Soon all attention will be on Christmas. We will be planning gatherings, attending concerts, making lists, counting shopping days, and decorating a tree. In the church, we believe it is important to keep that in context with a bigger picture. So we prepare for Christmas by walking through Advent.
Our walk through Advent starts with Genesis. In the early chapters of Genesis we read about God’s beautiful world. Then in one terrible act sin tried to destroy everything God had created. In Wild at Heart, John Eldridge says that when we enter the story in Genesis, we step into a world at war. The lines have been drawn. Evil is waiting to make its next move. God now has an enemy.
Through the serpent, sin entered God’s beautiful world. Sin must be judged and punished. Things would never be the same for man and woman. But, there is more. The seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman will someday meet in a terrible conflict.
David Case frames Genesis 3.14-15 as an overture. A passage written to prepare readers for what is coming. We are prepared for what is coming with the words to the serpent “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.” With these words, God announces that the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent will engage in a great struggle somewhere in history. Someday, the terrible situation they have created will be turned around.
The word Gospel means “good news.” This is often considered to be the first gospel message in the Bible – it won’t be the last. Thousands of years from Genesis three, an angel will sing “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy.”
A representative of the human race will destroy the satanic serpent. In the next chapter Eve gives birth to a first born son – Cain. Could he be the woman’s seed spoken of in chapter three? (Case reminds us that it is not always easy to wait on God to accomplish His purpose. We tend to prefer instant results). But before we finish that chapter it is apparent that Cain’s struggle is with his brother. And we are left waiting for another “seed” to crush the seed of the serpent.
Along with Victor Hamilton we may wonder, would this representative be among those who would “crush” their enemies (Psalm 89.23) so that these enemies “lick the dust” (Psalm 72.9)? Could this be the one David speaks of in Psalm 110? “The LORD says to my Lord: ‘Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.’” Later Jesus quotes the Psalm and applies it to the Coming One. Even later, we read that it is Jesus who will reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet (I Corinthians 15.25).
As we read Genesis three during Advent, we are reminded of a bigger picture. We make lists, attend gatherings and decorate trees while bigger things are happening. We live in a world at war. God has an enemy. In Genesis we are prepared for this by the announcement that one is coming to strike the seed of the serpent. This is good news.
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