“The LORD God Clothed Them”The ninth in a series: “I Will be Your God and You Will Be My People.”
Texts: Genesis 3:14-24; Philippians 3:1-11
_____________________________
When Adam ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he plunged the entire human race into sin and death. Through his treasonous act of accepting Satan’s lie–that if he ate from the forbidden tree he would become like God, knowing good and evil–Adam brought shame, guilt and death upon the entire human race. No greater disaster can be conceived. The whole human race now comes under God’s covenant curse and sentence of death. But curse is not the final word. The final word is God’s covenant promise. Shame, guilt and death are not the end of the story. Holiness, righteousness and life are. Even as the curse is being pronounced, God proclaims the gospel. The seed of the woman will crush the serpent and redeem the race. A second Adam will come, and he will undo the consequences of human sin.
As we saw last time in our series on redemptive-history, “I will be your God and you will be my people,” Adam committed nothing less than an act of high treason when he ate from the forbidden tree. By violating the terms of the covenant of works–“you are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die”–Adam rejected God’s covenant promise of eternal life and Sabbath rest and instead invoked the covenant curse upon himself, his wife and all of humanity. At that moment, original righteousness vanished and God’s image in man was horribly disfigured. The man and the woman realized they are naked. Innocence gives way to guilt, holiness to shame. Sin, death and suffering became the lot of the human race.
Eden–the site of God’s temple-garden–was that place where the man and the woman were to live in God’s presence, where they would rule and subdue the earth through being fruitful and multiplying. Having broken the covenant of works and coming under God’s curse, God’s presence and holiness was no longer a delight. Without the glory of original righteousness, the very thought of God’s holy presence drives the couple into hiding. When they heard the LORD God walking in the garden, they knew full-well that God had come in covenant judgment. Naked and ashamed, the couple desperately covered themselves with leaves and attempt to hide from God as he approached.
It is a fundamental principle of redemptive history that God’s covenant promise will stand. Therefore, it is God who seeks out the sinful couple so as to pronounce the covenant curse. When God calls out to the frightened couple, “where are you?” it is not because God is unaware of what has happened. God calls out to the man and the woman not only because he will pronounce the covenant curse, he has come because he will also promise final redemption. The covenant judge has come to interrogate the guilty and pronounce the sentence of death. But God has also come to declare the good news of the gospel. Now that the covenant of works has been broken, God will institute a new covenant, a covenant of grace. Under the terms of this covenant of grace, God will provide a perfect righteousness for Adam’s fallen sons and daughters as well as an all-sufficient payment for humanity’s sin. In this way, God will demonstrate both his boundless love for sinners as well as satisfy all of his righteous demands required under the original covenant of works. All of subsequent redemptive history is the out-working of this covenant of grace, seen against the backdrop of Adam’s violation of the covenant of works.
Adam’s response to God’s approach is indicative of the gravity of his crimes. It is Adam who answers God’s haunting question, “where are you?” with these words, “I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” When God pointedly asks the man, “who told you that you were naked?” “Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” Adam blames the woman, “she gave me some and I ate.” Seeing that this would not work, he then blames God, “you put her here with me!” In his guilt, shame and nakedness Adam will not face the consequences of his actions. He blames his wife. He blames God. He blames everyone but himself. Meanwhile, the woman–having carefully observed the actions of her husband–follows suit and blames the serpent. “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” The consequences of human sin are all too apparent. One sin leads to another, and neither the man or the woman are willing to face the consequences of their actions. This will soon change. God’s kindness moves sinners to repentance.
Last time we focused upon the covenant curse and the gravity of human sin. We must clearly understand that when Adam ate, we ate with him. When the curse fell upon Adam, it fell upon each one of us as well. When Adam’s original righteousness became shame and the image of God was marred by the fall, the same fate befell each one of us. We must fully understand the bad news–the extent of our guilt and the gravity of the human condition–before we are ready to hear the good news. Therefore, even as we see the full extent of the consequences of our sin, we now get a glimpse of the glories of the gospel. When the covenant curses are pronounced upon the serpent, the woman and the man, so too, the gospel is proclaimed.
In verse 14, God does not examine the serpent as he did Adam and Eve. Rather, we read, “So the LORD God said to the serpent, `Because you have done this, `Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.’” The curse is summarily pronounced upon the serpent since he is the willing agent of Satan. But even as the curse is being pronounced, so too, the gospel being preached, and this takes us to the first gospel promise in all the Bible–Genesis 3:15. The LORD God says, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Despite what Adam has done, all is not lost. Despite the consequences of human sin, the first chapter of the story is not the last! A savior will be born–the seed of the woman–who will one day overturn the sentence of death, remove the curse, and wash away every hint of human sin and guilt. From this point on, the story of redemption becomes the story of the seed of the woman, and the redemption of the human race.
With these words, God has promised that Jesus Christ will die on upon a cross. Looking back at the cross from the vantage point of fulfillment, Paul could clearly see what for Adam is still a future hope. As Paul puts it in Colossians 2, “[God] forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them by the crush.” Though the Savior was bruised, on that day the serpent was crushed in public humiliation and our debt of our sin was paid in full. But then, that’s getting ahead of ourselves a bit.
Notice too, that when God pronounces the curse upon Satan in Genesis 3:15, this also affects man’s relation to this arch-enemy of God. Not only does God promise to crush the serpent’s head, God places enmity (hatred) between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. From this point on, the Genesis narrative will contrast the genealogical line of the seed of the woman–God’s elect–with that of those who oppose the kingdom of God. Cain stands in the line of the non-elect, and becomes the first antichrist when he kills his brother Abel. This is, in effect, a rather transparent attempt by Satan to prevent God’s promise of a redeemer from being fulfilled by breaking the redemptive lineage leading to the seed of the woman. Notice too, that God’s curse upon the serpent, also prevents Satan from organizing the whole of the human race against its creator. If sinful humanity is repulsed by the holiness of God, humanity is also repulsed by the evil of Satan. This explains why Satan must disguise himself as an angel of light and advance his case through lying and deception. Fallen man will not have the Devil as his Lord, any more than he will have Christ as his Lord. Man’s desire for autonomy–his desire to be the master of his own fate and the captain of his own soul–now extends to Satan. Sinful man hates the holy God. Sinful man is repulsed by Satan. This too is part of the curse.
The covenant of works has been broken. The covenant curses must be meted out upon the man and the woman. “To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” Though she was to be fruitful and multiply, the woman will now do so in the travail of labor. Adam too, must face the consequences of his actions. “To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” God had made the man to work for six days and rest on the seventh. Now work will become toil and the ground over which Adam had been given dominion will instead take dominion over him. Weeds and thistles grow among the trees. Adam must work to eat. What is worse, man must taste death and return to the dust of the earth before entering his Sabbath rest. The punishment fits the crime!
In verse 20, however, it soon becomes clear that Adam’s fall and the dispensing of curse is not the final word nor the end of the story. Yes, Adam and his descendants will face the consequences of sin. But immediately after the curse is pronounced, Adam names his wife, the first sign that Adam believes God’s promise to overturn the curse and redeem the human race.
Though we would expect the story to continue immediately with the account of God’s banishment of Adam and Eve from Eden as described in verses 22-24, verses 20-21 tell a different story. These two verses are extremely significant and we must be careful not to overlook them. Though at first glance what follows may seem like a relatively insignificant event–Adam naming his wife–it is anything but insignificant. When Adam names his wife, this is an act of justifying faith, every bit as much as that when Abraham will later believe God’s promise that he will be the father of nations, despite the fact that he is old and withered and his wife well-past child bearing years.
According to verse 20, “Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.” The Hebrew word hawwa (Eve) means “life” or “living.” What is truly amazing about this is that the naming of Eve follows the account of the covenant curse and the sentence of death! The human race is now subject to the curse. All men and women must now taste death. But let’s not overlook the obvious–Adam’s fallen race will not be wiped out. Why? Because God has promised that it is the seed of the woman who will deliver the human race from the consequences of Adam’s rebellion.
Therefore, when Adam names the woman, calling her the mother of all living, it means that Adam believes God’s promise that the curse and sentence of death is not the final word. In fact, when Adam names the woman Eve, this amounts to an act of faith. By naming the woman “life,” Adam is accepting God’s covenant promise to crush the serpent and undo the curse through the seed of the woman. Through this act, Adam is saying “Amen” to God’s promise to redeem the race as given Genesis 3:15. The naming of the woman as the mother of all living, is nothing less than a confession of faith.
In Genesis 3:21 we find yet another rather remarkable assertion. “The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” There are a number of important redemptive historical themes now introduced into the story of redemption. Having responded in faith to God’s pronunciation of certain and final judgement to come upon the serpent, the fact that God provided the man and women with animals skins points us to God’s graciousness in providing for his covenant people. Though the animal skins are loaded with important redemptive historical significance, it must be pointed out that these skins and that which they symbolize, begin the now familiar redemptive-historical pattern of directing the Christian reader’s gaze ahead to the ultimate shedding of blood and covering of humanity’s shame when Jesus Christ fulfills all righteousness and dies on Calvary’s tree, bearing in his own body, God’s wrath and anger toward our sin.
On a purely human level the man and woman are naked. As a result of their sin innocence is lost and they are now ashamed and embarrassed in each other’s presence. The leaves they have sown together to cover their nakedness cannot replace original righteousness, nor can the leaves restore the former glory they possessed as divine image-bearers. This is nothing but a pitiful attempt to reverse an irreversible situation. The sewing together of leaves is, in a way, typical of all human efforts to pacify God’s anger toward our sins. Not only do such things not work, the attempted cure might be worse than the disease. The leaves we sew together are often poison oak. Our later condition is worse than the former.
The key to understanding what this account is intended to tell us is to be found when we remember that it was God who called out to Adam after he had eaten from the tree and was hiding in fear of God’s holiness. That which he brought him such delight before–God’s presence–now brought fear and terror. When man hides from God in fear of his holiness, it is God who seeks the man and the woman, “Adam, where are you?” It is God who will now under take to remedy the plight of Adam’s race.
By providing the man and woman with skins, God himself begins to undo the effects of the curse. Once they are clothed with, the shame of nakedness disappears. But it is not Adam who discovers this remedy. It is God who undertakes reconciliation between himself and the fallen couple, as well as between the man and woman. Not only do the animal skins point ahead to a day when original righteousness and the glory of the divine image will be restored, but the skins serve as the means by which the fractured relationship between the man and woman can be repaired. When the woman ate and gave the fruit to her husband, the man and woman, in effect, divided that which God had joined together. This fall into sin constitutes a divorce of sorts. The shame they felt in each other’s presence was the sign that original intent of the man and woman being joined together was now irretrievably altered.
But when the man and woman are clothed with skins, we have the graphic symbolism of God joining together that which had been dissolved by human sin. The covering of the woman by animal skins constitutes a kind of betrothal to her husband, which not only symbolizes a restoration of the divine image, but also serves as a kind of ratification of marriage, part of the original creation ordinance. It is not incidental then, that God clothing the couple with skins follows immediately after Adam names his wife, Eve, the mother of all living. It is this covering with skins which removes the shame and enables the man and woman to be fruitful and multiply. Adam has broken the covenant with God. He has failed as covenant-head to his wife. The skins would remedy the latter, as well as the former.
But on a deeper level, when God covers the man and woman with the skins of animals, remember that the animal whose skins are used must die and shed it’s blood to provide the covering garment. The principle of sacrifice is now introduced, and it will become clear throughout all of subsequent redemptive history that God himself must provide what men and women need to be reconciled to each other as well as to their creator. It is God who must provide the means by which the divine image is restored, and it is God who must provide a sufficient righteousness for sinful men and women to dwell again in his presence.
In order for man’s nakedness to be covered, an animal must die. It must shed its blood and give its life. Moses, apparently, had never heard of PETA! Therefore, the covering with skin is only a temporary, provisional solution. This act points us ahead to that great redemptive event when God will once and for all remove our shame and restore us to our former glory–and this, of course, takes us to Calvary and the empty tomb. This slaying of the sacrificial animal points us ahead to that garment of righteousness which will be provided for us through the sinless life and shed blood of Jesus Christ.
Now that God has prepared the man and woman to face life in wilderness, giving them the promise of redemption, as well as clothing them in skins and removing their shame, the consequences of sin, once again re-enter the story. Having sinned, the man and his wife will be cast from Eden. Man will no longer dwell in God’s presence in paradise.
Not only does the gravity of man’s sin effect his relationship to God, to his wife and to Satan, but man may no longer dwell in God’s temple-garden. It will be the second Adam who will finally complete God’s dwelling with man. Therefore, in verse 22, we read, “And the LORD God said, `The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” With man’s innocence lost, and God’s image defaced, man must not eat from the tree of life, the sacramental sign of God’s presence and eternal life.
Because of sin and the curse, the human race must now wait until countless generations pass and the curse is removed to gain access to the sacrament of eternal life. Indeed, the tree of life will not reappear in redemptive history until the very end of the story, when in Revelation 22, the tree of life resurfaces, standing on both sides of the river of life, when its leaves are used for the healing of nations. No longer, we read, “will there be any curse.” Having become like God, knowing good and evil, Adam and his descendants must wait to eat from this tree and live forever. It is to this tree of life, which the sacrament of the Lord’s table point us. God has promised us that even though because of Adam’s sin we are banished from Eden, one day, we will all take from the tree of life, eat and live forever.
In verse 23, we read “So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” It is the cherubim–who elsewhere in Scripture are said to God’s attendants and who are anything but the cute little angels of religious folk lore–who are posted as guards to keep the man and woman from re-entering Eden and eating from the tree of life. Since Adam has failed in his task to drive the serpent from the garden, God now assigns to the cherubim the task of protecting the garden.
Now that we have considered the bad news, as well as the good news in Genesis 3, the application for us is very, very simple.
We are fallen in Adam. We are not only guilty for our own sins, but we are guilty for our sin in Adam. One day, each one of us will stand before God in the day of judgement. Each one of us faces the same choice as Adam did after the fall. Will we seek to cover our nakedness with leaves we have sown together, or will we accept the clothing that God himself will provide for us?
If you plan on standing before God appealing the fact that you are a good person, you have nothing to cover your nakedness but leaves you have plucked with your own hands, and which you have sown together. If you plan on boasting about the fact that you’ve helped the poor, that you’ve given to charity, and performed other good deeds, you have nothing but leaves. If you dare stand in God’s presence and boast about how you’ve never killed anyone, about how you’ve never cheated on your spouse, about how you paid your taxes, how you helped little old ladies cross the street, God will respond by exposing what lies hidden within. You may have done none of these things with your hands, but your have certainly done them in your heart. God will strip away these leaves you have sowed together, and you will be left naked and ashamed, and without hope. Every secret sin will be on public display. You, too, will be banished from God’s temple, eternally! God will say to you, "depart from me, you worker of iniquity, I never knew you!"
What we need is not a garment of leaves made by our own hands. We need the garment God provides. In our New Testament lesson, Philippians 3, the apostle Paul wrestles with this same question. On what basis can the fallen sons and daughters of Adam stand before the holy God in the day of judgement. Do they do so in leaves of their own cutting? Or must they rest in the clothing which God provides for them. Paul is very clear as to where he stands. “If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.” If anyone had earned righteousness before man, it was Paul.
But he goes on to point out the folly of this. “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.”
Either you will face God in leaves of your own cutting, or in the clothing God provides for you, clothing which is nothing less than the perfect righteousness of Christ! And if you are clothed in the robe of righteousness God provides, namely the perfect righteousness of Christ, then there is no sin which can separate you from God. For how can God turn away the perfect righteousness of his own dear son? This is what God promised Adam and Eve, when he clothed them with skins, and this is what he promises you, when you place your trust in Jesus Christ.
The day of decision has come. What will it be? Leaves? Or the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ? Amen!