HAND-ME-DOWNS FROM HEAVEN

Introduction

Have you ever wondered why nakedness is associated with shame in the Bible? Genesis 2:25 says that before Adam and Eve sinned, they “were both naked, and they felt no shame.” However, after they ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, everything changed: “the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, 'Where are you?' He answered, 'I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid'” (Genesis 3:7-10). Adam and Eve's nakedness hadn't changed. Why then were they suddenly ashamed of their bodies? It had to be because of their sin. They were no longer innocent, and so their bodies were now something of which they would, for the rest of their lives, be ashamed.

ccc Adam and Eve tried to cover up their sin with some fig leaves, but it didn't take away their shame. There was, in fact, nothing they could do to reverse the effects of their disobedience. Whether clothed or naked, Adam and Eve were now slaves to sin—a trait that we inherited from them by birth. From generation to generation, shame was passed down along the family line, so that all mankind—anyone whose father was a descendant of Adam—would be “sown in dishonor” (1 Corinthians 15:43). Adam and Eve were helplessly stuck in their sins. Notice, however, what God did for them after their disobedience. Genesis 3:21 says that “The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” God made clothes for them out of animal skins. Thus, immediately after the fall, God used animal sacrifices to treat the sin-induced shame of His beloved creation... Because “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22).

ccc Although God's initial sacrifice, and the resulting “garments of skin,” were a step in the right direction, He never intended animal sacrifices to last forever. Hebrews 10:4 explains why: “because it is impossible for the blood of [animals] to take away sins.” Although better than the fig leaves, the “garments of skin” still were not sufficient to cover Adam and Eve's sin. A more perfect sacrifice—better clothes—were needed to cover the shameful nakedness of mankind. According to the Bible, Jesus was that perfect sacrifice (Hebrews 10:14). “He sacrificed for [our] sins once for all when he offered himself” (Hebrews 7:27). Jesus did “away with sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews 9:26). Therefore, if we want to have lasting freedom from our sins, rather than the skins of animals, we must be clothed with Christ. As we discussed last week, this is accomplished through the sacrament of baptism as stated in Galatians 3:27: “for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” In order to inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 15:50,53), we must be clothed with the imperishable Son of God. This is what I would like to meditate upon in both this and next week's devotions.

Rags to Riches

Zechariah 3:3-4 describes an interesting scene between the high priest, Joshua, and God's angelic representative: “Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. The angel said to those who were standing before him, 'Take off his filthy clothes.' Then he said to Joshua, 'See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you.'” In this passage, Joshua's “filthy clothes” are representative of his sin. In fact, as high priest, they likely are also representative of the sins of the entire nation of Israel (cf., Zechariah 3:2, Hebrews 9:7)—God's chosen people. The truth is, we are all covered with the filthy rags of our own sin and shame. Before God, even our “righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). But “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). By the blood of Christ, we have forgiveness for our sins (Matthew 26:28); and, through faith in that blood (Romans 3:25), we have access to the “rich garments” of God's righteousness (Romans 3:22, Philippians 3:9). As Isaiah 61:10 says, “...For [God] has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness...”

ccc It seems so simple: through faith we trade in our filthy rags in exchange for God's rich garments. What could hinder such simplicity? In Luke 7:47, Jesus says that he who has been forgiven little, loves little; and he who has been forgiven much, loves much. While it may sound as though Jesus is saying that some people need to be forgiven more than others, what He is actually saying is that those who don't perceive their great need for forgiveness will not love Him—the One who earned their forgiveness—very much. In order to love Jesus and truly appreciate what He did for us, we need to recognize the magnitude of our sinfulness. This is what Jesus is speaking about in Revelation 3:14-22. In this passage, Jesus rebukes the church of Laodicea whose love for Him had become lukewarm. In verses 15-18, Jesus warns, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.” The people of the church of Laodicea had forgotten their great need for God's forgiveness and were starting to take Jesus for granted. Far from being “poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3), they considered themselves to be rich. Their attitude was one of spiritual pride.

ccc Pride is a consequence of becoming blind to our spiritual poverty. If we are unaware of our spiritual destitution, we begin to think we don't really need God after all. Such blindness causes us to forget God (cf., Deuteronomy 8:10-14) and prevents us from relying on Him. Maybe this is why the Bible says that “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). The truth is that God offers His grace to all, but only the humble will admit their need for it. Accepting God's help in the form of His free gift of salvation requires humility. Perhaps this is what Psalm 149:4 means when it says that God “crowns the humble with salvation.”

ccc What I am saying is that we must clothe ourselves with humility before God. But, according to Peter, we need to take this a step further and also “clothe [ourselves] with humility toward one another...” (1 Peter 5:5). This means that we should not compare ourselves with one another as the Pharisee did when he prayed, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers...” (Luke 18:11). Instead, in our humility, we must “consider others better than [ourselves]” (Philippians 2:3). The point is that we are not truly humble before God until we recognize that we are standing on a level playing field with all of mankind... “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23-24). We are all naked and exposed before God: “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13). Likewise, 1 Corinthians 4:5 says that when Jesus returns “He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts.” There is nothing we can do to cover over or hide our shameful nakedness from God except to be humble enough to accept the “white clothes” that He has provided through the perfect sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ. Humility is required to accept these hand-me-downs from heaven.

ccc It is a bit counter-intuitive, but to truly go from rags-to-riches we must lose everything and become—or rather, recognize that we truly are—spiritually destitute. And we must not forget that in order for us to be able to exchange our rags for riches, someone had to take the rags. That someone was Jesus: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). Philippians 2:6-8 (NLT) describes the manner of Christ's self-imposed poverty: “Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.” If we truly believe—and continue to meditate on—this truth, we will find that we cannot live a loveless life of pride. We cannot gaze upon the cross of Christ and yet become like the Laodiceans or the Pharisee who, having lost sight of their great need, allowed their love for God to grow cold. With our eyes fixed on Jesus, we cannot quickly forget the depth of our sins and the great price He paid for them (Isaiah 53:5-6).

Conclusion

In Revelation 16:15, Jesus gives us a reminder and a warning: “Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed.” Jesus reminds us that He is going to return—and it won't be when we expect it. But what does He mean by saying that we must keep our clothes with us? Through baptism, Jesus is our clothing (Galatians 3:27). To keep our clothes with us is to hold on to, and rely on, the One who continually forgives and covers over our sin and shame (1 John 1:7,9). Through faith, we live our lives for Him (2 Corinthians 5:7, 5:15), remaining in Him by listening to His words, obeying them, and trusting in His promises (John 15:4,10, 14:1).

ccc Any clothes that we can make for ourselves—like the fig leaves that Adam and Eve sewed together—are inadequate to eradicate our feelings of shame or hide our sins from God. “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13). Consider the experiences of John and Isaiah. When faced with the resurrected Jesus, in all His glory, John—one of Jesus' closest disciples and friends—“fell at his feet as though dead” (Revelation 1:17)! Isaiah's experience is similar. Maybe he had some bones to pick with God. Maybe he had a prayer request or two. But all of those thoughts vanished like a mist in the presence of the Almighty. All he could say was “Woe to me! ...I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty” (Isaiah 6:5). Isaiah was exposed! He may have felt like a pretty decent guy before, but when faced with the One perfectly holy, all-powerful God, all he could do was lament and repent.

ccc Even if we have faith, it can be scary to think that one day we will stand before God to be judged. Because of our sins, we are shamefully naked before Him... Unless we remain clothed with Christ—our hand-me-down from heaven. If we are clothed with Christ then, when God looks at us (now or on judgment day), He doesn't see our shameful nakedness and all of our many sins. Instead, He sees the perfect righteousness of His one true Son. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).