When Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree from which God commanded them not to eat, they willfully chose to reject God’s kingship over their lives. They were made in God’s image so that they would know God, understand His word, and live in relationship with Him. God’s desire was that the earth be filled with His image-bearers, and God promised that the punishment for sin was death. The cornerstone question of the Bible is this: How would a good God whose word is true respond when His image-bearers reject Him?

God answers this question in Genesis 3:14-24. God judged Adam and Eve for their sin, but He did something surprising. He forgave them. In the midst of judgement, God gave them a promise of hope. One day there would be a Seed of the woman who would crush the head of the Serpent. By giving Adam and Eve this hope, God was promising to one day send One who would remove the results of sin forever. God gave them a promise of redemption, and He obligated Himself to keep this promise.

So that they would remember this promise, God also gave them a picture of redemption. When God killed an innocent animal (or animals) to provide clothing for Adam and Eve, God showed them how He would fulfill His promise of redemption. He set His terms for salvation. Salvation would come through the shedding of the blood of the innocent on behalf of the guilty*. The shedding of the blood of an innocent animal was a picture that Adam and Eve were to cling to and pass down to the next generations, because God was promising to one day send an Innocent One who would die so that the guilty could escape the results of sin.

The rest of the Bible unpacks the way in which God fulfills His promise and picture of redemption. Jesus was the substitutionary penalty payer for the sin of mankind. The Bible says that all of mankind has sinned against Him in the way that we think about Him, speak about Him, and disobey Him by our actions. However, people of faith throughout Scriptue clung to the promise and picture of redemption which was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Before Jesus came to die on the cross for the forgiveness of sin, those who walked with God by faith participated in the promise and picture of redemption by brining an innocent animal to the Lord as a blood sacrifice. Jesus, however, died once and for all as the final sacrifice for the atonement of sin. After Jesus those who walk with God by faith simply live a lifestyle of repentance, accepting Jesus’ substitutionary death on behalf of their sin.

God is good and His word is true. He responded to our rejection of Him by forgiving all who would walk with Him by faith, believing His promise and clinging to the picture He provided for the forgiveness of sin.