Genesis 3:1-21

Steve Holloway

Can you imagine what it must have been like for Adam and Eve to live in Eden? Not only was it perfection but it was also completely untainted by past experiences. They were the only people to have been created without birth. They came into being as adults - in full conscious relationship with God. All they knew was the perfection of the creation they lived in and the completeness of their relationship with God; so intimate was it, that they would walk and speak with Him in the cool of the evening. Their relationship with Him and each other was open, intimate and innocent. They had no knowledge of shame, embarrassment or awkwardness - they stood both physically and emotionally naked before each other and God.

But how short-lived that perfection was. As we know, they disobeyed God by eating of the tree in the middle of the garden - the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 2:17). Having done the one thing they had been commanded not to, they had three new experiences and emotions - they felt fear, they felt shame and they felt naked (Gen 3:10). Suddenly, they were vulnerable and embarrassed. They had something to hide, something to keep from God, and their nakedness was now an issue. It must have been similar to how we feel when we can't look someone in the eye having done something wrong - only significantly worse.

Their sin had consequences - hard toil for the man, pain in childbirth for the woman and enmity between the serpent and mankind. From that time on, they and their offspring would know good and evil. Their innocence was gone - they had wrecked perfection.

But read verse 21 - what does God do?

God performs the first sacrifice in the Bible. He slaughters an innocent animal, makes clothes from its skin and covers their shame. How awesome that right at the very beginning of history God demonstrates his future plan. He shows them grace and covers their shame. God renews their relationship with Him.

Two thousand years ago, God sacrificed another unblemished lamb - the Lamb of God. And today, that sacrifice, by grace, through faith covers our shame and restores our relationship with Him. Intimacy and innocence can be restored. Once again we can walk with our Creator in intimacy, openness and without guilt or shame.