It is my personal opinion that discipleship can be distilled down to these two elements: to “Meet Jesus,” and to “Follow Jesus.”

This is the simple path that I see in the Scriptures. A clear path that centers and hinges on Jesus alone. A path that starts with Jesus and ends with Jesus. One where He is the starting line, the finish line, and the path along the way.

Truly, Jesus is all in all.

If those who “follow Jesus” are those who have accepted His invitation to become His disciples, then it would make perfect sense that before one could ever be in a position to receive such an invitation from Jesus, that person would first need to “meet Him.”

This is, after all, the natural progression that every disciple who has ever become a follower of Jesus goes through. First, meeting Jesus. And then, choosing to accept His invitation to follow. This is not just a different and unique process that we go through in modern times when attempting to become disciples of Jesus, but the same process that every person in the Bible who became His disciple also went through.

But what does it look like to meet Jesus? I am glad that you asked. After all, finding the answer to that question is probably why you picked up this book in the first place.

There are numerous accounts of people meeting Jesus in the Gospels, as well as in the Book of Acts. But in the Gospels, those who met Jesus did so face-to-face. Naturally, since Jesus was here on earth walking in human flesh, He could be touched, heard, seen, and interacted with in physical form.

However, this dynamic changes when we get into the Book of Acts. Not a bad change. A good change. A God change that the Lord Himself willed to take place and designed Himself. A little God twist, if you will.

The twist was that while the disciples in the Gospels met Jesus in person, physically face-to-face, those who were to meet Jesus after He ascended into Heaven in the Book of Acts and beyond would still meet Him “face-to-face,” but through the Holy Spirit.

“Wait. How does that work?” Glad you asked.

Once Jesus had ascended into Heaven and could no longer be physically beheld with natural eyes, the way people interacted with Him changed. 

Even after Jesus was gone from the earth, removed from our physical presence, people still kept meeting Him, and even more so than ever before. That’s right. More people met Jesus in the Book of Acts through His Spirit than ever met Him in the Gospels in person (this is a part of that genius God design element that we just referenced).

And by the way… people from all over the world, from every culture, background, language, and people group are still meeting Jesus this way today.

This means you can too.

“Okay, that’s cool and all. But how can I meet someone I can’t see?”

Good question.

I get it, and I’m glad that we can address this question together. 

To do this, let’s rewind a little bit to learn a concept from the Book of Genesis that will launch us headfirst into this truth: that we can meet Jesus face-to-face through His Spirit for ourselves.

Back in the Book of Genesis, when God created humanity, He did so to have a creation that would walk with Him and have fellowship with Him through the presence of His Spirit.

I want to take you briefly to a particular verse of Scripture in the Book of Genesis that will highlight something that I believe will become vital to truly understanding that we too can really meet Jesus.

In Genesis 3:8, we jump into the middle of the story where humanity has fallen into sin. This is a particularly ugly part of the story of God’s relationship with His creation.

God made man for fellowship, for communion, for closeness. But now, Adam and Eve have disobeyed God. They have sinned. And this sin that came by way of their disobedience to God has now placed them in a condition that has disrupted the purity of their likeness with God, which was their intended created state. Now, having put their mark on God’s image, they have introduced impure attributes to the image of God…and in doing so, no longer reflect the holiness of the image of God that they were created in. And here it is that they find themselves, as a result of their sin, and for the first time ever in their lives… experiencing the emotion of shame.

They had never experienced shame before because they had never done anything to put themselves in a position to step outside of alignment with God’s image and His design for their lives. But now, sinning against God caused them to become dramatically aware that the consequence of their direct disobedience to God’s commandments carries much more weight than they possibly ever could have imagined.

This is where we jump into the story: right after Adam and Eve sinned.

A new day has dawned in Eden, and here comes God, moving through the Garden like usual, in search of His creation to spend some time with them in fellowship.

But this time was different. Drastically different, in fact. Whereas in times past, God would easily find Adam and Eve out and about in Eden, this time, they aren’t in their usual spot doing what it is that they usually do. As a matter of fact, because of the immensity of the shame that has now come upon their lives, they are hiding in the trees.

The Bible describes the scene as follows:

“And they heard the sound 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 among the trees of the garden” (Genesis 3:8).

God had given Adam and Eve trees as a source for food. Of these trees, He had told them that they could eat and enjoy the fruit of any tree they wanted, except for one. That was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

And this was their sin. They didn’t listen. They ate from the tree that was specifically forbidden by God. And now, filled with shame, they have attempted to hide among the trees that God had given them as provision to sustain and nourish them. Rather than enjoying the good things that God had given them for nourishment, they were using the trees as cover for the shame of their present sinful condition.

I want to just pause right here to highlight something that I think could be helpful for us, as we ourselves are often prone to fall into sin and experience shame for ourselves.

Notice where it is that Adam and Eve go once shame has gripped their hearts. They go to the trees.

Up until this point, before sin entered the picture of their lives, the Bible tells us that they walked the Garden of Eden freely, completely unashamed.

In this unashamed posture of life, they enjoyed closeness to God and the benefit of the trees that God had given them. But now, rather than walking in their purpose to have fellowship with God, they are found using what God had given them as cover.

How often is this true of us?

Let me answer. Often.

I’ve not only seen this; I have lived it.

When we live in a way that is not reflective of God’s image, sin enters, we become disobedient to His ways, and shame begins to push us from the covering of God’s presence. And what do we often do? We hide. We try to cover ourselves up. And sometimes, we even do so with the good things that He has provided.

If you are new to this Jesus thing, this part may not make sense to you yet, but as long as you keep walking with Him, I am sure that one day it will… so file this one away.

Shame and sin cause us to run from His presence in search of cover. Instead of the liberty of His presence, bound by the shame that comes by sin, we oftentimes try to hide in the trees ourselves. And this is the religious temptation that many people fall into who are trying to walk with God but fall into sin. When sin comes, and it will, we run away from His presence and into the trees.

Trees are given by God. They are good. But they aren’t meant for cover. Yet often, we as humans who have a proclivity to stumble often do exactly what Adam and Eve did in using the good things that God has provided as a source of cover for our shame. Not only is this not the will of God, but the trees meant to supply you can’t suffice to cover you. After all, it wasn’t trees that God used to cover their shame.

What are the trees in your life? Ministry? Church attendance? Serving others? Giving?

“Wait. Aren’t those good things that God wants for us?”

Absolutely. And so were the trees. But not when they are being used as cover.

Just like the fruit trees of the Garden, they were good things that God created to help fulfill Adam and Eve’s purpose and design, not to be sufficient places to hide. That was what His presence was for: to hide them. Yes. And it worked. How do we know? Because up until this very moment of sin, the presence of God had done such a good job of covering Adam and Eve that they had no idea that they were unclothed and naked in Eden. As a matter of fact, Scripture alludes to the reality that they were naked and unashamed.

Why?

Because His presence was their cover.

But just like Adam and Eve, when sin enters our lives and we begin to feel the absence of the familiar cover of His presence because we have stepped outside of likeness and sameness with Him, we too can try to hide in the good stuff.

You can use serving others and good deeds as a way to cover up the sin in your life. You can use ministry and impacting lives in either the limelight or the background as a cover for sin. You can try to circumvent the shame of your inner world with doing good things for God. You can show up to church and check the boxes of involvement in the community of faith by putting on your game face, all the while your inner world is crumbling in shame.

This is the human disposition in response to the shame that comes from sin. But my friends, our own cover, even among the things that God has created and deemed “good,” is a farce. It simply won’t work. The only thing that can cover us is God. And the real covering that God has designed for us is the covering of His presence.

When living free of sin in the presence of God, Adam and Eve had no awareness of their nakedness, but now, having sinned, they are starkly aware that they are naked and are completely ashamed.

The presence of God was no longer their covering because the sin in their heart had pulled them out from alignment with the Godlikeness that they were created with.

The Bible even tells us that they tried to take leaves from the trees and manufacture a covering for their nakedness. But just as it was with them, it is with us: every single attempt to cover up our shame with our own efforts will always come up short.

Are you in shame right now? Maybe you’ve been away from God and you’re hiding in your own version of cover, but deep in your heart you know, This isn’t enough, and it’s not working.

Maybe you are in ministry, or faithfully serving others in the community of faith, going to church every Sunday… but sin is in your heart, and you are tired of hiding in the trees. Maybe you are not living for Jesus at all, but deep down inside you know that something in your soul isn’t right… and that there has to be something more for your life.

Yes. There is.

His presence.

Don’t run from it. Don’t hide from it. Run into it.

You are about to find out in the next few chapters that God has provided a way for us to be covered by His presence once again. Because there is only one thing that can truly remove the shame in our life, and that is turning to God Himself, face-to-face.

Now, I want to focus on one particular word in this story that I believe will open up our understanding to the true depth and connection with God that is available for all of us today.

Presence.

“Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord” (Genesis 3:8).

This word, presence, in the original Hebrew language which this passage was written, literally means "face."

Yes, face.

Knowing this, we could also read it this way: “Adam and his wife hid themselves from the face of the Lord.”

Why is this significant, and why am I taking the time to point this out in this chapter? Because, as we have already pointed out, God is a Spirit, and spirits are invisible. Yet, it was the “face” of this invisible Spirit that Adam and Eve in shame hid themselves from in Eden.

You see, every day up until this one, Adam and Eve had the privilege of standing in and interacting with the presence of God extremely close. But somehow, this interaction with God, who is a Spirit, was just likened to interacting with another person… just as intimate and real as if they were talking together “face-to-face.”

Moses, later on in Scripture, had this very same experience with God. The Bible has this to say about Moses’ interaction with God in Exodus 33:11:

“So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend” (Exodus 33:11).

This revelation plays a huge role in explaining how we too can meet God, who is a Spirit we cannot see, face-to-face. This is precisely how we meet Jesus today for ourselves and is exactly how people all throughout the Book of Acts and beyond in human history, up until this present moment, have met Him too.

Soon, in the chapters to come, we will dive deeper into the significance of Jesus’ life, as it pertains to restoring us once again to the design of that delightful life lived in His presence… similar to the one that Adam and Eve so freely enjoyed in Eden before falling into sin. But before we go there, I want to help solidify a truth in your heart today. And that is this…

Jesus wants to meet you, face-to-face, through the presence (face) of His Spirit.

Believe it. It is true. You can meet Jesus…

And yes, we are finally at that part of this journey together…

Even though Jesus isn’t here in physical form, you can still meet Him, just as you would meet someone like me. In fact, I would even venture that this face-to-face encounter that God provided for each and every one of us is an experience that far supersedes the reality and significance of the ones that we have with each other.

How amazing is that? This Jesus that we read about in the Bible is not some inanimate, non-relational, distant God who is unable or lacking in desire to be engaged. Not Jesus. Nope. He is a living, present God to be experienced right now. Spoiler alert.

That’s the whole point, and it’s exactly what He desires.

He isn't just a man that we can read about in a book who did great things. He isn't just a prophet who walked the earth two thousand years ago. He isn’t just a good man who lived a good life. What separates Jesus from all other men and every other god that has ever been proclaimed is that He is a God who can be known, felt, and intimately experienced… right here, right now.

In fact, that’s His entire M.O., and soon in the coming chapters, we will begin to see the lengths that He went to ensure that our meeting Him could become a reality.

In the event that you are puzzled by how we can interact with Jesus through the Holy Spirit, or are simply curious how in the world that is even possible, in the next chapter, I want to take a moment to walk together through a brief Bible study on the very subject. Let's keep going and walk through the Scriptures to see how this is possible.

Reflection Questions: