"And the eyes of them both were opened and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.
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."
Genesis 3:7-8

              They were ashamed of what they had done, so they hid themselves.

                        It doesn't say that when Adam and Eve ate of the Tree that they received total revelation of the depth of sin. It took man thousands of years to discover it.

                                        Even after they sinned, they were still so pure that it would have blown most of us away.
It is contrary to popular religious beliefs that God didn't approve of the sin, but He protected the first murder.

               Yet under the Old Testament Law, if a man went out and picked up sticks on the Sabbath Day, God commanded the man to be stoned to death, Numbers 15:35.

       This looks very inconsistent; because until the Law came, God was not holding man's sin against him. He was overlooking sin as it pertained to man's fellowship with Him.
God showed His disapproval of Cain's killing Abel and let him know what the consequences would be in Genesis 4:11-12.

         God put a mark upon Cain and protected him, instead of bringing judgment upon him, Genesis 4:15.
Cain had to be used to talking to God or he wouldn't have answered, "I don't know where he is. Am I my brother's keeper?"

        God wasn't holding their sins against them at that time.
        God was operating in love, mercy and forgiveness.
When God respected Abel's sacrifice over Cain's, Cain became jealous and killed Abel in anger.

      The Bible shows that God spoke to Cain about it.
               Genesis 4:9
Most people thought God had to separate man from His presence because man was unholy and God was so holy, there could be no fellowship.

          That's the concept most people have developed, but it's not proven or taught by the Word of God.
In Genesis 4:6 God is speaking in an audible voice to Cain just the same as He did with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

            God was talking to Cain and Abel face to face.
As born-again Christians, we have a witness of God in our spirits.

           Cain and Abel weren't born-again Christians, so they didn't have God inside them. So it's evident God was talking to them.

           Genesis 4:6 says, "The Lord said unto Cain."
Genesis 4:5 says, "But unto Cain and to his offering He [God]  had not respect".

           God didn't respect Cain's offering. How did they know that God didn't respect Cain's offering unless they had a way to know Him.
We know God continued to fellowship with Adam and Eve outside the Garden of Eden because they understood about sacrifices and how to approach Him.

Cain and Abel offered their sacrifices to God in Genesis 4:5.
For those of us who know God and accept His promises, we are looking forward to a glorified body that won't be subject to the things our earthly body is subject to here in this life.
It would be terrible to have to live forever in bodies that were filled with sickness, disease and pain. And couldn't die if wanting to.

        It was the mercy and love of God that sent man out of the Garden and away from the Tree of Life.
The reason God sent Adam and Eve out of the Garden was because He loved them so much, He didn't want them to eat of the Tree of Life and live forever in bodies that were corrupt by sin.

            Sin gave Satan the opportunity to put sickness, disease and all kinds of curses on man.
After Adam and Eve sinned and left the Garden, God was still walking and talking with them in the cool of the evening.

          He was still fellowshipping with them.

                        Contrary to what most of us have thought, God was still fellowshipping and present with sinful mankind.
Happy Mother's Day 2013
Adam and Eve disobeyed God and He expelled them from the Garden, but God didn't expel them from His presence.

                      God presence went with them and their descendants outside the Garden of Eden.
Sin entered the world when Adam and Eve fell into the temptation of the serpent [satan] in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3:22-23.

       God didn't want them to eat of the Tree of Life, which would mean all of mankind would live forever in their sinful state.

               God didn't send them out because He couldn't tolerate them.
God is holy and man is sinful, but God's love is so great that He didn't just expel them from His presence, but He dealt in mercy toward them, and He didn't hold their sins against them until the days of Moses, when the Law was given.
There was a period of time from Adam until Moses when God dealt with people out of love, mercy and forgiveness instead of wrath and judgment.
Most people think of God as that the moment sin entered the Garden of Eden, God's wrath was released upon mankind.

          People believe that God was holy and that man was unholy; so God separated man from Himself and drove Adam and Eve from His presence because His holiness could not stand to look upon sinful man.
Romans 5:13 shows us that before the Law [the Law of Moses] was given, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed where there is no Law.

          The word 'impute' means to take what has been done and apply it to one's account or to hold transgressions against them.

                   Sin was not held against people until God gave the Law of Moses.
"For until the law, sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law."
Romans 5:13

         Law refers to all the Old Testament, but more specific here, refers to the Mosaic Law, which includes the Ten Commandments, punishments, and all of the ordinances and ceremonial observances.
The love, mercy and forgiveness God offers to us in the New Testament, through Jesus, were always available to man, even in the Old Testament.

        But mans response to Him in the Old Testament forced God to deal with him more harshly than He cared to.
"Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:"
Hebrews 1:3
                In Hebrews 1:3, it says Jesus is the brightness of God's glory and the express image of His person.

        Jesus is an exact representation of God the Father, revealing His true nature.
Most of us don't really understand the greatness of the love, mercy and compassion God has toward us.

           That mistaken impression of God keeps us distant from Him. So it is important that we know both the New Testament character as well as the Old Testament character of God, it will give us His true nature.