(Gen 3:20-21) And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. To Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
Let’s take a look at this third passage, which states that there is meaning behind the name Adam gave Eve, right? This shows that after being created, Adam had his own thoughts and understood many things. But for now we are not going to study or explore what he understood or how much he understood because this is not the main point I want to discuss in the third passage. So what is the main point of the third passage? Let’s take a look at the line, “To Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.” If we don’t fellowship about this line of the scriptures today, you might never realize the connotations behind these words. First, let Me give some clues. Expand your imagination and picture the Garden of Eden, with Adam and Eve living in it. God goes to visit them, but they hide because they are naked. God cannot see them, and after He calls out for them, they say, “We dare not see You for our bodies are naked.” They do not dare to see God because they are naked. So what does Jehovah God do for them? The original text says: “To Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.” Now do you know what God used to make their clothes? God used animal skins to make their clothes. That is to say, the clothing God made for man was a fur coat. This was the first piece of clothing God made for man. A fur coat is an upmarket clothing item by today’s standards, something not everyone can afford to wear. If someone asks you: What was the first piece of clothing worn by mankind’s ancestors? You can answer: It was a fur coat. Who made this fur coat? You can further respond: God made it! That’s the main point: This clothing was made by God. Isn’t that something worth noting? Now that I’ve just described it, has an image emerged in your minds? There should at least be a rough outline of it. The point of telling you this today is not to let you know what man’s first piece of clothing was. So then what is the point? The point is not the fur coat, but how to know the disposition and being and possessions revealed by God when He was doing this thing.
In this image of “To Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them,” what kind of role does God play when He is with Adam and Eve? Under what kind of role does God appear in a world with only two human beings? As the role of God? Brothers and sisters from Hong Kong, please answer. (As the role of a parent.) Brothers and sisters from South Korea, what kind of role do you think God appears as? (Head of the family.) Brothers and sisters from Taiwan, what do you think? (The role of someone in Adam and Eve’s family, the role of a family member.) Some of you think God appears as a family member of Adam and Eve, while some say God appears as the head of the family and others say as a parent. All of these are very appropriate. But what is it that I’m getting at? God created these two people and treated them as His companions. As their only family, God looked after their living and also took care of their basic necessities. Here, God appears as a parent of Adam and Eve. While God does this, man does not see how lofty God is; he does not see God’s paramount supremacy, His mysteriousness, and especially not His wrath or majesty. All he sees is God’s humbleness, His affection, His concern for man and His responsibility and care toward him. The attitude and way in which God treated Adam and Eve is akin to how human parents show concern for their own children. It’s also like how human parents love, look after, and care for their own sons and daughters—real, visible, and tangible. Instead of putting Himself in a high and mighty position, God personally used skins to make clothing for man. It doesn’t matter whether this fur coat was used to cover their modesty or to shield them from the cold. In short, this clothing used to cover man’s body was personally made by God with His own hands. Rather than creating it simply through the thought or miraculous methods as people imagine, God had legitimately done something man thinks God could not and should not do. This may be a simple thing some might not even think as worthy of mentioning, but it also allows all those who follow God but were previously full of vague ideas about Him to gain an insight into His genuineness and loveliness, and to see His faithful and humble nature. It makes insufferably arrogant people who think they are high and mighty bow their conceited heads in shame in the face of God’s genuineness and humbleness. Here, God’s genuineness and humbleness further enables people to see how lovable He is. By contrast, the immense God, lovable God, and omnipotent God in people’s hearts is so small, unappealing, and unable to withstand even a single blow. When you see this verse and hear this story, do you look down upon God because He did such a thing? Some people might, but for others it will be the complete opposite. They will think God is genuine and lovable, and it is precisely God’s genuineness and loveliness that moves them. The more they see the real side of God, the more they can appreciate the true existence of God’s love, the importance of God in their hearts, and how He stands beside them at every moment.
At this point, we should link our discussion to the present. If God could do these various little things for the humans He created at the very beginning, even some things that people would never dare think of or expect, then could God do such things for the people of today? Some people say, “Yes!” Why is that? Because God’s essence is not fake, His loveliness is not fake. Because God’s essence truly exists and is not something added on by others, and certainly not something that modifies with changes in time, place, and eras. God’s genuineness and loveliness can truly be brought out through doing something people think is unremarkable and insignificant, something so small that people don’t even think He would ever do. God is not pretentious. There is no exaggeration, disguise, pride, or arrogance in His disposition and essence. He never boasts, but instead loves, shows concern for, looks after, and leads the human beings He created with a faithfulness and sincerity. No matter how much of it people can appreciate, feel, or see, God is absolutely doing these things. Would knowing that God has such an essence affect people’s love for Him? Would it influence their fear of God? I hope when you understand the real side of God you will grow even closer to Him and be able to even more truly appreciate His love and care for mankind, while at the same time also give your heart to God and no longer have any suspicions or doubts toward Him. God is quietly doing everything He is for man, doing it all silently through His sincerity, faithfulness, and love. But He never has any apprehension or regret for all that He does, nor does He ever need anyone to repay Him in any way or have intentions of ever obtaining anything from mankind. The only purpose of everything He has ever done is so He can receive mankind’s true faith and love. Let’s wrap up the first topic here.
from “God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself I”
