In this covenant God also required the man to labor and sweat until he should return to the ground. To the man God said, “Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in toil shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee...in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground” (Gen. 3:17-19, ASV). Here the ground denotes the job or profession on which man depends for his existence. In the whole earth there is not one job or profession that is without hardship. In every occupation it is easy for “thorns” and “thistles” to grow from the “ground.” Thus, man must toil and sweat during his entire life in order to exist. In His arrangements for both the woman and the man God ordained that fallen man should suffer. God uses suffering to restrict man that fallen man may have security and protection; He also uses suffering to constrain man that man may turn to Him and receive deliverance through the seed of the woman. Furthermore, God also ordained that man should not live forever, but that he should die, returning to the ground (Gen. 3:19). Therefore, death is also a restriction that God has placed over fallen man that man may not do evil endlessly and thereby affect the existence of the human race.
After man’s fall, God immediately came to make a covenant with man, giving man the promise of redemption and using suffering to restrict and protect man that the existence of the human race might be preserved until the coming of God’s salvation.
After they had eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam and Eve knew that they would surely die. Hence, they were trembling in fear, awaiting death. However, instead of sentencing them to death, God gave them a wonderful promise, that the seed of the woman was to come. After Adam heard this word, he immediately called his wife’s name Eve (Gen. 3:20), which means “living” or “life” in Hebrew. He believed that he and Eve were going to live and not die. This indicates that he believed what was promised in God’s covenant.
By faith Adam received what was promised in God’s covenant. Thus he had the hope of life. Originally he thought that he would surely die and that there was no possibility to have any hope of life. However, when he heard that the woman would have a seed, he knew that he was going to live and not die. Therefore, by faith he had the hope of life.
Since Adam believed in what was promised in God’s covenant, God made coats of the skins of the sacrifice for him and his wife and clothed them. The skins of the sacrifice signify Christ, who died for sinners, as the righteousness of those who believe. Christ is the Lamb of God (John 1:29). This Lamb was foreordained before the foundation of the world (1 Pet. 1:18-20) and was slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8). Hence, there in the Garden of Eden we can see a picture of the shedding of Christ’s blood. On the cross Christ was killed by the righteous God, shedding His precious blood to satisfy the requirement of God’s righteousness upon man (Rom. 5:9). Hence, God can cover the believing ones with Him as their righteousness. Therefore, Adam experienced God’s anticipated redemption in the Garden of Eden. The skins of sacrifice that were put on him signified Christ as the righteousness of the believing ones.
When God clothed Adam and Eve with the skins of the sacrifice, He clothed them with Christ as their righteousness to cover them completely. This means that they were justified by God, that is, they were covered by God’s righteousness. Christ as God’s righteousness covered them that they, the fallen sinners, might be justified and accepted by God and have fellowship with God.
After they had children, Adam and Eve must have told them how they had fallen and how God had killed the sacrifice, using the skins to make robes to cover their nakedness that they could be in the presence of God and have fellowship with Him. Abel believed in his parents’ preaching. Evidence of this is found in Hebrews 11:4 which says, “By faith Abel offered to God a...sacrifice....” Such faith must have issued from the word preached by his parents, for faith comes out of hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ (Rom. 10:17). Hence, by believing in the word preached by his father, Abel received the way of God’s redemption.