Where art thou, Adam? Genesis 2:7-10, 16-25, 3:6-9

Where art thou, Adam?

Reading: Genesis 2:7-10 16-25.3:6-9

Heidelberg Catechism LORD’S DAY 3

6. Did God create man thus, wicked and perverse? – No, but God created man good and after His own image, that is, in righteousness and true holiness, that he might rightly know God his Creator, heartily love Him, and live with Him in eternal blessedness, to praise and glorify Him.
7. From where, then, does this depraved nature of man come? – From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise, whereby our nature became so corrupt that we are all conceived and born in sin.
Text Genesis 3:9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

Adam is hiding in the Garden! Adam is ashamed and God calls out to the man, “Where are you Adam?” But why was Adam so ashamed? What had Adam squandered when he surrendered to sin? Perhaps the man was ashamed because of:-

The Providence That Created Adam!
We must ask, “How did Adam arrive in this world?” God crowned His creation in the creation of man ! Let us grasp three great aspects of the being of man:-

1. Adam’s Body was DUST! Genesis 2:7 Is not this truth a great leveller for the human race? From dust we came, and to dust we return! What is your status in life? Are you wealthy? Do you despise others who are less intelligent, less well off, less comfortable, in material things? Job 10:9
2. Adam’s Breath was Divine! and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. Adam was not just a body of dust for into Adam was a God-breathed Spirit, and that is what made that body of dust into a living spiritual being!
3. Adam’s Being was Different. Adam was different from all of the rest of creation, for the Bible tells us that He was made in the image of God! Genesis 1:26.

This is the great marvel and the great mystery of mankind! Created with all the honour and dignity that is possible, yet created out of the basest of materials, the very dirt of the ground, the dwelling place of worms! We are nothing and we have nothing of ourselves. But within us is the very breath, the very soul that the Lord has given us! Psalm 139:14 Which part of your life do you count the most important? The part that is dust and which will die and disintegrate into the soil from whence it came? Or the part which is eternal, which shall one day be taken from this dying body and called before its Creator to give account?

The Provision that Cared for Adam.
I want you to notice the tender care that God lavished upon this man Adam, our first father.

1. Adam was provided for in his location. The man was placed in a garden! The garden was full of beauty, for there was gold and precious stones all around.
2. Adam was provided for in his life. Adam’s every need was met in Eden. He had food to eat, there was beauty, but most of all there was life! Genesis 2:9 This tree of life would bear fruit, which if eaten, would cause the eater to live for ever! I want you to notice that the Tree of Life only grows in paradise! Genesis 3:24 Because of Adam’s sin, which we have inherited from him, for as Adam has sinned so we have all inherited his sinfulness, every one of us must face physical death, for the tree of life is denied to us! 1 Cor. 15:22 Do you know that there is still the possibility of eternal life, life without end? That tree is still blossoming in God’s Eden, God’s Heaven! Rev. 22:1
3. Adam was provided for in his limitations! God knows what is best for His created world and all who dwell within it! There was another tree and it is in connection with that tree that we find the one specific command that God gave to Adam…Genesis 2:17 Adam was protected by God’s limitations, out of God’s loving care and provisions. Genesis 3:1 An attack on the Bible is an attack of the devil! Adam was provided for in his love. So great was the love of God for Adam, that he granted him a helpmeet! He gave him a wife, a woman to be unto Adam a lifelong friend and a partner and a comfort and a helper!

So God had provided for Adam. Is it any wonder that Adam was ashamed, and hid in the garden! Adam had taken the precious provision of God for His beloved creation and had squandered it for a devilish lie! Haven’t we?

The Profession that had been Committed to Adam!
Adam was not in this beautiful garden just to while away the hours surrounded by the beauty of creation.- He was there to work!

1. Adam was a gardener! Genesis 2:15  God had given Adam a garden, but Adam was expected to maintain it! He was to till the land and to dress the trees and to grow food. He was keep Eden the Paradise that it was!
2. Adam was a Zoologist! The point is that God created man in such a way that he would fund fulfilment in service! Work was no effort to Adam! Work and toil were pleasant and good and rewarding and flailing! It is no wonder that Adam hid from God! Look at what happened when through Adam sin entered the world, Genesis 3:17-19

The Progeny that would Come from Adam.

God had given Adam a blessing and a responsibility. Genesis-1:28 28

We share in Adam’s sin! We are all the children of Adam. In Adam, we all sinned! Romans 5:12 In Adam we all are ashamed before God! We are all sinners! Perhaps as he stood there in that garden and hid from the presence of God he realised in some small measure that his sinful disobedience had brought awful ruin and eternal death to all of mankind!

We share in Adam’s Guilt. Adam hid his guilty nakedness with a flimsy leaf. Tell me, what are you and I using to cover up the nakedness of our guilty sinful condition? Is it the fig leaf of good works? Religion? Church membership? Sacraments?

Adam hid from God! But there was a second Adam! Romans 5:21 Don’t hide! Come with your sins to Jesus, repent, receive forgiveness for sins and eternal life.

© Bob McEvoy