Salvation comes from the LORD
The total global apparel market is 1.5 Trillion USD. And it is expected to grow to over 2 Trillion USD by 2026. (source: statista.com) And that does not even take blankets into account! In the account of creation, God made man and woman in His own image. Nothing is said about their clothing until they sinned and fell away from God’s perfect creation. And then we are told that God clothed them to cover their nakedness. Their nakedness was not only physical but also spiritual, that is, sin separated them from God’s total holiness. Their fate was eventual death, but the more important death was eternal. Stop!
Enter God’s great agape love for His creation and grace that provided a solution for their eternal decay. That promise is made in Genesis chapter three. (Protevangel) Yes, God blanketed Adam and Eve with His grace and changed their clothing from unrighteousness to a righteous state. Adam and Eve were conscious of their sin and were afraid. The result of their sin caused them to be banished from God’s Garden in addition to their curse of pain and suffering in their lives. But they believed in God’s promise as evidenced by Eve’s statement, “with the help of the LORD, I have brought forth a man.” (Genesis 4:1)
The Old Testament (“O. T.”) is rife with examples of “offerings” or sacrifices. Actually, the first sacrifice was God himself who made animal skins to clothe Adam and Eve. Sacrifices and/or offerings were commonplace in O. T. Priests would offer sacrifices for sin and guilt among others. Beginning with Adam and Eve’s sin, the sinful nature of mankind continues to produce sin in abundance. What’s the solution? The Messiah! God promised a way out of our condition with a promise to deliver a final sacrifice for all mankind. The Messiah was none other than His one and only Son, Jesus, the Christ. According to bible.org/article/soteriology, “(sin) is a condition against which mankind is completely helpless when left to his own human resources.” Soteriology is the study of the doctrine of salvation. The word comes from the Greek base word soteria which is translated salvation. Another source comments that the act of salvation includes deliverance, restoration, preservation, and salvation of mankind. The root word can be used for physical as well as spiritual deliverance. In the New Testament (“N. T.”), about one-third of its uses refers to physical healing.
Yes, the Christian is delivered (from sin) and preserved (from death) by the grace of God having been clothed in righteousness by the blood of the Lamb of God for His act of redemption on Calvary’s cross. Our sins were blanketed that paved the way from our sinful nature to be righteous in God’s sight. This blanket is available to all who express faith in Jesus Christ, the Savior (soter) of the world.
The O. T. prophet Jonah, while in the belly of the fish, confessed his misgivings and remembered the LORD. He said, “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs…Salvation comes from the LORD.” (Jonah 2:8-9, paraphrased) Even eight hundreds years before Christ, Jonah was to take the message of God’s grace to the Gentile world in Nineveh. That same message is available to you and me today. God speaks to each of us in His Word and the message of salvation is echoed from the mountaintops that those in faith will be blanketed by his grace and clothed in the righteousness of our Holy God.
Peace
Connected in Him, I stand
GHR
