In Beginning 12: The Covering

Bill Serjak

This is a message from pastor and teacher Bill Serjak from the Genesis series “In Beginning”

The Covering
Genesis 3:20-24

God gave Adam and Eve a covering for their bodies. I looked up the word covering in the New Testament and was surprised at how many coverings God has given to men and women. There are many references to God making a covering for our sins in addition to several other coverings. As did Adam and Eve, we try to make coverings but they are always inadequate. Adam and Eve tried to cover themselves with fig leaves but that didn’t work. God had to make an effective covering out of animal skins. It would appear that is the first time in creation that something died. The animals had to be killed to make a covering. Later, God gave another type of covering when animals gave their lives to cover the sin of the Jews. Last week, I spoke of how we try to cover our sins with an image of who we are. Once we knew the law, we tried to build our own righteousness by constructing an image from the law. Images might fool other people, but to God they are only images and bad ones at that. The Bible says that our righteousness is as filthy rags to God. When we try to make our own righteousness as a covering, it is like wearing filthy rags before God. We have to depend on God to make the covering for our sins.
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