We can see from Genesis 3:9-10 that God took the initiative to seek His fallen children. The question “Where are you?” was rhetorical, because God knew what Adam and Eve had done and where they were. Sin, nevertheless, cut off the usual communication that existed between Him and the first human couple. God’s immediate concern was to restore communication with His children, to meet with them, and to give them hope in their despair. In fact, the Hebrew verb qara’, “call,” in Genesis 3:9, is often used to describe God’s call to establish communication with His people.

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God’s seeking Adam and Eve reveals His unconditional love for His children. God never gives up on us (see Luke 15:1-32). He goes to great lengths to reestablish His communion with us, even when we go into hiding. Before Jesus’ crucifixion, when Peter denied Jesus three times, Christ “turned and looked” (Luke 22:61, NKJV) at him. Even without words, He “spoke” to Peter and sought to reach His erring friend.

Notice, in Genesis 3:11-13, how sin suddenly changed Adam’s and Eve’s relationship. Instead of confessing their individual sin, they began to blame others. Adam blamed Eve and, indirectly, God, because He gave him Eve. “ ‘The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate,’ ” he said (Genesis 3:12, NKJV). Eve, meanwhile, blamed the serpent for her disobedience. “ ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate’ ” (Genesis 3:13) was her excuse. Neither one of them, at least when first confronted for their sin, would own up to their own guilt. How little has changed in six thousand years.

The reality is that sin has affected all human beings. The apostle Paul describes our condition well in Romans 7:15-24, when he detailed the pain of desiring to do what is right, only to find himself doing the opposite: “For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do” (Romans 7:15, NKJV).

Who cannot relate?

What Paul says is profound. We are all broken people who keep on doing things we know we should not do. Who hasn’t experienced this reality?

Our only hope, says Paul, is deliverance “through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:25). This is why God continues to seek us to lead us to Jesus, who alone can mold us into His image and save us from the devastation caused by sin.

<–Monday Wednesday–>

I. The Hidden

A. Read Genesis 3:1-3. Where was the forbidden tree located? (“In the midst of the garden.”)

B. Read Genesis 2:9. Where was the Tree of Life located? (“In the midst of the garden.”)

1. Whose idea was it to put the tree that humans had to eat from to live (see Genesis 3:22) next to the tree that would kill them if they ate it?

2. Since God is much smarter than we are, and none of us would think this was a good idea, what does that tell you about the origin of this idea? (I think this was an arranged contest between God and Satan to see if humans would be faithful to God. Satan was not allowed to constantly tempt the new humans. This is the agreed-upon test.)

C. Read Genesis 3:4-6. In three verses we are able to see how humans were plunged into sin and eternal death. Read Genesis 3:7-8. Why would Adam and Eve hide from God? When Cain sinned, he wanted to be able to see God’s face!

D. Read Genesis 3:9-11. Do you believe Adam when he says that his reason for hiding from God was that he was naked? (In fact, verse 7 informs us that he was not naked. I think Adam was ashamed and afraid.)

1. Obviously, God knew where Adam and Eve were located and what they had done. Why was God calling for them? (God wanted to speak with them.)

E. We are not going to review the punishment meted out to Adam and Eve or their silly excuses for sinning. Read Genesis 3:22-24. Why are they driven out of the Garden of Eden, their home? (So that they would not be able to eat the fruit of the Tree of Life and live forever.)

F. Read Genesis 4:9-10. In these verses we read that God is having a face-to-face discussion with Cain. Read Exodus 33:11 and Exodus 33:20-23. How do you explain that God tells Moses he will die if he sees God’s face?

1. After the sin of his parents, and after murdering his brother, Cain has what reads like a face-to-face conversation with God. We discussed in the introduction that Cain could not bear to be hidden from God’s face. Yet Moses is said to have face-to-face conversations with God when God says that Moses cannot see his face and live. What is going on? (Let’s add Genesis 18:1-2 to this problem. It seems that God shields His glory so that humans can live, but at the same time has intimate conversations with humans.)

2. Why do you think that humans will die if they see God’s face?

G. Read 1 Timothy 6:15-16. What does this suggest is the reason we cannot see God face-to-face? (He dwells in “unapproachable light.” That is a reference to God’s glory. We are sinful humans, and He is our sinless God. A mortal human is not constituted to endure God’s glory in its fullness. When the Bible refers to what appear to be face-to-face conversations with God, we must conclude that God has mediated His presence in some way. He has made His presence survivable.)

1. This lesson is not about the glory of God, it is about communicating with God. What do the texts we have just studied tell us about the motivations of God and humans to communicate with each other? (Often when humans are angry or disappointed with another, they refuse to talk. God had reason to be outraged that humans turned against Him and sinned. Yet God pursued a conversation with Adam and Eve. Cain reveals how important it was to him, the first murderer, to converse with God. We need and want to be able to communicate with God.)

II. God’s Agents

A. Read Hebrews 1:1-2. Let’s spend some time on these verses. When the writer of Hebrews says that God spoke to us “in many ways” through the prophets, what ways can you recall? (One way that God spoke to the people was through the books of the Old Testament. We recall that he sometimes sent the prophets visions, dreams and symbolic actions.)

1. Before we get into a discussion of Jesus’ role, let me ask you why God would speak through prophets? Why not speak to all of us individually, through a mediated presence? Why not speak to us individually through angels? (If you have read the Old Testament, you will know that God spoke through those who had a special relationship with Him. Once the number of humans exceeded just a few, God speaks through designated people.)

B. Look again at Hebrews 1:2. In the last days, God spoke to us through Jesus. Is this an answer to my prior question about why God did not speak to us individually, even through a mediated presence? (Jesus is clearly a “mediated presence.” In the incarnation, God made Himself known to us in a form humans could see and hear. Reading the accounts of His life, give us a much better insight into the nature and will of God.)

C. Read Hebrews 1:3. What about Jesus makes Him a superior communicator of God’s will over the prophets?

D. Read Numbers 12:6-8. What does this add to the question of why God uses prophets as opposed to speaking to all? (The strong suggestion here is that most are not worthy to be prophets, and being spoken to directly by God is very rare.)

III. The Holy Spirit

A. Read John 16:7. When we looked at Hebrews 1, the message was that God spoke through prophets, and then He upgraded His means of communication by sending Jesus. This text seems to say that a new advantage in God’s way of communication is coming. Is that how you understand this text? Who do you understand is this next messenger? (Jesus is saying that when He leaves, the Holy Spirit will come – and that gives us an advantage.)

B. Read John 16:8-13. What role does the Holy Spirit play in communicating God’s will? (Verse 12 tells us that the Holy Spirit will teach things that Jesus could not because the timing was not right.)

C. Jesus’ prediction of the Holy Spirit coming in power was fulfilled in Acts 2. Have we now arrived at what seems to be the ideal method of communication – that God speaks directly to each of us? (It is like we have come full circle.)

1. We have seen in these verses the vector of God’s communication with humans. First, it was face-to-face. Then it was through prophets. Then it was through Jesus. Now it is through the Holy Spirit. Has the coming of the Holy Spirit negated the reason for God to communicate through prophets? (One caveat here is that the Holy Spirit was active in the Old Testament. Acts 2 brought a whole new level of Spirit involvement.)

a. If you answer, “no,” to the question of whether the Holy Spirit negates the continued reason for prophets, tell me why you reach that conclusion?

D. Read Joel 2:28-31. What does this teach us about the relationship between the Holy Spirit and prophets before the end? (The question of prophets versus the Holy Spirit is not an either or question. The Holy Spirit powers the work of the prophets.)

E. Look again at Joel 2:28-30. Does this sound like God is using those rare people in the Old Testament to communicate to humans? (The sense of this is that all sorts of people, from all sectors of life, are prophesying. Young men and women, male and female servants, are not the classic group through whom God spoke in the Old Testament.)

1. Why do you think God makes this alteration? (It is more consistent with each of us having access to the Holy Spirit.)

2. How should we respond to messages that come from this “all flesh” group who is now prophesying? Should we test them against what God told the prophets of the Old Testament? Should we test them against what the Holy Spirit tells us? (Read 1 John 4:1. It says that we should test. The Bible gives us an objective standard for testing.)

3. Read 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21. Are we supposed to reject modern claims of prophecy simply because they are claims of prophecy? Are we supposed to accept them simply because someone says the Holy Spirit gave the message? (“No” to both. Paul tells us not to despise prophecies, but also tells us to “test everything.”)

F. Friend, these last questions launch us into an exploration of God’s communications with those of us who are living in the last days. God has shown a deep desire to communicate with us. Will you open your heart to His messages to you?

IV. Next week: The Call of a Prophet.

Copr. 2026, Bruce N. Cameron, J.D. Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Suggested answers are found within parentheses. If you normally receive this lesson by e-mail, but it is lost one week, you can find it by clicking on this link: http://www.GoBible.org. Pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit as you study.

But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name. John 20:31 NLT

In Jacqueline van Maarsen’s book, My Name is Anne, She Said, Anne Frank, Jacqueline tells the story about her best friend, Anne Frank. When Anne Frank went into hiding, she could not say goodbye to her best friend. That would have been too dangerous. To protect their family, people disappeared without explanation. While in hiding, Anne wrote a goodbye letter to Jacqueline, telling her she was sorry she could not say goodbye and that she did love her. With no way to deliver the letter, Anne hid it in her diary. After being caught and taken to a concentration camp, Anne died just three weeks before American forces came to liberate the camp. Anne’s father was the only one in the family to survive the war. When he returned to the village where he and his family had been captured, he found the house where they had stayed. The landlady was still there. She gave Anne’s father Anne’s diary which she had found in the attic. Anne’s father saw the letter to Jacqueline, found her, and gave it to her. Finally, Jacqueline could read the letter her friend wrote so lovingly, even though she had no way to deliver it or know it would ever be delivered.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Anne Frank wrote a letter with no possible way to deliver it. In the middle of the chaos of a war where neighborhoods were blown to smithereens and all of Europe was in upheaval. God watched over that letter and made sure it reached the person Anne wrote it to. Why did God protect that letter in the chaos of war? Because Jacqueline needed to know she was loved.

In the middle of a cosmic conflict between good and evil, Christ and Satan, God wrote a love letter to all humanity. He wrote that love letter to you, my friend. Throughout the dark ages, Satan has done all he could to destroy that letter to make sure it never got into your hands. Yet men gave their lives to preserve that letter and translate it into your language. The Bible is the one book that man has tried to wipe out for centuries, and yet it is the one book that has survived for centuries. God has watched over His own love letter to make sure that it got into your hands. Why did God protect that letter amid the chaos of a cosmic war? Because you need to know you are loved.

Suppose once Anne’s letter was miraculously placed into Jacqueline’s hands, she thought to herself, “This looks boring. I don’t think I want to read it?” That would be unthinkable! Yet after all God has done to place the Bible in people’s hands miraculously, that is the attitude many have. That is too sad! I pray that you take time to read God’s miraculous love letter to you.

Years ago, the church I was in had a prophecy seminar series. A young man I will call Nate attended with his wife. They were fascinated by all the prophecies, especially the mark of the beast. Nate understood that the mark of the beast was choosing a common day of worship over the day God made holy. Nate loved talking and theorizing about how the mark would actually be administered. Would it be a computer program? A chip? Would it be a debit card? Instead of absorbing his mind with the love of Jesus, he filled it with conspiracy theories about Bible prophecy. One day I was hanging out with Nate and his wife when, as usual, he started talking about how the mark would be given. This time I finally asked him, “Nate, suppose you knew exactly how the mark would be administered. How would that information make you more like Jesus and help you love him more?” Nate looked surprised and responded with something like, “What does that have to do with anything?” Sadly, Nate and his wife did not stay long in the church. He was wrapped up in prophecy conspiracies and proof texts and never truly saw the love letter placed in his hand.

When I first came to a certain church as a Bible Worker, I met a couple of men who were staunch King James Version-only men. They were always putting together presentations touting the supremacy of the KJV, forgetting that it was also a version of the Bible. It was not the original manuscripts. The two men worked together during the week. One day I was at their office, and, as always, they were having an intellectual conversation on the virtues of the KJV. Well, since I am a fairly simple guy and obviously not very intellectual, I decided to simplify the discussion and bring it down to my level. Since I was still relatively new to their church, I asked how they came to know Jesus as their Savior and how His love has changed their lives. They both looked at me like a deer in the headlights. Neither of them could tell me what Jesus meant to them.

A while back, I talked with an Adventist missionary pastor known for his solid Adventist theology. Even with his deep appreciation for Adventist theology, he shared with me why the Adventist church isn’t growing more. He said, “We are so concentrated on being right that we forget to be relational.” Jesus was always right, but He was also always relational. While sharing proof texts, do we also teach people how to have their own personal relationship with Jesus? Do we present the Bible to the unbeliever as a collection of proof texts or as a love letter? Thousands have made it through the Adventist school system with their minds filled with proof texts about the Sabbath and state of the dead, but their hearts have never read the love letter in their hands. Thousands have sat in prophecy seminars where proof texts were shared on the screen, one after another, proving we are right, but did they see anything relational?

Here is what Ellen White said about those who use isolated verses as proof texts to support their own beliefs, which applies to Adventists as well.

Some will take a text, wrest it from its true bearing, and force it into service to sustain some preconceived opinion. By linking together isolated passages of Scripture, they may deceive others. But what appears to be Bible proof for their position is no proof whatever; for the Scriptures are not used in their true setting. In this way error is often magnified, and truth diminished. Those who thus wrest the Scriptures to sustain error greatly dishonor God, and in the day of judgment, they will be held responsible for the disobedience of those who, through their sophistries, have been led to disregard the divine law. –Ellen White, Review and Herald, 13 August 1959

Simply put, proof texting is when you look for verses in the Bible to prove what you believe instead of reading with an open mind like the Bereans did in Acts 17:11.

God did not protect Anne’s letter during the chaos of war to prove that Anne was right. He protected it to prove that Jacqueline was loved. Jesus did not die on the cross to prove that He was right. He died to prove that you are loved. God preserved the Bible so you would know you are loved.

Don’t miss the entire reason the Bible was written.

But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name. John 20:31 NLT

Sabbath School teaching tip: Try to avoid setting up a Sabbath School space like a lecture hall with the leader in front and the group facing the leader. Find a way to put your chairs in a circle. It will have a dramatic effect on participation.

1.  Why do you think it didn’t “last” when God just gave his human children a perfect world from the get-go? Why do you think He did it anyway, knowing it would not last?

2.  How would you describe the “givens” or the “ground rules” of our current situation in comparison to the Garden of Eden? Address issues such as our communication with God, the purpose of our life here and now, and what we can or can’t control.

3.  Why do you think God has chosen NOT to simply start over with a rebooted Garden of Eden after the Fall, but rather to send us a Redeemer to draw us to Him within this fallen world?

4. A theological principle explains how we can understand “God’s will” as having multiple levels. By human analogy, a parent wants their teen to do their homework (“their will” is completed homework), but that same parent decides not to stand over the teen and force them to do it, because they want the teen to learn the connection between their actions and the consequences, and to freely choose it.  In this sense, the incomplete homework is also the parent’s will, at another level, because their decision to hold back has enabled the homework to go unfinished. How does this apply to God’s will? What does it tell us about what God most values? What does it tell us about how we should present the gospel to those entrusted to our care?

5. Adam and Eve were the first family of “blamers.” Give an example you have seen of how over-focusing on blaming others for your circumstances (even if that blame has some truth) always holds back spiritual growth. Why do you think that we see an increase in such a “blame others” mentality in society, across all political and demographic lines, today? What did Jesus say about focusing on the sins of others more than our own?

6. Do you think most people want to see God face to face at this point in their life? Why or why not? How about you?

7. Ellen White’s testimony powerfully illustrates the difference between our “God-concept” (knowing about God, an intellectual description) and our “God-image” (knowing God, an emotionally powerful relationship). As a young person, she could recite that “God is love” but didn’t believe it deeply until she experienced God loving her. Can you relate to the difference between knowing about God, and knowing God in your spiritual walk?

8. A Methodist minister named Levi Stockman was used by God to help young Ellen experience knowing God. What people or experiences have helped you to know God personally? 

Because God is love (1 John 4:8), He would not create human “robots.” Love embraces choice. To be able to love, Adam and Eve had to be created with free will; otherwise, love, true love, would be impossible for them to give.

Thus, Adam and Eve had the freedom to obey or disobey their Creator. The reality of this free choice was depicted in the command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (see Genesis 2:15-17). Why warn them against eating from it unless they had the freedom to do so in the first place?

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“Our first parents, though created innocent and holy, were not placed beyond the possibility of wrongdoing. God made them free moral agents, capable of appreciating the wisdom and benevolence of His character and the justice of His requirements, and with full liberty to yield or to withhold obedience. They were to enjoy communion with God and with holy angels. . . . Without freedom of choice, his obedience would not have been voluntary, but forced.”—Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, Pages 48, 49.

Genesis 3:1-24 depicts an awful scene—the fall of Adam and Eve. After the epic conversation between the serpent (Satan) and Eve, our first parents were tempted to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which they were forbidden to do. Satan used the power of words, emotions, and pleasurable enticements to convince Eve, who then convinced Adam, to go against God’s command. Eve noted that the tree was “good for food,” “pleasant to the eyes,” and “desirable to make one wise” (Genesis 3:6, NKJV). The promise of Satan that they would be “ ‘like God, knowing good and evil’ ” (Genesis 3:5, NKJV), sounded irresistible.

In reality, Satan’s discourse was riddled with error. Satan hid from them the consequences of their disobedience. After they disobeyed God, their eyes were immediately “opened,” and they saw that they were “naked.” God’s “garment” of light and glory (Psalms 104:1-2), which reflected the divine “image,” was gone. They were no longer covered by that which God had provided for them. No wonder Adam and Eve hid themselves from their Creator (as if it were really possible to hide from God). They attempted to hide because sin makes us feel guilty and, in our guilt, we want to flee from the presence of God.

<–Sunday Tuesday–>