After Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, they hid themselves from God, because they realized they were naked (Gen. 3:7-8). Thus, when God came to them and did not find them, He asked Adam, first,

“Where are you?”
— Genesis 3:9

How heartbreaking is this scene, and this question! Adam and Eve, whom God had created for Himself in such a perfect way, and in such a perfect environment, to fellowship with Him for His good pleasure, now had to hide from God because they had become sinful!

This question relates to fallen man’s position before God. In fact, even today so many fallen sinners are still doing just this, “hiding” from God throughout their lives. They do not understand that God comes to us, just as He came to Adam and Eve, not to judge, but to reconcile us to Himself in Christ.

Then, after Adam answered that he was hiding because he realized he was naked (Gen. 3:10), God asked His second question:

“Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
— Genesis 3:11

Of course, God already knew the answer to this question, just as He did with the first; the problem was, Adam did not know.

By asking, “Who told you…? Have you eaten…?,” God is asking the same question in two ways. He was telling Adam, first, that there was someone, a person, who had caused him to see his nakedness: “Who told you…?” Second, He made it clear that this was the result of their disobeying God and eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge: “Have you eaten…?” That is, by eating of this fruit, they had taken another being into themselves, whether they realized it or not.

And of course, the person God is exposing here is Satan himself, the real “serpent.” Before, the serpent, who at that time was Satan’s instrument, had tempted Eve from without. God was telling Adam that now this serpent, this evil being, Satan himself, was speaking to them from within. This was “who” had “opened their eyes” (v. 7), telling them from within that they were naked.

That is what God wanted Adam to understand when He asked him this question, and it is what we need to be clear about today.

Whereas the first question relates to our position before God, the second relates to our condition. It shows the extent to which sin, which is really the nature of Satan himself, has corrupted and contaminated our being. The first question shows how so many today are hiding from God; the second shows just how fallen we really are.

And because God’s second question presents this truth in a somewhat hidden way, it also shows us something else: that so many of Adam’s children do not yet realize the extent to which they are fallen.

Yet, as we saw in our previous Note in this series, the New Testament strongly confirms this understanding of the fall, telling us that fallen sinners are the “offspring of vipers” and “serpents” (Matt. 3:7, 12:24, 23:33); “sons of the evil one” (Matt. 13:38) whose father is the Devil (John 8:41-44); and “children of the Devil” (1 John 3:10).

Another, more direct statement along these lines is found in Paul’s writings, when he tells the believers in Ephesus that, as fallen sinners

….you once walked in your offenses and sins…according to…the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit who now is working in the sons of disobedience.
— Ephesians 2:1-2

This is why, as we have said, Jesus had to die not only as the Lamb of God to take away our sins (John 1:29, 36), but as a serpent (John 3:14) to save us from the satanic nature we now have within us.

No doubt, to say we received the satanic nature through the fall is something very negative. And yet, considering this matter before the Lord can and should have a very positive effect upon our seeking of the Lord.

As to ourselves, it will cause us to have a much greater appreciation of our need for our Savior, and of our need to daily cast ourselves more fully upon Him, the One who, as the serpent lifted up on the cross, has dealt with the sin nature in our being.

And as to others, we will have a much deeper feeling of just how serious the situation of fallen sinners really is, and of how much they need to hear the gospel of their salvation in Christ and be saved.

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—  21 September 2024 —