Clothed

 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 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 they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" And he said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself." He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"

The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate." Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." To the woman he said, "I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you." And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

 And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. Genesis 3:6-21

For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.  Galatians 3:26-29

     There is a beautiful picture tucked into these passages of Scripture. Of course, the beginning of this story is far from lovely, and if I must be honest, it is more accurately an appalling, dreadful sort of beauty. It is similar to the beauty of childbirth where, in its natural state, one of the most exquisitely painful moments of a woman's life directly precedes one of the most exquisitely miraculous moments; where intense travail in an instant is transformed into a keen burst of joy and love.

     The anguish preceding the beauty in Genesis is, of course, the consequences of the first sin. God demonstrates without room for uncertainty that He takes sin very seriously, even in so small a matter as fruit. Disobedience is disobedience, and the consequences were dire indeed. Before they spoke with God, the man and woman had already experienced the very first result of their poor decision: they felt shame. Once they encountered Him, He outlined the repercussions for them, though they had no way of knowing the toll it would extract from their own family later on with the murder of Abel by his brother's hand, nor of the cumulative toll through the ages. Basically, in choosing to ignore His command, they chose pain, hard labor, suffering, and  both spiritual and physical death.
 
     After the matter had been dealt with and the ramifications laid out, then came the tragically magnificent part: God Himself made garments of skins for Adam and Eve and clothed them. Do you see it, Christian? Within the rebuke, God told them of a coming Savior. Immediately afterward, He fashioned the first covering for shame. Certainly a life was given and blood was spilt, for a skin is not easily removed from a living being, nor are many living things in a rush to part with their skins.

     And so, directly after the first sin, we see the first likeness of being clothed with Christ, and the first blood was shed to cover the shame of man. From this point forward, nakedness is associated with shame (see Genesis 9:22-27; Exodus 20:25-26; Isaiah 47:3; Lamentations 1:8; Ezekiel 16:35-39, 23:18; Micah 1:11, Nahum 3:5-7; Revelation 3:18 et al). Moving to the passage from Galatians, it is written that we are to "put on" Christ. The Greek verb translated "put on" is transliterated enduo and means, "to sink into (clothing), to put on, to clothe oneself." It is a word picture of being clothed in Christ. In the new Covenant, also, the Lord Himself has tenderly covered our shame, for whether we know it or not, until we have surrendered to "put on Christ," we are also naked and exposed in our sin before the very throne of the mighty El Shaddai.  When we clothe ourselves in Christ, the shame of our nakedness is covered in His righteousness. Only in Jesus are we thus clothed. Only in Him--not with one arm in a sleeve or holding the garment up next to us--but wholly swallowed up in His life as we relinquish control in complete surrender is our shame covered.

     There is the joyous rendering: That God began preparing the minds of man for the coming Redeemer from the very moment they turned their backs on Him. He clothed them, just as He would one day clothe us with His very Self. Tragically, a sacrifice was made before the garment of skins could be fashioned. Tragically, our Immanuel was sacrificed so that we could be clothed in His righteousness and obedience. The first portrayal is a dim reflection of the great Work of Christ, however, for in it an animal died to cover sin. In Christ, the misery of death was transformed to elation because the sacrificial Lamb of God did not stay in the grave but rose again. From His anguish, we are given new birth.  Because of this, when we are clothed with Him, we have not only a covering for our shame but a new life in Christ! It is no wonder the old hymn so joyfully declares:

     "Oh victory in Jesus,

       My Savior forever;

       He sought me,

And He bought me,

       With His redeeming blood.

       He loved me 'ere I knew Him,

       And all my love is due Him.

       He plunged me to victory

       Beneath the cleansing flood!"

Scripture quotations are from the ESV^® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version^®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.