Channels of Communication

Before sin entered our fair world God communicated face to face with our first parents. We read that “they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.” Genesis 3:8. We are told:BSPC 81.5

“Once, man walked with God in Eden. With open face he beheld the glory of the Lord, and talked with God, and Christ, and angels, in Paradise, without a dimming vail between. Man fell from his moral rectitude and innocency, and was driven from the garden, from the tree of life, and from the visible presence of the Lord and His holy angels.”—The Spirit of Prophecy 1:7.BSPC 81.6

But sin came, and man was compelled to leave his beautiful Eden home. He could no longer talk with his Maker face to face as he had done hitherto. Sin raised a barrier between man and his God. Now the only way for man to communicate with God, and God with man, was through a mediator. God chooses various ministries through whom to converse with man. Several are referred to in the first two books of the Sacred Record. Notice some of these avenues of communication:BSPC 81.7

Through priests Genesis 14:18BSPC 82.1

Through elders Exodus 3:16BSPC 82.2

Through angels Genesis 16:7BSPC 82.3

Through ministers Exodus 24:13BSPC 82.4

Through prophets Genesis 20:7BSPC 82.5

These texts in each instance give the first reference in the Bible to the particular ministry mentioned.BSPC 82.6