Part 2: CLOTHING YOU CANNOT BUY
I have a snapshot of a figurine on a rock in the garden with the sun rising behind it. The figurine is almost obliterated, it is clothed with light when the sun rises behind it.
It reminds me of why clothing was important when God set up his kingdom in the time of Moses. His instructions included, ‘neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee.’ Leviticus 19:19 and Deuteronomy 22:11.
Don’t wear a covering woven with two different kinds of thread. I was once asked why, and Jesus explains it.
Do you remember the lesson of the guest who came to the wedding not wearing the proper garment? It is the parallel of Adam and Eve coming into the presence of God wearing their own workmanship as a covering for their sin.
Jesus further explained it in the story of the prodigal son when the father stripped his son of his filthy clothes and put his own robe on him.
He deals with it even more directly in the Sermon on the Mount, when very good people come to him to enter the kingdom of heaven claiming they have prophesied, cast of devils, and ‘in thy name done many wonderful works. “Jesus then says to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity.’” (Matthew 7:21-23).
It is a story that offends good living, ethical atheists and many worthy people. What all these illustrations and histories tell us is that God does not receive us if we come to him wearing the blood of the Saviour mixed with our own good works.
The only covering for sin in the Garden of Eden was the covering provided by God and our only covering for sin is the covering provided by the death of Jesus.
You cannot buy it, you can only accept it as the gift of God.
‘For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.’ (Galatians 3:27).
Part 3: WEATHER FORECAST
The first weather report we have from the Lord says that in his Kingdom the weather was stable. The earth was watered by a mist each day, ‘there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.’ No rain as we know it, no storms, no droughts, no deserts, because a soft mist covered all the earth. (Genesis 2:5,6).
Dampened day by day, the world grew abundant food crops all year round.
God created his kingdom on earth and gave it to Adam to ‘rule over’ from the beginning. Yet, even when Adam and Eve broke the Royal law that was inscribed on their hearts, there was no weather change. God told them they would ‘return to the ground; because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return,’ (Genesis 3:19).
They would die. Death was the consequence of breaking the Royal law but God clothed them by providing a sacrifice for their covering and they accepted coats of skins. (Genesis 3:21).
God’s justice and God’s grace are a total deal, ‘Justice and judgement are the habitation of thy throne; mercy and truth shall go before thy face,’ (Psalm 89:14). They had sinned against the law written on the heart in the Kingdom of God but sin was not to have uncontested control. Grace was there to cover their sin.
They were ‘sent out from the garden of Eden,’ (Genesis 3:23), and I remember picture books from my childhood showing Adam and Eve being driven out of the Garden under a black sky in a raging wind storm and pouring rain.
It did not happen like that. They left their home in deep sorrow but the weather did not change. A mist still watered the face of the ground and food still grew abundantly.
Now, we too, can rest in what Isaiah would say many years later, and it is my prayer that you will always greatly rejoice in the Lord, saying ‘for he has clothed me with garments of salvation, he has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness,’ (Isaiah 61:10).
Accepting his mercy and truth, sin is covered.
Elizabeth Price
(To access the entire “Weather” mini-series, please click here.)