Naked and Hiding

And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 

The promise of the deceiver was that the eating of the fruit would result in the opening of their eyes. And indeed, their eyes were opened. But, it was only to see their own nakedness. They knew they were naked. Naked of God, naked of everything that was holy and good. Naked of the innocence they enjoyed before. Naked of the glory of God. They were naked in both body and soul.

How do they behave now that they know their nakededness? Do they run to God for forgiveness? Do they seek God to cover their nakedness?  Nope! They were now dead to God and became earthly and sensual and instead of asking God for mercy, they sowed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons or coverings.

This is a accurate representation of all mankind since. We see that we are naked. We in some measure confess it. But instead of looking up to God for salvation, we patch up a righteousness of our own making, hoping to cover our nakedness by it. But our righteousness will not stand the judgment of God. It will do us no better service than the fig leaves did Adam and Eve.

Later they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. Before this destructive decision, Adam and Eve fellowshipped with God, praised and glorified God. But now, instead of rejoicing at the voice of God, instead of meeting him with open arms and receptive hearts, as before, they now hide themselves in the trees of the garden.

By their fall, they had become an enemy of God. They now hated and were afraid to even speak with God their maker. And the same is true of us. We know our nakedness and we labor to cover it with the fig leaves of our own righteousness. We hide ourselves from God and we will not come and never will come to God on our own.

Notice God seeks Adam and Eve. God calls out to Adam, Where art thou? Adam does not call out to God. Where are you Adam? They were not with God as usual. They were not praising God as usual. They were not exalting God as usual. They were not fellowshipping God as usual. They withheld their presence, they withheld their attendence, they withheld their worship. Why? Because of their sin, their nakedness and their pitiful fig tree religion. A tri-fold embarrassment.

Sin had driven a wedge between man and God. God did not change, he showed up at the cool of the day just like normal. But Adam and Eve were not just late, they were absent. They were no-shows, hiding in the trees ashamed of their nakedness and ashamed of their coverings. Naked, hiding, and separated from God.

The serpent failed to disclose all of this, didn’t he? Adam and Eve begin to discover that they were mistaken. The seprent was a liar and this fruit was not good but it was bad, very, very bad.