Union with the Lamb of God

By Arthur J Licursi

Genesis 3:20-21 And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. 21Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

Genesis 2:17 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.

Romans 2:15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

Hebrews 9:22 …; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

1 Thes. 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

After Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating of “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 2:17)” they did in fact gain knowledge of “good and evil.” They had gained a knowledge that the Devil suggested, and they thought, would make them “as gods” (Gen 3:5), “to know good and evil” (Gen 3:22). They thought thereby they would become independent of God, as gods. The outcome was different then they had supposed. With this new found knowledge they immediately then became “conscious” of their sinful state – so they made a covering of fig leaves to cover their naked selves. It was their active conscience that had exposed them. But this covering immediately became obviously inadequate. We know this because if they had thought their fig leaves were a suitable covering then why would they feel the need to then hide from God (Gen 3:8)? The answer is their “conscience” was at work convicting them of their true, fallen, state with God. Thus we can see the source of man’s conviction; it is by a knowledge that they gained illicitly, now pricked by their conscience. This knowledge, in concert with their conscience, which is in all mankind from birth, is in one sense as a Trojan Horse. It is by the conscience and the inward knowledge of good and evil that the Holy Spirit convicts men of their sinful state and need of reconciliation with God.

God sought them out and Adam hid. God seeking us out and exposing us is God working to reconcile us to Him. God desires not to hurt or condemn us, but rather to provoke us to receive the remedy He has provided for the breach between Him and us. God then provided coats of skins to cover Adams and Eve’s sinful state. Consider that before the skins were taken from innocent animals, innocent animals were undoubtedly sacrificed, killed (Scripture does not say lambs but I would guess them to be lambs). They were killed and their blood was shed to provide a covering for the sin of Adam and Eve.

This act of innocent animal sacrifice by God then was the very first preaching of the gospel – by God Himself. It was a foretelling of a perfect lamb sacrifice in the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ.

I believe that God probably killed the animals in the presence of Adam and Eve and that they witnessed the sacrifice. Else how would Abel have learned to make sacrifices (Gen 4:4)? It must have given them a deep impression. Perhaps Adam watching God, said to Eve, "Eve, don't you know that that should be our destiny? According to God's prohibition, we should be killed. But God didn't kill us, Eve. God is killing these lambs in our place. How thankful and grateful we should be to these lambs. They are our substitute."

One day many years later the Lord Jesus came, and John the Baptist said of Him, "Behold, the Lamb of God." John 1:29 is a development of Genesis 3:21.

How can a righteous God justify sinful man without the shedding of innocent blood? Without the shedding of blood, it would not have been legal, lawful, righteous, or fair for God to put a covering upon fallen man. However, before God covered sinful man with the coats of skins, God judged and killed him in the sacrifice.

God will never kill us, because He has already killed us in Christ in our place. This is one of several Biblical reasons I believe the members of the body of Christ, the church, will not face the wrath of the tribulation period. “God hath not appointed us to wrath (1Thes 5:9)” because we were judged “in Christ.”

On the cross Christ was killed by the righteous God. This means that God's justification is based upon our redemption in Christ. We are made just by the sacrifice of Christ for us – to do what we could never do for ourselves. The putting on of the coats of skins was based upon the shedding of the blood of the sacrifice, for the sacrificial lamb was actually a substitute for sinful man.

Once Adam believed in the glad tidings God covered him with a coat of animal skins, and he became one with the “sacrificial lamb.” The sinner had become one with the substitute. This is union. This substitution of Jesus Christ’s death for us has nothing to do with us until we enter into that union with Him. Once we participate in that union, whatever the substitute has accomplished is ours.

If you do not believe in (trust in) Christ, you do not have this union. If you do not have union with Him, whatever He has done on the cross cannot be appropriated by you or applied to you. We need to believe in Christ. Whenever the Bible speaks about believing for salvation it uses the preposition "in." This little word "in" denotes union. To believe in Jesus Christ is to be one with Him, to have union with Him.

According to law, because of the union between husband and wife, whatever the husband has in his name also belongs to his wife. We have a marriage of sorts with Christ as we trust in and rely upon Him. Whatever He has, whatever He is, whatever He has done, whatever He has attained and obtained - everything is ours. We are now “in Christ.”

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