The 1st Theophany: Genesis 3:8-24

And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.  Verse 8

It strikes me as odd that the first “theophany” should be auditory rather than visual. However, Wikipedia defines theophany as “the manifestation of the Abrahamic God to people; the sensible sign by which his presence is revealed.”

The Rebuke of Adam and Eve, Charles Joseph Natoire, 1740;

Metropolitan Museum of Art; Public Domain

I have always thought that Jesus appeared to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. This may be anthropomorphic on my part, yet there is a need for a divine appearnce here. Why?

1. 1. God is with us. Theophanies remind us of the famous words of Francis Schaeffer: “He is there and he is not silent.”

2. 2. God is holy, awesome, and majestic. Theophanies should humble us. Our God is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29)

3. 3. God condescends to us. Theophanies point to God’s gracious condescension to our weakness. Theophanies are visual—-they give tangible and physical proof of God. In a sense, they are God “writing it in the sky” for us.

   
   

All of these are present here. Read and cry "Holy, holy, holy."

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The manifestation of the LORD here was something more than they had experienced when Adam*(4004-3074BC) and Eve* (4004-?BC) had heard His voice before.

The LORD God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou :shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Genesis 2 16-17 

An asterisk* after a name means the person is in SPIRITUAL LIVES

 We don't know how that instruction was delivered, but there is no detail that indicates a person's appearance. But now, after they had disobeyed His command, they "heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden." 

Actually, the context of the theophany is one of "seeing". When Eve:

"saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes," they ate the forbidden fruit, and their eyes both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. (Genesis 6 & 7)

Some commentators do not see this as a theophany, describing the voice and presence as natural phenomena, such as wind and thunder.  Ellicott  (1819 –1905) says, "This does not imply a visible appearance, for the whole narrative is anthropomorphic. The Fathers, however, saw in these descriptions the proof of a previous incarnation of the Divine Son."

The subject matter, nakedness and proper clothes, can only be seen, and the absence of the word "appeared" does not rule out a visual experience.

 THEOPHILUS OF ANTIOCH (c.169 to c.183 The God and Father, indeed, of all cannot be contained, and is not found in a place, for there is no place of His rest; but His Word, through whom He made all things, being His power and His wisdom… went to the garden in the person of God, and conversed with Adam. The divine writing itself teaches us that Adam said that he had heard the voice.

But what else is this voice but the Word of God, who is also His Son?

Theophilus was the Patriarch of Antioch from 169 to 185. Antioch was the first gentile Christian community and was of prime importance in the church from its earliest period. 

DIDYMUS OF ALEXANDRIA. c. 313 – 398) :

They hid from the face of God by abandoning a pure understanding of God… those who hid themselves were not without belief in divine oversight, but were only lacking confidence on account of the stain of sin, through a kind of contempt… It is possible, however, to take in a different sense the clause, They hid from the face of God, if we interpret face to mean his only Son as his image and the exact imprint of his being; whoever sees him “has seen the Father.” (Col. 1:15) 

Didymus the Blind was a Christian theologian in the Church of Alexandria, where he taught for about half a century. He lost his sight at age four before he learned to read, but he learned through the use of wooden letters, any early ancestor of the Braille used today.

The best commentary I've read so far on this 1st theophany is from Puritan John Gill:

And they heard the voice of the Lord God  Which they had heard before, and knew, though perhaps now in another tone, and very terrible, which before was mild and gentle, pleasant and delightful: some by it understand a clap of thunder, sometimes called the voice of the Lord, ( Psalms 29:3-9 ) and the rather because mention is made afterwards of a wind;

but rather the voice of the Son of God, the eternal Word, is here meant, who appeared in an human form, as a pledge of his future incarnation, and that not only as a Judge, to arraign, examine, and condemn the parties concerned in this act of disobedience to God,

but as a Saviour of men, to whom, as such, he made himself known, as the event shows, and therefore they had no reason to entertain such terrible apprehensions of him, as to flee from him; -- John Gill, 1697-1771, English Baptist pastor, biblical scholar, and theologian who held to a firm Calvinistic soteriology.

 All of this leads me to conclude that this was a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus, supported by His own words. Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. John 8:58 and by John's further testimony, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  John 1:1

Finally, this was the first act of Judgment and set the stage for the ongoing spiritual warfare.

Judgment and mercy can be heard, but they are much more real when they are seen. Our God speaks; the only god who does. And He has given us His word to read and study.

When we need to see Him, He will appear in a theophany. He loves us personally and likes to appear to individuals. Perhaps He has already appeared to you, but you did not recognize Him and thought it was anger or a force of nature, the "wind and thunder" Ellicot cites.

Jesus gives this promise: Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. John 5:8

Sermon on the Mount: Carl H. Bloch (1834–1890), Source Cyber Hymnal

Blest are the pure in heart,

For they shall see our God;

The sec­ret of the Lord is theirs;

Their soul is Christ’s ab­ode.

The Lord, who left the heav­ens

Our life and peace to bring,

To dwell in low­li­ness with men

Their pat­tern and their king.

Still to the low­ly soul

He doth Him­self im­part;

And for His cra­dle and His throne

Chooseth the pure in heart.

Lord, we Thy pre­sence seek;

May ours this bless­ing be;

Give us a pure and low­ly heart,

A tem­ple meet for Thee.

Words: Stan­zas 1 & 3, John Ke­ble, Oc­to­ber 10, 1819; stan­zas 2 & 4, Mitre Hymn Book, 1836, alt.