An old man who had recently been saved was asked, “How long have you known the Lord?” His answer was, “About three weeks, but I have been for forty years sewing fig leaves together.”
There is a good deal expressed in those few words, for thousands are still occupied in the same useless business of sewing fig leaves together. Those who seek to save their souls by means of rites and ceremonies, ordinances and church-going, or who are building their eternal salvation upon prayers, fastings and giving to charities are merely sewing fig leaves together. All these things may be very good in their right place, but they are no foundation on which to build for eternity.
In the third chapter of Genesis we see man’s first attempt to sew fig leaves together—the very earliest illustration of all human effort to cover the sinner’s moral and spiritual nakedness.
No sooner had man eaten the forbidden fruit than his eyes were opened, and he found out that he was naked. He became possessed of a conscience of good and evil. Up to this, Adam and Eve knew only good, but now all was changed.
Works
How then did they meet their new condition? “They sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons” (Gen. 3:77And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. (Genesis 3:7)). It was their work, not God’s, and this stamped its character. It was impossible that the work of a ruined creature could ever lift him out of the ruin into which he had fallen. Hence we find that when “they heard the voice of the Lord God, walking in the garden in the cool of the day, Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God, amongst the trees of the garden” (Gen. 3:88And 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 from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. (Genesis 3:8)). They dared not trust their fig-leaf apron, for it did not even satisfy themselves. How then could it screen them from the searching gaze of a righteous God? Adam and Eve had overlooked the one vital thing, which was humbly to acknowledge their guilty condition before God and to admit that death and judgment were their due.
Coats of Skins
“The Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself” (Gen. 3:9-109And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. (Genesis 3:9‑10)). The apron was of no use; indeed, Adam completely ignored it. Thus it is ever; all human efforts prove valueless, when the testing time comes. Nothing will stand but God’s own work. In order to possess true, solid, divine peace, the soul must be resting simply on that which is entirely of God. Of this latter we have the earliest figure in the coats of skin which the Lord God made for Adam and his wife. “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them” (Gen. 3:2121Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them. (Genesis 3:21)). That was grace. To faith, those coats of skins are lovely, for they speak of God’s free provision for sinners in the death of Christ, “the Lamb of God” (John 1:2929The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. (John 1:29)).
There was this significant difference between the apron and the coat: God never set a single stitch in the former, and man never set a single stitch in the latter. The apron was wholly of man and could not avail; the coat was wholly of God and therefore must avail.
Aprons of Fig Leaves
Sad to say, Christendom is studded from one end to the other with the manufacturing of fig-leaf aprons. Those aprons may do well enough until the voice of God must be heard, and their utter worthlessness will be found out when it is too late. “I heard Thy voice ... and I was afraid, because I was naked” (Gen. 3:1010And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. (Genesis 3:10)).
On which are we trusting—man’s apron or God’s coat? Eternal consequences hang on our answer to this great question. It will be unspeakably awful to find out, when it is too late, that we have been building on human rubbish, instead of building upon the Rock of ages. “He that believeth on Him shall not be confounded” (1 Peter 2:66Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. (1 Peter 2:6)).
C. H. Mackintosh (adapted)