God next made coasts of skin, and clothed them. There are several interesting points to make concerning this.
First, despite what some commentators say, this appears to be a theophany. That is, a preincarnate (before the virgin birth) appearance of God in bodily form.
Normally, a theophany is called “the angel of the Lord.” Here, though, Moses has just spent an entire chapter discussing the Fall, and God’s reaction to it. It would not have the same power had Moses used “the angel of the Lord” before this, and it would be confusing if he were to suddenly switch to that term here.
So, was it Jesus, in preincarnate form, before? That is less certain. We know that God came down in “the cool of the day,” but He could have come down just as He looked down upon Sodom to see how great their sin was. He could have easily spoken in an audible voice from heaven when correcting Adam and Eve, just as speaks from Heaven at other times, and those to whom His words are not directed merely hear thunder, such as Paul’s Damascus Road experience.
Int his verse, He does something only possible with physical hands, barring some divine miracle. And, the beauty of the Genesis account is that it is so simple – too simple for many, as God has used the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. (1 Cor. 1:27) it is too filled with awe and wonder for the humanist, and for the pagan, has none of the really flashy and confusing things. The story of Creation is very simple – God made, man sinned, God promised a redeemer. It is much more plausible that God would simply come to Earth, in preincarnate form, and make these coasts.
. The beauty and simplicity lets us see our promised Redeemer work. Thousands of years before He took our sins away for good - through His death on the cross and resurrection - He covered the sins of the first man and woman. Their first realization of sin was nakedness. Now, the reminder of God’s blessing would be with them through clothing. It was not sinful for them, as husband and wife to see each other naked. But, the very fact they knew that concept showed that sinful, carnal nature was there.
We see, then, that God Himself covered their sin. It was the shedding of blood that caused that to happen. We don’t know if it was a lamb, but I believe it was. It carries the same symbolism as would come down through history. All the lambs slain from the beginning pointed to the ultimate sacrifice, when Jesus, the Lamb of God, died to pay the sin debt for the world. He didn’t just cover our sins, He washed them away.
This shedding of blood became known as the only proper sacrifice, a picture of how they were to give to God. The Lord would later inspire Moses to write that the life of a thing is in its blood (Lev. 17:11), and the author of Hebrews to write that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. (Heb. 9:22)
But, every single one of those sacrifices, starting with this lamb could only cover. Jesus, however, took it all away, so it would be on us no more. Hallelujah!
