In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and everything in it through the Word. Having done so, God created man on the sixth day. After this God took a rib from man and created woman. In them was no sin and they felt no shame in their nakedness(Gen. 2:25). This was the human life that God created in his perfection and what God intended for life to be...before the fall. Life, lived to the fullest. There was no shame, there was no need to cover up any sin, and there was no death. It was a life of freedom and an unbroken relationship with God. One of complete joy.
But sin found its way through Satan in the form of a serpent, corrupting man and woman, bringing a knowledge of good and evil and all that came with it. The guilt, the shame, the sin, the need to cover up, the need to hide from wrong doing entered into this world. God knew what the consequences would entail, but man and woman wanted more than what was given and took the choice to act on their thoughts. Genesis shows this through the actions of Adam and Eve. Genesis 3:7 states, "Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves." Verse 8 goes on to say, "...and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden."
Sin found its way into the world and it brought with it two distinct actions.
The first is realizing the guilt of what you have done and feeling shame for it.
The second is to try and cover it up and hide from the actions you have done.
Sin finds comfort in darkness, it does not like the light. So Adam and Eve hid from their actions and were in shame for what they had done and they did not want God to find them.
God in his righteousness had to take action. He could not accept sin, because sin and shame and darkness were against his very nature. He knew that giving man and woman freewill would eventually lead to this, but it still saddened him to see death entering the world. Actions had to be taken against sin and the Lord acted on justice because he is a just God. But God had a plan. In his punishment He gave an answer. In His hurt from the sin of man, he provided hope that only he could fulfill. He was to crush the head of the serpent while the serpent would only strike his heel. (Gen. 3:15). This was it, the story of salvation and the plan of redemption revealed from the beginning of time. But how would he crush the head of the serpent?
That is why the story does not end there. It was verse 21 of chapter 3 that got me. After sentencing man and woman for their sins, God showed an act of love that broke me. The Son of God, not yet man, not yet born, did an act of compassion that surpassed my own understanding. Jesus himself, having punished man for sin and with the knowledge that they would be forever banished from the Garden of Eden, showed an act of service to both Adam and Eve. The Son of God, the Son of Man, in all his glory, made clothes for Adam and Eve. He made clothes... Just dwell on that for a minute. He served man and woman when all he had to do was cast them out. God had a love for human kind that surpassed all understanding, even in his righteous anger. God, from the beginning of creation showed both grace and truth, both compassion and justice. This,,,is the God we serve. Though, if we dig further into the verse, we come to realize what the clothes were from. It was no fabric, no wool or silk. It was skin. Jesus, the Son of God, the Angel of the Lord, put the wrath of sin on an animal to die the death that man should have. The first death on earth was done to atone for the sins of Adam and Eve. The sacrificial animal paid the price for sin and it was used to clothe man and woman. A price had to be paid...
Fast forward to the birth of Jesus. We see in the gospel of John that the story was connected all along. John states in verse 1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, the Word was God." In the beginning...from before creation, the Son of God, ever existing, never changing. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us...full of grace and truth. The same traits that were exuded from the beginning in the book of Genesis. Carrying the truth to punish sin, yet showing the grace to find a way to bring people back into a relationship with Him.
Having served his time on Earth, Jesus was sentenced for blasphemy, for claiming to be God, yet having portrayed God fully, showing God's nature through Himself and His actions. Jesus knew though, that this was his mission all along. He was to crush the serpents head and end the reign of sin once and for all. To take the wrath of God's righteousness upon Himself. To die the death we should have died.
And then, as Jesus was being crucified, we see in John 19:23 that Jesus was stripped of his clothes so that he would be put to shame upon the cross. Wait a minute...whhaatt? Jesus was stripped of his clothes? Jesus was shamed? That is not right, that is not fair. Jesus is the last person to deserve something like this! How could Jesus clothe us from shame and then be stripped to be shamed...unless, unless that was His plan all along? Was it not Jesus in the Garden of Eden that first clothed man and woman in their shame? Did he, as he was making the clothes of skin from an animal, think about the cross and that his own clothes would be stripped from him? That his own people, his own creation, would be the ones to commit this crime? No...it can't be! That God Himself, in his compassion, knew all along that He would be the one to carry our shame and our sin upon himself in order to crush the head of the serpent. That Jesus, the Son of God, the Son of Man, would carry our shame so that we did not have to. That, just as an animal in the Garden of Eden was killed to clothe Adam and Eve, Jesus, in return, became the ultimate sacrifice, the Lamb of God, for us. He became the final sacrifice that would clothe us and cover up our shame and our sin forevermore. How compassionate is our God! That from the beginning of time, He showed us what He had to do by clothing Adam and Eve with skin of an animal. The one who conquered sin and allowed us to live without shame, knowing that he took this shame upon himself through his death upon the cross.
The Father in heaven could not be around sin when the Son took it all upon Himself on the cross. In His anguish of being separated from His Father for the first time in eternity, he cried out. David knew this prophecy all along. He knew it, and He spoke about it. Telling all of his brethren, all of the fellow Israelites to rejoice for this day! Jesus, in his dying moment, pointed us to this, he yelled it from the cross!
Psalm 22:1
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Matthew 27:46
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
And then we see and we read what David foretold would happen to the Messiah, the Son of God.
Psalm 22:7
All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
Luke 23:36
The soldiers also came up and mocked him...
Psalm 22:8
"He trusts in the Lord," they say, "let the Lord rescue him."
Luke 23:35
...They said, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is God's Messiah, the Chosen One."
Psalm 22:16
...they pierce my hands and my feet.
Luke 23:33
When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there...
Psalm 22:17
All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me.
Luke 23:35
The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him.
Psalm 22:18
They divided my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment."
John 19:23-24
When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. "Let's not tear it," they said to one another. "Let's decide by lot who will get it."
Psalm 22:31
They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it!
John 19:30
When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished."
Yes indeed! God did it! He finished his work on the cross to clothe us from shame and save us from death. How great is our God! He was shamed so we do not have to live in shame. He was buried in a tomb of darkness so we do not have to live in darkness. He rose from the grave so we too will rise from death to life. The plan of salvation, the plan of redemption, it is written, it was foretold, and it was accomplished.
