. The brightness of God's presence departed from nature, the earth was marred by sin and the curse, and fallen humanity became subject to death and in need of God's means of salvation.
By listening to Satan's misrepresentation, lying sophistry, flattery, and insinuations they broke allegiance to God, fell under the prince of darkness, and brought sin and death into the world. Their transgression broke the prohibition and brought the penalty of nature's laws, opening the way to guilt, suffering, poverty, sickness, and the floodgates of woe. Sin nearly obliterated the divine likeness, weakened physical and mental powers, dimmed spiritual vision, darkened the intellect, and lowered the race physically, mentally, and morally. God did not create the race devoid of health, beauty, and moral power as it now exists, but disobedience caused Adam to lose divine favor and happiness and brought the human race into misery and despair under death.
That fall brought woe and suffering, disease of every type, deformity, decrepitude and imbecility, lessened vital force, and decay of mental, moral, and physical power. Vigor passed away with signs of decay appearing by the third generation from Adam, and degeneration became swifter after the flood. Parents transmit inflamed and corrupted blood, evil inclinations, disease, licentiousness, imbecility, and polluted morals as an inheritance of woe from father to son and from generation to generation. Repetition of sin darkens the intellect so truth fades and is not valued, practiced, or sanctifying, deadens conscience until sin no longer arrests the diseased transgressor, enthrones abominations where God should reign, and leaves man degenerated and without the reflection of God's character. The serpent's track spreads calamity to every place, the whole earth is defiled under its inhabitants, the curse increases as transgression increases until the earth is prepared for purification by fire, and continued violations of God's laws aggravate the evils from Eden.
By that disobedience they lost beautiful Eden and their right to Paradise, for eating what God had forbidden forfeited the Eden home. Taking the fruit looked simple and unworthy of notice, yet it brought bitter experience, opened the floodgates of woe, and caused the holy pair to lose Eden in fall and expulsion. God therefore drove the transgressors from the garden and by cherubim and a flaming sword guarded the way of the tree of life so man could not approach and eat its fruit which perpetuates immortality, lest they become immortal sinners. Intemperance in desire and indulgence of depraved appetite caused that loss, degraded Eden by sin, weakened power to resist evil, and put the race in Satan's hands to be ensnared in his devices. Grace once possessed does not secure against transgression, and choosing the same disobedience forfeits the restored Eden, so preparing for Paradise restored requires bringing perverted appetite under strict control, repenting, seeking the Lord without delay, and obeying all requirements to be brought back to the Eden home.
Law Justice and Redemption
Genesis 3:9 belongs to the history of the law given in Eden as the basis of all right conduct, with reward for obedience and penalty for disobedience, and its full record of temptation, fall, and punishment inflicted shows that breaking it brought guilt, sorrow, and death. That history records the penalty of breaking God's law to warn that the wages of sin is death, that God's retributive justice never fails, and that He requires strict regard for His commandments. The call to Adam confronts disobedience to His binding law after eating the forbidden fruit, exposes that they had eaten from the tree of knowledge, and meets a guilty pair who had welcomed Him before but now hid from His face. It is to be plainly brought before everyone, especially rulers of nations and all in positions of responsibility, to make them realize accountability to God and duty to obey all His requirements. The dishonored divine government requires justice to be paid, for the law could not be changed to pardon Adam and retain Eden, the penalty was death, and obedience or disobedience decides eternal destiny.
Taking the fruit looked like a simple thing unworthy of notice, yet terrible retribution followed, showing God severe and exacting against disobedience rather than overlooking it. Adam's failure to bear a slight test stands as a beacon that carelessness in little matters and talk of liberality about God's requirements leads to wide deviation from the perfect example. A very small sin opened the floodgates of woe and will bring eternal ruin to thousands upon thousands, millions upon millions, for transgressions may appear easy to recover from yet sinning against light easily debases and corrupts the soul. God's mercy does not excuse the sinner or lessen guilt while continuing in sin, and if mercy alone could cover there would have been no need to give His darling Son to save the fallen race. The Father did not show benevolence at the expense of justice, for that would set aside righteousness, exalt the impenitent sinner, and encourage transgression, and the fall that shut Adam and Eve out of Paradise for what looked small proves God cannot approve work with even one thread of selfishness.
God did not leave humanity to perish in misery and despair after Adam, made upright, holy, and happy, lost divine favor and happiness by disobedience to an express command. The sentence of death was delayed and wrath restrained because Christ undertook to redeem, pledged His own life as penalty, and bore the wrath due sinners, opening a door of hope though man's relation to his Creator had changed. Christ became man's substitute and surety, and with all his posterity Adam was placed upon probation with another trial. Provision was made for the fallen ruined race by the Son opening a way of escape, taking transgressions and their just penalty upon Himself, laying aside robes of royalty, clothing divinity with humanity, and coming as a man of sorrows acquainted with grief who suffered insult, reproach, and mockery though Majesty of heaven, with nothing withheld in the gift. Since direct approach was lost, access and communication would henceforth be through Christ alone.
Christ entered human life on the ground where Adam fell, faced the same ground and temptation, overcame Satan, and redeemed Adam's failure. His humble obedient life made it possible to regain what was lost through Adam's failure, meeting the helpless fallen condition under the prince of darkness that required redemption and another trial. In the wilderness He passed over the same ground where Adam fell and gained the victory where Adam failed, placing the family on vantage ground and making it possible to overcome through the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour. Adam's fall by appetite brought disgrace redeemed by Christ's victory over temptation, and the succession of falls beginning at Eden is met by divine aid so people can overcome as He overcame. In contrast to Adam becoming a law to himself with discord and unhappiness through separation from God, Christ's life of constant perfect obedience set an example all could follow.
The provision did not abolish the law to give unconditional pardon, for the valuable sacrifice paying the debt of transgression exalts the law and evidences its sacred character. Fallen man may be elevated by Christ's merits and keep the law through the merits of His blood. Nakedness after sin means a soul polluted and without Christ's righteousness because God's covering no longer enveloped them, and need is met by buying gold tried in fire and white raiment to be clothed. The righteousness of God never covers sin left on the soul, so sin must be taken away by the Lamb and laid on Christ as bearer of the sins of the whole world, received by laying hold through belief in a crucified and risen Saviour, giving another trial to prove loyal by keeping the commandments and showing God's character.
The account is authentic early history of the world, the creation of man, his fall and introduction of sin, with the origin of the earth and the fall of the covering cherub, giving dependable knowledge that keeps the mind from fables, conjectures, false theories, superstition, falsehood, and enfeebling of intellect by error. It is a great fact and pillar of faith to be accepted as guide of life, yet practically rejected wholly or in part by much of the professed Christian world. Adam lived nearly a thousand years among men to the ninth generation as witness to the results of sin, commanded to instruct posterity in the way of the Lord, treasuring what was revealed, describing Paradise, repeating the fall, telling the sufferings that taught strict adherence to law, explaining merciful provisions for salvation, and faithfully seeking to stem evil. Few heeded his words, and he often met bitter reproaches for bringing woe upon posterity.
After disobedience and expulsion they observed the Sabbath and learned disobedience brings the punishment God has declared. By sin they lost beautiful Eden where they might eat of every tree but one, and their eating opened the floodgates of woe. From that fall sin grew worse until the flood destroyed the world saving only Noah and his sons, and has kept increasing since with judgments such as fire from heaven on Sodom and the threatened then delayed then final destruction of Nineveh. It reaches the present when Adam's sin is repeated in discarding and scorning God's Sabbath while exalting a spurious sabbath.
Warning and Obedience Today
The call Where art thou stands as a lesson for all mankind that God's Word is to be sacredly respected and His requirements implicitly obeyed. His prohibition against eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge was absolute, and He means what He says, so the only safe course is obedience to all His requirements at whatever cost, for all are founded in infinite love and wisdom. Love for God is tested by having and keeping His commandments, and the human family must therefore obey the light that comes about the binding claims of the law and lift the cross before the world.
The history records the penalty of breaking God's law to warn that sin brings death and that God's retributive justice does not fail. Adam violated the law by indulging appetite and passion, brought sin into the world with unutterable woe, was driven from Eden leaving the race lowered physically, mentally, and morally, and his disobedience stands as a warning example that men refuse to heed while repeating the same violation in a continuing succession of falls. The first parents disregarded God's prohibition and brought the consequences of the Fall, and their failure to resist Satan's insinuations emboldened him and began humanity's fall from original purity. Their disobedience warns that disobedience brings guilt and sorrow and carries grave consequences, and the full and explicit record of the law given in Eden with its penalty, temptation, fall, and punishment is kept for benefit and warning to show that the wages of sin is death, that retributive justice never fails, and that strict regard for His commandments is required.
That disobedience opened the floodgates of woe to the world. The divine law is the basis of all right conduct with reward for obedience and penalty for disobedience, and it is to be plainly brought before everyone, especially rulers of nations and all in responsibility, to make them realize accountability to God and duty to obey all His requirements. That violation lost beautiful Eden and opened the flood gates of woe, yet through Christ's sacrifice alone fallen man has another trial, so the example and its result should lead every soul to avoid and abhor sin as hateful and to feel, in view of the sufferings sin inflicts, that it is better to suffer loss of all things than to depart from the least of God's commandments. Choosing that same disobedience forfeits the right to the Eden restored, so the sinner must no longer remain with the great rebel but repent for giving time and talents to the enemy and with strong determination seek the Lord without delay, taking a stand before the heavenly universe to choose good and refuse evil. Grace once possessed does not secure against the result of transgressing God's law, as shown by Adam and Eve losing their right to Eden through disobedience to a command, and the condition of the fallen race today testifies to its awful results. Their transgression opened the flood gates of woe, yet the story gives all the privilege of learning the lesson of disobedience and shows why warnings about God's law must protect the family, for God sees perversity on the downward path yet will not compel obedience, desiring all to open eyes to wondrous things out of His law filled with positive promises to the obedient who must obey to become members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King.
Wicked works separate men from God so they love not to behold Him or retain Him in knowledge, and they want to see Him no more than Adam did after transgression. Adam's hiding must not be followed, for no one of the human family can hide from God, since a man may turn his face so he cannot see Him but cannot place himself where God will not see him, for darkness is as light to Him and He knows every secret thing. After sin the garments of purity and brightness had fallen away leaving them naked, ashamed and afraid among the trees, nakedness meaning deprivation of the divine covering of light and innocence. The same is true of all who yield to temptation and give themselves to obey Satan, being naked and afraid to meet God and needing to be clothed again with white raiment, the white robe of Christ's righteousness obtained by repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. That nakedness means a soul polluted with sin and without Christ's righteousness, whose need is to buy gold tried in fire and white raiment to be clothed, for the righteousness of God never covers sin left on the soul, so sin must be taken away by the Lamb and laid on Christ as bearer of the world's sins, received by laying hold of the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour through belief, giving man another trial now to prove loyal by keeping the commandments and showing God's character.
Where art thou is a present call to know one's spiritual standing, for it is every servant's privilege to know whether life is hid with Christ in God, with no need to answer that he does not know how he stands. Partaking of the fruit of disobedience by refusing light is repeated by anyone who after hearing truth turns from it to protect success in business, turning from God and light, selling the soul in a cheap market, violating conscience, and bargaining with Satan.
Even after humanity sinned and insulted its Creator, God continued to extend love and let light shine so people could learn to live in harmony with the laws governing their being. Adam and Eve were shut out of Paradise for what looked like a small transgression, proving God cannot approve any work with even one thread of selfishness, and that fall began sin increasing in volume and prevalence ever since and still increasing, yet it did not cut off divine benevolence, for love and care still flow earthward, calling people to fear their own littleness and sin-loving propensities and to receive and impart the love which passes knowledge. The dire results show the cost of transgression and warn that people may repeat the path of disobedience or choose humble obedience, with blessings and promises for those who love and obey Him. Continued violations of God's laws have aggravated the evils and suffering resulting from that transgression. After the fall Satan claimed to be prince of the power of the air with control of everything in nature, and God permitted him to sow tares and work out evil principles while protecting from his wrath those who desire heavenly principles, preserving in love and mercy the beautiful things in nature first seen in Eden as specimens of Eden's beauty and expressions of love to direct minds from created things to nature's God.
After eating the forbidden fruit Adam and Eve covered themselves with fig leaves and hid among the trees when they heard God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, though before sin they had joyfully welcomed Him in innocence and holiness.
As Lawgiver God sought out the hiding pair and asked where they were, not for information but to bring them to conviction of guilt and draw out confession of fear, nakedness and eating from the forbidden tree.
Their nakedness was loss of the covering garments of purity and heavenly light, leaving the soul polluted with sin and without righteousness, with terror, shame, estrangement from God and subjection to suffering and death.
God did not leave them without hope but began in that encounter to open the way of escape through Christ as mediator and substitute, giving the first gospel promise that shines from Genesis to Revelation and placing fallen humanity on probation with another trial.
The call stands as a warning to all that God's word must be sacredly respected and implicitly obeyed, for no one can hide from Him, disobedience brings death, and all are summoned to know their spiritual standing and be clothed again with Christ's righteousness by repentance and faith.
Words and Setting in Eden
After eating the forbidden fruit Adam and Eve knew they were naked and sewed fig leaves together for aprons, then heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and hid themselves from His presence among the trees of the garden. The call, Where art thou, was addressed to Adam in that hiding place after this disobedience. All their wants had been supplied and only one prohibition laid upon them, so Adam was left without excuse for falling from his high estate by listening to Satan's misrepresentation of God, through whom sin entered the world and death by sin.
Before sin they had been glad to see their Creator when He came to walk and talk with them, and in innocence and holiness they had joyfully welcomed His approach and delighted to meet Him. After disobedience that gladness was gone, and in sinfulness they were afraid to meet Him. On hearing His voice among the trees they fled in terror from that presence, sought to hide in the deepest recesses of the garden, and hid from His face in guilt rather than meet Him as before. Before the fall Adam walked and talked with God in Eden, but afterward humanity was driven from the garden and from God's visible presence.
Eve had separated from Adam despite the angels' caution to remain together, and wandering alone she gazed with curiosity and admiration on the forbidden tree and questioned why God withheld its beautiful fruit. Instead of fleeing she lingered when the serpent, in a musical voice with subtle praise, echoed her thought questioning God's command, without thinking the fascinating serpent could be the medium of the fallen foe. Adam and Eve were privileged to behold the beauty and loveliness of Eden and were permitted to eat of every tree of the garden but one, yet when the serpent tempted Eve she tempted her husband and they both ate of the forbidden tree and became sinners and transgressors. By that eating they lost the beautiful Eden God had given them and opened the floodgates of woe upon the world.
God then manifested His divine presence in the garden as the great Lawgiver and made Himself known to make known to Adam and Eve the consequences of their transgression. He came to visit them after they disobeyed His word and became transgressors against His binding law, and sought out hiding Adam. With the question Where art thou He began the encounter that confronted their disobedience. That call opened His questioning of Adam about his fear and nakedness and whether he had eaten of the tree God had commanded him not to eat, drawing out Adam's confession that he heard God's voice and hid because he was afraid and naked, and exposing that they had eaten from the tree of knowledge.
Purpose of Divine Question
God's question to hiding Adam is not asked for information but to bring the guilty pair to conviction of guilt. After disobedience Adam and Eve hid from the One they had delighted to meet while innocent and holy, and Adam's fear and shame mark the change from the innocence and holiness in which he had welcomed God's presence.
The call manifests divine presence as Lawgiver to make known the consequences of transgression against binding law after eating the forbidden fruit. In innocence and holiness they had joyfully welcomed the Creator's approach, but after sinning they fled in terror from that presence, sought to hide in the deepest recesses of the garden, and hid from His face in guilt. Seeking out hiding Adam, the question opens inquiry about his fear and nakedness and whether he ate of the tree commanded not to be eaten, confronts that disobedience, draws out his confession that he heard the voice and hid because afraid and naked, and exposes that they had eaten from the tree of knowledge. That law given in Eden is the basis of all right conduct with reward for obedience and penalty for disobedience, Adam's transgression introduced sin into the fair world God had created, afterward men and women became more and still more bold in disobeying, and later judgment of impenitent transgressors exhibits power and exemplifies the truth that those who will not keep heaven's commandments receive death. Wicked works separate men from God so they love not to behold Him or retain Him in knowledge and want to see Him no more than Adam did, yet Adam's hiding must not be followed, for no one of the human family can hide from God, a man may turn his face so he cannot see Him but cannot place himself where God will not see him, for darkness is as light to Him and He knows every secret thing, and Adam fell through Satan's lying sophistry framing lies to substitute for Thus saith the Lord.
After sin God would no longer communicate on the same terms as when man was without sin, for Adam separated himself by transgression, open communion was lost, and humanity was cut off from close access to its Maker. God had planned clearsightedness in all His work for Adam with cooperation between man and God, but transgression interfered with that plan when Satan led Adam to sin, and man's only safety is entire obedience to all God's words, never making experiment of testing the evil course with all its results, which brings weakness through disobedience. Adam's relation to his Creator had changed and he was still fallen, people could no longer approach God directly, and access and communication would henceforth be through Christ alone, revealing the relation of the Son to the Father and His position in Heaven and His mediatorship between fallen man and Creator. The sentence of death was delayed and wrath restrained because Christ undertook to redeem humanity and bear the wrath due to sinners, and He opened a door of hope.
God did not leave them then but gave a star of hope to illuminate the dark future in the first gospel promise. That talking with Adam and Eve in Eden to give heavenly instruction began the gospel shining forth with clear light from Genesis to Revelation, a light that has continued to shine down through the ages. Though the transgression became the cause of woe to the world leaving humanity to labor ever since under the oppressive load of sin, provision was made for the fallen ruined race, with the Son opening a way of escape by taking man's transgressions and their just penalty upon Himself, laying aside robes of royalty, clothing divinity with humanity, and coming as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief who suffered insult and reproach and mockery though He was the Majesty of heaven.
Loss Through Transgression
The call finds Adam and Eve stripped of the covering God had given them, for the garments of purity and brightness, the heavenly light that had enshrouded them as a garment of innocence, had fallen away and the robe of light disappeared. With that light gone they could no longer discern God's character in nature, and they tried to fashion a covering for themselves because they could not meet the eye of God and holy angels while unclothed. Nakedness in the question means being deprived of the divine covering of light and innocence, a soul polluted with sin and without Christ's righteousness. The same nakedness and fear belong to all who yield to temptation and give themselves to obey Satan, whose need is to be clothed again with white raiment, the white robe of Christ's righteousness obtained by repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ, by buying gold tried in the fire. Through sin Adam lost the glory that had covered him and the purity, dignity, and divine favor he had received, and poverty, sickness, suffering, and the curse became the portion of his descendants.
Their imagined higher existence gave way to terror over sin, loss of love and peace, a sense of sin, dread of the future, shame and ruin, and anticipation of condemnation never known before. Their eyes were opened not to godhood but to their own shame and ruin, and even the mild air seemed to chill them. Seeking the knowledge God had withheld brought them an acquaintance with sin and its results, whereas the knowledge God would have given would have brought lasting joy without sin's curse. That disobedience estranged humanity from God, separated earth from heaven, and began a separation in which man becoming a law to himself and following carnal desires brought discord, unhappiness, sin and wretchedness upon the race. The brightness of God's presence departed from nature, the earth was marred by sin and the curse, and fallen humanity became subject to death and in need of God's means of salvation.
By listening to Satan's misrepresentation, lying sophistry, flattery, and insinuations they broke allegiance to God, fell under the prince of darkness, and brought sin and death into the world. Their transgression broke the prohibition and brought the penalty of nature's laws, opening the way to guilt, suffering, poverty, sickness, and the floodgates of woe. Sin nearly obliterated the divine likeness, weakened physical and mental powers, dimmed spiritual vision, darkened the intellect, and lowered the race physically, mentally, and morally. God did not create the race devoid of health, beauty, and moral power as it now exists, but disobedience caused Adam to lose divine favor and happiness and brought the human race into misery and despair under death.
That fall brought woe and suffering, disease of every type, deformity, decrepitude and imbecility, lessened vital force, and decay of mental, moral, and physical power. Vigor passed away with signs of decay appearing by the third generation from Adam, and degeneration became swifter after the flood. Parents transmit inflamed and corrupted blood, evil inclinations, disease, licentiousness, imbecility, and polluted morals as an inheritance of woe from father to son and from generation to generation. Repetition of sin darkens the intellect so truth fades and is not valued, practiced, or sanctifying, deadens conscience until sin no longer arrests the diseased transgressor, enthrones abominations where God should reign, and leaves man degenerated and without the reflection of God's character. The serpent's track spreads calamity to every place, the whole earth is defiled under its inhabitants, the curse increases as transgression increases until the earth is prepared for purification by fire, and continued violations of God's laws aggravate the evils from Eden.
By that disobedience they lost beautiful Eden and their right to Paradise, for eating what God had forbidden forfeited the Eden home. Taking the fruit looked simple and unworthy of notice, yet it brought bitter experience, opened the floodgates of woe, and caused the holy pair to lose Eden in fall and expulsion. God therefore drove the transgressors from the garden and by cherubim and a flaming sword guarded the way of the tree of life so man could not approach and eat its fruit which perpetuates immortality, lest they become immortal sinners. Intemperance in desire and indulgence of depraved appetite caused that loss, degraded Eden by sin, weakened power to resist evil, and put the race in Satan's hands to be ensnared in his devices. Grace once possessed does not secure against transgression, and choosing the same disobedience forfeits the restored Eden, so preparing for Paradise restored requires bringing perverted appetite under strict control, repenting, seeking the Lord without delay, and obeying all requirements to be brought back to the Eden home.
Law Justice and Redemption
Genesis 3:9 belongs to the history of the law given in Eden as the basis of all right conduct, with reward for obedience and penalty for disobedience, and its full record of temptation, fall, and punishment inflicted shows that breaking it brought guilt, sorrow, and death. That history records the penalty of breaking God's law to warn that the wages of sin is death, that God's retributive justice never fails, and that He requires strict regard for His commandments. The call to Adam confronts disobedience to His binding law after eating the forbidden fruit, exposes that they had eaten from the tree of knowledge, and meets a guilty pair who had welcomed Him before but now hid from His face. It is to be plainly brought before everyone, especially rulers of nations and all in positions of responsibility, to make them realize accountability to God and duty to obey all His requirements. The dishonored divine government requires justice to be paid, for the law could not be changed to pardon Adam and retain Eden, the penalty was death, and obedience or disobedience decides eternal destiny.
Taking the fruit looked like a simple thing unworthy of notice, yet terrible retribution followed, showing God severe and exacting against disobedience rather than overlooking it. Adam's failure to bear a slight test stands as a beacon that carelessness in little matters and talk of liberality about God's requirements leads to wide deviation from the perfect example. A very small sin opened the floodgates of woe and will bring eternal ruin to thousands upon thousands, millions upon millions, for transgressions may appear easy to recover from yet sinning against light easily debases and corrupts the soul. God's mercy does not excuse the sinner or lessen guilt while continuing in sin, and if mercy alone could cover there would have been no need to give His darling Son to save the fallen race. The Father did not show benevolence at the expense of justice, for that would set aside righteousness, exalt the impenitent sinner, and encourage transgression, and the fall that shut Adam and Eve out of Paradise for what looked small proves God cannot approve work with even one thread of selfishness.
God did not leave humanity to perish in misery and despair after Adam, made upright, holy, and happy, lost divine favor and happiness by disobedience to an express command. The sentence of death was delayed and wrath restrained because Christ undertook to redeem, pledged His own life as penalty, and bore the wrath due sinners, opening a door of hope though man's relation to his Creator had changed. Christ became man's substitute and surety, and with all his posterity Adam was placed upon probation with another trial. Provision was made for the fallen ruined race by the Son opening a way of escape, taking transgressions and their just penalty upon Himself, laying aside robes of royalty, clothing divinity with humanity, and coming as a man of sorrows acquainted with grief who suffered insult, reproach, and mockery though Majesty of heaven, with nothing withheld in the gift. Since direct approach was lost, access and communication would henceforth be through Christ alone.
Christ entered human life on the ground where Adam fell, faced the same ground and temptation, overcame Satan, and redeemed Adam's failure. His humble obedient life made it possible to regain what was lost through Adam's failure, meeting the helpless fallen condition under the prince of darkness that required redemption and another trial. In the wilderness He passed over the same ground where Adam fell and gained the victory where Adam failed, placing the family on vantage ground and making it possible to overcome through the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour. Adam's fall by appetite brought disgrace redeemed by Christ's victory over temptation, and the succession of falls beginning at Eden is met by divine aid so people can overcome as He overcame. In contrast to Adam becoming a law to himself with discord and unhappiness through separation from God, Christ's life of constant perfect obedience set an example all could follow.
The provision did not abolish the law to give unconditional pardon, for the valuable sacrifice paying the debt of transgression exalts the law and evidences its sacred character. Fallen man may be elevated by Christ's merits and keep the law through the merits of His blood. Nakedness after sin means a soul polluted and without Christ's righteousness because God's covering no longer enveloped them, and need is met by buying gold tried in fire and white raiment to be clothed. The righteousness of God never covers sin left on the soul, so sin must be taken away by the Lamb and laid on Christ as bearer of the sins of the whole world, received by laying hold through belief in a crucified and risen Saviour, giving another trial to prove loyal by keeping the commandments and showing God's character.
The account is authentic early history of the world, the creation of man, his fall and introduction of sin, with the origin of the earth and the fall of the covering cherub, giving dependable knowledge that keeps the mind from fables, conjectures, false theories, superstition, falsehood, and enfeebling of intellect by error. It is a great fact and pillar of faith to be accepted as guide of life, yet practically rejected wholly or in part by much of the professed Christian world. Adam lived nearly a thousand years among men to the ninth generation as witness to the results of sin, commanded to instruct posterity in the way of the Lord, treasuring what was revealed, describing Paradise, repeating the fall, telling the sufferings that taught strict adherence to law, explaining merciful provisions for salvation, and faithfully seeking to stem evil. Few heeded his words, and he often met bitter reproaches for bringing woe upon posterity.
After disobedience and expulsion they observed the Sabbath and learned disobedience brings the punishment God has declared. By sin they lost beautiful Eden where they might eat of every tree but one, and their eating opened the floodgates of woe. From that fall sin grew worse until the flood destroyed the world saving only Noah and his sons, and has kept increasing since with judgments such as fire from heaven on Sodom and the threatened then delayed then final destruction of Nineveh. It reaches the present when Adam's sin is repeated in discarding and scorning God's Sabbath while exalting a spurious sabbath.
Warning and Obedience Today
The call Where art thou stands as a lesson for all mankind that God's Word is to be sacredly respected and His requirements implicitly obeyed. His prohibition against eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge was absolute, and He means what He says, so the only safe course is obedience to all His requirements at whatever cost, for all are founded in infinite love and wisdom. Love for God is tested by having and keeping His commandments, and the human family must therefore obey the light that comes about the binding claims of the law and lift the cross before the world.
The history records the penalty of breaking God's law to warn that sin brings death and that God's retributive justice does not fail. Adam violated the law by indulging appetite and passion, brought sin into the world with unutterable woe, was driven from Eden leaving the race lowered physically, mentally, and morally, and his disobedience stands as a warning example that men refuse to heed while repeating the same violation in a continuing succession of falls. The first parents disregarded God's prohibition and brought the consequences of the Fall, and their failure to resist Satan's insinuations emboldened him and began humanity's fall from original purity. Their disobedience warns that disobedience brings guilt and sorrow and carries grave consequences, and the full and explicit record of the law given in Eden with its penalty, temptation, fall, and punishment is kept for benefit and warning to show that the wages of sin is death, that retributive justice never fails, and that strict regard for His commandments is required.
That disobedience opened the floodgates of woe to the world. The divine law is the basis of all right conduct with reward for obedience and penalty for disobedience, and it is to be plainly brought before everyone, especially rulers of nations and all in responsibility, to make them realize accountability to God and duty to obey all His requirements. That violation lost beautiful Eden and opened the flood gates of woe, yet through Christ's sacrifice alone fallen man has another trial, so the example and its result should lead every soul to avoid and abhor sin as hateful and to feel, in view of the sufferings sin inflicts, that it is better to suffer loss of all things than to depart from the least of God's commandments. Choosing that same disobedience forfeits the right to the Eden restored, so the sinner must no longer remain with the great rebel but repent for giving time and talents to the enemy and with strong determination seek the Lord without delay, taking a stand before the heavenly universe to choose good and refuse evil. Grace once possessed does not secure against the result of transgressing God's law, as shown by Adam and Eve losing their right to Eden through disobedience to a command, and the condition of the fallen race today testifies to its awful results. Their transgression opened the flood gates of woe, yet the story gives all the privilege of learning the lesson of disobedience and shows why warnings about God's law must protect the family, for God sees perversity on the downward path yet will not compel obedience, desiring all to open eyes to wondrous things out of His law filled with positive promises to the obedient who must obey to become members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King.
Wicked works separate men from God so they love not to behold Him or retain Him in knowledge, and they want to see Him no more than Adam did after transgression. Adam's hiding must not be followed, for no one of the human family can hide from God, since a man may turn his face so he cannot see Him but cannot place himself where God will not see him, for darkness is as light to Him and He knows every secret thing. After sin the garments of purity and brightness had fallen away leaving them naked, ashamed and afraid among the trees, nakedness meaning deprivation of the divine covering of light and innocence. The same is true of all who yield to temptation and give themselves to obey Satan, being naked and afraid to meet God and needing to be clothed again with white raiment, the white robe of Christ's righteousness obtained by repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. That nakedness means a soul polluted with sin and without Christ's righteousness, whose need is to buy gold tried in fire and white raiment to be clothed, for the righteousness of God never covers sin left on the soul, so sin must be taken away by the Lamb and laid on Christ as bearer of the world's sins, received by laying hold of the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour through belief, giving man another trial now to prove loyal by keeping the commandments and showing God's character.
Where art thou is a present call to know one's spiritual standing, for it is every servant's privilege to know whether life is hid with Christ in God, with no need to answer that he does not know how he stands. Partaking of the fruit of disobedience by refusing light is repeated by anyone who after hearing truth turns from it to protect success in business, turning from God and light, selling the soul in a cheap market, violating conscience, and bargaining with Satan.
Even after humanity sinned and insulted its Creator, God continued to extend love and let light shine so people could learn to live in harmony with the laws governing their being. Adam and Eve were shut out of Paradise for what looked like a small transgression, proving God cannot approve any work with even one thread of selfishness, and that fall began sin increasing in volume and prevalence ever since and still increasing, yet it did not cut off divine benevolence, for love and care still flow earthward, calling people to fear their own littleness and sin-loving propensities and to receive and impart the love which passes knowledge. The dire results show the cost of transgression and warn that people may repeat the path of disobedience or choose humble obedience, with blessings and promises for those who love and obey Him. Continued violations of God's laws have aggravated the evils and suffering resulting from that transgression. After the fall Satan claimed to be prince of the power of the air with control of everything in nature, and God permitted him to sow tares and work out evil principles while protecting from his wrath those who desire heavenly principles, preserving in love and mercy the beautiful things in nature first seen in Eden as specimens of Eden's beauty and expressions of love to direct minds from created things to nature's God.