A New Set of Clothes
Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.” (Genesis 3:21)
When the serpent tempted Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, he accused God of lying to keep something good from them: “Ye shall not surely die [as God had warned]: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5)
What he said was partly true. He’s good at mixing truth with lies to increase sin’s appeal. Their eyes were indeed opened: “And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; (Genesis 3:7) Adam and Eve knew right away that something was wrong. They knew they needed clothes: “…and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.” (Genesis 3:7)
They also learned something else that was new: guilty fear. Genesis 3:8 says, “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.” They knew they could not stand before a holy God, so they hid from Him in fear.
Adam and Eve didn’t die physically that day, but they died spiritually. They became sinners, alienated from God. Sin alienates us from a holy God. “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God,” (Isaiah 59:2) Yet look what happened next! “And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?” (Genesis 3:9) Notice that Adam wasn’t looking for God. God was looking for him. God already knew what had happened, and He knew why Adam was now wearing a fig-leaf apron.
God did not ignore what they’d done, but He promised them a Redeemer who would restore them to fellowship with Him. God told the serpent, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15) God also clothed them with coats of skins, which required the death of animals. God may have even let them see the innocent animals being killed. That was something else new to them: violent death. Death is always ugly. 1 Corinthians 15:26 calls death an enemy: “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”
Besides all the other griefs of police work, cops also have to deal with death far more than most people. If you’re a cop, your first actual encounter with a dead body may have been on the job. Dealing with death is always grievous. Even when a death is from serious illness and is somewhat expected with no foul play involved, loved ones are still grieved. Death is so much worse when it’s violent and needless, like a drunk driving accident, homicide, or murder-suicide, and especially if it involves the death of a child.
So why the coats of skins? The animals’ death was actually a preview of the violent death Jesus would suffer for us. God had already decreed the penalty for sin: death. “…in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Genesis 2:17) Yet He could still be true to His Word and be merciful to us at the same time if He punished someone else in our place. That’s exactly what He did when He punished God the Son, the Lord Jesus, on the cross.
We’ve all listened to the serpent and sinned, not just once but plenty of times. We also can’t cover our sins with good works, any more than Adam and Eve could cover their nakedness with fig leaves. Yet Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and rose again, and He offers forgiveness of sins and eternal life to all who will receive Him! “In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:” (Colossians 1:14) If you are unsure of where you’ll spend eternity but you’d love to be sure, please go to www.clevelandbaptist.org, click “Helpful Links,” then “How Do I Go to Heaven?”
Brian Miller 12/26/2020
Cleveland Baptist Church 4431 Tiedeman Road, Brooklyn, Ohio 44144 216/671-2822