A Passionate Pursuit - Seamless Session Two

I have so enjoyed studying Genesis along with you over the past few weeks. I'll admit I'm wondering how Angie is going to take us all the way through Scripture when so far we're only about 11 chapters into Genesis (Plus a bit of Job too!). I love digging deep into Scripture like we did with 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus and Philemon in the spring. But catching an overview of the whole Bible is a pretty neat thing too! I love how I'm already seeing how there's a beautiful thread woven through God's Word!

Last week I told you about The Jesus Storybook Bible. This week in class, I read the chapter called "The Terrible Lie" aloud. It's the story of Adam and Eve and the trouble they got into. We studied it this week in our homework and it's probably a story you've heard a million times. But take seven minutes and watch this: The Terrible Lie. 

Don't you just love how even in the very beginning, it all points to JESUS?

In Genesis 3:9, after Adam and Eve had tasted the forbidden fruit, God asks his children, “Where are you?” Angie Smith points us to the idea that God wasn’t asking them to identify their physical location, but to identify the condition of their hearts. I want to propose another theory.

God’s first question, “Where are you?” is so much more than three little words. The entirety of  Scripture rests on God’s passionate pursuit of his children, even when they are entrenched in sin. He pursued Adam and Eve after that first bite of forbidden fruit and He pursues us in the middle of our mess. Before they had even heard of the concept of repentance, God pursued them. Before they knew their need for a Savior, God pursued them. Centuries before God would offer Jesus as the propitiation for the sins of mankind, God would pursue Adam and Eve in their sin. They didn’t have to be perfect. They didn’t have to clean up first. They were naked and afraid and God wanted to know, “Where are you?” It wasn’t that He didn’t know where they were. He wanted to show us that he wanted them back.

Another important point to note is the importance of confession in our relationship with God. God, being all-knowing, knew exactly where Adam and Eve had been and exactly what they had done. He wasn't asking them because he needed them to tell him. He asked them because they needed to confess their sin. In the same way that a mother asks her child, "What have you done?" when she sees chocolate cake all over his face, God asked his children, "What have you done?" when their sin was all over their faces. 1 John 1:9 says "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." God doesn't need us to tell him anything he doesn't know - He knows it all! Confession of sin is necessary to restore our relationship with him. Sin gets in the way. Confession clears it up. We confess our sins to Him so that we can walk in right relationship with Him. You see? God really wanted them back!

God’s passionate pursuit of his children is a beautiful theme that we will see run throughout Scripture. He chases us even when we have no intention of being caught. He chases us when we are enjoying our sin. He chases us when we don’t even know of our need for a Savior. He chases us when we have turned our hearts toward idols. He passionately pursues us, even to the point of coming to earth as a man, as God in the flesh, to live and die as a ransom for us all. Oh, how he loves us. How he pursues us! How he longs for us to turn to him!

Adam and Eve didn’t have that chance because God had not yet put into place a system of sacrifice as payment for sin. But soon we will see that everything is being set into motion to pave the way for Jesus to offer himself as the ultimate sacrifice. It all points to HIM.

This week we'll continue our study through the Patriarchs, Abraham's clan, Joseph and more! It's gonna be great! Thanks so much for studying with us!

If you'd like to purchase the video we watched over session 2 by Angie Smith, you can do that here. Or you can just continue to read the blog and do the homework in the book. If you don't have a book, we have plenty available for pick-up in the church office. Books are a suggested donation of $15.