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Animal Skin
“And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins, and clothed them”(Gen. 3:21, RSV).
Yesterday we saw Adam and Eve’s response to their sin; today we’ll look at God’s. In the above text we have, in a sense, the gospel message prefigured.
First, we can see that Adam and Eve’s fig-leaf covering was not adequate. If it were, then there would have been no need to kill innocent animals in order to clothe the fallen couple. In the same way, all our efforts to keep the law well enough to be saved are inadequate. If working our way to salvation were adequate, then Christ would not have had to die for us. Just as fig leaves would have been less costly and traumatic than the death of innocent animals, so, too, our works would have been cheaper than the death of Jesus. In both cases, our works, fig leaves, couldn’t suffice; that’s why Jesus had to die for us; that’s why innocent animals needed to be slain. It could be no other way (Gal. 3:21, Rom. 3:21–28).
Second, what’s the main difference between fig leaves and animal skins? What inevitably comes from the latter that doesn’t from the former? Of course, the answer is blood. That alone should tell us how the gospel appears in Genesis 3:21 (see Lev. 17:11; Rev. 12:11; 1 Pet. 1:18, 19; Heb. 9:22).
Third, perhaps the most insightful part of the text is the last part, in which it says that “[He] clothed them” (Gen. 3:21). The Hebrew is clear: it was the Lord who placed the animal skins on Adam and Eve. It was His act, it was what He did for them that covered the shame of their nakedness. As we saw yesterday, the immediate consequences of their sin were revealed in the nakedness motif; now, however, God Himself solves the problem by clothing them Himself, in a covering made from innocent animals who were slain. The text says only that a “skin” covered them; it doesn’t tell us what kind. It might not be hard to make a correct guess, though, would it? (See Gen. 22:8, John 1:36, 3:16.)
Thus, right from the start, the Lord revealed the plan of salvation. However horrible Adam and Eve’s sin, it wasn’t greater than God’s grace to save them from it, a point we should never forget ourselves.
Dwell on the wonderful promise of salvation by faith in Jesus. Dwell on the promise that our salvation is found in what He has done for us and not in what we can ever do for ourselves. How can you learn to make the promise of the gospel, of Christ’s righteousness as our own robe, the center and foundation of your life and your walk with the Lord?
| THURSDAY | April 14 |
“And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins, and clothed them”(Gen. 3:21, RSV).
Yesterday we saw Adam and Eve’s response to their sin; today we’ll look at God’s. In the above text we have, in a sense, the gospel message prefigured.
First, we can see that Adam and Eve’s fig-leaf covering was not adequate. If it were, then there would have been no need to kill innocent animals in order to clothe the fallen couple. In the same way, all our efforts to keep the law well enough to be saved are inadequate. If working our way to salvation were adequate, then Christ would not have had to die for us. Just as fig leaves would have been less costly and traumatic than the death of innocent animals, so, too, our works would have been cheaper than the death of Jesus. In both cases, our works, fig leaves, couldn’t suffice; that’s why Jesus had to die for us; that’s why innocent animals needed to be slain. It could be no other way (Gal. 3:21, Rom. 3:21–28).
Second, what’s the main difference between fig leaves and animal skins? What inevitably comes from the latter that doesn’t from the former? Of course, the answer is blood. That alone should tell us how the gospel appears in Genesis 3:21 (see Lev. 17:11; Rev. 12:11; 1 Pet. 1:18, 19; Heb. 9:22).
Third, perhaps the most insightful part of the text is the last part, in which it says that “[He] clothed them” (Gen. 3:21). The Hebrew is clear: it was the Lord who placed the animal skins on Adam and Eve. It was His act, it was what He did for them that covered the shame of their nakedness. As we saw yesterday, the immediate consequences of their sin were revealed in the nakedness motif; now, however, God Himself solves the problem by clothing them Himself, in a covering made from innocent animals who were slain. The text says only that a “skin” covered them; it doesn’t tell us what kind. It might not be hard to make a correct guess, though, would it? (See Gen. 22:8, John 1:36, 3:16.)
Thus, right from the start, the Lord revealed the plan of salvation. However horrible Adam and Eve’s sin, it wasn’t greater than God’s grace to save them from it, a point we should never forget ourselves.
Dwell on the wonderful promise of salvation by faith in Jesus. Dwell on the promise that our salvation is found in what He has done for us and not in what we can ever do for ourselves. How can you learn to make the promise of the gospel, of Christ’s righteousness as our own robe, the center and foundation of your life and your walk with the Lord?
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