And the LORD God
called unto Adam,
and said unto him,
Where art thou? Genesis 3:9 KJV
Many things can be killed with analysis and classification. To regard the words in Chapter 3 of Genesis as "The Fall" or the outcome as "Original Sin" may make it impossible to read the story for what it really says. When something becomes the property of the experts, then ordinary people are excluded from having the right to see it in a different light; they may have flashlights but are not provided with batteries. Instead of looking only at the story of "The Fall," why not ask about the story of the Lord God, Himself?
Apparently, the Lord God had grown accustomed to taking walks in the garden that He had planted and into which He had placed the man. Perhaps He went there after countless hours of painful spiritual warfare and the ugliness it presented. Whatever had been happening in God's life before He arrived, He was about to encounter the new sinners and would have to adjust to the emptiness of the garden in the near future. The interesting thing to notice is that He did not enter the garden in the pomposity of omniscience. Instead, the Lord began His walk and, eventually, had to search for His customary companions. Adam and Eve were hiding and God was seeking. They had invented a game that God would be compelled to participate in for many years to come.
Many years later, Jesus (Jesus is God) is worn out from a long ordeal of spiritual warfare and sits down at a well near the town of Sychar (John 4:5). A woman comes to get water at the well and Jesus asks her for water to drink. The amazing conversation that follows invigorates the Lord God because He has won through at the game of spiritual "hide and seek." Having told Jesus deep painful truths and revealed that, in spite of being a sinner, she still wanted to worship God, Jesus acquaints her with the garden variety style of the Living God:
But the hour cometh, and now is,
when the true worshippers
shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth:
for the Father seeketh such to worship him. (John 4:23 KJV)
Amazing! After all these years, God is still looking for and calling out to people who will trust Him. Obviously, it is a foolish human invention that views God as relying upon His omniscience to get the job done in advance. Instead, the Bible clearly points out that the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are at work in time to bring an end to spiritual warfare in the finality of new creation (Revelation 20:10-21:1). The blessing of the good news that has been spreading for hundreds of years is that the place for enlisting on the winning side is always open for those who long for a walk with God that will never end. The cross of Calvary is the victory of God. The blood of Jesus cannot be cut off from humans who are sinners.
Come to Jesus.
Come to the Cross.
called unto Adam,
and said unto him,
Where art thou? Genesis 3:9 KJV
Many things can be killed with analysis and classification. To regard the words in Chapter 3 of Genesis as "The Fall" or the outcome as "Original Sin" may make it impossible to read the story for what it really says. When something becomes the property of the experts, then ordinary people are excluded from having the right to see it in a different light; they may have flashlights but are not provided with batteries. Instead of looking only at the story of "The Fall," why not ask about the story of the Lord God, Himself?
Apparently, the Lord God had grown accustomed to taking walks in the garden that He had planted and into which He had placed the man. Perhaps He went there after countless hours of painful spiritual warfare and the ugliness it presented. Whatever had been happening in God's life before He arrived, He was about to encounter the new sinners and would have to adjust to the emptiness of the garden in the near future. The interesting thing to notice is that He did not enter the garden in the pomposity of omniscience. Instead, the Lord began His walk and, eventually, had to search for His customary companions. Adam and Eve were hiding and God was seeking. They had invented a game that God would be compelled to participate in for many years to come.
Many years later, Jesus (Jesus is God) is worn out from a long ordeal of spiritual warfare and sits down at a well near the town of Sychar (John 4:5). A woman comes to get water at the well and Jesus asks her for water to drink. The amazing conversation that follows invigorates the Lord God because He has won through at the game of spiritual "hide and seek." Having told Jesus deep painful truths and revealed that, in spite of being a sinner, she still wanted to worship God, Jesus acquaints her with the garden variety style of the Living God:
But the hour cometh, and now is,
when the true worshippers
shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth:
for the Father seeketh such to worship him. (John 4:23 KJV)
Amazing! After all these years, God is still looking for and calling out to people who will trust Him. Obviously, it is a foolish human invention that views God as relying upon His omniscience to get the job done in advance. Instead, the Bible clearly points out that the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are at work in time to bring an end to spiritual warfare in the finality of new creation (Revelation 20:10-21:1). The blessing of the good news that has been spreading for hundreds of years is that the place for enlisting on the winning side is always open for those who long for a walk with God that will never end. The cross of Calvary is the victory of God. The blood of Jesus cannot be cut off from humans who are sinners.
Come to Jesus.
Come to the Cross.
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