“The Origin Of The Promise”
Text: Genesis 3:9-19
11-30-2022
In the name of the promised Savior who came as the babe of Bethlehem, dear friends in Christ. I’m pretty sure most of you have heard this phrase before: “Promises, promises.” A person will often utter it when they’ve heard a promise made and then broken. The sad fact is that it happens a lot these days, to the point that promises are cheap. A handshake used to be all that was needed to seal a deal between 2 parties making promises to each other. Your word was a solid guarantee. Now, even if you get it in writing, it’s questionable if those promises will be kept. Perhaps all this explains why promises are no big deal to most people today.
But they are to God! His promises must be kept; otherwise, the integrity of His holiness would come into question. If He failed even once to keep His promise, then the reliability of all the rest of His Word would be doubted. But He keeps all His promises because He’s the essence of truth. And so, we find that the whole Bible is one, huge promise from the Lord. The Old Testament, from beginning to end, deals with God’s promise to send a Savior to redeem the world from sin. And the New Testament is simply the record of how that promise was fulfilled in the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This year for our Midweek Advent services we’re going to look at some milestones of the Lord’s promise in the Old Testament, which culminated in the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago.
It only makes sense, then, to begin with the origin of the promise. Why was the promise of a Savior necessary in the first place? Well, if you’re familiar with the Bible then you’ll know the answer is found in Genesis 3. Just prior to our text, the devil had tempted Eve to sin against God by disobeying Him. It was nothing short of rebellion and an attempt to usurp the Lord’s power and authority. Adam joined in the sin, after which their eyes were opened and they attempted to hide themselves from God. Their actions reveal something to us. Adam and Eve felt guilt and shame and they were trying to hide the nakedness of their sins. God’s perfect world, including the human race, was now ruined by the infection of sin.
The holy God cannot tolerate sin. He hates it and it must be destroyed. But at the same time, He loves this world that He made; most especially the humans that He created in His image. To show you the depth of God’s love, recall that He had foreknowledge that this horrible, damning mess would occur. And yet He still created this world knowing it would fall into sin. However, He wasn’t going to idly standby and watch us destroy ourselves. Instead, long before the creation even began, God had a plan to fix this devastating problem of sin. That plan was to send a Savior, which is promised for the first time in verse 15 of our text. When cursing the serpent, that is the devil, God said, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
That verse has traditionally been called the “protoevangelium,” or in English: the first Gospel proclamation. It may sound vague, but that short passage is packed with the promise of a Savior. As we work through it, you’ll see what I mean. To start with, God says, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring.” In other words, God is the one who would stir up this opposition towards the devil and those who follow him, not the other way around. That enmity was meant to separate all the future offspring of Adam and Eve from the devil’s camp and the sin that would destroy us. All their offspring need do is trust in God’s promise.
And there would be sweet justice and vindication in how the Lord would bring it about. The devil had first aimed his attack against the woman, and in an interesting turnabout, through the woman would come his downfall. One of her offspring would end up being the devil’s conqueror and the unraveling of his evil plan. You’ll notice that in the promise God shifts from speaking in the plural—offspring—to specifically pointing to a singular “he” who would accomplish this. Those who trust in that promise have always understood it as a reference to the Savior. Now maybe you think that’s only because modern believers have forced the idea of Jesus Christ into that one little word “he.” But that’s not so. Even though Adam and Eve didn’t know all the details of how and when, they still firmly trusted in the promise. If you read on into chapter 4, when Eve gives birth to her first child she declares, “I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD.” That may sound like an odd statement. But it makes sense if you accept what many Bible scholars say about this verse. Eve was expressing her expectation that in her firstborn son, God had already sent the Savior. Unfortunately, she was mistaken. God’s promise would be fulfilled centuries later in the birth of His own Holy Son from heaven.
Okay, so Eve was wrong about the timing. But when would this Savior be born in order to crush Satan’s head? God kept that a mystery for several reasons. First, listen to what one commentator said about this: “By leaving open the question of just what woman the Savior was to be born, God mocks the tempter, always leaving him in uncertainty which one would ultimately overthrow him, so that the devil had to live in continual dread of every woman’s son that was born.” (Leupold)
Second, God’s timing is impeccable. Galatians 4:4 says, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” In His eternal wisdom, He knew precisely when the perfect time was. This side of heaven we may never fully understand why He didn’t fulfill His plan sooner or later than He did. What we now know from history shows that the circumstances in the world were ideally suited for the mission of Jesus Christ to take place and the Good News to be spread rapidly.
And finally, not knowing exactly when the Savior would come instilled faith and kept it active. Believers would need to be trusting and watchful: 1)- trusting that God would indeed fulfill His promise, and 2)- watchful with joyous anticipation of the Savior’s arrival, as opposed to being filled with dread like the devil and all his evil offspring of unbelievers.
During this Advent season, our hope and joy is basically the same as those who waited during the times before Christ was born. The only difference is that they looked forward and we look backward at the fulfillment of God’s promise in Bethlehem’s manger. And yet we too look forward. We look forward to the Savior’s arrival at an unknown time in the future when He has promised to return at His second advent on the Last Day. Like I said, the devil and unbelievers await that day with dread. But by faith, those who trust in God’s promises wait with joyful hearts. When will He come? We don’t know, but we keep watching and praying. And as we wait, we gather to praise God for the wondrous promise of His Gospel: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” By faith, we hold onto that promise, thanking God for our salvation through Jesus Christ who fulfills all the Lord’s promises to us. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!