²⁵ “And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” (Genesis 2:25, ESV)

⁶ “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. ⁸ And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.” (Genesis 3:6-8, ESV)

²¹ “And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.” (Genesis 3:21, ESV)

¹² “On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry.¹³ And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. ¹⁴ And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.” (Mark 11:12-14, ESV)

Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eve trusted the words of an evil being, Satan, instead of trusting God’s words not to eat from the tree. Adam trusted Eve’s words instead of God’s words. Once they ate, their eyes were open. They weren’t wiser. Instead, sin distorted their perceptions. As sin entered their hearts and the Holy Spirit left, they felt shame for the first time. There was now a deadness in their hearts – continual darkness. They not only felt shame in each other’s presence, but wanted to hide from a good and loving God. By sewing fig leaves, they tried to cover or fix that deadness.

The good news is that Adam and Eve were not driven out of Eden clothed in fig leaves. God signalled the hope of Christmas by clothing them with skins from a sacrificed animal. He gave them a better covering.

Since Adam and Eve’s fall, man has been busy sewing fig leaves. There’s an endless array of fig leaves to choose from. There’s fame, beauty, relationships, money, knowledge, likes, promotions, sex, entertainment, fitness, food, drugs, humanitarian acts, man’s praise, and artistic or athletic abilities, ( ). We sense that we need to create purpose and meaning in life – to make us feel valuable and worthy. We cover ourselves with things that cannot fix our spiritual deadness. There’s a reason why even after achieving great things, it’s never enough. We never have enough money, or likes, or instagrammable experiences, or new gadgets, or relationships. These do not satiate because they are temporary things. What we actually need is an eternal covering – encompassing a cleanse of sins and true life (union with God).

The Christmas story is how God sent Jesus to cover us. As Adam and Eve was covered by God with skins from an innocent animal’s death, forgiveness and life would come to man through Jesus’ death.

There’s a strange scene in the Bible where Jesus curses a fig tree, which shows what He came to do. He is in a village called Bethany, which means “house of figs.” He is hungry and sees a fig tree with leaves, which should have fruit. Finding none, He curses it and said that no one should eat from it. This tree is deceptive – it looks fruitful, but is not. It did not bear fruit, which is what it’s supposed to do. It’s similar to how Adam and Eve looked alive and well on the outside, but inside they were dead with sin. After Jesus’ curse, His disciples notice that the fig tree had withered away to its roots. Physical appearances now match the truth. Jesus judges and condemns that state of being – alive on the outside, but spiritually dead on the inside.

The great Christmas hope is this – that Jesus came to give us Himself – to destroy the fig leaves (as He did the fig tree) and give a better covering. When we believe in Jesus, He covers us with His robes of righteousness, and gives us new hearts with the Holy Spirit, who is life. Either we will stand in front of God with fig leaves or covered in Jesus’ robes of righteousness. Fig leaves lead to judgment and condemnation, while covering with Jesus’ robes lead to forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

The greatest human problems are not global warming, world hunger, racism, sexism, hatred, physical illness and mental illness. Those are symptoms of a sinful, fallen world. The greatest human problems are spiritual deadness and enmity with God. This is what Jesus came to solve. We don’t have to put on our futile fig leaves, deluding ourselves that we are alive in the most important way. Jesus died and paid for our sins so that by faith, we could be cleansed within, made righteous, and given life. We no longer have to hide from God who loves us. With the Holy Spirit living in our hearts, we can finally bear fruit – of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23, ESV). We can show signs of life because we are truly alive.

Jesus is the eternal covering for those who believe in Him. He endured nakedness, shame and death to clothe us. Providentially, in Bethany, the house of figs, Jesus also performs the miracle of resurrecting Lazarus from death. What happened in that village thousands of years ago is a reminder that man suffers from a universal curse, but is offered an invaluable cure. It is a wonder that because of what Jesus did on the cross, we – who are but dust, will resurrect one day to a perfect life with God – matching the truth that by faith, our hearts were raised from death.