I'm having flash backs of being in Anderson University's Old Testament Faith for Living class back in 1994 (I think that was the year). Something happened while listening to Dr. Fred Shively that year that changed my thinking. I was never one to like history. Never was I excited over all the war talk in high school history classes. And for a dyslexic student like myself, all the numbers and dates had me frustrated and checked out!!
I had thumbed through the Old Testament a time or two before... it really gave me the same impression, lots of family names, geographical locations and dates. For a young girl who was really excited about her boyfriend at the time and what she was going to wear next, I was expecting this OT class to be a YAWN! I sat in the farthest row back that first Monday morning (at 8am)! It turned out to be the only day I sat back there! Something had me hooked. I moved to the front row, had perfect attendance and aced that Bible class!
Here we are again, some 16 years later (ouch)...no that boyfriend didn't turn out to be the "one" and I'm not near as worried about what I'm wearing these days, though I've recently looked in the mirror and feared that I've been here before with these leggings and all! But for me, the black and white pages of this book are once again in color! I still struggle with the numerical dates, the B.C.'s and numbers of chapters vs. verses...Genesis 1:23 and Genesis 23:1 are NOT in fact the same thing, sigh! Never the less, these narrative stories come to life as I read them and the way the Bible is deeply intertwined is amazing. There is no other book that perfectly projects thousands of years in the future! The Old and New Testaments are filled with events that have so much purpose and pictures with incredible meaning. I'm often fascinated by the use of words and the picture image they create. Though the OT was originally in Hebrew and the NT in Greek, the use of their languages and the meanings of those words in their cultures makes my heart race. I've had my heart rate checked out and it is not anxiety! Just saying.
The first of last week I was focused on fig leaves and finding Adam some decent clothing to cover himself with. Can you just see God saying "No, no Adam. That sin you and Eve just committed, ya well you will need much more than what that pathetic fig leaf your sporting there is covering! Dude, you need some CLOTHING now...your nakedness is atrocious and no fig leaf will be sufficient!" It's just funny to me to think of that moment. It's kinda like my kids thinking they can hide behind the curtains and not be found...just because their face is covered! Never mind the feet.
It must have spoken volumes about Adams understanding of what really had happened. God knew however. Yes, He knew that ultimately these (we) sinners were in need of the ultimate blood sacrifice, the perfect covering that made way for forgiveness and grace. But till then, He made way for atonement...just the covering! So there in the Garden, He killed the first animal in order to provide a covering for their nakedness that sin had exposed. I'm still chuckling over God handing Adam and Eve their new "duds". "Here ya'll, nice try with them there leaves you got...now how's abouts going behind those bushes over yonder, put these that I've made on and model some real clothes for us!!" Wouldn't you have just loved to be there for that?
But it got me thinking about the idea of clothing. How the fig leaves that Adam proposed were so insufficient (he was "male" after all and maybe just didn't have a sense of fashion), the animal skins God originally provided were only a temporary atonement for their situation, and then much later we find Christ coming! His garments offering forgiveness, not just a cover!
Romans 13:14
"...clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ"
Galatians 3:27
"...for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ"
When we put on His skins, we are washed and made new...we are cleansed and made whole!
Christ is a healer, not a band-aide!
We can throw away our silly attempts with fig leaves and humbly adorn the ultimate outfit, Christ!
That, to me, is good stuff!
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