naked

naked

Genesis 3:7 & 10

• Genesis 3:7 “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made covering for themselves.”
• Genesis 3:10 “He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.””
• Naked: Adam and Eve had no coverings when they were created. It was no big deal. 
• Naked: Adam and Eve had nothing between them and the still small voice of God either. They existed in total openness to the Creator.
• Until they were introduced to the knowledge of good and evil.
• Welcome to the dawn of mental illness!
• Self doubt, paranoia, a vague sense of dis-ease with the natural order of the world, that began to manifest itself by odd behaviors that interfere with the very source of restoration: God. 
• Adam and Eve hid their nakedness behind makeshift coverings.
• Adam and Eve hid their whole bodies from God.
• This has been passed down through the ages from parent to child. 
• It is why thoughtful people still have an issue with nakedness, there is a knowledge that somehow there is an evil attached with total exposure that needs to be hid. 
• It is also why those who thrust their nakedness on others are not liberated from that knowledge, but instead emulating the serpent in declaring “Did God really say you will die?” if you gaze on my naked frame?
• God’s original Creation was that Adam and Eve, and all Creation, should not have coverings or shame. God intended that his Creation should be open, honest and avoid the temptations associated with the lingering glance at nakedness. 
• But because of Adam and Eve’s introduction of what is “good and evil” into the human psyche people are trapped in the endless debates about morality and mores. People are bent toward suspicion and aggression. People have rejected God's order and find there is no order in their own crooked thinking. 
• People are naked, they know it, and they don’t like it. All because the knowledge of good and evil was introduced.
• And so what to do with this revelation?
• 1. Recognize our inbred tendency to hide. Even when we are not wrong!
• 2. Understand our desire to be known fully.
• 3. Seek diligently the truth of God that helps us come to think and live in shalom with God.
• 4. Learn to relate to others in ways that help them to shalom with God and themselves.
• We cannot recreate the pre-Fall Garden of Eden state simply by taking our clothes off. But we can come to peace with our broken natures and world through the freedom given to us through the sacrifice of Jesus. Then we are set right with God, and can begin to be set right with one another.
• Until He comes again and sets all things new, we have this covering for our nakedness: His blood and body broken for you for the forgiveness of sins and the restoration of the relationship between God and man.