“Come short” is expressed in the Greek: hustereo, to be inferior, to fall short (be deficient): come behind, be destitute, fail, lack, suffer need, be in want, be the worst. The tense of this verse is obviously not to be restricted to the past: man did not sin and then suddenly cease to sin any more; likewise does he continue to fall short of the glory of God. However if such had been the case, if he should cease to sin, he would in no wise stand less guilty before a Holy God who requires nothing less than righteousness and obedience from the man of His own creation.

We know that man was not the first to sin; that his fall was preceded by another. We speak of none other than the prince of this world (but not for long!) Satan. Not only did he fall, but brought a third of the angels down with him. How could this happen? Did God create heavenly beings of such poor stuff that they should be capable of turning on Him? For that matter, was man also formed, and that with some flaw in his created being: could God have not made His creatures in such perfection that they were totally unable to sin? Surely had it been His design, He could have made such creatures for Himself. He might have made some sort of robot, or mindless clone; programmed to obediently serve. But one would think such a creature to be hardly worth the effort to create.

Lucifer, son of the morning. Metaschematizo, Gr. to transfigure or disguise. (Notice the word schema in the middle; a word from which this word is derived.) Schema is clearly defined as that which is an outward change only and not inward, It is this word which is given to depict Satan; the same exposing his “ ministers” who are “transformed” as “ministers of righteousness.” Once bestowed a name of honor, Lucifer, son of the morning, forfeited forever the brightness, the glow of a ‘righteousness’ by which he was adorned. The glory of God having fallen from him, he is left in a state of spiritual nakedness. There remains no light within him; he attempts therefore to transform himself into something he is not. Even today the “New Agers” await his grand “appearance,” he who will bring mankind out of the “darkness” in which Christianity has sought to bind them, and into the “light” with which he shall “illuminate” the earth.

“And God said Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. . .Gen. 1:26.

The very first thing that pops into our minds is that man is fashioned after the Triune Godhead; he is body, soul and spirit. Man was given dominion “over all the earth.” At least one other attribute of magnanimous proportion is that man was imparted a will, and with that, the ability to choose. The Lord God brought forth Adam, then formed the woman from his side and presented her to him. Shall we not rightly assume from the scriptures that he loved her: and that being a matter of choice, by means of his own volition? Is it not this same will wherewith man is to choose to love the Lord his God with all his heart, his soul, his mind? We are to understand that the heart of man, his feelings, his emotions, his passions, his desires, are forever forged with his will. Of course then, if man is given the capacity to love deeply, he may contrarily choose to hate. If he is enabled to experience comfort and pleasantries, may he not also expect to know degrees of sorrow, of pain, of suffering? We need look no further than the Lord Jesus Christ for overwhelming evidence of this truth: He who loved more than any other; whose suffering equaled His love. Have you a loved one with some infirmity or terminal disease; or perhaps one to whom the hand of death has beckoned? Pain is a channel; is it the expression of love. But beware lest the pain be self inflicted; that its presence precedes from a heart of self-love.

In Exodus chapter 34 we find Moses ascending mount Sinai to meet with the Lord. It is early morning; he has two newly hewn tablets of stone upon which the Lord God is to write once more the commandments.

“And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there” Ex. 34:5. Can there be any doubt as to the identity of this Christophany who comes in clouds of glory? Moses was on the mount without bread or water for 40 days and nights. Afterward, he came down with the two tablets containing the commandments but “Moses wist not that the skin of his face shown while he talked with Him. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shown; and they were afraid to come nigh him.”

If Moses, being of the seed of Adam, might have the glow of God about himself, having stood in His presence; then how much more would Adam, without sin, have the glory of His Presence upon his being as he daily walked with God in the cool of the day?

“And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed” Gen. 2:25. Buwsh, Heb., pale. Strangely enough, according to Mr. Webster, one who is not pale is he who is not lacking in intensity of color, but is rather marked by brightness and brilliance!

But man sinned: “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” Gen. 3:7.

If Moses could have the glory of God upon him and not be aware of it, then Adam and Eve also. If Lucifer, son of the morning, fall and thus lose the imparted Light, shall not the same be true of fallen man? I trust you will not think of it as irreverent if I say that man in his fall lost the covering of righteousness, the ‘glow’ry of God! Whether he was aware of his heavenly clothing may be questionable; but there remains no doubt that he knew when it departed from him.

“For all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God.”

A brief comment and we shall continue on. What is the “Glory of God?” Must it not speak of His greatness, His majesty, His power? But also His lovingkindness, His tender mercies, His goodness? How then can man be said to “glorify” Him? Is it not by our acknowledging His attributes: His greatness, power, love, mercies? May our confessing of who He is be not demonstrated by the casting down of Self, of the submitting our impotent being before His Sovereignty? Indeed, what greater glory may one give unto God than to deny self, turn from sin; confess and embrace the Lord Jesus Christ!

“Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So He drove out the man; (garash, to drive out from a possession, to banish one from his native country.)

What Adam lost as seen here: his citizenship, his inheritance.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us AGAIN unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven FOR YOU!” I Peter 1:3,4.

“So He drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life”

Notice, the Cherubims were just as responsible as the flaming sword to “keep the way.” Shamar, Heb., to hedge about, to guard, protect, attend.

At first glance it might appear that God had thrust man forth from the garden forever; that He would see to it that man might never again be given any means through which he could approach the Righteous Sovereign; that man was now and eternally the enemy of God. If this were true then why are we previously told that “the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them?” Gen.3:21.

Even in those early days might man “come. . .to the throne of grace” that he might “obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” Heb. 4:16. But he must approach the throne with blood, for “without shedding of blood is no remission” [of sin]

Again, it is not that the “Way” was closed against man; rather that a Way was opened in his stead; a Way that would provide redemption and reconciliation! Is it any wonder then that in this one verse we find “the Way,” the flaming sword “Truth,” and the tree of “Life!” Herein do the find Old Testament design, a portrayal of what God would do because He “so loved the world.”

There’s more. The “Way” was to be protected from that day forward. Satan would seek to “bruise the head,” to destroy the seed, the bloodline from which Christ should come: but the Lord be praised: for the serpent’s head has and yet shall receive a final and fatal blow!

Again, to “keep the way of the tree of life.” Christ is the only WAY, He is the only LIFE. There is no other way to enter the Presence of God. Jesus makes it quite clear in His discourse of the Good Shepherd. He alone is the Door [Way]. “He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other “way,” the same is a thief and a robber” John 10:1. The “Way” is protected that Satan may not prevent “whosoever will” from coming. The “Way” is protected that man may come, but only God’s Way, and that “Way” is by the shedding of blood, and that once and for all to be consummated in the offering of the blood of His Lamb.

If God made coats of skins to clothe Adam and Eve, then He must needs have shed the first blood that man’s sin might be atoned for. He again shed the last blood to redeem man, and that being the precious blood of His own Son. If there is a sacrifice to be offered, there must needs be an altar upon which it is made. At the east of the Garden we are shown the two Cherubims; the Sword of Truth; the Way of the Tree of Life. In the Tabernacle in the wilderness, within the veil, was the Most Holy Place. There we find two Cherubims “protecting,” “overshadowing” the altar or Mercy Seat. Above was the Presence of The Most Holy God. Shall any deny the parallel of this picture with that to be found east of the Garden? That there was an altar established at that place there can be no doubt: a Place where Adam might offer sacrifices unto the Lord; where his sons might come to make offerings unto Him. And they did. We know the story: Cain, in unbelief and disobedience, dared to offer God the works of his hands: the fruit of the ground which had a curse upon it.

“And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof.” (A study of the fat as offered unto God is shown in the scriptures to be as a “sweet-smelling savor,” a “Peace offering.”) It appears that he was far more knowledgeable in the things of God than we have ever given him credit. His offering was made in Faith, followed by the “works” of obedience. “And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering.”

Skipping over that which should be familiar to all we take up our reading at Genesis 4:25: “And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. And to Seth, to him was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the Lord.”

Abel shed the blood of the sacrifice; he presented the offering before the Lord God, upon the altar, which was overshadowed, protected by the two Cherubims: the same picture found in the Most Holy Place. What he is found doing was nothing less than the appointed work of the priest! After his death there is no priest to approach the altar of God until the birth of Seth; who is appointed in the stead of Abel! He bares a son and we have an early picture of what is found in the book of Exodus; that is of Aaron and his sons; appointed priests of God! What is even more amazing is the very next statement: “Then began men to “call upon the name of the Lord.” But for what? In Romans 10:13 we are told: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” I trust that none will be shocked to find that the God of Romans 10 was calling men unto salvation in Genesis 3 and 4; that they were convicted of sin and drawn by the same Holy Spirit as we are. We have Christ Himself as our High Priest: they had also an appointed priesthood in Seth and his seed. Thus having a priesthood to make offering in their behalf, men now could “call upon the name of the Lord.”

But what does one do as he “calls?” “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Rom. 10:10. Man, yes even in those very early days, might behold the priest, who in his behalf takes his lamb; to render his sins to be upon its head; the shedding of its blood to be in his stead; to believe and confess that his sins were covered by the atoning blood. He was, by faith, gazing into eternity, “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.”

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