Genesis 3:16-24
Verse 21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
God’s being so big in ability and creativity is just a small glimpse at His greatness. Our passage today talks about a few more of His great characteristics that are bigger than we can fathom. God has such great holiness that He must also have great justice, but He also has great grace. Finding that the people whom He had created with such love and attention now had tossed Him aside so easily for a piece of fruit must have hurt Him greatly.
The separation in His relationship with His dear humans was because they chose sin over His holiness. Up to that point they didn’t do sinful things because they didn’t know anything but obedience. They had been living in His grace of not knowing evil, oh what a life that must have been! But it all changed with one moment in time, the moment before the bite of fruit. When they decided to doubt if God was telling them the truth, the relationship changed forever.
His holiness couldn’t coexist with their sin and so something had to be done. He had told them not to eat the fruit or they would die (Genesis 2:17). It wasn’t because the fruit was poisonous but because He told them not to therefore making it a sin. Their choice to take the bite was them choosing possible death over life lived with God in the beautiful place He had made for them. His justice required death.
Because of His being outside of time (He couldn’t have created time if He had been confined by it) He knew they would eat the fruit and if He didn’t want them to die, He would have to provide a substitute. Remember we mentioned yesterday how He had chosen us before the beginning the creation, this proves His choice about making a substitute for them in the garden was just as much about us as it was about them.
His great holiness had Him do something they as humans didn’t know was needed, a shedding of sacrificial blood to pay for their sin. His great grace drove Him to do what they couldn’t do for themselves so their relationship with Him wouldn’t be broken. But though the sin had been paid for there were still consequences to be had and so God drove them from the perfect home and blocked it so they could never go back and enjoy the life without pain they had been living.
Making It Personal
When have you been aware of His holiness? How has His justice been revealed in your life? What consequences have you had to endure in life?
Making It Personal Kids
What do you think holiness means? Have you ever had to suffer the consequences of choices you made? How can you avoid having to pay the consequences?
Closing Prayer
Father, we are once again amazed at the greatness of who You are. Give us a growing understanding of Your holiness, Your graciousness, and Your justice. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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