Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves – Gen 3:7
I once read an article by Dr A. W. Tozer where he suggested that religion began in the garden of Eden because religion only addresses humanity’s external condition, not our internal confusion. God had spent six days creating the earth and the things in it and finally He made man in His own image and after His own likeness. The Sovereign God also planted a garden in the east of Eden and put the man and his wife there to till and dress the garden. But much more than tilling and keeping the garden, the unique purpose of Adam and Eve was to bring pleasure, joy and fellowship to God.
We see this in Rev. 4:11 as the four and twenty elders who sit around the throne never cease to say ” Thou art worthy oh Lord,……., for thou has created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Every genuine worship must come from this foundation that all things including man was made for the pleasure of the Almighty and it is only in His pleasure can we truly find pleasure. So in the cool of the day, the Lord would come down and fellowship with the man and his wife. I cannot imagine anything in the world that would compare with this; no other experience would even come close. Mortal man in unbroken fellowship with the Infinite God. Little wonder King David said “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God” (Psalm 42:2).
Broken Fellowship
One day, the enemy came and deceived them and this glorious fellowship was lost. In Genesis 3:7, the Bible says that “the eyes of them both were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. Strangely, their first response to what had happened was to seek for covering from their nakedness. They were more interested in covering themselves than finding out why they were naked. This man and his wife had just lost the highest and most priceless possession in the world and there was no expression of loss whatsoever. All that mattered to them at that time was their outward nakedness. It looks to me as if there was little or no value placed by this couple on their relationship with the Most High. David said in Psalms 73:25 – “Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee”. There is nothing in the whole wide world that compares with a living and an unbroken relationship with the Almighty God, much so in the present dispensation when we can know Him as Father. It is sweeter than honey, even the drippings from a honeycomb. If a man looses that relationship, he has lost everything for nothing else can take His place. Sadly, as it was in the Garden of Eden, so it is in our day even among religious people. While describing the events of these last days, Paul had this to say about such people – “They will maintain the outward appearance of religion but will have repudiated its power. So avoid people like these” (2 Timothy 3:5, Net Bible).
Inward Covering or Outward Covering
Every wholehearted follower of Christ ought at all times to quiz himself/herself in this manner: Am I more interested in covering the outward nakedness than in preserving inward fellowship with the most high God? or are we more eager to maintain our inward fellowship with God even if it costs us a ‘good’ reputation before men. A man may be defeated in his inner life but as long as it remains hidden from the eyes of men, he may be satisfied. He can even go to church on Sundays and lift ‘holy’ hands to God. Jesus confronted the religious people in His days on earth and surely would confront all such religiosity in our days. He said to the Pharisees in Matthew 23:25-28 (Living Bible) – “Woe to you, Pharisees, and you religious leaders—hypocrites! You are so careful to polish the outside of the cup, but the inside is foul with extortion and greed. Blind Pharisees! First cleanse the inside of the cup, and then the whole cup will be clean. Woe to you, Pharisees, and you religious leaders! You are like beautiful mausoleums—full of dead men’s bones, and of foulness and corruption. You try to look like saintly men, but underneath those pious robes of yours are hearts besmirched with every sort of hypocrisy and sin”. Again in Luke 12:1-3 (The Message), the Bible says – “By this time the crowd, unwieldy and stepping on each other’s toes, numbered into the thousands. But Jesus’ primary concern was his disciples. He said to them, “Watch yourselves carefully so you don’t get contaminated with Pharisee yeast, Pharisee phoniness. You can’t keep your true self hidden forever; before long you’ll be exposed. You can’t hide behind a religious mask forever; sooner or later the mask will slip and your true face will be known. You can’t whisper one thing in private and preach the opposite in public; the day’s coming when those whispers will be repeated all over town”. If we truly realize that one day every hidden thing shall be made known, then we would care more about the inside than the outside, we will care more about what God thinks of us than what men think of us. In Romans 2:16, Paul warns that on that day, God will judge the secret things of men’s heart. Things that no man knew except God.
Sometimes in order to cover our inward defeat and give an outward impression that everything is ok, we may engage in many religious activities. But this may only deceive men and not God. In Psalm 51:16-17, King David shared with us what he learnt about God after he laid with Bathsheba and killed her husband in order to cover his sin – “For You delight not in sacrifice, or else would I give it; You find no pleasure in burnt offering. My sacrifice [the sacrifice acceptable] to God is a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart [broken down with sorrow for sin and humbly and thoroughly penitent], such, O God, You will not despise” (Amp).
The Foundation of Humanism
At the beginning of this article, we saw that the whole purpose of creation was for God’s pleasure (Revelation 4:11) but all that changed from the moment that man and his wife harkened to the devil. It was now about man and no longer about God. Notice how many times the words ‘them’ and ‘they’ were used in Genesis 3:7 – “Their eyes were opened, they knew that they were naked, they sewed fig leaves, they made themselves aprons”. Instead of checking with their maker, the man and his wife knew what to do, then went ahead and did it. Instead of God’s pleasure, the man was to begin living for his own pleasure. I think this was the foundation of Humanism. For the doctrine of Humanism says that the chief end of all being is the happiness of man. The reason for existence is man’s happiness. Today most of our prayers are about things that would only contribute to our pleasure and once in a while if God is lucky, we can put in a word for Him. But did not the Saviour teach His disciples that when they pray, it should first be about Our Father, His Name, His Kingdom, and His will before our daily bread, our sins, our deliverance and concludes with His Kingdom, His power and His glory. Even that part that deals with human needs, notice that it is not me but us; Give us, lead us, forgive us, deliver us. In Philippians 2:4, Paul said to the church “Look not everyman on his own things but everyman also on the things of others”. A religious man is only after his welfare, but a truly spiritual man is more concerned about God’s glory and the good of others. The basic rule of the world system as well as the religious system is to seek your own. Paul said about Timothy in Philippians 2:20-21(The Voice) “There is no one like Timothy. What sets him apart from others is his deep concern for you and your spiritual journey. This is rare, my friends, for most people only care about themselves, not about what is dear to the heart of Jesus the Anointed”. When I was a child, I was taught in Sunday School that ‘JOY’ means Jesus first, Yourself last, Others in between and this formula is the secret of lasting joy which the world cannot give. But today, what we see looks more like ‘YJO’ – Yourself first, Others last, Jesus in between. How do you pronounce ‘YJO’? Anyhow you choose to pronounce it, it will not be JOY. Any wonder there’s so much lack of real joy in our hearts. Joy that is not affected by anything external. It is not affected by adversity, weather, riches or lack. The Joy that comes not from things but from the Holy Spirit. Only those who live for His pleasure will experience this Joy.
May God deliver us from Fig-Leaf religiosity and enable us to humbly acknowledge our helplessness without Him and seek His covering. In Revelation 3:17, Jesus said to the church in Laodicea – “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.
Only Jesus can cover our inward nakedness but what does He require? The Bible tells us in Micah 6:6-8 “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. If we go to Him humbly and sincerely, we will find grace and mercy. Fig leaves may cover our outward nakedness but it will leave our soul naked and poor.