“Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings” (Genesis 3:7).

 Innocence walked in the Garden of Eden, and in the cool of the day enjoyed the presence of Purity and Grace as God came and fellowshipped with Adam and Eve.  Evil was lurking in the shadows as Satan observed with jealousy the relationship between God and His beloved creation.  He began his evil strategy to break up this unity and innocence.

Satan had nothing of which he could accuse Adam and Eve in their innocent state, so he began his accusation toward God to erode their trust in Him.  The only thing he could attack was man’s relationship with God, and he began his erosive, lying scheme by audaciously accusing God of being dishonest and withholding something good and desirable from Adam and Eve.

The first step in his deceptive plan was to get their attention.  He needed that in order to implant his lies in their minds and create suspicion in them toward God.  Once he had their attention by deceiving Eve, they listened as he created doubt in what God has told them.  He accused God of lying to them, “You shall not die [as God said you would]” (Genesis 3:4).  He convinced them that God was holding out on them by requiring abstinence from eating of the forbidden tree.  It looked good; it tasted good and was an appealing lure of the flesh.

What a tragic mistake they made when they gave Satan their attention!  The ritual has been repeated throughout all generations:  Get their attention, feed the mind and capture them.  He pulls out all the stops to hold our attention while he injects his poison into our minds to accept the lie or half-truth (which is a whole lie) and to reject the truth.  It begins with a thought, leads to an action and ends with death. 

Satan’s own downfall was due to his effort to be God—above even God’s throne.  This was the bait he used on Eve, “You will be like God” (Genesis 3:5).  Unregenerate man wants to be his own ruler, making him susceptible to Satan’s undeliverable promises.  What he promises as godhood is bondage in disguise.  Whatever we use to create our godhood becomes our captor and we its slave.  No wonder God’s Word says to avoid even the “appearance” of evil. Adam and Eve were told to not even touch the forbidden fruit.  It’s a dangerous game to play with temptation.  Satan is deadly serious about bringing about our destruction.  Once Eve touched the fruit, its lure was so strong she put it in her mouth, and we know the rest of the story.

Isn’t it strange how fallen man will try to bring others into the pit with him?  The next thing Eve did was to bring Adam into the arena of disobedience.  Misery does love company!  We would assume she used the same argument to Adam that Satan used on her to get him to join her in the damnable feast.  Her eyes were not yet opened to the deception.  She "saw" the tree was good for food because Satan had given her distorted vision, so she was blind to the pit in her path.  Looks good, tastes good, pleasurable, enlightens with knowledge, has appearance of being a noble thing to do.  But once they had eaten, both their eyes were opened (Genesis 3:7), just as Satan had predicted—but certainly not opened to what they anticipated nor what he had promised.  They lost their innocence, their intimate relationship with God and their paradise. 

Satan is a master at telling enough “truth” to make interspersed lies sound good.  That makes what he is perpetrating sound credible and reasonable.  But now with innocence lost, sin brought exposure to Adam and Eve’s nakedness.  They didn’t know they were naked because they had been clothed with the righteousness of God and were not exposed to guilt.  Disobedience disrobed them and left them ashamed, vulnerable and hiding; so they tried to do a cover-up job themselves with fig leaves which were inadequate cover for their sin. The blame game didn’t move God to accept their excuses.  Eve blamed the serpent, Adam blamed Eve and even went so far as to blame God for the woman God had given him.   

 Now it was God’s time to provide a compassionate remedy for their failure to keep His commandment.  He replaced their dismally inadequate cover with the skin of innocent slain animals to provide acceptable coverage.  What a beautiful prophetic act of what Jesus did for us at Calvary!   The sacrifice of the Innocent for the redemption of the guilty!  Mankind, since Adam and Eve, has been trying to cover his sin by his own methods and efforts and has failed every time.  God sees right through the cover and exposes the sin.  Only He can give us cover acceptable with Him.  He did the whole job!  He didn’t just “cover” sin, He took it away by the power of the blood of Jesus.  “…Behold! the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).  And He did it out of incomprehensible Love, Grace in action motivated by Mercy!

There is no place to hide!  God asked Adam where he was.  That didn’t mean that God did not know where Adam was.  He wanted Adam to know where Adam was.  It was more than just where Adam’s physical location was; it was his spiritual condition that concerned God.  He knows us and sees us no matter where we are.

“Where can I go from Your Spirit?  Or where can I flee from Your presence?  If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.  If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall find me.  If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall fall on me,’ Even the night shall be light about me.” (Psalm 139:7-11).

Why in the world do we play games with God?  We act as if He isn’t aware of our every action and the very thoughts and intentions of our heart.  Since we are so open, exposed and vulnerable to Him, why not just “lay it all on the line” before Him. No blame game, no excuses.  Surrender.  Submit.  Repent.  Leave the old man in the dust.  Walk in the newness of life and innocence before God that only He can give through Jesus Christ our Lord.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Only God can make the guilty innocent.

  What have we got to lose by trusting God and living in the new life? 

Only hell!

What will we gain?

Everything God has.  We are His heirs!

. . . Delores . . .