Along with the sufferings ordained by God Adam experienced the anticipated redemption. Why do we say that it was an anticipated redemption? Because at the time of Genesis 3 the actual redemption had not been accomplished. In Genesis 3:21 we see an anticipation of the redemption that was to be accomplished four thousand years later. Both the man and the woman were in a situation that needed redemption. Although God had not condemned them, although God had sought them out and had ordained suffering as a restriction and protection for them, and although God had proclaimed to them the promise of the coming seed, when Adam and Eve looked at themselves they were still mostly naked. I say that they were mostly naked because they were poorly covered by the aprons (skirts) which they had made for themselves out of fig leaves (Gen. 3:7). The fig-leaf skirts represented man's own work in covering his sinfulness.
Adam and Eve were sinful, and their eyes were opened to know good and evil. One servant of the Lord has said that there is no need to do evil, for simply knowing evil is itself evil. Once Adam and Eve were innocent, not evil. However, when they realized that they were naked, they became evil because knowing evil is evil. No one can avoid evil if he knows evil. As long as you know evil you will become involved with evil. The best way to stay away from evil is not to know it. Adam and Eve were sinful and knew that they were sinful. Thus they tried to help themselves by making skirts of fig leaves to cover their nakedness. That was the work of their own hands with the leaves of a fig tree. After the fall, any use that man makes of the vegetable life signifies his doing without blood for redemption. Before the fall man did not need blood to redeem him, but after the fall he did. Thus, the attempt to cover his nakedness with the vegetable life can never work. Sinful man needs the blood of an animal; he needs the bleeding sacrifice for redemption (Heb. 9:22). Therefore, the skirts that Adam and Eve made from fig leaves did not cover their nakedness in the eyes of God.
However, we should not forget Genesis 3:20. After Adam heard the glad tidings, he immediately called his wife's name, "Eve," which means "Living." Adam and Eve were trembling in fear of the condemnation of death, but suddenly Adam heard the glad tidings, responded in a believing way, and said to Eve, "Eve, you are living. You are not going to die; you are going to be living." Verse 20 means that Adam believed in the glad tidings. The first time that the Bible indicates the matter of believing is in Genesis 3:20, and the first believer in the good news was Adam. When Adam heard the glad tidings, he believed that he and Eve were going to live and not die.
Following verse 20 in which we see Adam's believing, we come to verse 21 where we see God's justification. After Adam believed in God's glad tidings, God made coats of skins for him and his wife and clothed them. The coats fully covered them. Think a little about the skirts made of fig leaves. After a few days the leaves would have been dried and broken. Eventually, they would have dropped away, and the man and the woman would have been completely naked. Thus, you should never try to cover yourself by your own work. You are sinful in the eyes of God and naked in His sight. Anything that you do to cover yourself is just a skirt made from the withered fig leaves of the vegetable life. You need the skins from the animal life to cover you. The coats of skins which God made for Adam and Eve covered them day after day.
Please remember that nearly every item mentioned in the first three chapters of Genesis is a seed. Here in Genesis 3:20-21 we have the seed of believing in the gospel and the seed of justification by God. The seed of believing in God's gospel is found in Genesis 3:20 where Adam declared that Eve's name was "Living." When God proclaimed the gospel and Adam responded by saying, "Living," that was the seed of believing in the gospel. Following this, God came to justify. Adam and Eve were naked and they made themselves skirts as a covering. These skirts did not cover their bodies adequately. After God had come in to preach the gospel and Adam had responded by believing, God placed coats over the man and the woman. This means that God justified them. To be justified means to be covered with the righteousness of God, which is Christ Himself, not with anything man-made. Adam and Eve's being under the coats signified that they were in Christ. Galatians 3:27 says, "As many as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ." The coat is the clearest type of Christ as God's righteousness, the righteousness that covers us. Thus, figuratively speaking, Adam and Eve were in Christ. Hence, both man's believing and God's justifying the believers were sown as seeds in Genesis 3:20-21. These seeds are developed in the Epistles of the New Testament.
Although the Bible does not say explicitly that the skins were taken from a lamb, I, along with others, believe that they were lamb skins, because the skins were made into coats. Some versions say "robes" and others "garments." At any rate, the skins were made into clothing. To be sure, the skins did not come from cows; they must have been the skins of tender lambs, skins so suitable for clothing.
After the coats of skins had been placed on them, Adam and Eve had the appearance of a lamb. Was Adam a man or a lamb? All that was visible was the wool, for Adam was completely covered by the lamb. Although he was a man, he had become a lamb in the eyes of God. People always become the very thing which covers them. Since we all are covered by Christ, we will express Christ and resemble Christ. When Adam and Eve were covered by their self-made skirts of fig leaves, they must have looked like ugly, naked, sinful persons. However, after putting on the coats made with the lamb skins, they must have looked like lambs. God has put us in Christ (1 Cor. 1:30), and we have put on Christ (Gal. 3:27). Thus, we can express Christ. Paul could even say, "For to me to live is Christ" (Phil. 1:21). Paul became the expression of Christ through being one with Him. This thought of expressing Christ was sown in the type of the coats of skins which covered Adam and Eve and which became their expression.