Adam says he was afraid because he heard God walking in the
garden and he was naked so he hid himself.
Was he really afraid because he was naked? He had always been naked so why was that now
a source of fear? It was the first thing
that he and Eve noticed when they ate the fruit, they were naked and unashamed
before that and then, suddenly, they were naked and ashamed. Now, naked is a problem with God who had
created them naked. Fear of the Lord is
because we are compromised by sin. Adam knew
he had sinned and now the situation and relationship with God is utterly
changed. He hadn't died when he ate but
now, perhaps, was the day of judgment and death so he hid. Hiding didn't work though and he didn't die though
he did lose the privilege of living in God's garden and access to the tree of
life. There is, however, a new tree of
life, the cross, where sin is dealt with forever and life imparted through the
death of Jesus for those sins. We need
no longer fear the Lord among us, perfect love has dealt with fear.
If we have not faith in the Son, we will surely die, just as
Adam was told in the garden. Jesus says
that He came that we might not surely die but have eternal life. His resurrection proves that death isn't
necessarily final, God knows something about what we call death that we don't
see with our eyes. Believing in Jesus,
that He is the Son of God who died on the cross as a sacrifice once and for all
for sin as the only way to reconcile us to the Father, gives us life. It seems too simple for us, we'd like to have
to do something to earn it but it is a gift from a loving Father and Son who
loved the world enough to do this on our behalf. He uses a figure of speech that hearkens back
to Adam's hiding, not coming into the light and preferring the darkness. To sinners Jesus says, come out, come out
wherever you are, the time for judgment is not here, the time for forgiveness
and restoration is now. He hasn't
rejected us, we have rejected Him.
Satan opposes God's plan from the start. He had no access to Mary's womb to destroy
the child so he sought to do so at birth when Herod put out an edict that all
Jewish children were to be killed, but Joseph was warned in a dream and they fled beyond Herod's reach to
Egypt. Satan apparently had no knowledge
that this, too, was God's plan. In the
death and resurrection of Jesus the war was also in heaven with Michael and the
angels fighting the dragon and his minions and the dragon was thrown out of
heaven onto earth. No longer does our
accuser have access to the throne to accuse us.
He does, however, continue his war against us here on earth. Unlike Adam who hid from God we plead for His
presence not only among us but within us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Before Him we are to be naked and unashamed
because we are covered in the blood of Jesus.
We know that the victory is complete but the battle rages. The ancient enmity continues.
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