3. A Covering
Adonai, God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. Genesis 3:21
Genesis Chapter 3 is probably the most tragic account ever recorded, but also one that provides so much hope. It is here that the adversary is introduced for the first time, in the form of the serpent. We know the story well, He twisted God’s word and enticed Eve to sin, who then enticed her husband to join her in that sin. When their eyes were opened and they realized what they had done, the shame that came with it had to be almost unbearable for them. They were covered and clothed in that shame. It was wrapped around them like a robe. Shame then turned to fear as they heard God walking in the garden and call out to them, so they did what is the natural response to shame and fear. They hid from God.
I would like to be able to say that I have never sinned, that I have never felt that same shame covers me because of my sin, that when I heard God calling me, I didn’t become afraid and hide. I would be lying if I did. The Bible is very clear that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). And on that day in the garden, death entered the world. Not just spiritual death, but the first physical death as well. This is the first time that we are introduced to a foreshadowing of the price that Yeshua would pay. A symbol of the sacrifices for atonement to come, first through the sacrifices of lambs, and eventually through the perfect sacrifice of THE LAMB. “Adonai, God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” The first sacrifice for the covering of sin was made by God Himself as was the final sacrifice for the covering of sin that took place upon a cross. The first sin involved a tree, so too would the reversal of the curse of sin involve a tree.
Isaiah 61:10 says, “I am so joyful in Adonai! My soul rejoices in my God, for he has clothed me in salvation, dressed me with a robe of triumph, like a bridegroom wearing a festive turban, like a bride adorned with her jewels.” When I come to Him, warts and all, in my shame and fear, my unrighteousness and sin, I can fall at His feet, repent, ask for forgiveness, and let Him take my garments of shame that I am clothed in. He will wash me in that precious, lifesaving blood that He shed for me, and He will then clothe me and cover me in salvation, and dress me with a robe of triumph. He clothes me in hope and in the knowledge that when I am in Him and He is in me, I have a covering that is greater than any sin or shame. I am covered with the love of an Almighty God who from before the foundations of the earth made a way for us to be able to stand before Him without shame.
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