Eternally covered!  ............. Parables 752
May 21, 2002

Last summer two young men were caught in a sudden thunderstorm while driving east on the Whitemud Freeway in a yellow convertible—with the top down. They pulled to a stop under an overpass, and sat laughing as the storm rained on everything else. Most people would have stopped and put the top up, but they left it down and stayed dry anyway. Seeing them enjoy their own cleverness brought smiles to more than one passerby.

This made an impression on me. Later I reminisced about the way being covered feels. When I was a child, I sometimes stayed overnight at my grandmother’s house. In the dead of winter, she didn’t have enough blankets to keep out the bone-chilling cold that crept in when the furnace died down. So she covered me with Grampa’s huge wool overcoat. It was rough and smelled like him. I felt so protected.

Now we have lots of blankets but have fallen in love with our quilt. I made it especially for our bed. It has a thin cotton batt inside, and a patchwork front and cotton back, yet that quilt is just right no matter what the temperature is in our house. I washed it today. It isn’t quite dry, so we will miss our covering for one night.

However, another covering comforts me all the time; God covers my sin. But His covering is not quite like an overpass (Passover is a better word), and nothing like an overcoat or a quilt. In fact, it seems somewhat gross, but is precious nonetheless; it is the blood of His Son.

The Bible describes the first sin and tells how Adam and Eve made excuses for what they did. God didn’t believe their reasoning. Instead, He killed an animal and used its skin to cover their nakedness. God’s law about sin was: “The soul that sins must die,” but He mercifully killed an animal in their place.

As He used this covering, His actions foreshadowed the Old Testament sacrificial system based on: “Without the shedding of blood, there is no atonement (or reconciliation) for sin.”

This covering was again illustrated during the exodus when God’s people left Egypt. God told them the angel of death would take the firstborn in each family, but if they followed His instructions, their firstborn would be spared. He said to kill an unblemished lamb and put the blood on the door posts and over the door. When the angel of death saw the blood, he would “passover” those houses and they would be spared.

The psalmist repeated the idea. He said, “Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him . . . .”

These “coverings” pointed to a final and triumphant atonement. That is, one day God would send the Lamb of God (Jesus), and He would die in our place. God Himself put His blood over the doorposts of those who believe in Him. Then, when death (eternal separation from God) comes, it will not claim those whose lives are “covered by the blood.”

When I was younger, I tried to cover my own sin, just as Adam and Eve did. I also used excuses and rationalization. I thought my efforts worked, but God showed me that my covering was futile. He could see right through it. Surely, if He could see through it, my cover-ups would offer no protection against the scrutiny of death and judgment.

In mercy, the Lord offered me a covering that eternal death cannot touch, and judgment cannot see. The blood of Christ covers me. This is a perfect protection from all thunder and wrath against my sin, and from the cold darkness I deserve in an eternity separated from God.

Father God, I miss my cotton quilt tonight, but you so graciously offered a covering that I will never be without. Thanks to You, I can climb under the love of Christ and be warm and protected for ever and ever. Amen!