The first calling of God’s love to seek that which was lost
Genesis 3:1-11



The Old and New Testaments are entirely records of the redemptive history. The biblical history?which began with Adam’s fall and continued through the periods of patriarchs, judges, kings, deportation to and return from Babylon, the intertestamental period and New Testament era?climaxes at the birth of Jesus Christ. Jesus consummated the redemptive history by becoming the atonement sacrifice on the cross. The entire world history is hence the history of redemption. The world history is divided into BC (Before Christ) and AD (anno domini, “in the year of the Lord”). Thus, Jesus Christ is the turning point of history. The Gospel of Matthew opens the New Testament with a proclamation in chapter 1 verse 1, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham,” attesting to the historical existence of Jesus.
John 1:1 declares, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Jesus is the epitome in the history of redemption and He Himself is the Word. The prophets of the past generations testified according to the Word, and the twelve disciples of Jesus were appointed by the Word. The Holy Spirit also works through the Word. The Triune Godhead?God, Jesus and Holy Spirit?is the Word. That is why anyone who does not read the Bible, the Word of God, cannot be considered a Christian. Although we haven’t seen Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Noah, we can still know about them and believe through the Word. We must live with the Word as our friend.

Let us today learn about God’s first calling in the entire history of redemption. The history from the creation of the heavens and earth until the man’s fall are recorded in the first, second and third chapters in Genesis; so these chapters are considered as the central part of the Bible. Theologians value this section as the scripture itself or as the commentary for the entire Bible. It is said that understanding this section is equivalent to knowing half of the entire Bible. These first three chapters in Genesis?from which originated the universe, human life and salvation?unveil the fundamental principles in human life and faith.

Adam left his domain and Eve was deceived by the serpent
Adam’s wife, Eve, did not directly hear God saying, “but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:17). Eve was created after God gave this command to Adam. She therefore received God’s word from her husband, Adam. God entrusted two duties to Adam: “to cultivate” and “to keep” the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:15). God had already known that Satan the deceiver would come. Satan was already a fallen being who had betrayed and breached even before Adam did. He had no foothold. That Satan, or the serpent, targeted Adam and Eve?whom God loved the most?to deceive them. The serpent approached Eve when Adam was not with her. He deceived Eve so cunningly and secretively to the point of completely numbing all her senses. The Bible states that the serpent was craftier than any beast of the field (Genesis 3:1). He is cunning, capricious, and skilled in breaking relationships. The word “crafty” in Hebrew means “clever,” “shrewd” and “sensible.”

The serpent asked Eve, “What did God say to Adam? Did He tell you not to eat from any tree of the garden?” (Genesis 3:1) Right then, had Eve answered, “How does it matter to you? If you really want to know, ask God yourself since that is a covenant between God and us,” the entire human race would be without sin forever. This is because once we pass the test, that test will never come back to us. However, Adam and Eve did not overcome the test, and as the result sin entered mankind. All kinds of illnesses also exist because of the sin. Countless people have succumbed to such illnesses and died.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23)
“Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death” (James 1:15).

Eve had greed. God had granted all trees of the garden for them to eat freely. Yet, Eve was not satisfied and had a desire for the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. When the lust had conceived, it gave birth to sin, and when sin was accomplished and brought forth death. Eve told the serpent, “Of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’” The serpent immediately answered, “You will not surely die. God is lying. The day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God knowing good and evil,” causing breach in the relationship between men and God (Genesis 3:4-5).
How can creatures become like God? The Serpent caused the woman to doubt God. He instigated by saying that God was deceiving them and using them. This was a frightful sin.
"You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44).”

The Serpent incited the woman to challenge God’s word in full force. After being deceived, the woman saw the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and the tree seemed good for food, delight to the eyes, and desirable to make one wise (Genesis 3:6). “Good for food” refers to the lust of the flesh (1 John 2:16). Our hands are drawn to it again and again. “Delight to the eyes” refers to the lust of the eyes (Numbers 11:4). Seeing the things of this world inflames lust. “Desirable to make one wise” refers to the boastful pride of life (James 1:15). It seemed desirable enough for her heart and mind to command her hand to reach out and take the fruit. It was as if she was possessed, and the powerless woman ended up eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. After she ate it, she did not die unlike what God had said.
So, she gave the fruit to her husband, Adam, saying, “I ate it but did not die. God is deceiving us. You eat it, too.” Hence, Adam ate it, also. Didn’t they really die eventually? Yes, they did. Greed is idolatry, and the greed brings death (Colossians 3:5; Job 31:25-26; Psalms 49:6; Psalms 7:14; Job 15:35; Isaiah 59:4; Isaiah 33:11).

After eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the eyes of Adam and Eve were opened, and they knew that they were naked. They were naked before, but they were not ashamed at all. They felt ashamed after they had the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Perceiving themselves to be hideous and disgusting, they covered themselves with fig leaves. But, the leaves soon withered away in sun light. That is human life. It is like morning dew on grass that will disappear as soon as the sun rises. We live without knowing what a day may bring forth (Proverbs 27:1).
However, human life would have been different if Adam and Eve hadn’t sinned. It would have been the life of eternity and the life with angelic guidance (Ezekiel 10). But from the moment they sinned, angels stopped coming to them. It was too late by the time they had realized it.
Adam and Eve who had been trembling in fear heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the Garden of Eden and hid themselves from the presence of the Lord among the trees of the garden (Genesis 3:8). This is remindful of the scene in which Cain fled in fear to the land of Nod after killing Abel. Religious reformer, John Calvin, and German theologian, Dietrich Bonheoffer, explained that Adam and Eve’s act of hiding was the first incidence of ‘conscience’ in the Bible.
Conscience is the “moral sense of what is right or wrong, and good and evil, in one’s conduct or motives, impelling one toward right action.” Adam and Eve had a guilty conscience, and they fled from God.



The immediate first voice in the redemptive history that seeks the hiding Adam and Eve
God immediately came to seek Adam and Eve who hid themselves. God is true love. Although Adam who had sinned was blameworthy, God still came right away and called out his name.
“Adam, where are you?” is the very first voice in the history of redemption. “Adam” means “man” in Hebrew. Hence, when God called out “Adam,” He was calling out “Man.” Someone misunderstood this and said that God called out Adam because He really didn’t know where Adam was (Hermann Gunkel, a German theologian). God is omniscient and omnipotent. God couldn’t have been unaware of where Adam was. God is present everywhere in the heavens and earth (Psalm 139:7-10; Jeremiah 23:24-34). There is no creature hidden from His sight (Hebrews 4:13). Solomon said heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain God (1 Kings 8:23). Even the universe is finite; God who created this universe is greater than all (Acts 7:49-50; 17:24). God knows the thoughts in man’s heart that are unshared even between a man and his wife. We cannot hide ourselves before God (Jeremiah 11:20). God knows even the words we spoke in bed and the thoughts we had, and He fulfills them accordingly.

We must answer the calling of God who seeks Adam. God did not call out Adam only; He is calling all of us (Romans 5:12). Adam answered, “I heard the sound of Thee in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself" (Genesis 3:10).
The word “afraid” has two meanings in Hebrew. The first meaning is respect, honor, reverence, and trust. These words are related to worshipping God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (Proverbs 1:7). When the Holy Spirit came down on the 120 disciples during the Pentecost, they all spoke in different languages?the languages of different nations in the world that cannot be mastered even after lifetime studying.
The second meaning is human fear and terror. When Adam said, “I was afraid,” he meant this second meaning. By sinning, Adam lost the wisdom that he once had by fearing God, and he had fear and terror instead.
A Hebrew scholar, Rabbi Zalman, interpreted the question, “Adam, where are you,” as “What have you done in your life until now? How much of the work I granted you have you accomplished?” He said he couldn’t sleep for twenty days ever since the day he realized this. Other theologians interpret this calling as a cold, deriding question: “Why didn’t you listen to Me but to the serpent instead so that you fell from such happy abode to the path toward death?” Others suggested that the question was to persuade Adam. They say that God asked, “Why did you leave Me so quickly? Why did you listen to the serpent? Let’s quietly talk,” in order to engage in a solemn talk that will lead Adam to repentance.
However, the most insightful interpretation is that God had so much compassion on Adam and human race that He said, “Adam, I will save you. I will forgive you.” This interpretation views the calling as the redemptive historical calling to find that which was lost. It was indeed the proclamation of the love and salvation by God who is determined to save us to the very end. Jesus came to the earth to seek that which are lost (Luke 15:10; Romans 5:8). He searched for the lost even when He was hungry, naked and afflicted with indescribable suffering and reproach (Matthew 9:12; Luke 15:7; John 9:39; Isaiah 53:6; Psalm 119:176; Jeremiah 50:6).
God did not threaten or scold Adam who had left his domain as he wished. He came and asked Adam with boundless love and forgiveness: “Adam, where are you?”
The love of God who seeks the lost can never be overemphasized. Love is initiated by God. God loved first. God did not love because we believe in Him (1 John 4:10, 19).
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me” (Revelations 3:20).

“Adam, where are you?”
God is outside knocking on our door. When we open the door, He will say, “I have looked for you from when you were young. Just now you heard My voice,” and He will not scold us. He will say, “Here is the tree of life by which you will never see death.” What happiness that is!
“Adam, where are you?” This voice still echoes in the hearts of sinners and the minds of saints to this day.
Even when we say, “I have sinned so much,” God answers, “I know. But, don’t we have My son’s cross? It does not matter what kind of sins you may have committed. When you thoroughly repent, all those sins will be forgiven by the blood of the cross. You no longer have any sin. I will not remember them at all. Do not worry.” How thankful are we for such voice of God! (1 Peters 2:24-25) God is encouraging us not to tremble in fear as Adam had. We must be able to feel the warmth of His love (John 15:4-7). When the mothers in countryside prepare a plain meal with few vegetables from their farm, their children would eat them and still grow strong and healthy. That is because the food contains the warmth of mothers’ love. Likewise, the warmth of God’s love on the cross embraces us. Let us believe that when we reply, “Lord, here I am,” and obey the Word, the blessings of eternal life will be with us and our descendants forever and ever.
God’s love completely eliminates the shadow of death and despair. Such love is God’s one-way kindness bestowed upon mankind who are in wretchedness (John 3:11). He loves us to the end. This is unchanging love. Even when we lack in conviction and do not worship with all of our heart, or even when we come to and from church with ulterior motives, God knows it all and still calls us: “Adam, where are you?”



Dear Saints,
Now that we have received this calling of love, we must march on with seeking that which are lost. The world history is the stage where God’s redemptive history unfolds. God established churches to fin the lost. We must remain as God’s bondservants who seek the lost ones to the end. Whether we eat or drink, we must do so while reminding ourselves, “I must seek the lost whom God so desires to see.” Even when times are difficult and miserable, we ought to tell ourselves, “God’s will is in me, I must wake up,” and go back out to search for the lost ones. It is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of the little ones perish (Matthew 18:14). The Lord will certainly find all that are lost until the history of redemption is fulfilled. The purpose and meaning of the existence for Pyungkang Cheil Church and all the other churches lie in finding the lost. Our churches must not be the churches that reign over people. Even if we were to be treated like beggars, we must be centered on the Word and bear the love of the cross in order to give all our might in seeking the lost. When we trust in God with thanksgiving even in times of hardship or grief, God will grant all of our wishes and bless us with prosperity. When we wake up in the morning, let us remember the calling, “Adam, where are you?” May we hear in that calling, “Aren’t you the one to seek the lost? What have you done to this day? How much of the work I entrusted to you have you accomplished?” It is required of the stewards that one be found faithful. The word “faithful” in Chinese is made up of two words: first word has two characters meaning “center” and “heart,” and the second word has two characters meaning “word” and “accomplish.” Hence, these words together imply that the Word must be fulfilled according to the Word. There are still so many people out there who do not know of the cross. I pray in the name of the Lord that all of you will become God’s saints who will always abide in the love of the cross of Jesus who destroyed the power of death and resurrected and spread that love all around!

From the Second Lord’s Day Service on April 22, 2012