The word of God says,
“For My people have committed two evils:
They have forsaken Me,
The fountain of living waters,
To hew for themselves cisterns,
Broken cisterns
That can hold no water.” Jeremiah 2:13NASB
In this verse, the fountain of living waters represents God. While I have fountains of waters, why do I hew cisterns, and not just cisterns but “broken cisterns?”
Mind boggling, is it not?
But that is what we all prone to do when we reject or forsake God, our Creator, and look for our God-given honor somewhere else than God.
Jesus said this to the Samaritan woman who went to the well to get water. As far as this woman was concerned, her water jar was the source of water. To this woman Jesus said,
“Give Me a drink.”
Hmm!
The woman didn’t say, “While He Himself is the Fountain of Water, how come He is asking me for water?”
Nah! The woman didn’t know who she was talking to. She is from “this earth” and her thinking is “earthly.” I mean, how do people who belong to this world think other than according to this world, right? What else? So she went on considering her race and ethnicity against His and she said:
“How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?”
Hmm! The woman seems so informed. She knew Jesus was a Jew and she was a Samaritan and she knew what was going on between those two groups of people. They hate each other. Jews don’t want to even say hello to Samaritans. Talking to a woman Samaritan? Forget it! No Jew man talks to a Samaritan woman. Period! They thought Samaritans were worse than heathen or pagans.
What was Jesus’ reply to her: (well, she is from this earth and she knows and speaks according to this earth; He is from Heaven and He knows and speaks according to Heaven)
“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water. . . Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
Wow! Wow! What is He talking about? This is totally foreign for this earthly woman. (By the way, you find their entire conversations in the Gospel of John chapter four)
Yes, Jesus is the Gift of God given to humans, you and me. He came to die for us so our glory, the glory we originally had from God before our fore-parents, Adam and Eve, sinned against God, would return to us, not Adam’s innocence but more, to make us “the righteousness of God” through Christ Jesus.
Listen what the word of God says,
“But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 3:21-23NASB
And it says,
“He[God] made Him[Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21NASB
This totally sounds like a fiction, does it not?
I mean, I, Missy, now am the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus! This is an awful (awe-inspiring), jaw dropping, amazing, mind boggling, out of this world kind of fiction! But true!
Do you want to know what “fall short of the glory of God” looks like in a real world, I mean, do you want to see it practically?
Read Genesis 2:25 with Genesis 3:7
“2:25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. . . 3:7 Then [after they ate the forbidden fruit] the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.”
Did you see that?
A man, created to live forever, right away died! Nakedness, aging and death became his clothing. He was the most glorious and awe and fear-inspiring creature of God but after he sinned, every wild animal wants to kill him and he runs away from them and from nature, fire, rain, thunder and all.
If this is not embarrassing for anyone, I don’t know what will.
All creatures including angelical beings used to look at Adam with awe! He was (still is) the only creature of God created in God’s own image and likeness, made by God’s own hands, and God “breathed into” Adam’s nostrils so he “became a living being.” Genesis 2:7
But now, after he ate the forbidden fruit, he fell short of the glory of God. And what did Adam and Eve come up with to hide their “nakedness and shamefulness?”
“- – – they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.” Genesis 3:7
This is how coverings or clothing came into being. Will those “fig leaves” made them as glorious as they used to before the fall?
Are you crazy? No!
The coverings actually made them look so funny, at least for angelical beings whose jaws were dropping by the glimpse of Adam and Eve.
Well, sin has to be judged! And God cannot just pass by their sin! The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). And God is Just! Justice has to be served by the Just God. If not, He is not Just. And who can pay for their sin? Only “an innocent and holy” human being, just like them! Since there is no one holy apart from God, God had to come in a human flesh and die for the sin of Adam.
God, with His mercy and grace, slaughtered an animal and made garments for them from the animal skin (Genesis 3:21). Will the animal “death” will be the payment for their sin and be able to give them back their first glory?
Nah!
The animal was slaughtered in Genesis 3 as a foreshadow of what was yet to come, the Lamb God had prepared to give over to redeem Adam.
So, the word of God says,
“Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” 1 Corinthians 5:7ESV
If Christ, our Passover Lamb, is sacrificed, He is sacrificed so that we will never be found “naked,” in the most embarrassing way. “Christ is sacrificed,” means, we have “something” to wear that can cover our nakedness that came on us as a result of the fall.
Listen,
“Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” Romans 3:13-14ESV
Did you see that?
“Put on the Lord Jesus Christ!”
Just as you put on your clothes, the word of God tells us to put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
How do we do that?
Simple! By trusting in Him, knowing that we have the forgiveness of God and an eternal life through His death and believing and hoping that Jesus comes back to take us to Him so we live with Him forever ever!
This is called “Wearing, covering” our nakedness and shamefulness!
No man can cover his/her nakedness by the most expensive, brand clothes. No one can bring back his/her original glory by this material world. No one can cover his/her nakedness by driving the most expensive car. Cars, planes and all things that this world can give us are like “wheelchairs” for Adam, the most amazing creature of God.
Wealth, health and popularity cannot cover Adam’s nakedness and shamefulness.
Only the Lamb of God can do that!
When we reject this “God-given covering,” we look funny and foolish for all angelical beings, including Satan, as we try to find honor and glory by what we have in this world, by what we have and wear, or even worse, when we try to show to the whole world that we have the best of this world when we get drank in all kinds of sexual deeds apart from the sexual union of one man and one woman who are married to be one until death do them part.
The word of God says,
“So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.” Revelation 3:16-18ESV
I mean, don’t you love the word of God? I am serious! Don’t you just bless God for blessing us with His word? What else do we have in this world except the word of God? Nothing!
So, my friend, this is what I am trying to say: Our glory and honor is found only in Christ. Christ is the only One who can cover our shamefulness and nakedness. If we reject Christ by our words and deeds, we look for our “lost glory” in all the wrong places, wealth, and health and mostly in sexual stuff.
Unless we know this truth, we think we find glory in our shamefulness. While we do the most disgusting thing, we think we are popular and glorious. So, the word of God counsels us saying,
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Proverbs 9:10NASB
And it says this specifically to a woman:
“As a ring of gold in a swine’s snout
So is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion.” Proverbs 11:22NASB ///