Adam - Covenant Breaker, God – Covenant Redeemer
“Where are you?”
His voice echoes among the natural beauty of the perfect garden created solely and especially for His beloved. The Creator God calls to Adam and Eve. They are missing in presence and in relationship.
Something is wrong.
Adam knows.
Eve knows.
Of course, God knows.
Yet, He calls for them. With His voice, He reminds all of creation that He is the initiator all things and He is the seeker of His creation.
Adam and Eve are hiding. They shiver in the inadequate fig leaf clothing they quickly strewn together to cover the nakedness they now know they bear. They are ashamed and no longer feel the intimacy with one another they once knew. Instantly, their eyes are open to their sin and regret the moment they ate of the fruit God commanded them not to eat.
“Where are you?”
Perfect relationship between man and woman, and man and God is severed.
“I heard the sound of Thee in the garden, and I was afraid….” Genesis 3: 10a (NASB)
Fear is now known.
Fear paralyzes. Fear separates. Fear hides.
Through the deceitfulness of the serpent and the willfulness of man, the intention of the evil one to deeply hurt the work of God by breaking communion with His most precious creation – man, succeeded.
“Where are you?”
Sin has flowed through the veins of all humanity since that moment. God’s voice continues to cry to His creation as it hides and tries to inadequately cover its shame and nakedness.
The covenant God made with Adam is uniquely different than others found in scripture. God’s covenant is a warning of the death that will come if they choose to forget what they have been given and reach for that which they need not know. Despite the perfection of the garden of Eden and the intimate relationship with God and one another, Adam and Eve listened to the enticement of the serpent and rejected what God had given.
We are not too unlike them.
God is often calling to us, “Where are you?” when we run in opposite direction of His good desires for us. Or we may grow apathetic and lazy in seeking Him and though His voice continues to cry to us, it grows quieter and quieter. Intimacy with God is broken and though we may experience the momentary pleasure of going our own way, the Spirit speaks, and we experience the conviction that should lead us back to repentance. Will we turn and seek the Father’s face or will we try to foolishly hide or cover our shame?
Though God reveals the painful consequences of sin to both Adam and Eve –consequences that will echo throughout humanity to come, God creates a new covenant with man.
What God does next will reflect His very heart and was theirs and is our only hope.
There is nothing else but for man to admit his fault.
I ate. (confession)
I was afraid of You. (broken intimacy)
I was naked and ashamed. (shame)
I am hiding. (fear)
There is always a consequence of sin. God unveils the pain He always wanted to spare humanity of. However, God remains the sustainer and initiator of relationship with humanity, and He bestows the first gift of grace and mercy. Scripture tells us that God “made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” Gen. 3:21 (NASB). The leaves Adam and Even strewn on would never be adequate to cover their nakedness and shame. In the same way, our efforts to cover or hide our sin by our own efforts will never be sufficient. So, God lovingly makes garments of skin to cover them but do not miss this important truth. God takes an animal and takes its life. Death has come to the garden. The first blood is shed for the forgiveness of sin and for the removal of shame. Can you imagine the horror that comes to Adam and Eve’s faces as they see the innocent animal’s life taken for their sin? For their shame.
Blood shed for forgiveness of sin.
This act of sacrifice for sin will continue through the centuries through the Law until the day when the final blood is shed for sin – the Lamb of God.
This new covenant God establishes through the shedding of the animal for garments is the precursor to the final shedding of Blood of the only Innocent that can take away the sins of the world, forever.
Jesus is the new covenant established for the forgiveness of sin, forever. Romans tells us that,
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23 (NASB).
Only the sacrifice of innocent blood is sufficient to pay the penalty of sin before a holy God. Only God can pay the penalty which we were to pay.
“According to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” Hebrews 9: 22 (NASB)
So, God in His mercy gave His only Son – Jesus.
“By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all” Hebrews 10:10 (NASB)
Through this sacrifice, God has made the way to return to the Garden of perfect relationship with Him. What a promise to all of us who are Adams and Eves!
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1.
May we live our lives in daily worship of the God who made a way of redemption and grace through His covenant keeping love.
Mary Quillin is a city-girl-turned-country-girl in her new life in North Dakota. She has beenmarried to her hubby for more than 20 years and has 3 wonderfully different teenagerswho are driving and she asks for your prayers.After many years in fulltime ministry, Mary is learning how to show up and daily discoverthe journey of being available for whatever Jesus leads her to. She recently graduated withher Master's in Special Education and is investing in students as a "second half" career. Shealsospends her days trying to build a welcoming shabby chic farmhouse in the heartlandwhile discovering the joys of vegetable gardens, raising hens, and North Dakota sunsets.