Death. Period. Genesis 3.6-24
Jesus throughout the Scriptures: Genesis (3)
Pray Psalm 32.8-11.
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will guide you with My eye.
Do not be like the horse or like the mule,
Which have no understanding,
Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle,
Else they will not come near you.
Many sorrows shall be to the wicked;
But he who trusts in the LORD, mercy shall surround him.
Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous;
And shout for joy, all you upright in heart!
Sing Psalm 32.8-11.
(Hendon: Take My Life and Let It Be)
Teach me, LORD, how I should live; sound instruction ever give.
let me never stubborn be; let Your eye watch over me,
let Your eye watch over me.
Though the wicked wail and weep, they rejoice whose souls You keep.
Trusting, we exult with praise, joyf’ly singing all our days,
joyf’ly singing all our days!
Read Genesis 3.6, 7, 20-24; meditate on verses 7, 21.
Preparation
1. How did God clothe Adam and Eve?
2. From what did He banish them?
Meditation
Did God slaughter those innocent beasts right in front of Adam and Eve? Cut them open, spill their blood, strip off their skins before their astonished eyes? And if so, would they have been horrified to watch and to see what their sin had caused?
Covering them with skins would not take their shame away, but it would suffice for them as a token of God’s favor. Because of their shame they were cast out of the garden. Because of God’s grace, the death they deserved—and ultimately would experience—was inflicted on some innocent creatures, that they might be clothed with God’s favor.
We hardly need to develop this further. Sin. Shame. Our efforts to cover our guilt and shame ineffectual. God’s favor realized through the death of an Innocent. We looking to God with incredible gratitude, wonder, and love. He daily offering more of the beautiful covering of Jesus that we might rejoice and serve Him.
No, of course Adam and Eve could not see all the way through to Jesus. But they would have learned something about how to be freed from guilt before the Lord, something that would become a tradition among God’s people, something about the relationship between sin, guilt, sacrifice, and the favor of the Lord. Something that they would weary of but continue for centuries. They might even have made some connection between the promised Enmity—their defender—and the coverings God had provided. But they could not have worked it all out.
Jesus would end the sacrifices by His final, perfect sacrifice for our sins, where on the cross, His Enmity between death and God’s people achieved complete victory.
Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
“Those who make an image, all of them are useless, and their precious things shall not profit;
they are their own witnesses; they neither see nor know, that they may be ashamed.
Who would form a god or mold an image that profits him nothing?
The craftsman…cuts down cedars…then it shall be for a man to burn,
for he will take some of it and warm himself; yes, he kindles it and bakes bread;
indeed he makes a god and worships it; he makes it a carved image, and falls down to it.
He burns half of it in the fire; with this half he eats meat; he roasts a roast and is satisfied.
He even warms himself…and the rest of it he makes into a god, his carved image….
And no one considers in his heart, nor is there knowledge nor understanding to say,
‘I have burned half of it in the fire, yes, I have also baked bread on its coals;
I have roasted meat and eaten it; and shall I make the rest of it an abomination?
Shall I fall down before a block of wood?’” (Is. 44.9-19).
Since the beginning of time, the father of lies and death (Jn. 8.44), the one who has been enticing people to fall down before blocks of wood, and making them feel intelligent for doing so, has been trying to lead God’s people astray.
Look at what Adam and Eve were led to do: they gave up perfection, thinking that there was more to be gotten, and all they got was the sight of their own needy nakedness. The enemy enticed them to believe they would see amazing things and all they got was the knowledge that they were bereft of clothing. Not a good trade off.
They traded everything beautiful, for hairy traveling clothes and a ticket out of Paradise.
Do we do that?
Do we fall down before blocks of wood?
Trading the perfect love of God for a lie?
The wages of sin are horrific and stupid.
But God is there, as He has been from the beginning, to clothe us with His righteous Son.
Jesus, the complete covering for our sin, said:
“I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich;
and white garments, that you may be clothed,
that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed;
and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.
Therefore be zealous and repent.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
If anyone hears My voice and opens the door,
I will come in to him and dine with him,
and he with Me” (Rev. 3.18-20).
“The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6.23).
“For it is the God Who commanded light to shine out of darkness, Who has shone in our hearts
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4.6).
Reflection
1. What does it mean to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ”?
2. What is the alternative to doing so?
3. Do you have a prayer partner or an accountability partner? Would you benefit from having one?
The beasts, from whose skins they were clothed, it is supposed were slain, not for man’s food, but for sacrifice, to typify Christ, the great Sacrifice. Adam and Eve made for themselves aprons of fig-leaves, a covering too narrow for them to wrap themselves in, Isaiah 28:20. Such are all the rags of our own righteousness. But God made them coats of skin, large, strong, durable, and fit for them: such is the righteousness of Christ; therefore put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on Genesis 3.21
Pray Psalm 32.1-7.
Give thanks to God that He has covered your sins with Jesus, that He is clothing you day by day more richly and completely in Him, and that one day—soon—you will see Jesus as He is and will be like Him.
Sing Psalm 32.1-7.
(Hendon: Take My Life and Let It Be)
Blessed are they whose sins the LORD has forgiven by His Word!
Pure their spirits are within; them He charges with no sin;
them He charges with no sin!
When in silence I remained, groaning in my sinful pain,
You Your hand upon me lay; all my strength You drained away,
all my strength You drained away.
I confessed my sin to You; You forgave me, ever true!
Let confession’s pleading sound reach You while You may be found,
reach You while You may be found!
When flood waters threaten me, You my hiding place will be.
O’er them I will rise above, buoyed by Your redeeming love,
buoyed by Your redeeming love.
T. M. and Susie Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
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