The Tale of Two Glories

To truly understand the incredible good news of our redemption in Christ, we have to go back. Not just to the cross, not just to the prophets, but all the way back to the very beginning—to a garden where humanity walked in perfect union and innocence with their Creator. We must grasp God’s original design to appreciate the magnitude of His restoration.

The Bible tells us that in the beginning, Adam and Eve were "naked and unashamed." Now, our modern minds immediately jump to a state of physical exposure, but we need to define our terms as God does. Two crucial definitions form the foundation for everything we'll discuss today.

First, "Glory." When we talk about the Glory of God, we're not talking about a mystical, shining light. Fundamentally, Glory is "God's good view and opinion or Judgement." It is His perfect, righteous, and loving assessment of His creation.

Second, "Naked." In this original, pre-fall state, "Naked" simply meant "Mortal." Adam and Eve were created from the dust, living souls destined for immortality, but not yet clothed in it.

So, when we put these together, we see the stunning reality of their condition. They were "Naked and Unashamed" because while they were mortal, they were completely and perfectly clothed in the Glory of God. They lived, breathed, and existed entirely under God's good view and perfect opinion of them. This resulted in a life utterly free of fear, lack, or shame. They had a pure conscience, secure in their Creator's goodness.

Think of an innocent baby. A toddler can run around in their birthday suit without a care in the world. Why? Because they have no awareness of shame. They are simply living in the goodness and loving view of their parents. The parents are the ones frantically trying to cover them, because their conscience knows something is amiss in a fallen world. Adam and Eve were like that child, living in complete freedom because their reality was defined not by their own self-assessment, but by God’s.

But as we know, this beautiful, seamless existence did not last. A tragic shift occurred, moving humanity away from God's design and into a shadow of its former self.

The Great Unraveling: Naked and Ashamed

Understanding the Fall is critically important. This wasn't just a simple act of disobedience over a piece of fruit. It was a fundamental shift in perspective, a catastrophic exchange of identity that has echoed through every generation since.

The core of the issue was not a physical poison, but a "poisonous word." The serpent didn't offer an apple; he offered a lie. He persuaded humanity to believe that God was holding something back, that they could be like God by forming their own judgment of good and evil. In that moment, they traded the Glory of God—His perfect opinion—for their own twisted, darkened opinion. They stepped out from under the covering of God's view and tried to generate their own.

I'm reminded of a clothing line that used to be at Walmart called "Faded Glory." That’s the perfect description of what humanity chose. We exchanged the authentic, brilliant, life-giving Glory of God for a cheap, man-made, faded glory that can never truly cover our shame.

The consequences were immediate and devastating. The Apostle Paul describes this state in Ephesians 4:17-19. The result of walking in our own judgment is a "futility of their mind," a "darkened understanding," and being "alienated from the life of God." The very life we were created for became foreign to us.

The first episode of the TV show “Naked and Afraid” didn’t happen on some remote island for a camera crew; it happened in the Garden of Eden. One moment, Adam and Eve were naked and unashamed, walking with God. The next, they were naked and afraid, hiding from the very presence that was their life.

And ever since that moment, humanity has been desperately trying to cover its own shame. We see a progression of these futile efforts:

• Fig Leaves: This was the first, panicked attempt. A flimsy, dying covering fashioned by human hands to hide the terrifying reality of their exposure.

• Morality and Works: This is the fig leaf of the religious. We see it in the self-righteous efforts of the Pharisees, or in Saul before he became Paul. He was a master at keeping the rules, trying to achieve a righteous life that can only be received as a gift.

• Vain Glory: This is the modern fig leaf. It is the pursuit of life and identity in created things—money, possessions, careers, and status. We look to these things for a glory they cannot give, for an immortal life the soul craves. And what is the emotional fruit of this pursuit? The Bible tells us that the reason we are so fearful and anxious is because we are living in a place of mortality and looking to created things, instead of our Father, for Life.

All our striving, all our morality, all our accomplishments are just more sophisticated fig leaves. They can never cover the deep shame and fear that came from stepping out of God's glorious opinion of us. This begs the question: If our own efforts to clothe ourselves are completely futile, what is God's solution?

The Divine Re-Clothing: Beholding the Glory of God

Thank God, He did not leave us to patch together our own failing coverings. His solution is not a complex theological puzzle or a new set of rules to follow. God made it profoundly simple for us. His solution has a name: Jesus.

The central truth of our redemption is proclaimed in 2 Corinthians 4:6: the only place to see the "light of the knowledge of the Glory of God" is "in the face of Jesus Christ." Jesus is God's good view and perfect opinion of you. He is God's righteous judgment made visible for all to see. When God looks at Jesus, He is showing us His heart for you.

There is a transformative power that comes from seeing this. In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul explains that when we turn to the Lord, the "veil" of blindness and darkened understanding is removed from our minds. We can finally see clearly.

And this reveals the core principle of Christian transformation. It is "not by our much doing but by our right beholding." True, lasting change doesn't come from striving harder, trying more, or promising to do better. It comes from fixing our gaze on the finished work and the beautiful face of Jesus Christ. As we behold Him, we are transformed into His image.

Remember what God did in the garden after Adam and Eve stitched together their pathetic fig leaves? He removed them. And He clothed them with lamb skins. This was a profound and prophetic act. An innocent life was sacrificed to provide a durable, true covering for their shame. It was a shadow, a whisper of the day that God Himself would provide the ultimate sacrifice—Jesus, the Lamb of God—to clothe us in a righteousness that is not our own.

God has provided the perfect clothing in His Son. Now, the question is, how do we put it on and wear it in our daily lives?

Our New Reality: Clothed and Confident

Faith in Christ is not just a ticket to heaven or a hope for the distant future. It is a present-day reality that radically redefines our identity and security, right here, right now.

In Christ, we have been returned to the original state of being "Naked and Unashamed." What does this mean? Remember, "Naked" here simply means mortal, not yet clothed in immortality. So our status today is this: we are still mortal, but we are no longer ashamed, because we are once again clothed in God's Glory—His perfect, unchanging opinion of you, which is found exclusively in Jesus.

This new identity is not something we earn; it is something we accept. Romans 5:17 makes it clear that we receive the "abundance of Grace and the Gift of righteousness." It is a gift, not a wage. You don't work for a gift; you simply open your hands and receive it.

The ultimate example of living in this reality is Stephen. As angry men were hurling stones to end his mortal life, what did he do? He didn't look at the rocks. He didn't look at his circumstances. He looked up and saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God. In his final moments, Stephen looked to Jesus and saw Life, not defeat. His reality was not defined by the hatred being thrown at him, but by the Glory he was beholding in the face of his Savior.

This is the application for us today. It is simple, yet it changes everything.

If I want to see how my life is doing, I don’t look to my bank account or my behavior—I look to Jesus. Jesus is how I'm doing.

The last time I checked, Jesus is doing just fine. And because we are in Him, clothed in His righteousness, that is our true status. While this present reality is glorious, believe it or not, there is an even greater one to come.

The Future Hope: Further Clothed

Our future hope is not about escaping this world, but about the ultimate fulfillment and manifestation of the very life that God has already placed within us through His Spirit.

Paul explains this in 2 Corinthians 5:1-5, using the language of being "further clothed." He describes our mortal bodies as an "earthly house" or a "tent." We groan in these tents, not because we want to be unclothed or disembodied, but because we long to be further clothed with our eternal dwelling from heaven. We long for the day when "mortality may be swallowed up by life."

This isn't wishful thinking. God has given us a down payment, a promise of what's to come. The scripture says God "has given us the Spirit as a guarantee." The Holy Spirit living inside every believer is our absolute assurance that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead will one day give immortal life to our mortal bodies.

This future promise brings us back to our final, most important instruction for today.

Conclusion: A Call to Behold

We have traced the story of humanity: from being clothed in God's glorious opinion, to choosing the faded glory of our own, leaving us naked, afraid, and ashamed. We spent history trying to stitch together fig leaves of morality, religion, and success, only to find they always fall apart. But God, in His mercy, provided the only covering that lasts: the righteousness of His Son, Jesus Christ.

So the call to you today is simple. Cease all your frantic efforts to clothe yourselves. Lay down your fig leaves.

Stop looking to your career for life—it has no life to give. Stop looking to your bank account for security—it cannot secure your soul. Stop looking to your own good works for approval—they will never be enough. That is Vain Glory, and it will always leave you empty.

There is only one thing left to do.

"Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face."

In Him, and in Him alone, we see who God truly is. And in Him, we finally see who we truly are: Naked—that is, Mortal—and completely, wonderfully, and eternally Unashamed.