I came upon this passage in my
daily reading today:
Exodus 20:26 And you shall not go up by steps to
my altar, that your nakedness be not exposed on it.’
This was the last verse for today’s
reading. What struck me was the phrase “your nakedness”. I wondered about this.
In the beginning Adam and Eve were both naked and they had no shame yet after
sin enters there is shame associated with nakedness as we find in this passage.
I did a quick search on the phrase “your nakedness” in the ESV and found 8 occurrences
of this phrase, all but one in the Old Testament. The one occurrence in the New
Testament was found in Revelation 3:18.
Every
time this phrase is used it’s in the context of sin or a reminder of sin. Physical
nudity is there but that seems to be a reminder of sin and the need of being
covered. Why was it important that the priest not show his nakedness to the
Lord? Because it’s the reminder of sin and rebellion. God spoke to Adam and Eve
in the garden and he clothed them with animal skins to cover their nakedness;
to cover their sin.
God in
Christ covers our nakedness; sin, in clothing us with the Lamb of God; Jesus.
Galatians
3:27 For as many of you as
were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
God
still does the clothing; God by the blood of Christ covers our nakedness.
Those are my ramblings for today.
