16 So
then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out
of my mouth. 17 Because thou
sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and KNOWEST
NOT THAT THOU ART WRETCHED, AND MISERABLE, AND POOR, AND BLIND, AND NAKED. 18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou
mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the
shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that
thou mayest see.
(Rev 3:16-18)
We may wear the most exquisite apparel and latest fashions and yet be NAKED.
We are born with the want of a garment. (‘Want’ by the way, means need, not
desire). We come into the world hungry, poor, helpless and naked. We depart,
physically, in like manner. However, those who have donned that White Robe of
Righteousness made available in Christ do not appear naked before God, but are
clothed with the imputed righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. But no amount
of outer garments can hide the nakedness of our sins from the One who made us: Neither is there any creature that is
not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of
him with whom we have to do. (Heb
4:13)
In our day, it is not considered politically correct to point out the nakedness
of another – either in dress or lifestyle. It is not nice to call a terrorist a
terrorist; a homosexual a reprobate pervert (not MY judgment, but God’s),
promiscuous sex adultery, or an illegal immigrant an illegal immigrant. The
full power and force of the media are complicit in a process of forced
indoctrination to a life in which there are no contrasts and no offenders –
except those who go by the name of biblical Christian. No one dares point out
that the strongest proponent of this mindset, who occupies the American White
House, is the emperor who” has no clothes.” That would be unkind, you see. So
the entire nation is victim to the maelstrom of wickedness and deceit that
draws all to the depths of the sea and the numbness of morality that lifts no
one to a higher plane than the next. All of the “isms” in the world combine to
subjugate the soul of man to a mindless obedience and a dumbness of free
speech. Whether it be Communism, Fascism, Socialism, or Islamism – they all
have the same end – totalitarian control and the complete eradication of
individual liberties. But to go further on that line would not do justice to
the full meaning of nakedness as revealed in Holy Writ.
Adam and Eve were created au naturel with neither skirt nor cape. So are
we all, by the way. Before the Fall, they had no cognizance of their nakedness.
Why do you suppose that was the case? I believe it is because they had no
knowledge of good and evil. There was no law to impede their comfort. 12 Wherefore, as by one man
sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men,
for that all have sinned: 13 (For until the law sin was in
the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from
Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of
Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. (Romans 5:12-14)
God gave two commandments only to our primordial parents in the Garden at Eden
prior to Adam’s Fall. Do you remember them? The first relates to the Holy
Institution of Marriage between one man and one woman: 27 So God created man in his
own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28 And God blessed them, and God
said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue
it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air,
and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Gen 1:27-28) This dictates the
constitutional state of marriage to be between one man and one woman, and
foreshadows the Institution of the Church as a means of propagating the Gospel.
Two of the same sex cannot obey this very first commandment by producing
children.
What was the second commandment of the Lord to Adam? Hint: It introduces man’s
inclination to choose the evil works of Satan over the Lord of the Garden – the
Tree of Life! 16 And the LORD God commanded
the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest
thereof thou shalt surely die.
(Gen 2:16-17) The Tree of Life represents our
Lord Jesus Christ; but it was taken from us after Adam’s sin, so where is it
now? It is probably still in the Garden which the Lord also removed from
our access: 7 He
that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him
that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst
of the paradise of God.
(Rev 2:7)
So Adam sinned and became aware of his nakedness before God. It was not the
birds and the bees, or Eve, from which he hid himself in shame – but from God!
Notice that the pair did not hide themselves until they recognized the Presence
of the Lord: 8 And 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. (Gen 3:8) Atheism today is a pretense of hiding from God.
God was very happy with His Creation ere Adam sinned. He saw that ALL was very
good – even the animal creatures over which He desired the couple to exercise
careful dominion for their welfare and benefit. Of course, God already knew,
long before He created man, that the man, having a will to act, would not truly
have a free will but one surrendered to the Serpent of the Tree. The only free
will man can own is that will that is surrendered to the will of God. He knew
Adam could not be the “Captain of his soul and Master of his fate.” None of us
are. So God is brought to the sad point of covering the nakedness of Adam and
Eve. How did He accomplish that feat? You will remember that there was no death
before Adam’s Fall because there was no imputation of sin. Now the beauty and
charm of Eden is marred by the very first death which would typify the coming
sacrifice of our Lord as a covering for our sins: Unto Adam also and to his
wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them. (Gen
3:21) God
considered it a hurtful necessity to kill one of the precious and sinless
creatures He had made (probably a lamb) in order to cover the nakedness of Adam
and Eve. Later the sinless and altogether righteous Son of God would also be
sacrificed to cover the nakedness of our sins.
The nakedness of Adam, and his subsequent effort to cover that nakedness with
sown fig leaves, pretty much sums up the state of the modern church and her
wretched nakedness – especially in America where she was borne upon the
Providential Wings of God and protected until the blemishes in her heart began
to grow as a malignancy. Proud of her own works and enlarged tent skirts, she
boasts of numbers of souls that have been bought by her efforts, but of what
result. She has adopted the values of the world in order to gain the world. She
believes that her magnificent buildings and prodigious numbers will justify her
in the eyes of the world, but she has forgotten that it is not the world, but
the Lord Himself to whom she is betrothed. She has played the harlot, and will
draw the harlot’s wages at the last.
We read something of the seven churches, which may reflect
those of Revelations 1-3, of the end times in Isaiah 4:1 – And in that day
seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and
wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our
reproach. (Isaiah 4:1) When the prophets make
prophetic reference to woman, it is usually in the sense of a spiritual power
or institution. For example, And
there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the
moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: 2 And she being with child
cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. (Rev
12:1-2) This is the
called out church from Abraham to today.
Another example, far less flattering, of a spiritual institution represented by
woman is 1 And there came one of the
seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me,
Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth
upon many waters: 2 With whom the kings of the earth
have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made
drunk with the wine of her fornication. 3 So he carried me away in the
spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured
beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 And the woman was arrayed in
purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls,
having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her
fornication: 5 And upon her forehead was a name
written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF
THE EARTH. 6 And I saw the woman drunken with
the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I
saw her, I wondered with great admiration (Rev
17:1-6)
The churches of our day are far more like those seven women of Isaiah 4:1. They
desire, more than anything else, the acceptance and approbation of the world –
even more than that of their betrothed Husband! So they – the seven women –
will take hold of one Man (Jesus Christ), saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only
let us be called by thy name to take away our reproach. They reject the Bread of Life offered by
our Lord I am the bread of
life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me
shall never thirst. (John 6:35) and they reject the Robe of
Righteousness Jesus offers: I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul
shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of
salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom
decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
(Isaiah 61:10)
And so, since her own works are as filthy rags, she remains wretched,
miserable, and poor in the eyes of the Lord. But we are all as an unclean
thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a
leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. (Isaiah 64:6) Yet, she desires to be called
by His Name (Christian) for the sake of misappropriated respectability.
The hand-sown fig leaves she has made for herself with her own hands for a
covering does not cover her, so she remains NAKED before God her Suitor and
Savior.
