The encounter between Adam, Eve, and God after they partook of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is very telling. We might find it amusing that before the fall Adam and Eve didn’t seem to know or care that they were naked. After the fall they became very aware and also ashamed of their nakedness.

The issue of clothes or no clothes is not the real point here. Something changed dramatically when they partook of the forbidden tree. All of a sudden they looked at themselves and saw something different than they did before. Before their sin who they were was tied to God, Himself. They were created in God’s image. In God’s opinion they were a creation that was very good. No doubt when Adam walked with God, he saw how special His Creator was. Yet, in seeing the specialness of his Creator, he also saw his own specialness.

When Adam and Eve partook of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, somehow that tie was broken. When they looked at themselves, they no longer saw something that was good but something of which they needed to be ashamed.

I believe this was the birth of self-definition or self-righteousness. No longer was their worth found in God. It was now measured by their deeds, good or evil. It was if they had a change in their consciousness from righteousness consciousness to sin consciousness or from God consciousness to self-consciousness.

We might think that such ideas are difficult to understand, but we have all experienced them. Have you ever done something you knew you shouldn’t and felt shame before God. If it was bad enough, perhaps all you could see when you approached the Lord was your own unworthiness. What does the Lord do in such cases? It is as if He lifts our head and says “Look at Me!” When we look afresh at Who He is and the glory of the cross our, sin consciousness disappears. In an instant all we can see is that we are forgiven and that God has given us the gift of His own righteousness in Christ Jesus, and once again we walk with God unashamed.

Jesus did not come just motivate us to stop being evil and to start being good. He came to restore the tie to God. He came to once again tie who we are to who He is. In other words, His coming was the return of the Tree of Life. His works would make it so we could walk with God without fear or shame just as it was in the beginning.