Friday 10 February 2012

Spiritual Garments

Gen 3:6  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Gen 3:7  And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
Gen 3:8  And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
Gen 3:9  And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
Gen 3:10  And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 



There is so much packed in the book of Genesis...even in these few short verses, there's alot going on. One question that had me puzzled in my young Christian days was "If God knows everything, why didn't He know where Adam and Eve were hiding?" and surely the answer must be that HE DID KNOW where they were, but He wanted them to tell Him. He wanted them to "get real" with Him, to tell Him honestly where things went wrong, not because He didn't know, but because He wanted to draw it out of them, so THEY would know. That is an incredible insight, one that would help teachers to be better teachers, and evangelists to be better evangelists.



Pro 20:5  Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out.


Another thing that is a main feature of this passage is nakedness and covering. Adam and Eve lost something that covered their nakedness after they ate the forbidden fruit. Was it something physical that could be seen tangibly? Was it a spiritual covering that was part of their spiritual senses? I tend to think it was the latter...they tried to make up for it by sewing leaves together, "and made themselves aprons". I tend to think these were grass skirts similar to the type the Polynesian people still make and wear, but that is a small and inconsequential detail, perhaps. God didn't accept their self constructed covering, and provided them with coverings that He chose for them. They were animal skins, so, it obviously  had to involve the death of some other creature(s). I think on the animal rights people who get their panties in a bunch about people wearing fur coats, and mink coats are unnecessary, perhaps, but it is still a reminder of the original animal coverings and the death of God's creatures, and yes, when we really think about this, it is offensive.

When I was a new baby Christian, I came across this scripture passage, and it bothered me:

Mat 22:11  And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
Mat 22:12  And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
Mat 22:13  Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 22:14  For many are called, but few are chosen.


I thought: "What is this wedding garment, and how do I get one?"

I forgot about it, until a few weeks later, I was listening to a pastor on a radio program. It was a few days before Thanksgiving, and his sermon was on the topic of giving thanks. This pastor said:

"When we come to Jesus and ask His forgiveness, He takes off our dirty garments like our mommies used to after a day of playing and getting dirty. Remember when you were little, and your mom would take off your dirty shirt? You would raise your hands, and she would pull off your dirty shirt. Then after you got your bath and were all nice and clean, you would raise your hands and she'd put on your nice and clean pajamas. So it is when we raise our hands in thanksgiving, and Jesus gives us our nice and clean garments washed in His blood."

 Psa 100:4  Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.


We enter into His gates because of Him, not because of any garments we can fashion for our own smug selves. We enter through Him, He is the door...if we try to sneak in some other way that involves our own righteousness, we are without the garment of His design, His sacrifice, His gift.




5 comments:

  1. The wedding garment thing always bothered me, too. The whole story of Adam and Eve can be taken so many ways.

    They didn't realize they were naked until eating of the tree of the knowledge of GOOD AND EVIL...not just evil. I found this out recently, although it's been there all along. When eating this, then God said, man has become like one of us (Us whom?...lots of speculation there too).

    God put that tree there, told them not to eat, knew (and set it up so they would) eat.


    Deep stuff...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Ma,

      Yes, you are right: good AND evil.

      Reminds me of the yin yang symbol. The devil is like that, mixing truth with error, just like he tried to trick Jesus with Bible passages taken out of context...hmmmm.... ;-)

      "man has become like one of us": speculating that maybe man didn't have much reasoning capability prior to the fall...man had language capability, obviously, but it doesn't seem like there was much depth to their characters....? Maybe? The most interesting dramas have suspense, action, lots of twists in the plot, ups and downs, hidden meanings come to light, accidents, deaths, all the things that are the results of "The fall"...without these, films/t.v. shows are too "boring". Even Little House on the Prairie (pretty bland) incorporated some of these.

      So was the temptation of the serpent factual? I guess it was, to some degree...but satan meant it for evil, and God turned it into a way that would end up being a greater blessing...

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  2. Replies
    1. That's what I assumed too, DebbieLynne, but some debate there because The angels were also present at the time of the earth's creation, and Jesus was made a little lower than the angels (Hebrews 2:9) when He was made flesh, so the angels may have been included in that statement, also the fact of angels being able to "leave their first estate" (Jude), so there are many things that aren't necessarily so "cut and dried" and things that we make assumptions about, but won't know for certain unless the Lord wants us to know more about it. ;-)

      Delete
    2. ...and also the fact that the serpent (devil) must have had knowledge about good and evil...? maybe? is deception the same thing as evil?

      Delete

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