“Then they heard the sound of the Lord 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.”
– Genesis 3:8
Genesis 3:8 is right after Adam and Eve sinned against God did not trust his word, directly disobeyed his word, rebelled against his command. And they knew they had done wrong, they felt guilt and shame and fear for the first time before God. They had experienced unhindered communion with God, like perfect communion with God. And now they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden. And the man and his wife hid from the presence of the Lord, among the trees of the garden.
Now we have to be careful when we read verses like this, not to picture God in human form, we know God is spirit. Obviously, Jesus is God in the flesh. But this is the language here in Genesis chapter three, verse eight that describes this picture in human terms of man and woman, Adam and Eve communing with God. And it was perfect. Their relationship with God, their enjoyment of God was perfect. But now in the presence of God, they’re hiding for the first time because they know they have sinned against God. And they’re afraid. Why? Because he made it clear if you eat of this tree, you will surely die.
And so we read in Genesis chapter three, verse eight, this picture of Adam and Eve hiding from God. And we realize that in our sin, we would be doing the exact same thing. Every single one of us has directly disobeyed God, has rebelled against God’s word, not trusted in God’s goodness, his good authority in our lives. And if the end of our story was our sin, then we would surely die.
Genesis 3:8 Reminds Us That We Don’t Have To Fear God
Eternal death and judgment. And we should be afraid of that possibility if our sin was the end of our story. But the good news is, and this is clear in Genesis 3:15, the promise God makes that he will send one through the seed of woman to crush the head of the serpent so that sin does not have to be the end of your story, my story. That salvation is possible through Jesus. The one who is promised in Genesis 3:15. So that… Now put it all together. So that through faith in Jesus, what he did on the cross to pay the price for our sin, to defeat sin and death by rising from the grave because of Jesus, you and I do not have to cower in fear before God, we don’t have to run and hide ourselves.
We, think of it. You and I, with all of our sin can come before the Holy God of the universe and the blood of Jesus Christ covers over all of our sins. Jesus, we praise and glorify and honor and lift up your name as the savior of our sins, who makes communion with the father a reality in our lives, even right now, Oh God, we praise you for the privilege of prayer, overwhelmed in a fresh way right now by this podcast. Like pray the word we get to commune with you together in this form. God, that we get to do this only, only because of the blood of Jesus.
We Want To Have Communion With God
Otherwise, we’d be cowering, we’d be running from you, we would be condemned before you forever. Yet, here we are welcomed in through faith in Jesus as your sons and daughters, you are father, having communion with you in prayer and joining you, loving you, experiencing your love for us, walking with you, worshiping you, God, we praise you for this privilege. God, we pray that you would help us to grow in this privilege.
God, I pray for every person listening right now that they would grow in the depth of their communion with you, that their faith would not be cold and distant, but that it’d be warm and intimate in relationship with you. They would walk with you, enjoy you, know you more and more and more every day, love you more and more and more every day. Experience your love in deeper ways more and more every day.
Genesis 3:8 Prays That We Draw Us Into Deeper Communion
God, I pray that you would draw each of us into deeper communion with you. And when we sin, when we disobey, God, we pray that it would be quick to repent, to turn from it, to run to you, not run away from you, to confess our sins knowing that Jesus is faithful. To forgive us our sins, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. God, we praise you for the privilege communion with you. Help us to live in it, all day today and all day tomorrow and the next and the next. Help us to walk with you. Enjoying you, worshiping you, obeying you and glorifying you. In Jesus’ name we pray, the name of the one who makes all of this possible. In his name, we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
