LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
With a Dress in His Hand
Since the fall of Adam in Eden, God has always gone out in search of man. And he does so with the same attitude that we observe in the first two stories of Luke 15. God shows here a new and precious accent of his person: his mercy and his grace to save. The Creator God is now shown as the Savior God.
As someone has said: "To create man from dust was a matter of power; to seek man in his perished state and save him was a work of grace". The creation of the world and of man shows us the power of God; but the fall of man makes known to us the abundant riches of His grace.
This is true of the whole of man's failed history. Creation alone could never have fully shown the beauty of God that was manifested after the fall of man. A biblical commentator has said: "The intimate consciousness of his disgraced state filled him with terror; the knowledge of God's purposes reassured him. This is the only comfort that can bring peace to a heart burdened with sin. The bewildering realization of what I am finds its answer of peace in the beautiful revelation of what God is, and this is salvation ... There are two places where God and man must meet face to face. One of these places is on the ground of grace and the other on the ground of judgment ... Blessed are those who reach that point on the ground of grace; woe to those who have to come to that meeting under the black shadows of the day of judgment!".
Now then, how did God find man? He finds him hiding -for the presence of God frightens him- and trying to cover his nakedness. To God's questions, man is full of excuses. He accuses everyone but himself. He is a lost sinner, but he is still full of unjust excuses.
Adam's excuse contains an accusation against God ("The woman whom thou gavest me to be with thee gave me of the tree, and I did eat"), and another against the woman. The woman, in turn, accuses the serpent. However, the cunning of the tempter does not justify us in our sin; we are the sinners. The excuses of our first parents reveal the condition of unregenerate man, who shirks his responsibility by laying it on others.
If man would only accept his sin, it would make the solution that God offers him simpler. If he would only assume it, and wait for God's salvation, he would be justified. However, the fall itself has blinded the eyes to see both the condition of condemnation and the help of God.
Yet God still seeks man, and in His hand He brings not a whip, but a new garment to cover him. He knows the uselessness of aprons of fig leaves, and wills to provide him with the garment of Christ's righteousness, which as the Lamb of God he obtained for men on the cross of Calvary.