Advent Midweek 1
Genesis 3:1-15
December 6, 2017
This Advent Season, like all Advent
seasons, we place a special emphasis on the prophecies of the Old
Testament concerning the coming Christ. Advent means “coming”,
after all. And while an exhaustive treatment of each and every
prophecy of Christ would be impossible, and indeed, we would have to
study the entire Old Testament, which Jesus says testifies to him...
still, it seems good to zoom in on a few passages which hold a
particular importance or a place of prominence in Messianic
expectations. You might have chosen some other passages, and another
perhaps 3 others. But these three seemed the most well-known, the
most often-referenced, some of the most pivotal prophecies pointing
to Christ out of all of them. So for the three weeks of Advent this
year – we will consider the messianic prophecies of Genesis 3,
Isaiah 7 and 9, and Micah 5.
Prophecy isn't only about the future –
strictly speaking it is a word of God given through a representative
or mouthpiece – a prophet. And that word can speak of the past,
present, or future – for all times are in the view and knowledge of
God. It can be, as it were, a word of law or gospel: A prophetic
word is often a word of rebuke, a harsh word over against the powers
of the day that are set against God. Even today, sometimes it's used
in that sense. The prophetic word that is hard to hear. But then
there is that other sense of it, perhaps more commonly intended –
that a prophet is one who tells the future. And many prophecies do
so. We are concerned, especially, about those prophecies concerning
the Christ – that most important promise of God to send a Savior to
deliver his people. That promise, or or those promises, telling of
future salvation, date as far back as the Garden, as we shall see
today. In fact, let's turn our attention there now.
Try to imagine the scene of Genesis 3 –
the freshly minted creation in all its “very good” glory, the
animals according to their kinds, the garden planted by God as a
paradise for man, and the innocent and noble Adam, and his helper
Eve, both created in the image of God and set above creation, blessed
to be fruitful and multiply. What joy it must have been for the
newborn creation – think of the “new car smell” and the smell
of a newborn but only better, more pervasive, entirely thorough.
Nothing bad, only good, indeed as God
declared, “very good”.
And what a start contrast to what would
soon follow. When the serpent slithered in. Taking the form of one
of the beasts of creation, Satan, the evil one appears with his
wicked agenda. He deceives the woman. The man fails to intervene,
but partakes of the rebellion with her. And so the one to whom God
gave dominion over all creation, the head, as it were, was struck.
Sin, death, corruption, disease, chaos of a manner we still don't
comprehend – all of it came upon creation. Like the dark shadow of
an eclipse – so out of place, so alien to its design, creation fell
along with its appointed master. And now, the serpent becomes the
prince of this world. Adam and Eve beget children in their own
image, and as you read the genealogies, the refrain is unmistakable,
“and he died... and he died”. Quite a contrast to, “and it was
good”. What a dark day that was. What a bitter day. A day of
reversal. A day of death. A day of fear.
For as they heard the Lord walking in
the garden, they hid. Like young children even today who
instinctively hide when they know they've done something wrong, Adam
and Eve hid. But you can't hide from God. You can't hide your sins
from God. Their paltry attempts to cover nakedness with fig leaves
only testified to their shame. Who told you you were naked? Did you
eat of that forbidden tree?
And now they await punishment. It must
have been with fear and dread that our first parents stood, waiting
to get their comeuppance. Waiting to hear the pronouncement of
judgment they truly deserved. We've all been there, at least in
small ways. Perhaps waiting in fear of an angry parent. Perhaps
watching the squad car as the officer gets out and walks toward your
car window. Or perhaps even as your conscience burns at the thought
of your God frowning at your sinning, yet again. What would it be
like to stand and answer for your sins? To face up to it, with no
escape in sight? Isaiah saw God and he cried, “woe to me, I am
ruined!” Adam and Eve must have felt the same. We all should
before a Holy God.
Oh they tried the blame game. It was
the woman you gave me, Lord, it's all her fault. Oh, no, Lord, I was
tricked, tricked I tell you! It was that crafty serpent. But the
blame doesn't really shift. They knew what they were doing. They
are just as accountable.
And then, when all seems lost, when
they had nothing left to say, when the swift and sure blade of
justice was surely about to cut them down... then it happened. God
spoke to the serpent.
And in that curse, a blessing. In the
bad news for our enemy, is the good news for Adam and Eve and you and
me and all. Martin Luther puts it this way:
“These words are spoken for the sake
of Adam and Eve that they may hear this judgment and be comforted by
the realization that God is the enemy of the being that inflicted so
severe a wound on man. Here grace and mercy begin to shine forth in
the midst of wrath which sin and disobedience aroused. Here in the
midst of most serious threats the Father reveals His heart…Who
points to deliverance, indeed who promises victory against the enemy
that deceived and conquered human nature.”
First, God curses the serpent to eat
dust and crawl on its belly. And this may seem easy to pass by. But
it is good news. For God limits Satan. He cannot come at us
straightaway, head-on. He is limited to working sideways, slinking
and squirming, through his deception and lies. Luther comments that
if Satan wasn't limited in such a way, he would destroy all life,
even keep a single tree from sprouting, for he hates God's good
creation so. But the curse goes on, and the news for us gets better.
Genesis 3:15 is sometimes called the
proto-gospel, the very first promise of God, and the first prophecy
of a savior, a messiah, the very Christ. It is a promise that God
unfolds throughout the pages of the Old Testament, progressively
revealing more and more, as if facets of a diamond, until it reaches
it fruition in the birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension and
return of Christ in glory.
He, the offspring, (literally the seed)
of the woman, the one descendant to come – would crush the head of
the serpent, though the serpent would bruise his heel. Christ,
though wounded, even mortally, at the cross – would not be defeated
by death. But rather, with that very wound, he trampled the head of
the Serpent, delivering a final defeat and humiliation of our ancient
foe, completely disarming and destroying him and his kingdom forever.
And so Jesus declares, “it is finished”. God keeps his
promises.
Just look at the way God does it,
though. Satan thinks he is victorious, working through the woman to
get at the man. But God turns it around, working through the woman,
through the womb, to bring about the man – the second Adam, that
would be Satan's undoing.
He who once overcame man by means of a
tree – now is overcome by the tree of the cross. And we, who fell
into sin by eating the fruit of a forbidden tree, are now nourished
unto salvation by the fruit of the cross – namely the body and
blood of Jesus given us to eat and drink. By one tree and fruit came
death, but by this tree and fruit comes life. In one Adam all mean
are condemned to death. But in the Second Adam all men are given
life.
Through the ages, God brings this
promise to fruition. Preserving the line of the promise through Noah
– despite a flood that ended all other flesh on earth.
Through the line of Abraham, so old he
was as good as dead, and yet God gave him a son. Through that son
Issac, and his son Jacob, and his son Judah, and down through
history, the seed of promise was tended.
David was also promised his descendant
would sit on his throne forever, and so the line of promise
continued, though david's mighty house lay in tatters.
And then an angel appeared to Mary, and
announced the child born to her would be that long-awaited savior.
The seed of the woman, come to crush the serpent for good.
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