Adam and Eve clothed themselves in fig leaves, but God rejected their garments, and instead made them garments of skin. Every person in the world is either dressed in his own righteousness or the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Are you dressed in fig leaves or a fur coat?
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Christ – Our Righteous Covering
Genesis 3:7-21
The Book of Genesis tells us the story of how God created man, as His crowning act of creation and placed him in Paradise, with dominion over all the creatures which He had made. God gave him the garden of Eden to enjoy, and He allowed them the great privilege of fellowship with Himself. However, we have seen that when sin entered, everything changed. The Paradise was turned into a cursed creation. Life was turned into Death. Health gave way to sickness. Dominion turned into bondage. Fellowship with God became alienation from God.
The sin, guilt, shame, pain, suffering, crime, sickness, and death that pervades our world can only be explained by one thing – the Fall of man as depicted in Genesis 3. There we see how the Devil was able to cause the woman to resist God’s will, reject God’s Word, and desert God’s way. He was able to get her to see more glory in the forbidden fruit than in God Himself. He was able to get her to believe his lies rather than God’s truth. And the result was that she ate, and gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
So, what was the result? What was the aftermath of the first sin? That’s what I want to direct your attention to today. When man sins and falls from his state of holiness, what does he do? And when man sins and falls, what does God do? Those are the 2 questions I want to focus on this morning.
1. What Did Adam and Eve Do When They Sinned?
- They Discovered Themselves: As soon as Adam and Eve sinned, the Bible says, “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked.” Now, when the Bible says that their eyes were opened, it’s not talking about their physical eyes. They had physical eyesight before. They were able to look around and see each other, and the animals, and the trees, and the fruit. No, this is talking about the eyes of their understanding; their consciences were awakened. God has graciously given all men a conscience. The function of the conscience is to be a judge or monitor within the human heart. It tells us when we do right or when we do wrong. All men have a conscience, although some have gotten to the point where their conscience is seared, and they are past feeling. This is why people instinctively know it is wrong to murder, cheat, and steal. Romans 2:14-15 says, “For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them.” The very first thing we find after man sins, is that his conscience is awakened, and condemns his actions.
Further, vs.7 goes on to say, “and they knew that they were naked.” They have been naked all along. In fact, Genesis 2:25 says “And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” They could look at each other beforehand. Why is it not until sin that they knew they were naked? And how did they find out that they were naked? In vs. 11 God asks them, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” They didn’t find out they were naked by someone telling them that. They knew it because they now for the first time experienced a sense of shame, and a need to cover their sin. Before sin entered the world, their was no consciousness of evil in any form. But now, they instinctively know that they needed to cover what they had done to protect them from God’s all-seeing gaze.
Now, what did their conscience do for them? Well, a better question would be, what didn’t it do for them?! We see that it didn’t bring them back to God. Instead, it caused them to run and hide from God. Just because all men have consciences that tell them when they are doing right or wrong doesn’t mean that when they sense they have done wrong, they will automatically seek God for His forgiveness. Instead, it’s almost always the opposite. They flee from God.
- They Covered Themselves: The end of verse 7 says, “and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.” This is the first account in the Bible of man’s attempt to remedy his wretched condition. Adam and Eve decided that, instead of confessing their sin and seeking God’s forgiveness, they would attempt to conceal their sin from God. So what did they do? They made themselves loin coverings of fig leaves sewn together. So, how did that work out for you Adam? Not so good. If this covering had been sufficient, there would have been no need for them to go and hide from the Lord. They knew, intuitively, that their own works could never conceal what they had done from the all-seeing eyes of God Almighty. Isn’t it interesting that the only thing that Jesus Christ cursed when He walked the earth was a fig tree? Why did He curse it? Because it bore no fruit. The covering of fig leaves represents man’s self-righteousness; his attempts to cover his sin on his own. And my friends, the righteousness of man is under a curse. It will never be accepted by a thrice holy God. Neither can the flesh ever produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
But, isn’t this what the sinner does when his conscience tells him that he has sinned against God and done evil in His sight? The first thing man will do is to try to cover over his sin by doing something. And, for the most part, lost people feel they have been very successful. They convince themselves that they’re all right now. They put on a robe of self-righteousness and tell themselves that God can’t see their sin any more. They say, “I pay my honest debts. I’m a good law-abiding citizen. I go to church. I’m as religious as the next guy. I live by the Golden Rule, and keep the 10 Commandments. I haven’t committed murder, or adultery.” But don’t you see that all of that is fig leaves!? All of that is what man can do without God. When God looks down on all of man’s righteous deeds, how does He view it? Let’s take a look in Isaiah 64:6, “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment.” God sees all of your best deeds on your best days, and what He sees is a filthy garment. The literal Hebrew is a “used menstrual cloth.” My friend, your best prayers have enough sin in them to damn you to hell for all eternity. Your repentance needs to be repented of. There is nothing we do in this life that is not infected in some way with sin. Most of the world today is wearing fig leaves. Those fig leaves will never screen you from God’s gaze.
How are people wearing fig leaves today? The devout Muslim kneels on his prayer mat toward Mecca and prays 5 times a day. The Jew works hard to keep God’s Law. The Mormon marries in the temple, tithes, and keeps the rules of his religion. The Catholic goes to confession, does his penance, and takes holy communion. And the ignorant Protestant, seeks acceptance with God by going to church, reading his Bible, getting baptized, and living a moral life. They are all wearing fig leaves!
- They Hid Themselves: Vs. 8 tells us, “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.” Just as their garments of fig leaves couldn’t hide their sin from God, so too, their hiding behind the trees in the garden could never screen them from God. Imagine it – hiding from God! There is one Being you know you can never successfully hide from! He is the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow (James 1:17). 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). What insanity to think they could hide themselves from God, but that’s what sin does to us. It makes us insane. What should they have done? They should have cried out to God, “Lord please have mercy on us! We did exactly what You told us not to do. Can you ever find it in your hear to forgive us? Is there any way that we can be restored?” But, instead they run from God, who is their only hope. The God from whom Adam and Eve sought to hide, was the only One in whom Adam and Eve could hide.
- They Excused Themselves: When God confronted them, notice how they respond in vs.12-13, “And the man said, “The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate. Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” All of this reminds me of when two little kids are in trouble. You ask them, “What’s going on here!?” What’s their reply? “He did it!” We call this “passing the buck.” Nobody wants to take responsibility for their actions. Adam passed the buck to Eve – “the woman.” Actually, he also passes the buck back to God – “the woman whom Thou gavest to be with me.” What does Eve do? She blames the serpent. Everybody is blaming somebody else. Of course, it’s not Adam’s fault, and it’s not Eve’s fault. It’s God’s fault, or the serpent’s fault! That is so typical of the human race isn’t it? And before you become judgmental of everyone else, take a look at yourself. If I know anything about the human heart, I know that you are prone to do this too.
So, now that we’ve seen how Adam and Eve responded to their sin, let’s turn and see how God responded to their sin.
2. What Did God Do When They Sinned?
- He Called Them: Notice vs. 9, “Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” Now, what’s going on here? God had every right to destroy the man and the woman instantly on the spot. They deserved death. Instead, He comes to them and calls to them. He asks, “Where are you?” Now, do you suppose God was asking the question because He didn’t know the answer?! Of course not. God’s questions are never for information. God was seeking to draw out a confession of sin from Adam and Eve. When God called Adam it was an expression of His love and grace. God only seeks to elicit a confession of sin from us because He desires a relationship with us. Instead of washing his hands of the man and the woman, God pursued them in love. And God is still doing the same thing today. Even though the human race has rebelled against its Maker, and are running headlong into sin, God, in His grace, still comes to them, and calls to them in the gospel. He asks each sinner, “Where are you?” “What have you done?” “Will you repent and forsake your sin to find forgiveness and life in Me?” God is calling out to you today in the gospel. He’s saying, “Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies. Therefore, repent and live” (Ezek.18:31-32).
- He Confronted Them: When Adam told God that he hid himself because he was afraid because he was naked, God asked him, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” (3:11). Do you see what God is doing here? He is still working at drawing out an honest confession of sin from Adam and Eve. In order to do that, God must confront them directly. God graciously confronts sinners today as well. In John 16:7-8 Jesus said, “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin because they do not believe in Me.” When God asked Adam if he had eaten of the forbidden fruit, He was pressing the point home. He wasn’t going to let Adam weasel out of it. He was convicting Adam of sin and making Adam own up to it. The Holy Spirit does the same thing in our lives, and we should thank God that He does! The Spirit of God opens our eyes, and convinces us that we are sinners, desperately in need of God’s grace. Our greatest sin is unbelief. The Spirit shows us that we have been trusting in ourselves and our own righteousness all along, and have ignored Christ and His righteousness. The very first commandment is, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Ex. 20:3). The Holy Spirit convicts us of having broken that command every day of our lives. Why? Because we have had other gods before Him. We have worshipped and served ourselves rather than the true and living God! So, not only does God graciously call us, but He also graciously confronts us.
- He Chastises Us: In Genesis 3:14-19, we find God bringing a curse upon the serpent, chastising the woman, and cursing the ground. To the woman God said, “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, in pain you shall bring forth children; yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you” (Gen. 3:16). This passage teaches us that the woman will naturally be oriented towards her husband and children. She will naturally gravitate towards family – bearing and raising children and communing with her husband. However, due to the Fall, God says here that she will be frustrated in this sphere. Bearing children would become very painful. Evidently, had Adam and Eve never sinned, she could have born children with very little pain. Further, her heart and soul will naturally go out to her husband, but she will be frustrated there as well, because he will rule over her. There will be conflict and tension in her relationship with her husband.
To Adam God said, “Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow 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, because from you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Gen. 3:17-19). The man’s natural orientation will be toward his work. Men usually have a strong desire to do something with their life, to accomplish a goal, to work and provide for their family. But even in this, the man will also be frustrated. Due to the Fall work now becomes very difficult. It will become very difficult to make a living. It is only by the sweat of his face that he will be able to eat bread. The ground will produce thorns and thistles, making it harder and harder to survive. And not only does the Fall produce frustration in the man’s work, it also brings frustration between the husband and wife. Notice that the woman is oriented toward her husband – “her desire shall be for her husband.” But the man is oriented towards his work. She wants to just kick back and spend the day with her husband talking and hanging out with him. However, he feels this need to work, and accomplish goals and get things done. And that causes frustration in the relationship.
However, even this chastisement on the part of God towards the man and the woman is an act of grace. Why? Because if God did not make the bearing and raising of children a difficult and frustrating experience, the woman would have the tendency to find her life and satisfaction and joy in that, rather than in God. If God did not make the man’s work frustrating, he would tend to find his life and satisfaction and joy in his work, rather than in God. If there were no frustration in family life or work, it would be very easy to completely forget about God, and set all our affection and desire and longing upon this world only. C. S. Lewis once wrote, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” So here we find God calling, confronting, and chastising. However, He’s not done yet. He also clothes them.
- He Clothed Them: Verse 21 says, “And the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.” Adam and Eve made loin coverings from sewing fig leaves together. However, God comes to them, removes the fig leaves, and puts proper clothing on them. These garments of skin represent the righteous of God that He clothes us with when we believe on Jesus Christ.
Notice, that God Himself solved the problem of a covering. When Adam and Eve sinned, they lost their righteousness, and there was absolutely nothing they could do to get that righteousness back. If they would ever get a righteousness back, it would have to come from someone else. The righteousness that God requires is the righteousness that only God can provide. Adam thought Eve was the problem. Eve thought the serpent was the problem. Actually both of them had the same problem. Their problem was God! What do we do when we have a God problem? The only solution for a God problem is God. Only God can solve God! All people have the same problem. It’s God. To solve their God problem, they must go to God. To the sin problem we proclaim Jesus, because Jesus is God’s solution to the God problem. Have you ever wondered why God was manifested in the flesh, why God had to live in the flesh, why the God-Man had to suffer and die? It’s because there was a God problem. If you are going to be acceptable to God, you have to get a covering from God.
Notice, also that God did everything. The text says that God made the garments and clothed them with them. The man and the woman didn’t do anything. They simply received the covering from God as a gift of His grace. We find the same thing in the parable of the Prodigal Son. When the prodigal son returns what does the Father do? He runs to meet him, embraced him, and kissed him. Then he cries to his slaves, “Quickly, bring out the best robe and put it on him!” The prodigal son didn’t have to clothe himself. The father didn’t say, “Bring out the best robe and let him put it on himself.” He was clothed by another. What does a sinner have to do to have his sins covered? Absolutely nothing except trust in Jesus. Listen to the words of Isaiah 61:10, “I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness.” The language is “He has clothed me; He has wrapped me.”
Again, the garments of skin that God provided were absolutely essential. God could not have fellowship with Adam and Eve unless they were properly covered. The fact that God gave them His own covering, proves that their own covering of fig leaves was not sufficient. God’s garment was effectual because God provided it, just as the fig leaves were ineffectual because man had provided it. Unless God covers you with His righteousness you will perish! I can’t state this strongly enough. There are only 2 kinds of people in the world today – those who have covered themselves by their own works, or those who have been covered by God by Christ’s works. Only those who receive God’s righteous covering will be saved. Remember the parable of the wedding feast? When the king came in to look over the dinner guests he saw someone not dressed in wedding clothes and said, “Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?” The man was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth’” (Mt.22:11-13).
These garments that God provided required a blood sacrifice. Where do you suppose that God got these garments of skin? Of course they came from animals, probably lambs, who had to forfeit their lives. The innocent animal must die so that the guilty sinner can be covered. My friend, in order for God to cover you, He Himself had to become a blood sacrifice. “Without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Heb.9:22). “God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). “Christ died for sins, once for all, the just for the unjust, in order to bring us to God” (1 Pet. 3:18). Jesus Christ is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. If you or I were ever to be saved, God Himself must die in our place! We had a God problem, only God could solve that God problem. Jesus is the answer to the God problem!
Life Application:
Folks, let me ask you a few questions this morning. Are your clothes homemade or God-made? Unless God Himself has provided and clothed you with His own righteousness, you will be damned forever! Are you standing in your own self-righteousness or the very righteousness of Jesus Christ? The apostle Paul wanted to be found in Him, not having a righteousness of his own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith (Phil.3:9). What kind of righteousness do you possess? It is a righteousness which comes from you or a righteousness that comes from God?
Do you believe you can save yourself, or do you need to be saved by Another? Do you expect salvation by doing or something done? Is your salvation a work of man for God or a work of God for man? The old hymn puts it well, “There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.”
Jesus once told a parable of 2 men who went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed to himself, “God I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.” However, the tax collector stood far off, and wasn’t even willing to lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat on his breast saying, ‘God, be merciful to me the sinner!” So, what’s the punch line? Jesus said that the tax collector went down to his house justified, while the Pharisee went down condemned. The Pharisee, the religious self-righteous man was wearing fig leaves. The humble, penitent tax collector was wearing a fur coat. What are you wearing today?
You say, “Well, how can I put on the robes of Christ’s righteousness?” Very simple. You must stop trusting in yourself, and start trusting in Jesus. It’s as simple as that. You must never again expect that God will accept and receive you because of something that you have done. From now on and forever you must expect God to accept and receive you because of the work of Jesus Christ. He is all your hope. You must bank on Him; that God has accepted His work, and that in Him you have life!
For those of you who are trusting in Jesus, I have a word for you. Marvel! Marvel that God sees you as the very righteousness of Jesus Christ. When He looks on you, He doesn’t see sin, filth, and depravity. He sees Jesus. If you are in Him, when He looks on you, He sees the very beauty of His Son! Everyone who believes is justified from all things from which we could not be justified through the law of Moses (Acts 13:39). This justification is Perfect and Permanent! You can never become any more righteous in God’s sight than you are right now. You already are perfectly righteous in God’s sight. And if you are justified, you can never fall from a justified state. Those whom God justifies He glorifies! So marvel and worship Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away your sin and covers you with His own righteousness.
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