Shadows of Christmas: Garments of Skin for Covering - Genesis 3:21

1:04Wonder and awe. And I want to spend some time, as I have done in the past, just focusing the next few weeks on the incarnation and what this specifically means to us so that we may better worship the Christ of Christmas. I'm not talking about in some hedonistic, paganistic, or mythological way that it is celebrated today. We should have nothing to do with that. But that celebration which is born and centered out of an understanding that God came down and dwelt among us.

1:44You see, you'll see many manger scenes this Christmas season, although there are admittedly fewer in our culture today as there has been in the past. But you will see them, and you will be tempted to look upon it and move on. You see, we typically look at the manger from our 21st-century perspective, and sometimes we just see a baby and move on. And today, I want us to look at the manger through a new set of lenses this morning, through the lenses of the Old Testament. Not particularly new, but maybe a lens we haven't looked at it from before. Specifically, I want to look at the manger from one of the very first shadows of Christ in human history, and that is the garden sacrifice. It's found in Genesis 3:21. Let me read that to you.

2:47The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife. And clothed them. I want you to see this morning in our time together. I want you to see the baby in the manger in the light of this garden sacrifice, so that you will be drawn to him, so that you will come to him and respond to him in faith, and so worship him.

3:21So, the garden sacrifice. Let's set the stage, set the context, and understand how this came about. Look at beginning in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 1. Let me just read and follow along with me. Verse 1. Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Indeed, has God said you shall not eat from any tree of the garden? The woman said to the serpent, From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die. The serpent said to the woman, You surely will not die. For the Lord knows that in the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate, and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

4:30From this text, this first six verses, we can come up with a very simple definition of what sin is. Sin is simply disobeying God. Sin is simply disobeying God. For God had already said in chapter 2 and verse 17, that you can eat from any of the trees, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it, you will surely die. God promised death if they ate it. They ate it. Guess what? They died.

5:05But how did they die? What was sin's effect? Well, the next few verses describe sin's effect. Let's look at it. But in one word, sin's effect is death, spiritual death, a separation between God and man, and a separation between man and man. And this spiritual death, which God promised, manifested itself in a couple of stages. Let's just look at that. Verse 7, this manifestation. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sowed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. In other words, the first manifestation of physical death, of spiritual death, was physical nakedness. They were suddenly opened. Aware of their nakedness. It's like took a bite, yard!

6:04Naked, fig leaves, get them, put them on. And this is a suddenly aware. Something had changed internally. New principle was at work within them that was very different, very different from the one that was already mentioned in verse 2 and 25. And the man and his wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed. A principle of sin had taken root. And it changed the relationship between man and woman. They had this innate desire to hide themselves from each other, to cover themselves.

6:51They didn't want to be in the full view of each other. A hiding took place. A separation between man and woman took place. The spiritual death was first manifested by physical nakedness. They had this urge, this feeling, this desire to be covered in the sight of man. I think we can all relate, right? We understand. Ha! Don't want to be exposed. Unless you're a little child still in the age of innocence, you cover yourself. Right? And you should.

7:33And you should. Because if we don't, there is now a principle of sin within us. So those who expose themselves are sinning. You should feel a desire to cover up. And God has put that in us because He is communicating something about our spiritual nakedness, about our spiritual state. We should cover up. And those that don't are violating, are sinning because there is an innate sense. I think we can all understand this innate sense to be covered. Well, this is also a picture of the spiritual nakedness. Let's just keep going through the text. First, physical nakedness. The spiritual death took on the manifestation of an awareness of physical nakedness, but also spiritual nakedness. Look at verse 8. They heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. You see, they not only wanted to hide themselves from each other, but they also wanted to hide themselves from God. Just as they had this innate sense to hide themselves and to cover. Cover themselves up in front of each other. They had this innate sense to hide themselves and cover themselves from God's view.

9:09Verse 9. Then the Lord God called to the man and said, Where are you? He said, I heard the sound of you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. So I hid myself. And he said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? Think about this moment in time. At this point, man was content to never again walk with God in the cool of the day. He had a whole different disposition to God.

9:43He was completely content to let, God, you go over there. God, leave me alone. I want to be over here. But God came looking for the man and found them. But they weren't finished hiding. They didn't just remove themselves, try to remove themselves physically. Then they sought to excuse themselves and further hide themselves by excusing their sins and blaming others for their sin. Look at verse 12. And then the man said, The woman whom you gave to me, God, she gave me from the tree, and I ate. Then the Lord said to the woman, What is this you have done? And the woman said, the serpent deceived me. These excuses were nothing more than intents to hide or cover up their spiritual nakedness, their spiritual guilt, for which they were ashamed.

10:48You see, death brings about this spiritual separation. Death in the garden was a spiritual separation. It's a spiritual distance between man and God. It's saying, God, I don't want you in my life. And that is the way many of you live today. God, I don't want you. God, I'm fine with you over there. Let me be over here, but don't come into my life. This spiritual separation also manifested itself in spiritual distance between man and the woman. So at this point in human history, man had two basic needs: one physical and one spiritual. So let's focus on the first. Man was physically naked and he needed physical covering. And it's in this context that we see one of God's first gracious gifts to fallen man.

11:48Genesis 3, 21, the Lord God made of skin for Adam and his wife, garments of skin, and clothed them. This was God's sake. Gracious gift. Let me explain the heart of God's gift. God was not angry with the man and woman to the point of killing them. He had compassion upon our spiritually dead ancestors. I can remember one time I had a three-year-old, I believe, that wanted to run away. Probably something because of what the older siblings did, not something that the parents did, of course. But she said, I'd like to run away. I want to go someplace else. Okay, fine. So I said, why don't you get your stuff, whatever stuff you have, and just go. Huh? Just go. So I set her out there on the sidewalk in front of our house and said, go, go. And the rest of the family was kind of like, what are you doing? You sitting there, go. So she got a few steps. By the time she got out the door, and the rest of my family is sitting there going, what are you doing? You can't just send it. It's a pitiful picture seeing this little three-year-old go off into the world to face unknown. I mean, it's, and a few steps later, she's in tears. She turns around and everybody else is in tears. We can't, you know, come back.

13:18So to this day, she lives with us. But this was how God saw the man and the woman. They're not. Ready to go out. They have run from the source of life. And there's nothing else. If you run from the source of life, there isn't anything left but death. Sure death, eternal death. You see, God cared for them, and He provided for their need, even though it was a need that was born out of man's sin. You see, God is not of the mind to say, You dug your grave, now live in it. Now lie in it, or whatever, right?

14:05No, God cared, compassion. Let's look at the gift itself. Let me ask you a question: How does one get a skin off of a creature? You see the animal's skin, and that's what it is here. Animal doesn't say precisely what it is, but we certainly know. Let me just correct a few misguided notions. It's not Christ. He has not been incarnated yet. It is not anything else, but an animal with skin. God killed the innocent creature to cover the physical nakedness of man and woman. That's what He did. The need was physical covering. And so He killed the life of an innocent and used the skin to cover The nakedness of man. So, what's the appropriate response at that point?

15:09Wear it. Put it on. It's an interesting picture of God. He is making clothes. Very personal God, we have. He's making clothes. And it's interesting, he didn't use cotton. He didn't use wool. He specifically wanted an animal skin because he was communicating something very, very profound. You see, the gracious act of taking the life of an innocent one to cover man's physical nakedness foreshadowed that God would one day kill an innocent substitute to cover man's spiritual nakedness, to cover that guilt and shame before God.

15:56And the first sacrifice, and everyone after that pointed to the one sacrifice that would clothe man's spiritual being before God. You see, the garden sacrifice merely just foreshadowed Golgotha's sacrifice. The garden sacrifice foreshadowed the Golgotha sacrifice. Let me read a little bit of portion of Mark 15:22. Then they brought him, Jesus, to the place Golgotha, which is translated. Place of a skull. They tried to give him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him and divided up his garments among themselves, casting lots for them to decide what each man should take.

16:45He was naked. It was the third hour when they crucified him. So I'm going to look at the need for this Gogotha sacrifice. You see, God had covered man and woman's physical nakedness in the garden, but what about their spiritual nakedness? What about man's innate sense to hide from God, to move away from God, to be content with God out of his life, to run from the very source of life itself? Man has this disposition, just as sure as I want to be covered. It's I want God out of my life.

17:31That reflexive. It's that much of an impulse, that much of a reflex. See, righteousness is like a covering spoken throughout the Bible. Job said, I put on righteousness and it clothed me. Psalm 132, 9 speaks of the priest being clothed in righteousness. Isaiah 61:10 says this, I will rejoice greatly in the Lord. My soul will exult in my God. Why? Notice that. It doesn't say, I will rejoice instead of fear the Lord. I will exult instead of run from my God. Why? 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 jewels. You see, man needs a righteousness to cover his naked guilt and shame before God. Otherwise, he's going to keep on running away. And it is only through the good news of the gospel that will draw men to God and women. You see, the Bible teaches us that no person naturally possesses the standard of righteousness demanded by God. No person naturally has this righteous covering. Psalm 3133 says this: If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, who shall stand? The answer, no one.

19:09Isaiah 64, as I already mentioned, all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all of our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment, and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. All of us have this iniquity, and the iniquity drive. Us away from God's presence. Romans 3:10, there is none righteous, not even one. No one has this covering. You know, just as a general observation, raising kids, you know, kids don't like to come before their parents if they know they've done something wrong. You've all experienced this. When you have done something wrong, you don't naturally want to come in to the light of the one you've wronged, right?

20:03Because they won't come in because you won't come before somebody that's angry at you. Child won't come into the presence if they know their parent is upset with them. There's a natural tendency to shrink away from that, if not run away, right? See, that's why the only way we can ever come before God is holding on to His graciousness. It's in Him. Earlier this week, my daughter, who's six, who's not here today, we were in a study and we were talking about death and coming judgment and not being afraid to die. And my daughter said, like Howard. She must have been three years old when she knew Howard. She said, he was not afraid to die. And I can remember just shortly before his death that I went over to his house and we needed to move him from his. Bedroom into the living room where he ultimately passed. And as we're loading him up, Howard, we get him, get him ready to carry. He raises his hand and says, Attention, ready? March, march, march, march. So he's on his bed, literally his deathbed, with this great sense of humor, this great passion for life. We get in there, and then we celebrate the Lord's table. We're sitting there. I'm getting ready to celebrate. And he's like, let's get on with the supreme unction. Come on, let's get on with it.

21:35But that was a man who was not afraid to die. How do you get this kind of security before heaven? You're just moments before death, and you're just marching into it victoriously. Tell you how you get there by being clothed in his righteousness. There is only hope, expectation, and joy, knowing that you are covered and you are about to meet your Maker in all of his favor. There is a joy and a sense of urgency and a delight.

22:14You see, man needs a righteousness that will completely remove his innate desire to run from God. You see, man's fear of death is closely associated with this fear of judgment. As Hebrews 9:27 says, as much as it is appointed for men to Die once, after this comes the judgment. And that is why people are afraid to die. You see, man needs a righteousness that he will stand before God in. Because if God is angry, no one will stand. And this kind of righteousness, hear me, is not in man, nor can it be obtained by man, but man needs it. It's not in you. You need it, but you can't manufacture it.

23:02Three aspects of the kind of righteousness that man needs. I want to mention them briefly. First of all, man needs a righteousness from God, something outside of himself, something that is unique, something that is of the essence of God, not of essence of man. A righteousness from God. Isaiah 45, 8 says, Drip down, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds pour down righteousness. Let the earth open up, and salvation bear fruit, and righteousness spring up with it.

23:35In other words, righteousness must come down from heaven in order for righteousness to spring up from the earth. Man needs a righteousness from God. But second, man needs a righteousness that is comprehensive. Hebrews 9:27, as much as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this comes the judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many. 2 Corinthians 5, 21, He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Complete, total, full, comprehensive. Man needs a righteousness from God. He needs a righteousness that is comprehensive. Third, man needs a righteousness that is eternal, something that's going to endure. Psalm 119:142 says this: Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness. Isaiah 51:8 says this, but my righteousness will be forever.

24:44See, man needs a spiritual covering that isn't going to fade or wear thin in time. See, man's greatest need is for this spiritual covering, one that's from God, that is comprehensive, and one that will not end, so that man will no longer be naked in guilt and shame before God. You see, in the Garden of Eden, something happened. Man was good and became evil by disobeying God, and his sin produced a guilt that caused. him to be afraid of God's presence. Where are you today with God? Are you afraid of his presence?

25:37It's an indication that you are spiritually running from God. And man's evil state consists of selfishness, self-will over God's will, and hiding from God. And man does this. You see it all around us. Man will hide himself physically from God by removing himself from all associations that involve God, or certainly the true God. Man hides himself philosophically from God by excusing sin, by denying his words, or maybe even denying God's existence. Or man will hide himself from God religiously by erecting false standards of righteousness or redefine God or elevate man or bring God down so that we can meet his criteria. But all of this is just man's feeble attempts to hide himself from God to cover his spiritual nakedness. You need a righteous covering.

26:43And like the garden sacrifice, the Golgotha sacrifice was a gracious gift aimed at meeting man at his point of need. Talk about the heart behind it. Gift. You see, God is not angry to the point of killing you. Whatever your background, whatever your history, whatever you are in, God is not angry to the point of killing you. If He would, He would have done it already. He can. God has compassion on you. He's not content to just let you go.

27:22He knows the outcome. He knows what will happen to you if you continue running from God. He knows what will happen if He does not intervene. And so God has stepped into human history and He cares for us and He has provided for us for our greatest need. You see, fallen state was not what God wanted for man eternally. Look back at Genesis 3 and 22. Let's continue the narrative. Then the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, and now he might stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever. Therefore, the Lord God sent him out from the Garden of Eden to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So he drove the man out, and at the east of the Garden of Eden, he stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword, which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.

28:29You see, man. Had experienced both good and evil. However, he did so by disobeying God. He went from good to evil through disobedience. And God was not content to let this be the perpetual state of humanity. So he blocked the way to the tree of life because he has something better in store for humanity. He said, it's not good for man to live forever in this state. And by doing so, God showed us that he was not going to confirm all in sin. He has something better in mind. So the gift, the gift itself, I want to spend some time looking at that, the gift. I'll spend some time in Romans 3 if you want to turn there. But the gift, and that's what it's called in Romans 3, 24, a gift of God, a gift of his grace. And a gift, by definition, is what? Something given freely, something unearned and unmerited. That's what a gift is. And in Romans 3, 21, the gift is called the righteousness of God. But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe. This gift was manifested in the person of Christ, a gift of grace.

29:57The perfect righteousness of Christ. Is the covering for the naked guilt of man? This is that the world and its sin and error pining was waiting for. Verse 24: being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith. A lot of big words in that two verses. I want to just briefly mention these three important concepts. Just get them in your head. Justified. Justified means to declare the rightness of something.

30:47Justified is as if I didn't do anything wrong. Justified is as if I did everything right, complete righteousness. And it involves the pardon from personal sin, pardon from wrongdoing, and all that. But it also involves the positive righteousness of Christ. You see, in his humanity, Christ was everything that God wanted humanity to be. Completely surrendered to his will, completely in fellowship with him at all times, and surrendered and trusting, even if it meant going to a cross and being crucified.

31:31Everything that God demands from humanity is in Christ. That is what he wants humanity to be. Justification, the rightness of something. Christ, right before God. Propitiation, another big word. It carries the idea of appeasement or satisfaction. Sometimes it's used in ancient pagan religions or religions today to somehow do something that appeases God, satisfies Him. And just as the garden animal was suitable to cover man's physical nakedness, so Christ's sacrifice satisfies God's demands for that comprehensive, righteous covering for man.

32:25The garden animal was sufficient, satisfactory to cover man's physical nakedness. Christ is satisfactory and sufficient to appease God's or to appease God or man in the view of God. Another concept that's very important here, imputation. This is imputed to believers. Now, what does imputed mean? We're talking about some big words here, right? What does imputed mean? Simply put, imputed means charge it to my account. Put it on my credit card. That's the idea. In writing to Philemon, Paul sending back Onesimus, Paul sending back Onisimus to be, who was once a slave of Philemon, he sends him back because he had run away. And Paul says this: if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge it to my account. That's what imputed means. Charge it to my account. This righteousness, charge to my account. Let's put them all together. Let me just kind of illustrate how these three concepts work together: justification, propitiation, and imputation. Let's suppose I have a credit card with lots of debt on it, okay?

33:49And somebody came and paid off that debt to the credit card company. But let's suppose somebody stepped up and paid off my credit card. Does the credit card company have the right to hunt me down and make me pay for it? Not at all, right? Because even if I didn't pay for it, they got their satisfaction. They got what they demanded. And so even though I didn't get it, they don't have a claim against me anymore because somebody has come in and paid my credit card debt off.

34:26In fact, you could say that the credit card. Company's claim against me has been appeased, satisfied, and it would be wrong for them to come after me. Get that in your head. It would be wrong for the credit card company to come after me if somebody else has already satisfied their demands. And this is how imputation and propitiation and justification work. You see, God demands and still demanded and still demands perfect righteousness from humanity. And the first Adam did not have it, but the baby in the manger did.

35:06And he was willing to give it to us who believe in him. In terms of righteousness, everything God ever wanted from humanity is in Christ. And when Christ gives the merits of His righteousness to others, they are spiritually clothed before God forever. And just as death was necessary to remove the skin and cover man's physical nakedness, so death was necessary to remove the righteousness from the one in order to cover man's spiritual nakedness. See, the moment Christ's righteousness was transferred, that left him spiritually naked before the Holy God. And he took Within him, the wrath and everything deserved to sinful creatures. And he gave them his clothing of righteousness. That's the transaction. And when the baby in the manger comes on the scene, there is the one who has the righteousness that God demands, and he is willing to lay it down and give it to others. You see, there's no mixture of human works in this. No mixture of human works warrants this kind of gift from God. Romans 3:27, Paul goes on to say, Where then is boasting? It is excluded by what kind of law? Of works? No, by a law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. So it is not works only. Thinking that you can earn God's favor is like saying to God, I am good enough to meet your criteria.

37:09And when it's not faith plus works, that's like saying, okay, 50% of it is faith, but 50% of it is works. Still, man exalting himself and covering himself. No, it's not, and cheapens, it still brings heaven down to earth. It's not works alone. It's not faith plus works. It is faith alone. Philippians 3:8, Paul says this, I count all things. And he had quite a resume, by the way, that would commend him to God. He said, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish.

37:57All of his works, but rubbish in terms of meriting or earning this kind of favor. This kind of favor can only be given. It cannot be earned. And to do so is to reduce it and to so profane it. It says, I count them all but rubbish, so that I may gain Christ and may be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. That's the kind of righteousness he was after. So what's the appropriate response?

38:36Wear it. Wear it. 2 Corinthians 5, 21, he made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God. Paul goes on to say, just a couple verses later, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. If you are here and you are hearing, now is the day of salvation. Day to turn. And if you have turned, now is the day to run more swiftly to him.

39:10And see, by believing in Christ, the spiritual effects of the fall are reversed. A new principle takes root, going from evil to good. The first Adam went from good to evil through disobedience. Redeemed man goes from evil to good through obeying the gospel by believing in Christ. It's a profound change, a profound reversal. And if you truly believe that God has provided a righteous covering, you go from excuse to confession. You no longer have a need to hide from Him or excuse your sin, but to come to Him.

40:01Do you really believe that God provided this covering for you? Why did He die? Why did this manger, why did this individual step onto the scene of human history? What did He do? He came for you and for me. And this is why we can sing joy to the world, because those who come to Him will not be confirmed in their sin. But will be confirmed in righteousness. You remember? God did not want man confirmed in his fallen, rebellious, naked, guilt-laden state, did he? No, he sent him out from the garden, guarded the way of the tree of life.

40:50But we have a whole different picture in Revelation 22:12. The very end of the Bible, Jesus Himself is speaking, and He says, This: Behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me, to render to every man according to what He has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter by the gates into the city. Those who are washed, robed in righteousness, they are going to be the ones who can partake of the tree of life. There is where man is going to be confirmed. He is going to be confirmed in holiness. Having gone from the disposition to evil through obedience to the gospel, a new principle has taken hold that we will grow in grace, in likeness to Christ, and one day we will ultimately be clothed in his perfection in our physical existence. And so dwell with him eternally. Then he says, Yes, take from the tree of life.

42:09Says this, I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things. I am the root, the descent of David, the bright morning star, the spirit and the bride say, Come, and let the one who hears say, Come, and let the one who is thirsty say, come, and let the one who wishes to take of the water of life without cost come, come, come. This is the message of the Bible. You do not have to run from him. He will provide you the spiritual covering. He will provide you the righteousness that you will need if you will run to him. Do not excuse, do not hide, do not suppress, but come into him. He is good, and he will receive you.

43:00So, this season, when you look upon the baby in the manger, I hope you will remember to see him in the shadow of this garden sacrifice. Matthew 1:21 says, She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. And Jesus will save his people. The babe in the manger will save his people from their sins by giving his righteous covering. Covering necessary so that His people will come into His presence and remain in union with the Father forever.

43:41But He will have to lay down His life in order to give it to us. And He did so. Now all that remains is for you to put it on by faith. Come to Him. Do you believe this is true about Christ? Then come to Him. O holy night, as the song goes, the stars are brightly shining. It is the night of the dear Savior's birth. He's here. Long lay the world in sin and error pining till He appeared, and the Spirit felt its worth. A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and a glorious morning. Fall on your knees. Let's pray. Father, truly, as we look into the baby in the manger and connect the dots to all that has been revealed about your Son, Father, we are truly in awe.

44:57Father, and help us. Forgive us. Of our unbelief. Help us, Father, by your Spirit today to believe what you have testified concerning your Son and what is truth so that we may run into your presence, knowing that you have designed, desired, purposed that we would be a people who have known good and evil, but we have known it through obeying the good. We have come to prefer the good. Father, make us a people after your own heart. Open our eyes, and may your Son truly be exalted in our lives. In Christ's name, Amen.