Job 19:25-26: I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth, even after my skin which they have cut off, yet from my flesh I shall see God; whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes shall see and not another.

We don’t know anything about how the first sacrifice was performed. We know who performed it – Yahweh. But we don’t know exactly how He did it - how he killed the animal, what he did with the blood or the flesh, whether there was any burning. The only thing that we know is that from this sacrifice Yahweh produced “tunics of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21 ).

Adam and Eve were created naked and not ashamed. Their skin was their only clothing, and it was sufficient. They wouldn’t stay naked forever. To their skin, Yahweh was going to add garments of glory and beauty that signified their office of king and priest of creation. They got impatient and instead reached for glory that was not yet theirs. They made themselves garments, but Yahweh quickly replaced those garments with tunics of skin, with new skin.

Job is an Adam, and a fallen one. He frequently speaks about the condition of his skin as a public mark of his shame and humiliation. “My skin hardens and runs,” he complains (7:5). “I have sewed sackcloth over my skin, and thrust my horn in the dust” ( 16:15 ), and “my skin is devoured by disease” ( 18:13 ) and “my bone clings to my skin and my flesh” ( 19:20 ). He says his skin is “black” while his “bones burn with fever” ( 19:26 ). His skin is being destroyed, cut to tatters, and he knows that in this condition he cannot get his wish, he cannot ascend to see God.

But he hopes. He hopes that he will put away his weak flesh, hopes that he will yet see God Himself. He hopes that he will be stripped of the black, hardened, diseased skin of cursing in order to ascend to God as smoke. He hopes that he can shed this skin and be given another.

Job’s hope is our hope. Getting new skin to cover our shame is what sacrifice is all about. In fact, that’s what worship is all about. As sinners, we don’t feel comfortable in our skin. Sweat on our skin is a sign of the curse, and the curses of the covenant include skin disease, boils, and other marks on the skin. If we are blemished on the skin, we cannot be priests, or sacrifices. If we are going to ascend to God, we need new skin, a new layer of clothing.

And that is what has been happening to you this morning. You entered and confessed your sins, and God cleansed you. He clothed you in Christ, so that you could ascend to hear His word and now to eat at His table. This table is the great sign that Job’s hope has been accomplished in principle, and will be accomplished in fullness. At this table, we see that our redeemer lives, that He has already stripped off our blemished skin, and has already clothed us, like new Adams and Eves, as priests and kings, in garments of glory and beauty.