By Felix Ngunjiri Gichuri

Adam and Eve Were Naked but not Ashamed

The word of God says in the book of Genesis that when God made the heavens and the earth, He made humans and commanded them to inhabit and fill the earth and gave them dominion over everything that moves on the earth. “Then God said (to His Son and to His Holy Spirit), “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Gen 1:26-28 [ESV2011])

Before they fell into sin, the word of God says in Genesis 2:25, “And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” The implication is that in the original innocent state of mankind, nakedness was normal and was a sign of innocence. There was no need to hide or avoid physical nakedness because there was no sin in the world and thus no guilt and no sense of separation. To be naked and not ashamed was to be in a state of innocence. Furthermore, they were filled with the breath of God and were therefore full of the Holy Spirit and covered by the glory of God. “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Gen 2:7 [KJV]).

The glory of God clothed them and they were not ashamed. They were so filled with the Holy Spirit that their bodies were clothed with the glory of God and therefore had no need of clothes. They were not conscious of their nudity as they focused their eyes on their creator, worshipping, praising and thanking Him for creating them, thanking Him for making them His children and giving them power and authority over everything that moves on the face of the earth. The devil who was present on earth after he was kicked out of heaven was observing the couple from a distance as he rested in one corner of the Garden of Eden (most probably in the thick branches of the tree of knowledge of good and evil). The devil was envious of the immense powers God had delegated to man, the total obedience and loyalty that man had to God and the dominion that man had over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. The devil started planning how to usurp or seize illegally that power from Adam. The devil or Satan wanted that dominion and the only way he could rob that dominion from man was to seduce him to disobey God and commit sin against God and thereafter be kicked out of the presence of God. The devil knew from experience that the moment one disobeys God, he or she commits sin and one can no longer be in the presence of God or have fellowship with God. The word of God defines sin as breaking of God’s law or commandment. “Everyone who commits sin also breaks the law; sin is the breaking of law” (1John 3:4 [HCSB]). The moment one commits sin against God, one therefore loses fellowship with God and dominion and gets thrown into the world where the devil is the prince and the god of this world. “Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4 New Living Translation) But all those who believe in Jesus as Lord of their lives know that they have been given power to become sons of God. ““He (Jesus) was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:10-13 [KJV])

When Adam and Eve Sinned, Shame and Sin Was Their Lot

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And 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'” (Genesis 3:1-10).

The man who once operated in his spiritual state as he worshipped God in spirit and in truth with no sense of shame started having a deep sense of shame in his natural or carnal state because of sin and guilt. His nature had changed dramatically. Nakedness was what he was. It was innocence which had turned into guilt. Thus when man fell into sin, nakedness became embarrassing, awkward, and a sense of separation and avoidance replaced the purity of freedom and unhindered fellowship that he had with God before he sinned. Their connection to God was broken, and they feared Him and hid from Him. Their nakedness represented their sinful state and separation from God. Nakedness is associated with guilt, which comes from sin. Their sense of separation was immediate, and they sought to remedy the problem with urgency by sewing leaves on their bodies to hide their nakedness.

The Beginning of Shyness

When Adam and Eve sinned against God, they realized that they were naked. The moment they sinned against God, they stopped walking in the Spirit and started walking in the flesh because their sins had separated them from God. The only thing that separates man from God is sin. “Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, that he will not hear” (Isa 59:1-2 [KJV]). Adam and Eve stopped walking by faith and started walking by sight. The love of the flesh took ascendancy and all they could see was the glory of their bodies. They looked at their naked bodies and the muscles and felt that nobody else should see what they were seeing. Shyness had begun. Satan actually opened their eyes to see more curiously and closely the details and forms of their bodies that they had no time to look at earlier and they were amazed at the anatomy of their bodies. They realized that their bodies were different. They came to the understanding that Adam was male while Eve was female. The innocence that they used to have was replaced by some guilt that they had offended God by disobeying Him and He would be even more offended to see their nakedness. They started being conscious of their nudity and curiosity was aroused in their mind and evil thoughts started occupying their minds. They pondered on what next after being kicked out of the Garden of Eden. As sin entrenched in their hearts, their feelings of shyness translated to glorification of their bodies, feelings of envy and competition for beauty.

The fact that they were condemned to die because of their rebellion to God kept ringing in their minds. The Lord God had commanded Adam that “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat it thereof you shall surely die” (Gen 2:16 [KJV]). After eating the forbidden tree, they realized that they had been tricked by the serpent and had sinned against God. They realized that death sentence and condemnation to die had been pronounced upon them for disobeying God. They did not know the time when death would strike and all they knew was that they were condemned to die of their sin and it did not take long before death struck in the family. Their first born son Cain, full of envy, killed his brother Abel. Wickedness and all manner of evil started increasing on the face of the earth. “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart” (Gen 6:5-6 [ESV2011]). As wickedness increased on earth, shyness matured to abandon and glorification of the human body. God in heaven saw that the wickedness of man was evil continually. God noticed that man had degraded himself by glorifying their bodies even to the point of exposing their nakedness in their lusts for each other. Looking forward through time, God saw some people glorifying their bodies and using sex as the hall mark of their worship: worshipping their bodies, exposing their bodies in public or being exposed to naked human bodies and thereby attracting demons of adultery, prostitution, masturbation and all manner of immorality. God saw through time people exposing their nakedness in public: micro miniskirts, high slit skirts, exposed bosoms and cleavages on bosoms and outright nudity and sex in public. God saw some countries defend topless sunbathing, promising to change the rules to allow teenagers to watch pornography and women stripping in pubs. “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them” (Rom 1:21-32 [KJV]).

God planned to redeem man back to Himself by sending His own begotten Son down here on earth to save us from our sins so as to give back to man the glory that he had in the beginning. Looking down through the ages, God saw what salvation of mankind would cost. He saw the long road man would travel, and He saw the still longer road which the Son must travel to bring man back. He saw men reject the messengers which He should send. He saw them spit upon His Son, scourge Him, revile and taunt Him, and at last drive the nails through His hands and feet. He saw Gethsemane, and He could even hear the heart-piercing cry from Golgotha as the Son in anguish and despair called out, “My God, My God, why has Thou forsaken Me.” Hard as it was to send Adam away, hard as it was to give His Son to die on our behalf to save us from sin, there could be no hesitancy. Sin had entered: dreaded sin that would at last nail the Son of God to the cruel tree and there could be no compromise. The security of the whole universe was at stake. God already was passing through a Gethsemane that would last as long as sin should exist. There must be no hesitancy. God would save man at any cost to Himself.

God covered the nakedness of Adam and Eve by slaughtering animals to make animal skins for them. (Gen. 3:21) In the same way, God the Father decided to cover our nakedness by sending His Son to be crucified naked on the cross to endure the nakedness, shame, humiliation on our behalf and be slaughtered on the cross as a sacrifice so that His shed blood will atone for our sins for us to obtain forgiveness. There is no way our sins can be forgiven except when blood is shed so that the animal dies on our behalf and then our sins would be forgiven. “Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Heb 9:22 [ESV2011]).

Through the sacrificial system, God taught Israel that forgiveness can be had only through the shedding of blood. The burnt offering was the most important sacrifice at most Israelite festivals at that time and was offered once every morning and once every evening. Bringing the burnt offering was a very personal experience, intended most certainly to make an impression of repentance on the Israelite offering his sacrifice: “And the LORD called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the LORD, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock. If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD. He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. Then he shall kill the bull before the Lord, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall bring the blood and throw the blood against the sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting” (Lev. 1:1–5). To make atonement for his sin and to gain God’s acceptance, the offerer identified himself with the animal by laying his hand on the animal’s head. When the animal died, it died for the offerer’s sins for ““the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23) Neither the offerer nor the priest ate any of the meat; it was all burned in the fire. Jesus Christ came down to earth to be sacrificed in order for us to obtain forgiveness. Once one is forgiven of his or her sins, he or she is saved from sin (and its package of death, pain, curse, humiliation, shame and all manner of damnable things that hell can devise) and he or she obtains life that is packaged with healing, salvation, deliverance, glory, honour, blessing that is proclaimed by God’s eternal edict that says that ; “but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom 6:23 [KJV]).

Jesus Who Knew No Sin was made Sin for Us

“God made His Son who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus Christ had to be cursed on our behalf to redeem us from the curse pronounced upon the first man as sorrow for the woman during childbirth and man doomed to till a cursed poisoned ground till death. “God said unto the woman, Because you have done this, I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in sorrow you shall bring forth children; and your desire shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you. And unto Adam He said, Because you have hearkened unto the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it: cursed is the ground for your sake; in sorrow shall you eat of it all the days of your life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to you; and you shall eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread, till you return unto the ground; for out of it were you taken: for dust you art, and unto dust shall you return” (Gen 3:16-19 [KJV]).

We can imagine what Jesus was agonizing at the Garden of Gethsemane. He agonized over the impending death and the fact that He was to be made sin for us, yet He knew no sin. God’s edict was very clear concerning sin. “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat it thereof you shall surely die.” The moment you sin, you shall surely die. Jesus Christ knew that sin means death. The sinless was to be made sin for us. He was to drink all the sins of the world so that we be made the righteousness of God in Him. What a sweet exchange for us to receive His righteousness and Him to receive our pain and our death? He offered Himself to be pinned on a wooden cross so that all our sins be piled on His body on the cross knowing full well that our sins would kill Him because the wages of sin is death. The sin that we used to call ‘our sins’ would become ‘His sins’ and kill Him instead of killing us. The curse that was the trademark of mankind from the days of Adam was to be exchanged and be His so that the righteousness that was due unto Him as a result of His obedience to the Father in heaven was made available unto us. The sweetest exchange was about to take place where all our sins were to be pinned on His body so that all our sins and the whole package of sin that include death, curses, diseases, shame, poverty and all manner of damnable evil that hell can devise were to made His so that the righteousness of God might belong to whoever believes in Him. Deut. 21:22-23 says – “And if a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is accursed of God)”. The Bible says that “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” (Gal 3:13 [KJV]).

The sins of idolatry, witchcraft, all forms of uncleanness, robbery and violence, adultery and fornication, hatred, anger, rebellion, strife, lies, seditions, heresies, envy, murders and all forms of wickedness and perversion were piled on His body on the cross. He agonized over the impending death because He knew that sin means death. “And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the Mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him. And when he was at the place, he said to them, pray that you enter not into temptation. And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and knelt down, and prayed, saying, Father, if you be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow, and said unto them, why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation” (Luke 22:39-46).

Once Jesus Christ was condemned to die, the devil incited the priests and Pontius Pilate to subject our Lord Jesus to be executed using the most horrible, shameful, humiliating and most painful death: crucifixion. Crucifixion was commonly regarded as not only frighteningly painful but also the most shameful of deaths. Essentially, it was reserved for those who were perceived as raising their hands against Roman rule or those who in some other way seemed to challenge the social order—for example, slaves who attacked their masters, and insurrectionists.

Jesus Endured the Shame of Crucifixion

The Roman reason that Jesus was crucified naked was to utterly humiliate Him, cause Him to feel shame and abandonment and warn the onlookers of the cost of crime and rebellion in Rome. That is the historic reason. Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross (of various shapes) and left to hang until dead. The term comes from the Latin crucifixio (“fixing to a cross”, from the prefix cruci-, from crux (“cross”), + verb figere “fix or bind fast”). In his classic book, The Cross of Christ, John Stott highlights the unprecedented and unparalleled violence of the cross. Examining the origins and practices of this barbaric form of capital punishment, he describes the cross as “the most humiliating form of execution.” In fact, nearly 100 years before that, a Roman philosopher and lawyer named Cicero debated the use of the cross for those sentenced to the death penalty, arguing that the cross was “a most cruel and disgusting punishment.” Cicero advocated for a removal of the cross for the Roman citizen saying, “To bind a Roman citizen is a crime, to flog him is an abomination, to kill him is almost an act of murder: to crucify him is—what? There is no fitting word that can possibly describe so horrible a deed.”

Jesus Was Crucified Naked

The Roman rationale that Jesus was crucified naked was to utterly humiliate Him, cause Him to feel shame and abandonment and warn the onlookers of the cost of crime and rebellion in Rome.

“After the soldiers had nailed Jesus to the cross, they divided up his clothes into four parts, one for each of them. But his outer garment (robe) was made from a single piece of cloth, and it did not have any seams” (John 19:23 Contemporary English Version). This was to fulfill the Scripture which says, “They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” (John 19:24)

 “They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.” And Isaiah: 50:6 says, “I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.” So obviously, Jesus experienced physical attacks as well as the blasphemy, the mocking, and all the shame that was due for humanity.

When we picture Jesus hanging naked on the cross, there we see Him in His true and raw humanity. As one of us, He died for us. There He experienced our shame and beyond that the agony of bearing our sin for us. He was gathering up our shame in Himself and presenting it to God. His pain was real. His blood was real. His wounds were real. His thirst was real. There was nothing easy about what He endured. And as Paul said, it was His humility (Philippians 2:8) that caused Him to endure the cross. Rome and by extension the devil wanted to humiliate Him in His nakedness, but He endured the shame for our sake so that He accepted to carry our shame and be humiliated on our behalf so that He would exchange the honour God has for Him to us. Hanging naked in His innocence, He took our shame so that we in our guilty nakedness may be clothed with His righteousness.

A Divine Exchange Took Place On the Cross

What happened on the cross was a divinely ordained exchange. Your keys to your life are contained in that revelation that transpired on that cross. Many of God’s people today do not fully understand this truth and therefore they are not able to live a fully victorious Christian life. All our evil was placed upon him in a sweet exchange so that his goodness should come upon all who believe in him. All the evil due to our rebellion came upon Jesus on the cross so that all the good due to His sinless obedience might be made available to us. Or, to say it in another way, the evil came upon Jesus that the good might be made available to us.

Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith

 The beginning of faith is “looking unto Jesus.” We have therefore to look unto Jesus, first, by trusting in that which He has finished for us as the author and finisher of our faith. The word of God says that we should daily “Look unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)

It is described in these words—”Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame.” Jesus has endured the suffering and shame which were due to us. You can never start on the road to Heaven unless you look to Him who “endured the Cross” on your behalf! Your faith in the author and finisher of your faith will be founded on the one who endured the shame for you who bore our sins in His own body on the tree.

The word “despised” is a translation of the Greek word kataphroneo, which is a compound of the words kata and phroneo. On their own, the word kata means down, and the word phroneo means to think. However, when these two words are compounded, the new word means to look down upon, think poorly of, despise, abhor, detest, disdain, or loathe. This carries the ideas of contempt, aversion, or something so repulsive that one is almost unable to stomach the idea of it. It is something that is simply repelling, revolting, and disgusting. Thus, the Greek word kataphroneo used in Hebrews 12:2 emphatically lets us know that Jesus looked down upon the Cross with repugnance. He literally “despised” it.

The word “shame” is the Greek word aischune, which describes something that is base, ugly, revolting, and grotesque. By using this word, the writer of Hebrews was telling us that Jesus’ experience on the Cross as He hung naked and broken in full view of the world was disgraceful, deplorable, despicable, and reprehensible.

Jesus Took All Our Shame

Jesus took all your shame so you wouldn’t have to be tormented by its wicked hold. In exchange, He freely offered you His glory and healing power. All you have to do is receive by faith what He has already given you. You are free from the bondage of shame in Him. Now it’s time to live free in Jesus’ Name! The word of God is telling us to long to be clothed with heavenly dwelling as “we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling because when we are clothed, we shall not be found naked” (2 Cor 5:3 [KJV]) God is counselling us to “buy from Me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so that you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.” (Revelation 3:18) (NIV) As Jesus was ascending to heaven told His disciples to “… wait in Jerusalem, until you be clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49 [KJV])

Be Clothed with The Wedding Garment

Jesus gave the story of one who was found in a wedding banquet without a wedding garment. “And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man who was not in a wedding garment. And he said to him, Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?  And the man was speechless. Then the king told the attendants, Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matt 22:11-13 [NIV]) The word of God says that the greatest joy comes when “…God has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels” (Isa 61:10 [KJV]) The garment of salvation is the glory of God upon you.

Victory Over Shame

We can all recall times when we felt ashamed, either because of a particular situation or a mistake we made. Shame is a sense of condemnation in someone else’s eyes. It can cause us to see ourselves as condemned, and make us want to run away and hide. It’s excruciating and emotionally painful; however, shame isn’t God’s will for us. God saves from condemnation and shame all who believe in Jesus Christ His Son and there is “therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Rom 8:1-4 [KJV]).)

My People Shall Never Be Ashamed, Declares The Lord

“Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first [month]. And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil. And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed. And ye shall know that I [am] in the midst of Israel, and [that] I [am] the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed. And it shall come to pass afterward, [that] I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.” (Joel 2:23-29 [KJV])

“This is what the Lord GOD says: Look, I will lift up My hand to the nations (Gentiles), and raise My banner to the peoples. They will bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders. Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down to you with their faces to the ground, and lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am Yahweh; those who put their hope in Me will not be put to shame” (Isa 49:22-23 [HCSB])

All who put their hope in the Lord shall never be put to shame for Jesus Christ took away our shame and clothed us with His righteousness. “For our sake God made His Son to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV).

“Jesus Christ that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen” (Rev 1:5-6 [KJV])

Them whom God has saved from shame and guilt of sin are clothed with the robes of righteousness after being made priests unto God. “Put on righteousness, and it will clothe you.” (Job 29:14 ESV) “Let your priests be clothed with righteousness, and let your saints shout for joy” (Psalm 132:9 ESV) because “you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness (and shame) into His marvelous light;” (1 Peter 2:9)

AMEN.