God's Way and Our Way
It's funny to me that humanity usually tries to figure out a way to justify our sin or absolve it our way. We try the "I'll do better next time" line, or the "Please forgive me Lord" line but then go right back to doing the same thing we just "repented" of. Or we just give it a good ole' sweep under the rug and hope it goes away. That's what Adam and Eve did when they sinned in the garden. They had eaten the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and then they realized that they were naked and they were ashamed. So what did they do? As their cheeks were blushing, they grabbed the nearest fig leaf and tried to cover themselves up. Then they heard the Lord walking in the garden so they hid themselves in the bushes. now were up to two acts to cover their sin.
God calls out for them and asks where they are. I think this is funny because although we know that God knew where they were, I think he called out to Adam and Eve to make them realize they were hiding from Him. Talk about adding to the shame. So they come out and God asks why were you hiding? Adam explains their shame due to their nakedness so they hid. you know the rest of the story (Genesis 3:1-13) He blames her, She blames the snake and the buck gets passed. See we haven't changed much since the beginning of time.
Our way simply doesn't work because it only leads down a road of lies, deception, and grief. God has a very specific plan for worship and it starts with forgiveness, and although they may have not understood it completely, he starts to lay it out for Adam and Eve in verses 14-24.
First - God condemns Eve to pain in childbearing and that her desire will be for her husband
For Adam, hard labor for his food and eventually death.
Second- He makes clothing for them and covers them. Now I have always read over this and not given it much thought, but stop here for a minute and think with me. Where did the clothing come from and what was it made of? Verse 21 tells us that the garments were made of skin. Who's skin? This is the first lesson in forgiveness for us. Without blood there can be no forgiveness! God had taken one of the animals (one that Adam named and walked in the garden with) and killed it spilling it's blood. He used the skin of the animal to cover Adam and Eve thus covering their shame. (We will get into this more later, remember don't just read it but think about what it is saying and what it could be referring to.)
Third - God banished Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden. Their sin caused separation from God. Never again would they be allowed to walk with Him in the cool of the garden.
Now the bible doesn't come right out and say it, but we can assume, that they might have helped raise or take care of the animal that God killed to clothe them. We can imagine that they may have been saddened or grieved by the death the animal received that should have been theirs. Sin is costly and when sins are committed, something has to die and blood must be shed to rectify those sins.
So here we are, at separation from God caused by their (our) sin. As we usually do, they tried to cover it up but were unsuccessful. God gives us a hint of what it takes to regain our relationship with Him, and it all starts with forgiveness, but this isn't the full story.
The ultimate message from Adam and Eve is that if we are going to worship God our sin must be dealt with first.
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