Divine Cover-Up!

DIVINE COVER-UP!

Gen 3:7,8,21 "And the eyes (of knowledge, not innocence) of them both were opened, and they knew (behold!) that they were naked (without innocence intended for them my God); and they sewed (man's touch now condemns!) fig leaves together (man's cover-up never hides from God), and made themselves aprons (purpose to deceive). 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 (to save themselves from His [Judgment] Knowledge) from the presence of the LORD God (no Joy NOW for them in His presence) amongst the trees of the garden. Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them (covered [hid] them) - (purpose to [later] Save)."

"Peekaboo; I seeeee you!" Immediately after Pronouncing His Curse upon man (vs 16-19), God's very first act is to initiate the greatest game of "hide & seek" ever Conceived.

He removes man's attempts to deceive God (fig leaves), and replaces them with a "cover-up" of God's own Edenic-Nature - innocence (slaughtered by God and Graced on man).

The Lord could have sent them "packing" with just the fig leaves on their "backsides", but He didn't. Part and parcel of His ejection of them from the Paradise of Innocence was that they should evermore "carry" the "burden-Blessing" of a debt-memory with them of that Garden lost, and God's Promised Recovery of it for them. Not by their hand, but by His!

They tried to hide; they tried to cover up. No good. God hides their naked-shame (their new ["fallen-nature"] union with Satan) from His Own Righteousness (for their salvation- sake), and enters into a "game" of "peekaboo" "cover-up" (Hide & Seek) on a Divine scale.

It's not so much that God does not "see" what He, Himself, covers up; but that He overlooks it (for the sake of the innocent blood- covering). But WHY?

Sheep usually give birth to one lamb at a time. When a ewe looses her baby at birth she mourns that loss, sometimes for weeks. Occasionally, however, it's not the baby lamb that's lost at birth, but the mother. When this happens, an "orphan" lamb is left. What does the shepherd do? Oh, he can feed the baby & keep it alive, but he simply cannot replace the love, acceptance and guidance of a real mother-lamb relationship.

In the Spring, when the flock begins to "lamb", it's not uncommon for many such "partings" to occur coincidentally. The shepherd will skin a dead baby lamb, and, removing the head and the hoofs, will "clothe" the "orphan" baby lamb in the skin of the dead one. Now he presents the "orphan" to the grieving mother as though it was her "lost" little one, returned to her!

She sniffs it, & smells her baby, and accepts it as her own. The shepherd leaves the skin on the baby for about three days. In this time, the milk of the mother has "passed through" enough to change the baby and his droppings to the scent of the mother. Thus "orphaned" lambs are "adopted" by "grafting in" through the milk of the mother!

We know that the "Milk" of God is His Word of Love to us. And it changes us in the same manner. But LIFE is not in the Milk, but in the BLOOD! When man sinned he died. But God Said LIVE - if only (temporarily) by the vicarious life-blood of an innocent "other"!

So, what was lost to God by Death, God "grafted in" through His Love of another.

See..., Satan miscalculated. He forgot HOW God Created - with LOVE! Nothing God ever Created did He not Love.

When man became hateful to God, and He could not Look upon man without destroying him, God Created a "Divine Cover-up Game" in-the-meantime. There had to be a Way, and God Created it.

By sacrificing one beloved creature for another, (no longer beloved, but lost to evil), God covers over man's evil-nature so He can continue His Love-("Milk")-Relationship with the new "orphan". Thus He might later Adopt him as His Own!

Pretty slick, Huh? No daddy ever says "peekaboo" without adding "I seeeee you!". This tiny game of "hide & seek" delights infants like no other.

Our "Daddy-God" ("ABA"="Da-Da") continues His Marvelous Game of "PeekaBoo/I See you!". And, by Hiding us in "another's" Life-Innocence (even the Blood of His Lamb-Son), He changes us ("from Glory to Glory" ["by beholding HIM!"], or "peekaboo!").

This kind of "hiding" us [Col 3:3] preserves us (as a "remnant") for His Perfect Adoption In Christ as NEW CREATURES; re-made in His Image!

Remember, God "Hides" to "Seek"! And what God "Seeks", He SAVES - UTTERLY!

God set out to Hide a Secret in His Creation! Paul refers to this Hidden Secret (now Revealed in Christ) as His Plan of Salvation. Sure Fooled Satan! He didn't see it coming.

God only made things He Loved, -BY- Love. And that's just How He Re-Makes us, -IN- Love. The amazing Power of Love over nature is further illustrated by a similar phenomenon.

I'm told this same procedure is the process used to "create" a "new-creature" known as a "sheep-dog". This is an animal of one species which believes and behaves as though it was of a different species! How is it done?

A puppy-dog (cousin to the wolf) is removed from it's mother and covered with the skin (scent) of a baby lamb and is raised as a lamb. The love, and nurturing of the mother sheep is so deeply imprinted (engraved) on that baby dog that, even after extensive human training, he will fight for & defend the flock with his life against his natural-cousin, the wolf!

All sheep-dogs willingly "lay down their lives for their 'brothers'", the flock! This selfless substitution has preserved a Way of Adoption which God has Used in His Determined Word of Salvation.

The entire Levitical Law; the Nation of Israel; the Priesthood; the Sacrifice; the Tabernacle of Skins; even God's taking Flesh in Christ is all part of His Mystery-Revealed.

As the Father HID His Face when Jesus Became Sin-For-Us, even then, He looked ==>past our sins to Forgive them!

Paul tells us to "put on Christ" (Who is the whole Armor of God!).

Gen 3:9 "And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, W h e r e a r t t h o u ?" THIS is not "hide & seek"! It is, however, the reason why the response of every creature to it's Creator should be, ==>"Here am I; Speak Lord!; for thy servant HEARETH!"

It should not seem odd to us that, if God is going "Seeking", we shall be found-out by Him. Nor should it seem strange that His Search produces a "Call" and a "Draw" Which must be vigorously resisted by those determined not to obey His Command, "Come Unto Me"!

But God knows our evil-nature. That's why Jesus tells us in Rev 3:18 "I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the ==>shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see."

Many folks believe that our heavenly "clothing" will be our "good & righteous deeds on earth". I don't think so. I think the "Game" is far more profound, and the (eternal) "Stakes" of the Game more Valuable, Precious and Consequential than any "good deed" of man! Oh, don't get me wrong; I'm not minimizing What Christ can Do in & through us; I'm simply saying we know not ALL That God has in Mind by His Marvelous "Hide & Seek"!

God once gave me a sermon in one word; "Olly-Olly-Oxen-Free!". It's a bastardized form of the Gaelic re-call, "All you little 'urchins' are FREE!". In other words, "Come out! Come out! Wherever you are (hiding )". "Time to COME HOME, now!". Game's over! FINISHED! No more "Peek-A-Boo!".

The "White Raiment" Jesus wants us to "buy" from Him are HIS Righteousness! What in the world could we have worth that?!

Just our love and devotion and willing loyalty. Nothing strange. He Speaks of all these simple gifts which Please Him in His Letters to the 7 Churches (Rev).

But now, WE SEE JESUS! He said in Mat 10:26 "...for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known." "Peek-A-Boo!". God Sees you!

When Jesus said "It is finished!" on the cross, the "Call" of God's "Olly-Olly-Oxen-Free" went forth. The rocks heard it (and cracked). The Temple Veil heard it (and split). The earth opened and many resurrected! All Heaven and Hell heard it too.

Come Home NOW... TO ME! The Game was over. God Won! "And this is the Victory that OVERCOMES the world , even our [Living-]FAITH!".

Man what a "Wawhoooo!" went up in Heaven that day! And if Angels wore crowns, I could see them hurling them into the air by the millions! Man, What a sight that WILL be! I say "will" because He Is the "Lamb slain from the foundations of the earth", and He always will be!

He Is the Mystery. He was both Game-Plan and the Wonder-ful Prize, our Victory. But Paul said it best in the closing remarks of what most consider his masterpiece, Romans 16:25-27 "Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest (in Jesus Christ!), and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the ==>obedience of [Living-]faith: To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen."

It is said, "to the victor belong the spoils". YOU, my friend, are the "Spoils"!

If you've met and know Jesus Christ, have given your life & soul away to Him, and you now love God as He Indwells you and Speaks to you - YOU are His Prized Possession, In-Christ!

Hanna Hurnard wrote in her masterpiece, "Hinds Feet On High Places", a little song all the flowers sing - "He's got the Victory; He's got the Victory". As in "Hide & Seek", ......YOU'RE IT!