Why did god cover Adam and Eve with animal skins?

Answer 1

In short, he was painting a beautiful picture of what he was going to do one day, to redeem man of his now fallen into sin state. Hint: those animal skins were lamb skin, and in order for those skins to make it from the animal to clothing for Adam and Eve, those sheep had to die. You could say they had their "blood shed" so that they might "cover" Adam and Eve's "nakedness". Notice also that God clothed them with the skins, he put them on Adam and Eve Himself, that's important to notice.

You see, our sin makes us "naked" before God, before his holiness. Our lamb, Jesus Christ, died on the cross, shed his blood for us, that we might be "clothed" with His (Jesus Christ's) righteousness, so when God looks at us, we are no longer naked and therefore cast out from God's presence but God sees us now as "clothed" in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, which we receive as a free gift from God once we trust Christ as our Saviour. He then covers us with the clothing. This is the beautiful picture God is painting for us in this little story of God clothing Adam and Eve with those animal skins. All Old Testament stories are God picture books illustrating his truth in those stories, just as childrens books often carry illustrations of the content contained in the book, so God illustrates the truth contained in The Bible through these many true and factual stories.