Naked Before a Holy God
And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. (Genesis 2:25 – AKJV)
Nakedness before God was not a shameful thing before the Fall. Adam and Eve’s innocence saved them from taking something beautiful, and distorting it into lust and impurity.
After the Fall, the sinful state of humanity dictated we must be clothed. God slew animals (the first indication that blood had to be shed in order to deal with humanity’s sinful state) to cover the nakedness of our first parents. Henceforth it became a shamed to expose our nakedness, except in the holy bond of marriage.
I take this to be a figure, or parable of God’s purpose for us spiritually. Can we come to a place spiritually, like Adam and Eve were spiritually – naked, yet unashamed?
In fact we are all naked before God anyway, since He sees all and nothing can be hidden from His sight. In our natural state, however, whenever we discover some sin of debilitating habit in ourselves, we feel shame. We have even invented a phrase to describe someone who feels no shame at their own sinful behaviour – we call them “shameless.”
And yet we can, through God’s Grace, come to a place where we can consciously stand naked before our Holy God, and yet feel no shame.
How can this be? Is it not required that we should feel shame for our sinful condition?
We can be naked before a Holy God simply because Jesus carried our shame to the Cross, and shed His blood to cleanse us from all sin. That is why confession is required in order to become right with God.
Confession is the act of becoming naked before God and hiding nothing from Him. And what happens when we do this?
This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:5-9 – NASB)
The act of true confession renders us naked before our Holy God, prompting Him to grant us forgiveness and cleansing. Having been cleansed from all sin I can stand naked before God and feel no shame, simply because he has removed the cause of that shame. Only when we try to hide are sin can a sense of shame overwhelm us.
(© 23rd April 1992 – by Christopher Shennan)
Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees”; for she said, “Have I even [c]remained alive here after seeing Him?” (Genesis 16:13 – NASB)
Lord, You are the God
Who sees me through and through;
My motives and ambitions,
Not only what I do.
You have a perfect record
Of the Secret plans I make:
What I think when I am sleeping,
And when I am awake.
You are the God Who sees me
Just as I really am;
What I think I will accomplish,
And What I really can.
You see the secret longings —
The hungers of the heart —
When I’m being foolish,
And when I’m being smart.
There is no point in hiding
From the God Who knows my all,
When I’m up and running swiftly
And when I take a fall.
It’s safer to take refuge
In God’s vast, Undying Love,
And know what e’er betides me
He’s watching from above.
These thoughts may be disturbing
To the men and woman who
Have something to conceal from
The point of Heaven’s view.
But to me it is great comfort
As I journey on my way:
‘Snot men, but God in Heaven,
Who has the final say.
Please visit My website: www.christophershennan.ca
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“Adam and Eve” by Hendrik Goltzius. Copyright. Used under the CC BY 2.0 license. This image is a cameo from the original work.
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