Bible Reading: Isaiah 41-42; Colossians 2
“And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.”- 1 Peter 4:8
The Bible tells us a lot about the person and character of God. God is holy and just and because He is, sin cannot dwell where He exists, and He cannot be where there is sin. The justice of God also means that sin must be punished, and the punishment for sin is death.
Genesis 1:26-28 tells us of how God went about creating man, with careful thought and deliberation, in His own image and likeness. It tells us how He gave him dominion over the earth. God’s design was that Himself and man would walk hand-in-hand in life, but man sinned. Man’s sin meant that God could no longer be with him as He had originally intended, and it also meant that man would die.
When man fell as recorded in Genesis 3:7, “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.” Man saw his emptiness without God. His fall from grace necessitated a mediator, a priest to stand in the gap for him, and God was man’s first priest. “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.”– Genesis 3:21.
God literally sacrificed an innocent animal and used its skin to cover man’s nakedness, replacing the fig leaves they had used to cover themselves. The fig leaves are symbolic of man’s efforts to fix his mistakes: no matter how much we try, nothing we do can cover our ‘nakedness’ because only the blood of the innocent can.
Despite God being holy and just, He is merciful. In God’s justice system, He remains merciful. As mankind fell in Adam in the Garden of Eden, God set in motion a plan of redemption to ensure that mankind escapes from the clutches of death and be restored to eternal life which is the life He had originally intended for man. 1 John 4:8 says, “… GOD IS LOVE.” and according to today’s text, “… Love will COVER a MULTITUDE of sin.” God has never been out to bring shame and disgrace rather He comes to cover sin that our efforts could never cover. This is why He sent His Son Jesus.
Jesus became our Lamb of Atonement before God the Father (Romans 5:6-10). He is the perfect covering for our naked hearts – not our fig leaves. Even though the penalty for sin is death, our merciful Father has given us a way out by providing eternal life in Christ! So, as in Adam, All fell; likewise, in Jesus Christ, All are offered life. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:”– Romans 3:23-24.
DECLARE: Jesus is my perfect covering, and I am forever grateful and thankful for the Father’s love and kindness demonstrated for me in Christ.
Pastor Alfred Samuel