Every year on December 25th we celebrate Christmas. It’s the biggest holiday of the year. And there is good reason for Christmas to be celebrated for a month. There is good reason for us to think on the coming of Christ for the month of December. We should think about what God was doing when He sent His Son to Earth every day. The problem is that it is difficult to focus our attention on the right things. The advertisements come fast and furious this time of year, drawing our attention away from Christ and on to presents…away from the giver and onto the gifts or things we can buy with the gifts God has given. Instead, we ought to let this season drive us toward a worshipful remembrance of what Christmas is about.
And to that end I want to discuss the first promise of Christmas from Genesis 3. And what we will see in this text is that through the first man came pain and death, but Christmas would one day come.
Here, as the world is brought into terrible turmoil under the curse, God delivers the first promise of deliverance…a promise of Christmas. It is right in the middle of the horrors of the Fall that God delivers this wonderful promise in hopes that we can set our eyes on Jesus and the great salvation that He accomplished for us when He came.
Through the first man came pain and death, but Christmas would one day come.
God created the world and everything in it and it was all good. God, who has the highest standard of good said so. It was good and since God said it was good, we know that it was perfect. There was no defect in all of creation. Everything Adam and Eve needed could be found in what God made. Everything to sustain their life was there. They had a garden to work and keep that expended physical exertion and gave then a job to do. Their intellectual curiosities could be piqued as they studied the perfect world they were in. The two had perfect companionship with each other and closeness with God.
They had everything that they would ever hope to have or needed there in their beautiful home. And it was all right there in the garden. They could enjoy everything there except for one tree.
“The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
Genesis 2:16 ESV
But here came the serpent. Elsewhere we are told that this serpent was little more than the mouthpiece of Satan himself, the serpent of old (Revelation 12:9). The one who wanted to be “like the Most High” and set himself up as the adversary of God would now attempt to throw God’s creation into disorder (Isaiah 14). How would he do that? Well, by tempting Adam and Eve.
I want to get something straight from the outset. Satan is not a being that is equal with God. God is the supreme ruler over all things. He has no rivals. Satan is a created being, a fallen angel. God is in control and was in control at this moment. But He allowed this to take place. And in the garden Adam was representing all of mankind.
And as we look at these events one thing becomes abundantly clear. Satan attacked the trustworthiness of God’s Word. This crafty serpent began with “has God said?” (V. 1) And later, “you surely will not die” (V. 4).
And then Satan did the dastardliest of things. He told the woman that if she would eat from that fruit her “eyes will be opened” and she would be “like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5 ESV) Satan who was cast out of Heaven for wanting to ascend in power to be above God, now tempted Eve in a similar way (Isaiah 14:12-16). This was promised to give her knowledge of good and evil, like God. And
“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 desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.”
Genesis 3:6-7 ESV
Eve took of the fruit and ate it. And then she offered it to Adam and he ate as well. And as they felt the shame of disobedience for the first time, as their eyes were opened through participation in sin, they made covers for their selves. As Matthew Henry stated in his commentary over this passage,
“Now, when it was too late, they saw the folly of eating forbidden fruit. They saw the happiness they had fallen from, and the misery they had fallen into.”
Matthew Henry, Zondervan, 1961, p. 10
And with their innocence lost God entered the garden as He had been accustomed to doing, but for the first time those people that were made in His image, that had wonderful fellowship with Him were distant and hiding. And as they blamed one another for the wreck that had been made of things through their disobedience, it was obvious that something had gone wrong.
And now we come to our text today. God would hand down the consequences for disobedience, the curse which is with us even today.
The First Man Brought Pain And Death (Genesis 3:14-24)
God would hand down the consequences for disobedience, the curse which is with us even today.
The Curse
The first curse handed down was to the serpent. For the rest of his days the serpent was cursed and would live out his days on his belly, sliding around in the dirt, as a disgraced being. The serpent would live as a constant reminder of Satan and the victory he had in the garden of Eden over our first parents. The fear that strikes in the heart of most people at the sight of a snake comes to us as a reminder of all that was lost and destroyed in the garden as the image of Satan is kept in front of us.
And the initiation of a long and bloody war is spoken of here. There would be hostility or enmity between the serpent and the woman. This is not just the terror and shriek at the sight of the snake. This is about the long battle that the people of God would have with Satan himself, not the mouthpiece. It’s a battle that is waged even today as Satan “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour”. (1 Peter 5:8 ESV)
And then there is the curse given to the woman. Not only is there a hostility toward the serpent, but there is also pain in childbirth and hostility in marriage. Think about the pain this causes. The woman, who so badly wants to have a child, now has to do so in great pain. I remember both of my wife’s pregnancies. And, it definitely did not look like a walk in the park nor did the weeks following. And marriage, where both husband and wife should find great comfort and a harmonious relationship, now has struggles. Struggles of self-will fill the relationships between spouses. And it results in a tremendous amount of conflict where there was originally peace and harmony.
And to the man, because he listened to Eve, the ground was cursed. Because Adam disobeyed God and listened to his wife after she was deceived by Satan, his work was cursed. Work existed before the Fall, it was just easier. The ground produced what it was supposed to produce in a more effective way. Adam’s work was now a burden and it would be difficult for him to provide for his family. And then God tells Adam that it would be difficult until he died. He was made from dust and he would return to dust (Genesis 3:19).
Everything around us is tainted with the curse that fell upon Adam and Eve. People have questions and Genesis 3 provides answers.
Why is their illness? Why are we dealing with Coronavirus?
Why is childbearing so hard?
Why is their strife in marriage?
Why is making ends meet so hard?
Wy can everything we do seem so futile?
Why does even the Earth itself in decay?
Why do people die?
And now because of this event in history all people are stained with the corruption of sin. As Paul wrote in the Letter to the Romans.
“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—”
Romans 5:12 ESV
Now, everyone everywhere is stained with the corruption of sin and “all fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
Who is good?
Who is worthy of Heaven?
Who has done enough on their own to merit God’s favor?
The answer is no one. And we pinpoint the moment in time that this started. Right here, in history, Adam ate the fruit and case his entire progeny into a spiral of destruction and the Earth along with it. When Adam and Eve were tempted in the garden, Adam failed.
And in the origin of our own sinfulness we see echoes of our own rebellious natures.
How many of us are tempted, like Adam and Eve to disbelieve God’s Word and disobey God’s Law? We all are. The eating of that fruit still rocks us to this day. And in the immediate context Adam and Eve would now die for their transgression.
But Christmas Is Coming And Christ Will Bring Victory (Genesis 3:15)
When I was a kid my family would walk through the woods behind our house to a farmer’s field that lived behind us. He let us go down there and pick wild blackberries. But you had to take precautions. Blackberry thorns don’t feel good so we would go down there in our flannel shirts. But the bigger fear was snakes because we would oftentimes see snakes down there. We were okay taking the risk because we loved blackberries and loved blackberry jelly even more. So, we would wear boots and jeans to go down there.
A snake can give a wound to a person. Most of the time a snake bite is not fatal. And even when the snake bite is venomous it is usually not fatal and if there is a hospital near even the most dangerous cases can normally be cared for.
But the bruise that a human leaves on a snake is most often fatal.
Earlier I stated that Genesis 3:15 was the beginning of a long war between the serpent and the woman and their offspring and that this is a battle we are waging even today.
“And 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.”
Genesis 3:15 ESV
But notice the difference at the end of this verse. The offspring of the woman will bruise “you” (Satan) “on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.” The offspring of the woman would deliver the death blow on the head of Satan even as he gave the non-fatal blow to Him.
Now, this verse has a name in Church History because of what it teaches. That name is the Proto-euangelion. That word simply means “First Gospel”. It is the first place in the Scriptures that the good news is announced. Why is it named this?
Well, one day, though it happened through tremendous trial and heartache, a descendent of Eve delivered the deathblow to Satan. It’s part of a long struggle between good and evil. Eve probably hoped that her next child would be the Savior and get her and Adam back into the Garden, but he murdered his brother and dashed those hopes to pieces. God chose Abraham and promised that the whole world would be blessed through him, and we find out that this promise was fulfilled through a child of Eve named Jesus (Galatians 3:16). The struggle went on through Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Joseph endured hardship after hardship, but at the end of his life would say that “God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.” (Genesis 50:20) Like Jesus, Joseph’s suffering would give life to many. Then when God’s people were slaves in Egypt, God rescued them through Moses, but even Moses said that another was coming. A prophet like him would one day come and they were to follow Him (Deuteronomy 18:15). And God promised David that his throne would last forever (2 Samuel 7:12-16). I currently do not see a king in Israel, so how was this accomplished. It was accomplished through Jesus (Hebrews 1:5-6). And the prophets later foretold of one who would come as the Suffering Servant, and a conquering king. They saw both the first and second comings of Christ. And then, over 2,000 years ago, this one who had long been foretold came. He was born of a virgin, the seed of the woman who had long been promised came. He lived a perfect life, accomplishing everything that people are to accomplish and did not sin. He then died on the cross, taking upon Himself the punishment of sin. And He rose from the grave, accomplishing our justification and conquering the power of sin and death. And He is currently seated at the right hand of God and will one day come again to judge the living and the dead.
Here is the first gospel declaration, the first promise that Christmas would come. And it comes right in the middle of a whole lot of horrible news. Here it is. God made a way for you to be rescued from sin. It’s the plan He made long ago and He worked out in history. We have been stained with the taint of sin and incurred God’s justice. But He made a way for us to be rescued. He provided a snake crusher. We rebelled against God who is holy and righteous, and He provided His Son who came and lived a perfect life for us, died on our behalf, and rose from the grave so that we could be saved from the punishment we owe and be brought into a good relationship with God. We can now be brought into the unity with God that Adam and Eve once knew, perfect and complete unity with God.
We live in a chaotic time, in a world racked with the consequences of the Fall. There is hope. It is found in Jesus Christ, the snake crusher who came and won the victory over sin and death for us. And we will feel the full weight of that victory when we are in our eternal home where there will be no more illness, no more pain, no more strife, no more struggling to make ends meet, and no more ruptured relationship with God.
As God’s people we know that we have a part to play in this snake crushing. The fatal blow has been landed, but the serpent is still writhing in anger on the ground. As a word of comfort, to stay faithful in a world hostile to the gospel, Paul wrote, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet….” (Romans 16:20 ESV)
We did nothing to earn our salvation or the salvation of others, but we are obligated to continue to fight against this evil foe whose ultimate demise is sure. We do this by resisting the sin and temptation that Satan brings to us and living faithfully in this world. Every act of faithfulness is an act of war against the serpent. Leading your family in Bible Reading and Prayer is an act of faithfulness to our Lord and an act of war against the serpent who our Lord has already decisively defeated. The same goes for every simple act of faithfulness such as being hospitable or sharing the gospel with a lost and dying world. The beaches have already been stormed. Our victory is sure and there will come a day when He will finish the war, but for the time being we join the snake crusher in the fight against Satan. As we tell people about the promise God fulfilled and the salvation He accomplished through the One we celebrate at Christmas time the kingdom of God is expanding. And this is what we do, in the power of the Holy Spirit, until Christ returns and finishes off Satan for good.
Through the first man came pain and death, but Christmas came…and so did Good Friday, so did Easter… and Jesus will come again to finish it. That is what we find in this first promise of Christmas. That is news worth celebrating.
A Substitute Provides An Illustration (Genesis 3:21)
Adam and Eve would eventually die, and by all rights they should have died immediately. God could have wiped them off the map and started over, but that’s not what He did. God provided proper coverings for the shame of Adam and Eve. There the blood of an animal was spilt for the sins of another. And now their sin and shame was covered. Though they could not stay in the Garden and their way was blocked from returning by angels, God provided a picture of the snake crusher in these actions.
Who made the garments of skin in Genesis 3:21? It was “The LORD God”. He slaughtered an animal and made the clothing that covered the shame of Adam and Eve. God put the animal to grief and rendered it as an offering for Adam and Eve’s rebellion.
Many years later Isaiah would say of Jesus’s coming sacrifice made on the cross.
“But the LORD was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering
…”
Isaiah 53:10a
Jesus was bruised when He was crushed as a sin offering. But this bruising led to the crushing of Satan and accomplishing of our salvation. That is why we celebrate Christmas. That is why this season brings us so much joy. That first promise of Christmas was a declaration that one day the Snake Crusher would come and win victory over the serpent through His perfect life, sacrificial death, and resurrection.
R. Dwain Minor
Image by congerdesign from Pixabay
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