Three words are often used to describe God. They are: omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient. They mean to have all power, all presence and all knowledge. The quality of being omniscient, having all knowledge, is the thought of this message. Often, throughout the Bible, we find God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, asking questions. It is noteworthy for us to understand that neither the Father nor the Son asked questions for their own learning. The questions were asked for the benefit of those to whom the question was asked and for future generations which would read those questions. Many great lessons can be learned by studying the questions asked by the Lord and the answers that are either given, implied or one is forced by truth and logic to accept. We wish to consider just one such question in this brief article.

After having partaken of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, the text tells us that Adam and Eve saw that they were naked, sewed fig leaves together to use as aprons and when they heard the voice of God, they hid themselves (Gen. 3:7-8). “And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?” (Gen. 3:9) God knew where Adam and Eve were! The Hebrew writer states, “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Heb. 4:13). Just as God knew that Jonah was hiding in a ship bound for Tarshish (Jonah 1:3-4), so He knew that Adam and Eve had hidden themselves. After Adam admitted to hiding from God, God asked him, “Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?” (Gen. 3:11). God already knew that Adam had eaten of the fruit of the tree which He had commanded him not to eat of it. So, why did God ask such questions of Adam?

God knew where Adam was, but Adam needed to know where Adam was. Adam needed to realize that by disobeying God, he had changed his relationship with God. God had told him that in the day that he disobeyed and ate of the specified tree, he would surely die (Gen. 2:17). Obviously, Adam did not die physically that day, for he lived to be nine hundred and thirty years old (Gen. 5:5). Adam died spiritually that day. He was separated from God. That is the lesson that he needed to learn, as do all that seek to please God today. Isaiah once wrote, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear” (Isa. 59:1-2). Sin separates us from God. Peter wrote, “For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil” (I Pet. 3:12). Adam and Eve, as well as any today that are not living in accordance with the commands of God must realize that they have separated themselves from God by way of their sins. They are not in the proper relationship with God.

Many today need to hear God asking them, “Where art thou?”, for until they recognize their lost state, they will never seek to return to the proper relationship with God. The word “reconciled” is used in the New Testament to speak of the removal of the gap that sin has placed between man and God. Paul wrote, “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life” (Rom. 5:10). Reconciliation has been made possible by the blood of the Son of God. To the Colossians he wrote, “And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled” (Col. 1:20-21).

This reconciliation comes with the removal of that which separated us from God, our sins. Our sins are forgiven when they are washed away by the blood of the Lamb (I Pet. 1:18-19; Rev. 1:5). Our sins are washed away by the blood of the Lamb when we obey the commands of Christ. The Hebrew writer stated, “…he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him” (Heb. 5:9). Peter wrote, “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth…” (I Pet. 1:22). In his second epistle to the Thessalonians Paul wrote of the time, “when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (II Thess. 1:7-9). Notice the eternal separation in verse nine. If one dies separated from God by sin, he will be eternally separated from God by sin, never to be reconciled. That’s why it is so important that we ask ourselves today, where am I?

(Editor’s note: Send any questions or comments to: rcoliver@centurylink.net)