Pastor Maselo Mosomane
"Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.” Genesis 3:21
After creating the first couple God placed them in the garden. They were both naked; the man and his wife but were not ashamed. We are not told in the bible how long they roamed around naked in the garden. We are only told that they were naked and were not ashamed. It did not bother them that they had no clothes. I believe they were clothed with the glory of God. Have you realized that two people can walk around naked in the dark and none of them will be bothered? Why? They are clothed with darkness. The same way two naked people can be clothed with darkness; I believe Adam and Eve were clothed with the glory of God. As long as they obeyed they did not have to bother buying clothes but as soon as they disobeyed they had to go shopping.
When they disobeyed and ate “then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.” Genesis 3:7. When Adam and Eve lost their god-given clothes they substituted them with fig leaves. They lost god-given clothes and tried to substitute that with man-sewed clothes. This is where many times we loose it with God. When we loose it out with God; instead of going back to Him and humble ourselves, we try to cover up. When our effort fails we blame it on others. When confronted, Adam said; “the woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I ate” Saul said; “the people took the plunder”
Adam and Eve substituted god-made with self-made. Is this not a familiar story? Every time we miss it because we wouldn’t listen to God, we come up with plan B. The more we advance our plan B, the more we drift away from God’s perfect will for our lives.
Do you see what Adam and Eve did? When they lost it with God they tried to regain the loss by working on their appearance. They changed their appearance. They say in the world; if you feel down and experience a low self-esteem; change your appearance. If you are going out for a big deal, change the way you look. If you want to create an impression work on how you looks. I have heard people utter some scary statements; “dress to kill” “steal the show,” “make a statement” and many like this. Adam and Eve too tried to dress themselves in order to impress God. Though naked, they wanted to look dressed. But when He appeared they couldn’t stand His presence; they ran away and hid themselves among the trees.
What they had from God could not be substituted by human effort. No human effort can replace what only God can do for us. Outward appearance and mental development cannot substitute what you have lost with God when you lapsed into disobedience. No amount of success can achieve what God had for you. No amount of wealth can substitute what God planned for us. Human effort is as short-lived as fig leaves. Like grass they flourish for a moment but when the sun goes down, they whither and dry up. Human effort and achievement is deceiving. You think you are advancing yet you are declining. We make a terrible mistake when we try to substitute obedience with human effort.
Let us see how God dealt with this situation. "… for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.” God made clothes for them out of animal skins. We all know that to have an animal skin you have to kill that animal and skin it first. You cannot do these while the animal is still alive. For God to clothe them He had to kill the animals and skin them. When God killed animals their blood was shed. Animals offered their blood and skins to solve man’s problem. Their blood to cover man’s sin and skins to cover his nakedness. The blood is for their sin and the skin is for their nakedness. Man fell so low; even animals could do better than him. I think one of these days I must preach a message and entitle it “Saved by Animals”
Here’s something we must see. When they disobeyed they sinned. Disobedience is sin; it does not matter how you look at it. It does not matter how you reason it – it is sin. Disobedience renders us lower than animals. That’s why fallen people say man is an animal. Let us see disobedience for what it – sin; and God cannot stand sin. In other words, God cannot even look at sin. That’s why He said in Ezekiel 18:20 “The soul who sins shall die” Paul also reiterated when inspired by the Holy Spirit; “for the wages of sin is death” Romans 6:23. Adam and Eve sinned and, according to the demands of justice they had to die. But God substituted their lives with the lives of animals. He shared the blood of innocent animals to cover their sin. Two things happened that day; one, God killed animals instead of “the soul that sinned.” Two He took animal skins and made them clothes to substitute; one, their god-given attire that man lost when he sinned, and two; the fig tree tunic. Double dose grace!
May we learn from this lesson that what God gave and man lost, can only be replaced by God. No amount of human effort can substitute what only God can do.
…to be continued
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