This week I’ve freshly pondered nakedness …
… um, the nakedness found in Genesis 3.
After Adam and Eve sinned, verse seven tells us that “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.” Though they had been naked before, yet unashamed, interestingly sin “stripped them naked.” They were uncovered and exposed. So they took something that isn’t lasting (leaves) and quickly sewed something to cover themselves.
How often we do the very same thing? We attempt in our own effort, ability, and wisdom to sew something together, thinking it will cover us. We presume that merely attending church, doing good deeds, or a myriad of other things will satisfy, fulfill, and cover our exposed “nakedness” which sin brought about. Yet it is mere leaves—not lasting, temporal.
I love Genesis 3:21 which tells us that after questioning Adam and Eve, God makes them clothing made from animal skin. This is the first recorded sacrifice in Scripture and it foreshadows Christ—our sin needs an innocent blood sacrifice. What sin produced in Adam and Eve needs covering, but leaves won’t do—it must be lasting, and the innocent blood of an animal (and there is a good chance it may have been a lamb) had to be shed to cover Adam and Eve’s nakedness.
We find ourselves in the same position—due to sin, our nakedness is exposed. Though we attempt to cover it up ourselves, what is truly needed is an eternal sacrifice to cover the nakedness of sin. So Christ (the perfect, spotless, innocent Lamb of God), “offered one sacrifice for sins forever” (Hebrews 10:12). He shed His blood, atoning for our sin and restored the relationship He longed to have with His bride.
Isaiah called Jesus our “robe of righteousness” (Isaiah 61:10). And Paul says we must “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:14, also see: Ephesians 4:22-24 and Colossians 3:10).
Jesus is our clothing (our robe of righteousness) that covers our nakedness! Sin may have stripped us naked, but we as believers are now clothed with the precious Lamb of God, because we are IN Him. What an amazing reality!
Know I am cheering you ever deeper into Jesus!
—NRJohnson