The Seeking God of Eden 
Dr. John Cox, Guest Speaker

God intends to change you by His Word. How is He at work in you to do that?  Read the following passage and consider these questions. 

READ

Genesis 3: 8-15, 20-24 (ESV)
[8] And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. [9] But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” [10] And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” [11] He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” [12] The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” [13] Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

[14] The LORD God said to the serpent,
   “Because you have done this,
      cursed are you above all livestock
      and above all beasts of the field;
   on your belly you shall go,
      and dust you shall eat
      all the days of your life.
[15] I will put enmity between you and the woman,
      and between your offspring and her offspring;
   he shall bruise your head,
      and you shall bruise his heel.”

[20] The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. [21] And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

[22] Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” [23] therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. [24] He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

QUESTIONS (40 minutes)

Main point: God is a seeking God, who aims to find and redeem.

Point #1: God looks for the man and the woman.

1. If God is omniscient, why would he ask "Where are you" (v.9)?

2. What is God trying to communicate through looking for the man and woman?

Point #2: God puts enmity between the serpent (and his offspring) and the woman (and her offspring).

3. Dr. Cox mentioned the protoeuangelion (i.e., "first gospel") in v. 15. Why is God placing enmity (i.e., a sharp division) between the serpent and the woman "good news"?

Point #3: God promises an offspring of the woman will be the savior and destroy the serpent.

4. Throughout the Old Testament, we see God's people looking for this offspring-savior to appear. Why might God wait for millennia to send Jesus? Why not send Jesus within a lifetime or two of Adam and Eve?

Point #4: God clothes the man and the woman to cover their shame.

5. Why did the man and the woman need to be clothed? What caused them to be ashamed?

6. How does God clothe us now? Why is this an important aspect of the gospel?

7. In what ways do we attempt to cover our shame? I.e., what fig leaves do we "sew" to hide ourselves from God and others?

Point #5: God makes sure that we can die.

8. In the context of the passage, why is death a sign of God's grace?

9. Dr. Cox said: "Instead of the cherubim standing at the gate to guard the way of life, the seed now stands as gatekeeper." In what way is the seed, Jesus, the gatekeeper (cf. John 14:6)? Why must Jesus be the gatekeeper?

PRAYER (10 minutes) 

Personal Response: Pray together that we would see hope in Jesus, the offspring-savior promised from the beginning. Pray that we would seek to hide our guilt and shame only in him.