Adam's Covering

When Adam decided that he would become like God through exalting his will above the divine decree, he took and ate. Bitter was the taste, and ashamed to stand before God in his nakedness he tried to provide a covering for himself and Eve. This covering of leaves took nothing of the consequence of sin away and he hid from the face of God. Summoned by the Voice he stood condemned in his sin. But oh the mercy of the Holy One. God provides a covering for Adam, innocent blood is split and man is covered. It has always been God’s provision, only God can provide the covering of man’s sin.

Behold the man. The Second Adam. God the Son becomes a man, exalting the Father’s will above His own. Empowered by the Spirit he offers himself as the sacrifice to take away the punishment due to sinful men. He is stripped of his clothes and led to death so that he might take away the shame and punishment of Adam’s sons and daughters. It is always God who provides the covering, and we have received the covering of the second Adam’s righteousness. His death is our death, his victory is our victory, his resurrection is our resurrection, his life is our life, his righteousness is our righteous, and his stripping is our covering.

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Psalm 32.1