His Shame, Our Glory

But it didn’t work. God came to them, sought them out, discovered them behind the bushes and the fig leaves, saw through their leafy masks to the corruption beneath. And God, being as He is "of purer eyes than to behold evil," and not being able to "look on wrong" (Hab 1:13), agreed with Adam and Eve; these sinners should wear clothing to cover their nakedness, their sinfulness, their corruption. “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coasts of skins, and clothed them.” (Gen 3:21).

3. The reason for clothing

a. To cover sin

God ordained clothes as a result of our fall into sin. As a result, He was not pleased with Noah’s drunken nakedness after the flood. Noah displayed no shame for his sinfulness, his depravity, his nakedness. It’s also the reason why the Lord at Mt Sinai forbade Israel from making a raised altar which the priests would need to climb in order to perform their sacrifices. For the people standing on the ground below could then see something of the priests’ nakedness under their robes - not fitting for those who would be doing sacrifices to God for the forgiveness of sins. In fact, that’s also why God later commanded that the priests of Israel, when they did their work, had to wear under their robes "linen breeches to cover their nakedness"; these breeches had to reach “from the loins unto the thighs" (Ex 28:42f).

We do not wear clothes today because the temperature requires it, or that ultra-violet rays damage our skin. Rather, we wear clothes because of our fall into sin; we wear clothes because sin remains in us. In the face of the exhibitionism of our day, we do well to remember this purpose of clothing. And we should make sure that we keep ourselves covered - not just in the presence of people, but in the presence of the God who is always with us. Thus, God made sure Adam and Eve’s nakedness was covered because He wished there sinfulness covered.

b. To show grace

They had covered themselves because they had been afraid of God. And rightly were they afraid. But the miracle was then that God had not destroyed them outright! God had let them stand in His presence, be it after they were covered with clothes. Why did God let them stand in His presence, why not destroy them? That, brothers and sisters, was because the Christ was going to come! This was God’s promise: the seed of the woman shall triumph over the seed of the serpent. This coming of Christ was foreshadowed by the fact that God took one of the animals He had created, and killed it (most likely a sheep), so shedding blood. That blood pointed forward to the shedding of Christ’s blood on Calvary. It was because Christ’s blood would one day be shed that Adam and Eve could now appear before God. Blood is shed. But that blood is shed also for another purpose: God wants to make clothing, clothing to hide nakedness, sinfulness. So there is a very close connection between the clothing and the shedding of that blood, between the clothing and the cross. Those garments God gave to Adam and Eve spelled out not only that there was distance between man and God; they spelled out also that God was gracious. For God covered depraved Adam and Eve so that He need not look at their nakedness, their sinfulness. More, with the clothing -prepared through the shedding of blood- God assured these two sinners that a Saviour was coming, a Saviour who would cover their nakedness fully, cover their shame, their sinfulness. Clothes: they were for Adam and Eve not only a daily reminder of their sinfulness; they were also a daily remainder of God’s grace for Christ’s sake. Clothes meant distance, but not destruction; shame and yet grace. Do you see that, brothers and sisters in Christ?