Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. Tonight is study #10 of Genesis, chapter 3 and we are going to read Genesis 3:8-10:

And they heard the voice of JEHOVAH God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of JEHOVAH God amongst the trees of the garden. And JEHOVAH God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

I will stop reading there. Last time we were looking at verse 8. In the first part of the verse, we saw that they heard the voice of JEHOVAH God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. We saw that God walks in His commandments and He keeps His own Law. He is in subjection to His Word and He has magnified His Word above all His name. JEHOVAH God, the Father, walks in His own Word.

We also saw that the word “cool” is the word normally translated as “spirit.” So, God was walking in the garden in the spirit of the day. We saw how the word “day” can refer to God’s salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ, as it says in Psalm 118: “This is the day which JEHOVAH hath made.” The “day” is a Person. It is pointing to Jesus. We already know that Jesus is the Light of the world and we also know that God is likened to the “sun” in the sky. In addition, He is the essence of the “day,” the day of salvation.

So we have the voice of JEHOVAH God, the Father, walking in the Spirit of the day or in the Spirit of Christ. All three Persons of the trinity are in view and they are continuing to be in communion, even though mankind that was created in their image separated from that communion through sin. However, the three Persons of the Godhead (but one God) continue to have fellowship to one another in perfect obedience to the Word which is magnified above all His name.

Then it goes on to say in Genesis 3:8:

… and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of JEHOVAH God amongst the trees of the garden.

Adam and his wife hid themselves. We saw a verse that God gave us in the Book of Job that explains what this points to in regard to them sewing fig leaves together and making aprons for themselves. If that were not enough to indicate they were trying to cover their sin, they also hid among the trees of the garden. The Lord says in Job 31:33:

If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:

Adam is not only attempting to cover his transgression, but he is trying to hide his iniquity. In the work of sewing the fig leaves together to cover their nakedness, we see that they are trying to cover their sin, but they also hide themselves from the presence of JEHOVAH among the trees of the garden. From that first moment they sinned, they go immediately about the business of covering their sin. This has been the consistent attempt of mankind ever since throughout the history of the world as man continued to do the same thing by trying to cover their sins and hide themselves from the presence of a God of wrath. It was God that said, “For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Man is afraid of God and Adam said this in Genesis 3:10: “And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” Adam was afraid to face the Word of God. He was afraid to see the presence of an offended God, a God who is now full of wrath and anger because His Word has been transgressed and sin has been committed against Him. This brings fear. This is where fear comes from in mankind.

Of course, the Bible says of the wicked that there is no fear of God before their eyes. There are various aspects of fear. After the fall God would use “fear” in relationship to those that fear the Lord and that is a good thing. Men who fear the Lord demonstrate it by desiring to keep His Word and His commandments, but the wicked do not have that fear of God – they lack the desire and the ability to keep His commandments. They sin without that fear.

There are men that appear to be brave toward God as they shake their fists at God and act like they are not afraid of Him. You hear about it all the time in regard to atheists that mock and despise the idea of God and they say all kinds of things against God to try to give the appearance that they are not afraid of this “mythical god” that they claim is not real. Yet, men are brave as they are hiding among the trees. Men are brave when they have hidden in the darkness and run from the Light. But when the Word of God comes to them and the Light shines into the life of men sometimes you can see their fear. When we went forth with the tract, “Does God Love You?” people would go out of the way to cross the street so they would not have to see a message from the Bible, especially if the message was related to Judgment Day, May 21, 2011. You could see fear on men’s faces and they could not avoid that message because it was just about everywhere. It was on buses and billboards and tracts were being handed out by the thousands. Then the news media picked up the message and it was everywhere that people would turn. They were afraid and there was a growing fear of mankind deep down in regard to that date. That is why they responded with celebration when nothing appeared to happen. It is why man responded in the vicious ways they did. Of course, God did bring a spiritual judgment on that day that men could not see, but since it was not a physical judgment they did not consider it to be real. Since they are spiritually dead, they have no understanding of spiritual judgment, like the judgment against the churches or the judgment upon the world. They understand literal and physical destruction and when that did not happen, they rejoiced because deep down there is that fear of an angry God.

And, here, God is coming to find Adam and to talk with him. This is an unusual circumstance because man had just been created and had a good relationship with God and intimate communion with the Person of God. Of course, God already knew what man had done. Even before He created the world, He knew what would happen, but He is coming to work this out so that God can officially judge mankind and pronounce the curse against them.

So, when the voice of JEHOVAH God walked in the garden in the Spirit of Christ, Adam and his wife hid themselves. As Adam said, “I heard thy voice in the garden.” They were not hiding for no reason. They were probably involved in making the aprons from the fig leaves and then they heard the voice of JEHOVAH God; that is, they heard the Word of God, the Bible. Instinctively now, as man hears the truth of the Word of God and the voice of the Bible, he wants to hide from the presence of JEHOVAH.

They know God is approaching. Maybe on the previous day they had walked with God, but not this time. Now they head for the trees and they hide themselves among the trees of the garden. The garden would have been lush with lots of leaves and they thought, “We will hide from God.” What an unthinkable thing. Just a little while before they would not have hid from God. They loved God and it was wonderful when God came to visit and they heard His voice. He is a good God and a great God and He had made all these beautiful things. Adam and Eve were probably in awe and wonder and they gloried in God whenever they heard His glorious voice and, yet, not this time and never again, unless God would restore a soul to a right relationship with Him. But from this point on, Adam and Eve and their descendants down through the centuries would always run from the presence of JEHOVAH and this will continue all the way to the end of time. Man will hide himself from God.

In Revelation, chapter six God speaks of Judgment Day and it says in Revelation 6:14-17:

And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

There will be no change of any kind from the time of the first sin to the time of the last sin. Man is still trying to hide from an angry God. He is still calling out to the mountains and rocks to fall on them and hide them from the face of Him that sits on the throne.

The word “presence” in our verse in Genesis 3:8, where it said they hid themselves from the presence of JEHOVAH God, can also be translated as “face.” They hid themselves from the face of JEHOVAH GOD. Likewise, in the New Testament in Revelation, chapter 6, it said, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.” This Greek word translated as “face,” Strong’s #4383, is also translated as “presence.” They are attempting to do the same thing Adam and Eve attempted to do back at the very beginning of creation in the year 11,013BC. The history of the world has been man trying to hide from God and God’s salvation program sent forth His Word into the world to find the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Why were they lost? They were hiding from Him, but the Gospel sought them out and found every one of them in every corner where they hid. The Gospel light shined into their lives and grabbed hold of them and drew them: “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him,” as it says in John 6:44. God drew them against their will until the point of salvation and then He changed their will to be “willing in the day of his power,” and they became humble and subservient. Their souls were restored and they became new creatures in Christ and they no longer were far away from God, but they were brought into a close and intimate relationship with God. It is like a restoration of the original creation in the Garden of Eden.

So, we see that Adam and Eve hid themselves from the presence of JEHOVAH God among the trees of the garden. As I mentioned, this word “presence” indicates the “face” of God and it is being in close proximity to God. When someone goes away from the presence or face of JEHOVAH God, it points to being under the wrath of God – it is being in sin and being condemned for that sin. It says in Leviticus 22:3:

Say unto them, Whosoever he be of all your seed among your generations, that goeth unto the holy things, which the children of Israel hallow unto JEHOVAH, having his uncleanness upon him, that soul shall be cut off from my presence: I am JEHOVAH.

This is the penalty and punishment for sin. It is to be cut off from the presence of God and this is what Adam and Eve did in their fallen condition as they went from the presence of JEHOVAH.

In 2Thessalonians it speaks of Christ coming in judgment and it says in 2Thessalonians 1:8-9:

In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;

It is a terrible punishment that man is destroyed and in that destruction he is removed from the presence of the Lord forever. It is death to be apart from God. God is life. The Lord Jesus Christ is the essence of life. To lose connection to God spiritually is what happened on the day that man first ate of the tree – he died in his soul. He lost connection to God, who is life, and he became spiritually dead. If that condition continues (without salvation), man will also lose his physical life and be dead for evermore from the presence of the Lord.

It is ironic that unsaved people of the world that do not know God and have no relationship or connection with Him think they have “life,” but they have no real life. They may be physically alive for a short period of time, but soon they are guaranteed to die and to forever be dead. In their souls they are dead even as they live. They have no “life” because they do not have God and, yet, it is fairly common for the unsaved man that enjoys the pleasures of sin to say to the child of God (who has eternal life), “Get a life! Get a life!” It is rather a “throwaway line.” They say, “You spend your time reading your Bible and praying and you spend your Sundays observing the Sabbath and spending your time discussing Scriptures. You are not going after the things of the world that I am going after.” It appears to them that the children of God are “dead” and lack a life. But the fact is that God is “life” and if you do not have God, you do not have life. It the Spirit of the Lord does not indwell you and Christ has not saved you and given you eternal life, you lack life.

I think we will have to close with this, but it says in John 1:4-5:

In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

This is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is “the way, the truth, and the life,” as it says in John 14, verse 6. He is life and the light of men and, yet, the people of the world do not comprehend it. They do not understand that this is true life and genuine life. This is actual life and all they consider to be life is nothing but things of the world and things that are dead.