Psalms 32:1-2 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
There are some truths about winter: days get shorter, air gets colder, temps go down and we dig out our winter clothes. There was a time of no clothing, no covering. It wasn’t needed. I don’t know how long that lasted. God came down each day and walked with Adam and Eve. We can’t comprehend a time like that. It was before earthly sin; Adam and Eve were in their innocence. God had told Adam and Eve they could eat of all the trees in the garden but warned them not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It was forbidden.
Evil existed before Adam and Eve ate of this tree. It had been committed by angels. God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—the triune God—have always been. Angels were created. Lucifer was one of the cherubs of heaven. He was the angel of light and song. The original sin was in Lucifer’s heart. He saw himself as more than an angel. Pride entered as he began to see himself as deity, a god himself. The ambition of man is to inflate himself. The prevalent use of selfies shows this. It’s the same mindset and Satan drew a third part of heaven with him in his endeavor to overthrow God. They quit believing God and followed Satan. They made war in heaven and God cast them out.
God created this world including man and woman. He wanted them to walk with him in their innocence. Imagine how it would be now if Adam and Eve hadn’t messed up. Long story short: Satan (Lucifer) talked Eve into disobeying God and eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. She didn’t immediately die and convinced Adam to also eat. As soon as they did, their eyes were open. They lost their innocence. They saw their nakedness. Satan was happy that he caused man to fall from God. The Bible tells us sin separates us from God. We’re born with a lost soul under the burden of sin. Adam and Eve experienced sin and it was stabbing into their souls. When they looked at their outside they were ashamed and realized their need of a covering. Satan’s sin has no covering and never will. He’ll burn forever in the lake of fire. Adam and Eve used fig leaves to try and cover themselves. They wanted to cover their sin and hoped God would say okay, not notice it or know that they had disobeyed him.
Long before we sinned God saw it. He knew us and in God’s eyes we’re guilty. In our court system a person is innocent until proven guilty. Under God we’re guilty until he makes us innocent. Adam and Eve knew something was wrong and didn’t want God to see it. When God came to walk with them as he did each day, he called for them but they hid. They knew in their state they couldn’t walk with God. This is Christmas: God sent a Savior to remedy that problem. The first step is to realize how lost we are, how separated we are from God, and how helpless we are to cover ourselves. Some want to cover themselves with religion or in their own way. Neither the Bible nor the truth of Christmas can be made into what we want. We had nothing to do with it. We needed a covering. Verse 2 tells us Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
God asked Adam and Eve who told them they were naked. They had to admit what they had done. They knew there was a difference in them before they ate and after. If there is no difference in you now, you’re not saved. Mankind is guilty. We are separated from God. I’m looking at a bunch of people of Adam’s family, so we’re all fallen. The only covering is from the seed of Mary, Jesus Christ who was born in Bethlehem. We can try every way in the book but we can’t cover our sin. We need someone to cover us because we can’t do it ourselves. We can’t make ourselves clean, but thank God for a Savior who left the realms of glory.
God knows past, present and future. He knew what Lucifer would do in trying to overthrow heaven. He knew what Adam and Eve would do in response to Lucifer trying to get them to eat of the forbidden tree. A plan was made from the beginning. In the fullness of time—the perfect time—God sent his son Jesus to be the remedy, the covering for sin. The angels who stayed true to God are still innocent. We don’t know innocence but in heaven we will know we’ve been redeemed.
God made coats of animal skins for a covering for Adam and Eve. Their aprons weren’t God enough. You have a covering in Jesus Christ. When he was born, Mary covered him and wrapped him in swaddling clothes. He already suffered the effects of sin in being cold. He wore his own clothes every step of the way. Going to the cross they stripped him and mocked him by putting a scarlet robe on him. Then they covered him again in his own clothes for the trip to Calvary. Once there, they stripped him again and he hung on the cross naked while the soldiers gambled for his clothes. When he died God provided the covering, the only acceptable one. They took him down from the cross and wrapped him in burial clothes, but on the third day he arose leaving them behind. He once again took upon himself the clothes of glory.
I believe in Christmas. The devil tries to cover the truth of it. Open up the package of Christmas and let the whole world know there is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Are you covered? You can be!
Adwolfe Freewill Baptist Church 