Genesis 3:6-7 "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. (7) And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons."
Eve saw the tree. Eve desired the fruit. Eve took the fruit. Eve ate the fruit. Eve gave unto her husband. Adam ate the fruit. Their eyes "were opened and they knew..." Quite honestly this is still the progression when we engage in any sinful action against God. Sometimes these steps toward sin occur instantly and other times, we deliberate about it. But the consequence is always the same. Sin separates us from the fellowship of God. Sin inhibits the joy of our salvation. David engaged in the sinful action of taking Bathsheba and having her husband murdered. He tried to cover one sin by committing another. He prayed, "Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit." (Psalm 51:12) He was seeking that restoration (reconciliation) of fellowship with the Lord which had been lost.
How did Adam and Eve attempt to cover their sin? "They sewed fig leaves
together, and made themselves aprons." Their action may have covered their
nakedness before one another, but it did not hide their sinful action from God.
The fig leaves would soon wither and dry up. They would crumble and fall away,
leaving Adam and Eve still in their naked state before God. We see here the
first attempt to use works to hide and even attempt to correct that which had
been done against God. It didn't work. Neither will our works cover our
sins nor will they make us right before God. There is only one way in which we
can be made righteous before God and that way involves the shedding of
blood. We will see later in this chapter that blood was shed in order for
God to clothe Adam and Eve with coats of animal skins. It was only by God's
mercy and grace that their nakedness was covered.
This work of God in covering Adam and Eve was a picture of that which would
ultimately and completely be accomplished by the work of Jesus Christ through
the shedding of His blood. "For it pleased the Father that in him
should all fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his
cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they
be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled In
the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and
unreproveable in his sight..." (Colossians 3:19-22)