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Coats of Skin

by Jerry Ousley  
8/01/2014 / Christian Living

I always admired the stories of Daniel Boone and Davy Crocket. Those guys were hunters. The shows on television were exciting and made it look very appealing, at least in the eyes of a ten year old boy. I dreamed of being a great hunter.

The day came when my father decided to take me on a hunt. He and a few other men were hunting for raccoons. That's a night hunt. You take your dogs and a good flashlight, along with a shotgun or rifle, and head out into the night in search of the dreaded beast, an animal about the size of a cat (sometimes a little bigger). Somehow it doesn't seem quite fair. But I've heard stories about how those raccoons can get very vicious and even kill a dog in a fight.

I was excited and a little bit afraid too after hearing all those hunting stories. The first time I went I loved it. I felt grown up being with the adults and all. Of course, Dad didn't let me carry a gun but still, I was with the men now. I was glad to go but frankly I was glad to get back home too.

The second trip wasn't so much fun. It was just after a rain and the woods were wet, cold and muddy. The hunt took us through a cornfield. Have you ever went running through a cornfield at night just after a good soaking rain? Mud was caked on my shoes so thick I felt like I was running with twenty pound weights around my feet. The wet corn stalks soon yielded their moisture to my coat and I was thoroughly soaked. And trying to keep up with the men demanded that I not be so careful so the leafy blades cut my face and hands and it felt like running through a field of knives. That was my last hunt for raccoons. I decided that they could have the woods.

Later in life, I was around twenty or so, a friend of mine talked me into going squirrel hunting with him another one of those small but fierce animals I suppose. At least this could be done in the daytime. We went into the woods and walked around a bit, then waited. Smack! Smack! Smack! Mosquitoes were everywhere! I kept beating on the things as my buddy looked for the dreaded prey. I pretended to have a good time but that was my last hunt. I suppose if I were ever in a position that demanded I hunt for food I'd do it, but frankly it isn't for me.

We've talked about Adam and Eve and how they sinned in the Garden of Eden. Their first realization was that they were naked and they were ashamed. They formed makeshift skirts out of fig leaves to cover their shame. Later, the Bible tells us that God came to the Garden. He called out for Adam and Eve as if they were lost. Think about that for a moment The all-knowing God must have pinpointed their location before He ever entered the Garden. It is significant that He called out for them as if they were lost because the result of their disobedience had made them lost spiritually.

In the short of the matter the Bible tells us that after God placed a curse on the pair, as well as the entire creation of Planet Earth, he hunted down and killed two animals to make coats of skin for the couple. It was the first kill; the first hunt. Two innocent creatures had to die in order to cloth Adam and Eve. From that moment on death entered in the world and it has not stopped yet, nor will it until the Lord completes the redemption of mankind and all of creation during the end-time events predicted in the Bible.

The shedding of blood was required as payment for man's sin. Over the centuries thousands and thousands of animals died in sacrifice to atone for the sin of man. Then Christ came, becoming the final sacrifice. He paid the ultimate price for our sin, making it possible for man to shed his coat of skin and put on the final garment the robe of righteous and the clothing of salvation.

I might ask you today, what are you wearing? Are you still struggling in fig leaf aprons that will crumble to bits? Are you ambling along in life in a coat of skin, trying to work your way into Heaven? Or have you made the choice to trade your clothing for the one that will last forever? The choice is ours.

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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