- Read Genesis 3, Romans 5, Genesis 4:1-8
Genesis 3 tells the tragic story of man’s temptation and the consequences of his disobedience to God. In “Finding Jesus in Genesis: The Last Adam,” we discussed how Adam is a type or a foreshadowing of Christ. Jesus, through His sacrifice on the cross, did what Adam never could. Let’s focus on the circumstances surrounding Adam’s fall into sin and what God did in response.
Paradise Lost
God made everything Adam and Eve needed available in the Garden of Eden—it was paradise. Along with this utopia, God gave them dominion and authority over all His creation (Genesis 1:26); all Adam and Eve had to do was trust God and obey His Word.
This authority that Adam and Eve possessed, Satan wanted for himself. Satan, who Jesus described as the “father of lies” (John 8:44), came up with a devious scheme to take man’s dominion and authority from him (Genesis 3:1-6). Satan planned to cause Adam and Eve to doubt God’s word and, through this doubt, sin against God. His plan worked. Through Adam’s one act of disobedience, the world fell into sin.
The moment that Adam ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, sin was brought into the world (Romans 5:12), “their [Adam and Eve’s] eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So, they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves” (Genesis 3:7). Adam and Eve’s attempt at making their covering was man’s first try to make himself right with God through his own efforts. But as the Prophet Isaiah reminds us, our “righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6); they can never wash us clean from our sins.
Clothed in Righteousness
Adam and Eve quickly discovered that they could do nothing to make themselves right with God; their covering of fig leaves was not enough. Instead, to cover their nakedness, God “made garments of skin…and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21).
Clothing symbolizes righteousness throughout Scripture. Isaiah writes that God dressed him in the clothing of salvation and draped him in a robe of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10), and Job says that righteousness covered him like a robe (Job 29:14).
Adam and Eve sinned and deserved to die. But God, out of His great mercy, clothed them with garments of skin to cover their nakedness, which represents their sin. God’s cover was not without a price; two animals had to die. These animals were the first blood sacrifice.
The Price of Sin
Through God’s provision of cover, He laid down the divine principles of salvation. Sin must be paid for, and that payment must be made through a sacrifice that only God can provide. Innocent blood must be shed for the guilty. This first sacrifice is a shadow of the reality that someday God would offer His one and only Son, Jesus, as that innocent sacrifice that would pay the price for all our sins (John 3:16).
Cain and Abel
This shadow of Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice can also be seen in the story of Cain and Abel. Cain and Abel were the sons of Adam and Eve. Cain was a farmer, and Abel was a shepherd. God required an offering. Cain brought some of his crops to God for his offering. Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock for his. God accepted Abel’s sacrifice but rejected Cain’s. This made Cain very angry, and because of his envy, he killed Abel. This was the first murder recorded in Scripture (Genesis 4:1-8).
Abel’s sacrifice was acceptable to God because it was a blood sacrifice. It was the best he had, and by making this sacrifice, Abel obeyed what God had instructed him to do. According to Hebrews 11:4, Abel’s offering “gave evidence that he was a righteous man.”
Cain’s sacrifice, on the other hand, was not acceptable to God because it was not a blood sacrifice. Cain didn’t offer his best, making clear to God that he rejected God’s instructions on sacrifice (Genesis 4:6). In response to Cain’s disobedience, God asked him, “Cain, if you do what is right, will you not be accepted?” (Genesis 4:7). Cain continued to refuse God’s wisdom and eventually God drove him from the land (Genesis 4:13-14).
Abel’s Sacrifice, A Type of Christ
Abel’s offering is a type of Christ because, like Christ, Abel’s offering is a sacrifice of an innocent, living creature whose blood is spilled for the righteousness of the guilty. Further, there are many similarities between Abel and Jesus. Abel is a shepherd (Genesis 4:2) just as Jesus is the “Good Shepherd” (John 10:11). Abel is killed by his brother Cain because of envy (Genesis 4:7), and Jesus is killed by his people because of their envy (Matthew 27:18).
These sacrifices are pictures of the sacrifice Jesus would make 2,000 years later on the cross. Nothing short of Jesus’s blood can cover our sins. When we accept what Jesus did for us on the cross, we “put on Christ, like putting on new clothes” (Galatians 3:27). Christ is our covering, and He is our righteous robe.
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Making Him Known March 12, 2026 2:20 pm