“Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.”
Genesis 3:21
Genesis chapter 3 is one of the darkest chapters in the entire Bible.
Here sin came into the world with all its dreadful consequences.
When Adam sinned there were immediate, devastating changes in his life.
v7, man’s first sense of guilt: their innocence had been lost.
v7, man’s first attempt to hide his shame: they made themselves coverings of fig leaves.
v8, they were afraid to meet with God: they hid from the presence of the Lord God.
v9, the first occasion of judgement: God called them to stand in front of Him.
Soon they heard words of condemnation and the curse from God against their sin.
But in this dark passage there is also glorious light shining
Adam acted out of faith in God’s Word when he called his wife Eve.
Up until this point eve had no personal name.
Eve had been referred to in other ways:
2:18, “a helper comparable to him [Adam].”
2:22, “a woman.”
2:23, “bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.”
2:25, “his wife.”
All these were descriptive titles but, as yet, she had no personal name.
3,20, “And Adam called his wife’s name Eve.”
Think of the circumstances in which Adam named his wife.
The last words of God were still ringing in his ears: v19, “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”
God had just pronounced the sentence of physical death on Adam and Eve.
They knew for certain that one day they would die.
But God had also spoken other words:
3:15, “To the serpent He said, And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”
In these words God had promised descendents to Adam and Eve.
They would have children: one of these children would be the promised deliverer.
Adam therefore acted out of faith in these words when he named his wife Eve.
v20, “He named her Eve because she was the mother of all living.”
Some scholars translate the word “Eve” – “life giver.”
Adam named his wife Eve because he believed the promise of God.
Abraham is another example of faith:
God promised Abraham a son but he and Sarah were now too old to have a son.
Romans 4:18-22, “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed… without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead – since he was about a hundred years old – and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.” NIV
That is faith! Faith is to believe the Word of the God who cannot lie.
Faith means trusting the character of God and the Word of God.
Do you have faith?
Are you resting your hope of salvation on what God has said in His Word?
This is the faith that saves us from sin and gives us hope of everlasting life.
v21, “Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.”
Think again about the background against which this was done.
v17-19, “Then to Adam He said, ‘Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”
Think of the enormity of those words.
‘Adam, life is going to be hard for you from now on. Nothing will come easily from the ground: you shall have to work hard to feed yourself. You shall have to sweat and labour to be able to eat and nature will oppose you with thorns and thistles. You will live like this until you die. You were formed from the dust of the ground and you will die and your body will turn back to dust again.’
What a mind-shattering announcement this must have been for Adam.
Yet, in the next breath, God said to Adam and Eve, ‘Follow Me.’
He took two animals and killed them and used their skins to clothe Adam and Eve.
What an amazing sight this is.
God, the Judge, who has just announced His devastating judgement in condemning sin, now shows astonishing kindness to these sinners by providing them with coats.
This tells us so much about the nature of God.
He is holy, righteous, and altogether opposed to sin.
He will not tolerate sin: He punishes it most severely, with condemnation and death.
Yet, at the same time, He is overflowing with kindness towards sinners.
How amazing God is! How surprising is His kindness to guilty sinners.
The kindness He showed in providing these skins has been called ‘common mercy.’
It is the mercy that God shows in ordinary things every day as He provides for us.
By this ‘common mercy’ God is sending out a clear signal to sinners.
Romans 2:4, “The goodness of God leads you to repentance.”
These kind gifts from God show He is good and willing to provide for us.
This should cause us to return to Him in repentance to ask for forgiveness.
He is willing not only to provide for our ordinary needs but also to pardon and accept us through His Son Jesus Christ.
Where did the idea come from for Israel to make animal sacrifices to God?
Surely it came from this chapter.
In order to provide these coats for Adam and Eve, two animals had to be killed.
Here the principle was first learned: the innocent dies for the benefit of the guilty.
This was Adam and Eve’s first sight of death.
One animal had died to clothe each person.
In Exodus, an animal was killed and its blood smeared on the house doors posts.
Everyone in the house was saved from death by the blood of that animal.
One animal died for a family there.
Later still, on the Day of Atonement, one animal was killed for the sins of Israel.
One animal died for an entire nation.
The Bible is progressive in the revelation it gives us of the plan of God.
These animal sacrifices were signposts pointing ahead to Jesus the Lamb of God.
He died so that guilty sinners may live.
1 Peter 3:18, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.”
Galations 3:13, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’).”
Romans 5:8, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
How amazing is God’s grace that He should send His only Son to die for sinners.
How amazing that Jesus Christ, the sinless One, should die for guilty sinners.
Have you come to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation?
Have you seen how amazing the love and kindness of God is in Jesus Christ.
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” Acts 16:31
Call on Him and He will save you.
“For whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” Acts 2:21
