By Christopher Dryden
Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths … And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
Genesis 3:7, 21 ESV
Luke establishes a genealogical chain back to Adam, the son of God. It’s a remarkable outline that has led some to even think that all human beings are children of God. Yet what Adam did in the garden caused a separation so sharp that it established an enmity between the Creator and His creation. It was a stand of independence. It was a decision to reject God in pursuit of humanity following a line like the devil to supplant the rightful sovereign rule of God.
It would be understandable in the midst of such a breach for God to kick out man from His presence and leave him to his own devices - totally alone. Some see justice as ensuring those who have perpetrated the crime see the consequences of rejecting the civil good by being rejected by society itself.
It is in this scenario that we see the first expressions of God’s grace. Humanity deserved rejection for rejecting and rebelling against the standard that God set. Yet even in this, God saw man’s effort at covering his nakedness and replaced the flimsy effort with something more substantial. God helped those who didn’t deserve it.
Even as His plans for humanity were not thwarted by rebellion, but given a platform through the promise of what He would do through his interactions with humanity, so this would be seen in the gesture to give man proper covering. Where man could never cover himself properly, God covered.
This would foreshadow another act of grace that God would show to those who rebelled against Him, that even when they looked to cover so inadequately, He would make the ultimate sacrifice to cover. This is an expression of His amazing grace so that the rebel could finally return to God and truly become once again a child of God.
It is a simple act of clothing to cover. In this act, we see the Father’s heart that provides and protects His own, even when they rebel against him. It is what makes the gospel so meaningful to us today. We go to great efforts to cover our shame, our guilt, our insecurities, our indiscretions, our faults, our failings. We cover it up with all manner of painfully inadequate measures from therapy to self-righteousness. Stumbling and fumbling around desperate in the effort to look right and not be exposed. Never knowing that the Father still desires to cover us once more. To replace our rags of sin with the garments of righteousness available to all who will turn to Him and confess their need of Him and His covering.
What covers us today in Christ is the righteousness we receive because of grace.
This is from the Father’s heart.
Ask When Adam and his wife knew they were naked they sought to cover themselves. Why did God grant them covering as they left His presence?
Seek How do you make efforts to cover your guilt, shame, or sense of inadequacy? What areas of your life do you feel require confessing to God to receive His covering?
Knock Father, your grace covered us when we should have been exposed. Thank you, for your grace. Your grace gives us hope when we don’t deserve it. Thank you for your grace. Help us to be mindful today that though our sins were as scarlet, you made us white as snow, thanks to your grace.
(Upper Photo by OPPO Find X5 Pro on Unsplash)
(Inner Photo by Derek Thomson on Unsplash )
