Advent: December 3rd

And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. (Genesis 3:20-21)

This is truly an amazing verse when we stop and ponder it. Adam and Eve had just sinned against God, essentially shaking their fist at Him and saying, ‘We are going to do things our way!’ They had one law to obey and yet they failed to keep it. They lived in a pristine environment. God had given them everything they could ever possibly need or desire, but still they wanted more. And so, they reached out and took from the forbidden fruit and brought sin, suffering, misery into the world. Then for the first time, Adam and Eve went from being completely selfless toward one another to being completely selfish and so they sewed fig leaves together to cover their bodies from each other because they no longer desired to be transparent with one another and then they hid themselves from God as a way of covering their shame and their guilt. God rightly curses them and curses the serpent. Yet despite all they had done, God feels compassion for them. They are like frightened sheep which have no idea what to do. And so, God kills an innocent animal and makes an adequate covering for Adam and Eve, something to cover their shame and guilt.

This is what Advent is all about. In our shame and guilt, we needed an adequate covering for ourselves. All our good works, all our efforts, all our self-righteous deeds are nothing more than fig leaves sewn together in a pathetic attempt to hide ourselves from the eyes of a holy God. Thus, Christ came into the world as the Lamb of God to die on the cross for our sins and to provide a perfect and everlasting covering for our sins against the eyes of God. Because of what Christ has done for us, for those who place faith in Christ as their only means of salvation and eternal life, we can once again stand in the presence of God Almighty and be acceptable to him.

Photo by Max Beck on Unsplash