God Was Gracious From The Beginning

The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and His wife and clothed them.” Genesis 3:21

In the Bible, garments are symbols of righteousness. The prophet Isaiah wrote in the Book 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, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” Clothing with garments or robe gives a message of hope, redemption and salvation. “For He has clothed me with garments of salvation” speaks about God’s act of kindness, love, compassion and His unlimited grace.

When the first man, Adam and his wife Eve fell and disobeyed the LORD God, they tried to cover their guilt and shame with fig leaves and by hiding among the trees, “Read Genesis 3:7-8″, but unfortunately their choice of covering was a poor choice. Man’s way of covering their sin and guilt will never work. In other words, our religious works or our own efforts will never cover our sin and make us right before God.

What happened after Adam and Eve fell? Did God destroy them? Did God demolish mankind from planet earth? He was gracious even to the ones who disobeyed Him. The Lord furnished the skin of an animal to cover Adam and Eve from their shame. Adam and Eve did nothing to cover themselves with garments of skin and to stand before the LORD God. God did it all! It was by His grace, His gift and His effort to clothe the fallen men from their nakedness and shame with a garment, “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and His wife and clothed them.” Genesis 3:21.

What do you understand from this? An innocent animal has to be sacrificed in order to get the skin to cover a fallen man’s guilt and shame. Blood needs to be shed. God could not get the skin of the animal without putting it to death and shedding its blood. So He needs to sacrifice the innocent animal to cover a guilty man with a garment. The Hebrew word for “garment” or coat of skin means a complete covering from head to foot. It is the same word used for the high priestly robe, which covered the whole body. If you see carefully, man’s way of covering sin and guilt is not complete. Like Mr. Adam covered his shame with fig leaves and hid behind the tree.

Throughout the Old Testament, you can see animal sacrifices used for cleansing and sanctification. But in His perfect timing, the LORD God sent His Son Jesus Christ to make atonement for sin once and for all. Today, you and I are not covered by the blood of animals, but we are covered by the precious and pure blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Like the innocent animal that was sacrificed for Adam and Eve, the Lord Jesus shed His blood and covered us with His robe of righteousness. No sin is greater than His sacrifice. There is no sin that His blood can not cover. The LORD God, who was gracious from the beginning, is gracious even till this very moment.

Dearest, you are forgiven and you are accepted through His blood-shedding sacrifice. The Lord made all the effort to bring us back and reconciled us with our Heavenly Father. It is by His effort we are forgiven.