“Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. So the Lord God called out to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ And he said, ‘I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.’ Then he asked, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?’ ”(Genesis 3:8-11).
Imagine it. The Creator entered His creation to interact with His creation. The God of the universe appears to have assumed the characteristics of humanity and our most ancient ancestors heard Him, saw Him, walked with Him.
This doesn’t appear to be the first time He strolled in the Garden. It seems likely that it had become His habit. As he fellowshipped with the first family, He looked with admiration at the flowering azaleas and rhododendrons. He raised His eyes and spied the tops of the towering Ponderosa Pines. “Hey Adam, look at the size of these peaches!” He smelled the roses and walked in the soft grass.
So, Who is this God who appeared at Eden?
If the Bible is accurate, and I’m sure it is, this was not an appearance of God the Father. God told Moses, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live” (Exodus 33:20, NKJV). The New Testament concurs. “No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father's side -he has revealed him”(John 1:18). “No one has ever seen God” (1 John 4:12). He was, and He is “the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, Amen” (1 Timothy 1:17).
If the One walking in the Garden was not God the Father, it must have been the Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, Jesus. Prior to His incarnation at Bethlehem, Jesus clothed Himself in humanity to commune with the first couple.
Today, those who walk in fellowship with God do so with the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, the Spirit of the Living God who is with us and resides in us…
You can meet Him today “at the time of the evening breeze.”
“… think on these things”(Philippians 4:8, KJV). |
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