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Imagine the original Eden. Animals roam freely and peacefully. A mist goes up from the earth, watering the green land and blooming flowers. There’s a chorus of chirping birds, and fish dance in the glistening water. Trees offer their fruits for savoring, while flowers delight with sweet fragrances and vibrant colors. Each day the sky’s aglow with handcrafted sunsets and shimmering constellations.

With a whisper, the scene changes. Dissonance builds. Fruit from the forbidden tree is rebelliously ingested and, as promised, the eyes of the first man and woman open. Their bones quake with foreign feelings of shame, humiliation, and overpowering panic. We disobeyed the God who made us. We’re going to die.

They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” (Gen. 3:8–10)

Just like that, fear entered the world.

Hide and Seek

What did this fear compel Adam and Eve to do? Hide.

And don’t we still?

We hide in our fig leaves of false security, our caves of over-scrutinized caution, and our self-made dams of disbelief, terrified someone might see us for who we really are: dirty, insecure, and weak. Fears flare in our souls like fireworks across a dark sky and rattle us to the core, against all rationale. It should come as no surprise that our default setting is fear.

Like Adam and Eve, we hide. We bury pain and protect ourselves from feeling it ever again. We cover the blemishes. Gloss over the less-than-desirable parts. Avoid the shame-inducing. Guard our hearts. Whatever we may do, on our own we cannot escape our fears. We need rescue.

At the core, beyond the rising blood pressure, increased heart rate, and heightened awareness, fear tells us we need a Savior. Whether it’s a fear of failure, rejection, death, or the dark, fear sends a signal to our souls that we cannot be the center of the universe. There is more to life than us. Fear whispers of our brokenness and cries for security, for refuge, for something (Someone) bigger to protect us.

Every fear can be traced back to Genesis 3, which tells us that fear is universal because sin is universal. The antidote to sin must be the antidote to fear.

Our Fear Fighter

Fear prompts us to run. To hide from God, vulnerability, confession, and from other people. But for those who are in Christ, we are just that—in Christ. We don’t have to hide because we’ve been hidden in the wounds of the suffering Savior.

God curses the serpent, the man, and the woman, but he’s not finished with them: “And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them” (Gen. 3:21).

Take in the magnitude of this action. Where did the skins come from? In order to cover the nakedness of the rebels, one of the animals—some imagine it was a lamb—had to die. The first sacrifice was made, garments of grace given. Hints of the ultimate sacrifice played in the shadows.

Those shadows were illuminated as the Light of the world took on flesh and dwelt among us, waging war on the kingdom of darkness. Through Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection, restoration to life as it was before sin and fear slithered in is granted to all who come in faith.

At the bloody, beautiful cross, we find the antidote to our sin and the perfect love that stops us in our tracks as we run to hide. Perfect Love swallowed the wrath of God on our behalf and now sits at the Father’s right hand offering reconciliation, freedom, joy, and peace to any who approach.

Not only that, our excessively merciful Creator gives us a new wardrobe. Just as he graciously made Adam and Eve garments of animal skin, God clothes all who repent and believe in the garment of the ultimate sacrifice, our propitiation.

Found and Fearless

This is how we fight the soldiers of fear—we fight them with the gospel. We have a Savior who pursues us, who makes an excruciating sacrifice, and who covers us in robes of righteousness, presenting us faultless before his throne.

We no longer need to hide from God; we can run to God. He’s our shield, defense, and fortress of protection (Ps. 18:2). He’s the One who guards our hearts (Phil. 4:6–7). We don’t have to hide ourselves with garments of self-protection, because he hides us in the shadow of his wings (Ps. 17:8).

The gospel is the answer to insecurities, paralyzing anxiety, and life-sucking fear. The blessed reality of Christ in us, the hope of glory, tenderly blasts the brick and mortar around our hearts like dynamite. He loves us too much to let any walls remain that keep us from believing we’re safe apart from his protection.

We can let go of fear and joyfully accept the love of our God. He wants all of us; he died to purchase every speck of our dirt in order to display his heart-cleansing, wardrobe-giving, fear-destroying grace.

Is there enough evidence for us to believe the Gospels?

In an age of faith deconstruction and skepticism about the Bible’s authority, it’s common to hear claims that the Gospels are unreliable propaganda. And if the Gospels are shown to be historically unreliable, the whole foundation of Christianity begins to crumble.
But the Gospels are historically reliable. And the evidence for this is vast.
To learn about the evidence for the historical reliability of the four Gospels, click below to access a FREE eBook of Can We Trust the Gospels? written by New Testament scholar Peter J. Williams.

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