From the beginning of creation, God wanted to have a relationship with man and walk with man. God was faithful to man. Namun begitu, man became unfaithful to God and decided to disobey His command and leave his way with God and enter another way, which seemed to be a better way than the way with God. But man was deceived and fell from his position and was robbed of his righteousness and dominion. Man became afraid of the Lord God and hid himself before the presence of God. Just like so many people today are afraid of God and hide themselves from God and can’t abide in His presence. God knows where they are, just like God knew where Adam was. And just like God called Adam and said to Adam where are you? God still calls man and says, where are you? And He waits until man emerges from his hiding place.
Adam walked with God
And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden (Kejadian 3:8)
Adam (man) walked with God until Adam became disobedient to his Creator, his Father, and listened to the creation of his Father; the woman, who listened to the serpent.
By listening to the words of the serpent and obeying his words, death entered into man and the spirit of man died and man became separated from God and lost his dominion on earth. And so sin led to death, just as God had foretold (Baca juga: Shall you not die if you keep sinning?)
Man had fallen from his position and was robbed of his righteousness.
Through his disobedience, man was no longer clothed with righteousness, but man was defiled by sin and had become naked.
Man could no longer approach God boldly and be in His presence. And so man hid himself before the presence of the Lord God
Man had become a sinner and since evil was present in the seed of man, everyone, who would be born of the seed of man, would be born as a sinner and have a sinful nature, which reigns in the flesh, and carries the death (Baca juga: Do you always remain a sinner?)
From the fall, death reigned in the lives of fallen mankind, whereby man was led by the death and would bear the fruit of death, iaitu dosa.
Since death reigned in man’s life there would come a day that the death would get his own and they would enter his kingdom (the kingdom of death (Hades).
Adam, where are you?
God knew what happened in the Garden of Eden. He knew what Adam had done, but despite His knowledge, God called man and said to Adam, where are you?
How must God have felt when He arrived and didn’t find His son? How must God have felt when He found out that His son had left Him and through his deed of disobedience indirectly accused God of being a Liar and had rejected his Maker; his Father and exchanged Him for someone else?
The sin, which God had warned him for, out of love, had separated man from God and had broken the relationship between man and God.
And with this fallen nature and from this fallen state and the broken relationship with God, man would fulfill his days on earth and return to the earth; the kingdom of death.
Adam emerged from his hiding place
And the Lord 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. And He said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her Seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel (Kejadian 3:9-15 Read also verses 16-24)
When Adam heard the voice of God calling him, Adam came forth and told the Lord, he was afraid, when he heard the voice of the Lord God and hid himself.
Had God changed in the meantime or did God do something that caused man to be afraid of God and not have the boldness to approach Him and walk with Him?
Tidak, God had not changed and had done nothing.
God was not responsible for man’s change of behavior; that man became afraid of God and hid himself from God.
God was not responsible for the fall of man and his broken state.
God had not robbed man of his righteousness and his dominion.
No it wasn’t God, it was man, who had changed, by believing the lie of the devil instead of the truth of God.
It was man, who was responsible for his fall, his broken state, and his change of behavior, by obeying the words of the serpent.
It was man, who was responsible for breaking the relationship with his Father and the change of fatherhood by bowing to the serpent.
Man was to blame for the broken state, the broken relationship, and the change of behavior, because they believed the lie of the devil above the truth of God and therefore sinned against God (Baca juga: Bersembunyi dalam perlindungan pembohongan)
That was the result of sin and that is still the result of sin in the lives of people.
Jesus is the Savior, Healer, and Reconciler of mankind
From the beginning of creation, God wanted to have a relationship with man. That was God’s will and is still God’s will. But although it is the will of God to have a relationship with man, it is not always the will and desire of man to have a relationship with God.
Out of love for mankind, God gave His only begotten Son, who walked with His Father in obedience to His will and commandments and went the way of sufferings of the cross and became the Substitute for fallen mankind and carried the sins of the world and entered death and conquered death and rose as a Victor from the dead with the keys of hell and death (Baca juga: What did Jesus mean by the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven?)
Yesus, the Son and the Living Word of God became equal to man and came to deliver fallen mankind from the power of darkness and restore his nature, position, and peace with God.
That’s why Jesus is the Savior, Healer, and Reconciler of (fallen) mankind.
Jesus is the Way of salvation for fallen humanity. He is the Way of reconciliation with the Father and the Way of restoration (healing) of the broken state of humanity.
By the blood of Jesus, man is cleansed from all his sins and iniquities.
And by faith and regeneration in Christ (the death of the flesh and the resurrection of the spirit from the dead) man is clothed with Christ and has become a new creation, who is reconciled with God and lives in peace with God.
The new man is no longer a sinner and doesn’t live separated from God as an adversary of God and a promoter of sin, but the new man has been made righteous, restored (Sembuh), and reconciled with the Father and lives in communion with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The old man is afraid and hides himself from God. But the new man doesn’t hide himself from God and doesn’t live in fear and false humility under condemnation. The new man has been delivered in Christ and reconciled with God and walks with God and lives in obedience to God and His Word in His will. The new man is a witness of Jesus Christ and shall never deny Him (Baca juga: Do you confess Jesus before man or do you deny Him?).
Where are you?
But despite the salvation of humanity, there are many Christians, who are still the old creation and still live in fear and condemnation and are ashamed and hide themselves from God. Some of them can’t be in His presence and some of them don’t want to abide in His presence.
Although they go to church and learn all kinds of things about God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, they don’t know Him personally and don’t walk with Him.
They don’t seek the things which are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father. They don’t spend time in the Word and prayer, but they are too busy with their own lives and spend all their time on the things of this world.
Instead of renewing their minds with the words of God, they fill their minds with the words and ideology of the world, which derive from the devil and his kingdom, whereby they remain conformed to the world and keep a carnal mind and walk after the lusts and desires of the flesh and bear the same fruits as the world.
And when they reap corruption by their walk and are in trouble or when things don’t go according to plan or their will, they become angry with God and blame God and call unto God, where are you!
While God is still the same and hasn’t gone anywhere but still waits for those, who are willing to walk with Him and abide in His presence, and therefore God answers them, where are you?
‘Jadilah garam bumi’
