Clothed with Fig Leaves or
Righteousness?
There are no secrets with God. Adam and Eve learned that the
hard way. The apostle Paul reminds us, “God will judge the secrets of men through
Christ Jesus” (Rom. 2:16). The writer of Hebrews says, “And
there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and
laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” (Heb. 4:13).
God in His infinite wisdom and grace gave Adam and Eve a grand
opportunity to have dominion over all of His creation (Genesis 2:15). And in love He
“commanded the man, saying, ‘From any tree of the garden you may eat freely, but
from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat
from it you shall surely die” (vv. 16-17).
We are all too familiar with the tragic events that followed. The God
who sees and knows all things visited the Garden of Eden shortly after Adam and Eve sinned
by eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. “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. Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him,
'Where are you?' He said, 'I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I
was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself'” (Genesis 3:8-10).
Adam and Eve hid themselves
thinking they could hide themselves from God. The effect of sin made them aware that they
had disobeyed God and they were ashamed. Before they sinned they were delighted to see
God, but after they sinned they did not want anything to do with Him. Sin causes us to
want to hide from God physically, emotionally and spiritually because we know we are
guilty.
Like Adam and we try a lot of
“fig leaves” to cover up our shame and guilty conscience (v. 7). A friend of
mine said, “The oldest profession is not what people think; it is the clothing
industry.” We are constantly trying to cover up.
The psychological exposure
caused by our sins is intolerable, and we try innumerable ways to cover it up. The end
result of these modern “fig leaves” in our pagan world culture is even greater exposure
and guilt. Drugs, alcohol, promiscuity, lust of the eyes, the world, the flesh, etc. do
not relieve the stress of guilt; they only increase it. Evasion and excuses increase our
guilt before God.
Man has never been able to make a “fig leaf” that will
cover his sin. We try “fig leaves” of good religious works, church membership,
baptism, confirmation, tithing, the sacraments, religious philosophy, new age movements,
philanthropy, etc. But we still cannot escape our guilt.
All outward acts of religion without the atoning sacrifice of Jesus
Christ for our sins are withered “fig leaves.”
There is only one remedy for sin. “The LORD God made garments of
skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21).
God told them before they sinned, “in the day that you eat from
it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:17). The Bible says, “The wages of sin is
death” (Rom. 6:23a). “The person who sins will die” (Ezek. 18:20). Adam and
Eve died spiritually the moment they sinned. In time, they died physically.
Can you imagine the shock in the mind and heart of Adam and Eve when
they saw two dead animals, probably lambs, lying dead before their eyes? God killed the
animals and made from their skins garments and clothed Adam and Eve
(Gen. 3:21).
“The wages of sin is death.” But the immediate death that
occurred was not their death, though they were guilty and deserved the death penalty; it
was the death of two innocent animals. In His mercy God killed those animals for Adam and
Eve. They were guilty and deserved death, but God chose two innocent animals to die as
their substitutes. They pointed to another Substitute who in time would give Himself as
“the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). The only
death that can possibly deal with sin is His death. Only His blood can cleanse us from all
sin (Heb. 9:22; 1 John 1:7, 9). There is no other detergent that will wipe away our guilt
(1 Peter 1:18-19; Rev. 5:9).
God’s perfect covering for sin is the blood of the Lamb of God.
Fig leaves will never do what God alone can do. God’s perfect provision and covering
is through the death of His Son, Jesus Christ.
Don’t try coming to God with your “fig leaves.” They
may be in fashion, but they are inadequate. God will not accept them; they can never
please God because no death has taken place. The penalty for sin must be paid
(Ezek. 18:4). You will
pay it, or your divine Substitute must pay it. God has dealt with our guilt in the death
of Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:13;Rom. 3:24-25; 4:25). Christ died for our sin as our substitute. The penalty for our sin has
been paid in full (Rom. 5:6, 8; 1 Jn. 3:5; 4:9-10; 1 Pet. 2:24).
Today, God fully clothes every individual who believes in Christ with
the perfect righteousness of Christ (2 Cor. 5:21; Isa. 61:10).
The nakedness of your sin must be covered. Are you covered with the
righteousness of Jesus Christ? Are you dressed in His robes of righteousness alone?
Either you will stand before your eternal Judge in the imputed
righteousness of Jesus Christ, or you will stand naked in your sins.
Selah!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006
Click for printer friendly page
SELAH INDEX
CLICK to E-mail SELAH! to a friend.
|
![[Valid RSS]](../gra/valid-rss.png "Validate my RSS feed"){kind=small}
