Joy to the World

 

Today is the third Sunday of Advent. As I’ve said for the last two Sundays –and I say it again for the benefit of those who’ve missed my comment – although we celebrate Christ’s birth on December 25, Jesus did not become flesh on that Christmas day. He took on human flesh nine months earlier – in March of that year – when He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the virgin womb of Mary. It was at His conception that Jesus became fully human while always remaining fully God. This is not an insignificant point - especially in our culture when so many millions of little boys and girls maturing in their mother’s womb are destroyed by intentional abortion.

 

May God have mercy on America.

 

As I’ve said in the last two weeks, there are more than 300 Old Testament prophecies in which God promised humanity a deliverer from the spiritual darkness that originated in the Garden of Eden and metastasized like a deadly cancer, thoroughly infecting the whole of Creation itself.

 

Two weeks ago, we looked at Genesis 3:15, which is the first of those many prophecies promising the future arrival – the future advent of our Messiah. Last week, on the second Sunday of Advent, we turned our attention to Isaiah 7:14, 9:2, and 9:6-7 – further promises of Christ’s first Advent. Today, on this third Sunday, we’ll look at another prophecy of His first advent. We find it in Isaiah 61: “The Spirit of the Lord God is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor . . ..” (Isaiah 61:1-2a)

 

Many of you will recall that when Jesus visited His hometown of Nazareth, He applied this prophecy to Himself. Luke tells us: (Luke 4:17-21) “The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him. He began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.”

 

After applying the prophecy to Himself, we then find this vignette later in Luke’s gospel: “John [the baptizer] summoned two of his disciples and sent them to the Lord, asking, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” When the men reached [Jesus], they said, “John the Baptist sent us to ask you, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’” At that time Jesus healed many people of diseases, afflictions, and evil spirits, and he granted sight to many blind people.  He replied to them, “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor are told the good news, and blessed is the one who isn’t offended by me.” Luke 7:18b-23 

 

Let’s go back to verse 18 of Luke chapter four. Jesus said the Holy Spirit had anointed Him to heal the sick, release prisoners, and – and this is important as well – to preach good news to the poor.

 

Albert Barnes (d. 1870) in his commentary on this passage in Luke writes: “By the "poor" are meant all those who are destitute of the comforts of this life, and who therefore may be more readily disposed to seek treasures in heaven; [Poor also meant] all those who are sensible of their sins, or are poor in spirit . . . . Riches fill the mind with pride, with self-complacency, and with a feeling that the gospel is not needed. The poor [in spirit] "feel" their need [for] some sources of comfort that the world cannot give.” [End of quote]

 

You might remember what the Lord said during His Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3)

 

Listen to the Lord Jesus also speak of the danger facing those who are wealthy and those who strive to be wealthy: “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again, I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Matthew 19:23-24

 

But why might it be hard for a rich person to enter heaven?  I think there are probably several reasons, but the fundamental reason is that the rich typically trust in their wealth more than they trust in God, AND they will do anything to increase their wealth, even if such doing violates God’s commandments.

 

Listen to St Paul’s warning to the rich: “But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” (1 Timothy 6:9-10)

 

Listen also to the Lord’s warning to those in the Laodicean church (Revelation 3:15-17) “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.”

 

And just to be clear, one doesn’t have to be rich to fall into that category of creating a god out of wealth. Those living in poverty can just as easily make money into their god when they think all their problems would be solved if they had more of it.

 

Solomon wrote about that deceptive idea in Ecclesiastes. Listen to what he said: “I collected for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces . . . Then I became great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also stood by me. All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my reward for all my labor. Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 2:8-11)

 

Yes, it’s hard for a rich person to enter heaven; Hard, but not impossible. And on that note, let me digress a moment to bring up an important parallel warning: Although Jesus didn’t say it here, from my observation, He could have also said it’s hard for an older person to enter the kingdom of God.

 

Think about those in their 50s, 60s, 70s and older and who have been actively walking away from the truth for decades. They’ve spent years of their adult lives convincing themselves of reasons to reject Christ, to reject the infallibility of Scripture, to reject God’s commandments for a holy lifestyle.

 

It’s hard enough when you’re 20 or 30 to admit you’re wrong about Christ, about righteousness, and sin, but when you’ve walked for decades in spiritual darkness – well, not many people will humble themselves before God and admit they’ve been so completely wrong about such critically important issues of life and eternity. They’ve had decades to harden their hearts.

 

That’s why it’s so important each time we hear the gospel that WE do not let our hearts harden to truth – especially truths we don’t like or want to obey. We should all be very careful because Scripture warns us that we can harden our hearts until there is no remedy but judgment.

 

Every honest person in this sanctuary readily understands how hard it is to turn from long-held errors. But such a turn is absolutely necessary because there can be no salvation without humility and repentance.

I think it’s noteworthy that the Lord included preaching the gospel to the poor in the same category as physical healing and freedom. That’s because no physical healing or freedom can occur without the Lord. He’s the one who gives sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, life to the dead and so forth. And as for the reception of the gospel message, the Lord also tells us, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” John 6:44

 

In other words, receiving the gospel message into our hearts is just as much a miraculous work of God as is physical healing or freedom. They all arise from the same miraculous source – and from no other source.

 

But coming to Christ in one’s old age – miraculous as that is – raises a question for some: Are older converts able to produce fruit for God’s kingdom?

 

The answer is, of course, an unqualified ‘Yes.’ Think of the so-called ‘good thief’ on the cross next to Jesus. No, he was not an old man, and yes, he had no time to be fruitful for Christ before he died.  

 

But although he had no time to ‘do’ anything for Christ, for 2000 years Christians have referenced that dying thief as incontrovertible evidence of God’s incomprehensible mercy. Because of that thief’s deathbed conversion, men and women for the last 2000 years have been able to find peace with their merciful God in their last-minute deathbed confessions of sin and prayer for mercy.

Scripture promises: “How blessed are all who take refuge in Him” (Psalm 2b:12), and (John 6:37b) “The one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.”

 

And so, Christian – never think you’re too old for God to use you. God remains . . . well, God still remains God. Listen to this promise from the Psalmist: “The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree; He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon . . . .They shall still bear fruit in old age; They shall be fresh and flourishing, to declare that the Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.” (Psalm 92:12, 14-15a)

 

So, Christian – keep praying for your family and friends. Keep praying for those that sit around you in the dining room. God is a God of mercy. He miraculously raises the dead, cleanses the lepers, heals the sick – and just as miraculously, He softens hearts that are disposed toward humility – hearts that are poor in spirit – so that they will hear and receive the gospel.

 

All of what I’ve said thus far brings us back to Genesis 3:15 and the prophecies of Isaiah in chapters seven and nine. I hope we can all see more clearly now the mercy of God, the compassion of God, the patience of God, the love of God – love infinitely beyond our ability to even begin to comprehend.

 

It is our gracious Creator’s love and mercy that revealed to those who walked – and who walk – in darkness, to those who lived and who live in a spiritually dark land that they did not have to keep walking or living in darkness.

 

Healing the sick, freeing men and women held captive by sin, preaching words of hope to the poor. Those were the defining marks of Christ’s ministry and the fulfillment of so many of those Old Testament prophecies about the first advent. And those are the defining characteristics of every Christian who truly cares about the salvation of others.

 

As we’ve seen thus far in this Advent series, the prophecies of Christ’s first advent began in Genesis wherein God promised to crush the Serpent’s head – the Serpent who is at the root of all sin, sickness, heartache, poverty, imprisonment, and death. And those prophecies – all 300 of them – thread their way throughout the Old Testament.

 

Our Creator loves us. Deeply, passionately loves us. He wants to RESCUE every person on this planet from spiritual and emotional darkness – if only we would humble ourselves and seek His mercy. What He said to Israel through Jeremiah He also says to us, even now, at this moment, in this sanctuary:

 

(Jeremiah 29:11-13) “For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” 

 

It is to us and for us that a Child was born on that first Christmas day, whose name is called, Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

 

Jesus is God’s gift to everyone in this sanctuary: the lonely, the joyful, the hurting, the happy, the lost, the found, the struggling, the full, and the empty. God gifted us with the Light of the world. It is no wonder Jesus offers each of us: “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

 

And for all the reasons I spoke of in this message, I close with these lyrics from a popular Christmas song:

 

Joy to the world! the Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.

 

A Sacred Lighthouse

Today is the second Sunday of Advent, the time provided us by the Church to prepare ourselves for the celebration of Christ’s birth.

 

As I said last week, although we celebrate Christ’s birth of December 25, Jesus did not become flesh on that Christmas day. He actually took on human flesh nine months earlier – in March of that year – when He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the virgin womb of Mary, His mother. It was at His conception that Jesus became fully human while always remaining fully God. This is not an insignificant point - especially in our culture when so many millions of maturing babies are destroyed by abortion in their mother’s womb.

 

A few weeks ago, as I began to prepare myself for the Advent messages, I thought this season would be a good time to remind us of some of the more than 300 Old Testament prophecies that promised humanity a deliverer from the spiritual darkness that has metastasized like a deadly cancer originating in the Garden of Eden and thoroughly infected the whole of Creation itself.

 

Last week we looked at the first of those prophecies – the one in Genesis 3:15. Today we’ll examine a few more prophecies, these from the early chapters of Isaiah and directly linked to that promise in Genesis.  

 

First, Isaiah 9:2 “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them.”

 

The human eye is drawn to light. But we know from experience that just because people see light doesn’t guarantee they’ll walk toward or in that light – especially when that light directs us to God.

 

I chose to ignore that ‘light’ 53 years ago. I’ve told the story before, and I do it again to make the point. I was a happy atheist in my late teens and early 20s. I did what I wanted, when I wanted, and with whom I wanted. I was all about ‘Me’ – doing what was right in my own eyes.

 

Now then, my attitude was not and is not unique to me. Every honest person in this sanctuary will testify that such things were also true of you.

 

I remember I was stopped at a traffic signal and a question suddenly broke into my thoughts: What if there IS a God? The light was still red, so I had time to ponder the idea. But then, as suddenly as the question crossed my mind, a realization roared back. If God exists, then He does not approve of my lifestyle. I need to change.

 

But I didn’t want to change. And so, when the light turned green, I told myself, “There is no God.”

 

You and I meet people like that all the time, people who make irrational decisions to turn away from God’s light, all the while their lives are shrouded in deep darkness. They struggle with addictions, loneliness, heartache, chronic illness, deaths of loved ones, and on and on it goes. And many of them crawl into bed at night, no longer expecting or even hoping tomorrow will be better. They know from long experience that it won’t.

 

Yes, they put on their happy face, they tell others that they’re okay. But when they’re alone in their apartments or homes, reality catches them off-guard, and they know they can’t escape the inescapable truth: They’re living a shadow existence. A hopeless existence. An empty existence.

 

Does that remind you of something in the 23^rd Psalm? We studied that Psalm some time ago. Listen again to verse four: (Psalm 23:4) “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me.”  You may remember the Hebrew word David used for the ‘valley of the shadow of death could be translated ‘the valley of deep shadows, deep darkness.’

 

On the other hand, those who see the light AND walk in the light discover a marvel they could not have imagined. They discover their Creator, whom we call God. They discover He loves them despite whatever they’ve done and for how long they’ve done it. That’s precisely why He promised us a Redeemer in that passage in Genesis 3:15; It is precisely why He sent His Son, Jesus, to receive in Himself the wrath of the Father that OUR sins deserve. You might remember God’s promise in Isaiah 53. Speaking of the Redeemer, the prophet tells us: “But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” (Isaiah 53:5-6)

 

Yes, our well-deserved punishment for our sins fell on Him – Messiah Jesus. As St Paul reminds us: (Romans 5:8) “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

 

Those who see the light and walk in the light discover a new life-direction, a totally new life-trajectory. They discover hope where they had none, peace of heart where they had only unrest. They discover a full future – a GOOD future – where only empty promises and a fearful destiny now abound.

 

What was the light that the people who walked in darkness would see? Isaiah reveals the answer a few verses later. (Isaiah 9:6) “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”

 

And in case you’ve forgotten, the child of chapter nine is the same child of chapter seven: “Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14)

 

Yes, the context of chapters seven and nine applied to a local event in the 8^th century B.C. But that’s how biblical prophecy typically works – a two-fold (or even a three-fold) fulfillment. First there’s the immediate fulfillment, and then there is the fulfillment further out in time. A person can’t read the Old Testament quotes found in the New Testament without recognizing the undeniable truth of prophetic Biblical interpretation.

 

That’s also why the promise of light in darkness applies even to 2025. Whether in pulpits or pews, whether in the dining room or down the street – many think they’re on the dark periphery of God’s attention. Their concept of self-worth always defaults to interpret bad things that happen to them are because God is not paying attention to them; Or that He is perpetually angry with them; Or that God doesn’t even exist and bad things are nothing more than the so-called ‘Luck of the Draw.”

 

But those who believe the Scriptures such as Genesis 3:15 we keep referring to, and the passages in Isaiah 9 and 7 – those who trust God’s infallible word KNOW that they are always at the center of God’s attention. That’s why they’ve learned to interpret bad things that happen to them as the result of God’s loving discipline, guidance, and/or instruction. They learn to understand on a deeper level the words of the Psalmist: “Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep Your word” (Psalm 119:67), and “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes.”  (Psalm 119:71)

 

In all Biblical history, God never inflicts ‘bad’ things on ANYONE capriciously, maliciously, or cruelly. “Bad things” as we might call them are ALWAYS divinely designed to bring good to those who suffer.

 

Listen to Hebrews 12:7-11 “It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

 

All things, even suffering, are ALWAYS divinely designed to bring good to those who suffer. That’s likely why St Paul wrote to the Christians at Ephesus and at Thessalonica – as I shared with us a few weeks ago – (1 Thessalonians 5:18) “In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” . . . AND (Ephesians 5:20) “Always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father.” 

 

Let’s return for a moment once again to last week’s Scripture text in Genesis 3:15 - “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)

 

That text, along with today’s Bible references, is part of God’s many promises of a Rescuer who, at His first Advent shredded sin’s dark veil that shrouds much of humanity. And Bible-believing Christians can rightly ask unbelievers the reasonable question: “How do people miss the inseparable connection of Christ’s first advent with Genesis 3, Isaiah 7 and Isaiah 9?”

 

The only way they can do that is to engage in Olympic-level theological contortions to ignore, avoid, or willfully obscure the clear truths of Biblical prophecies that point to that first advent.

 

In the Gensis 3 passage, God promised a Redeemer who would crush the head of the supernatural and super powerful creature known as Satan, the Serpent, the Devil, and Lucifer. No rational human could ever seriously hope to overpower that evil one. Only God could do that. Only God, who became Man and whose name is ‘Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace – only He could crush the Serpent’s head and bring overwhelming light into his darkness.

 

As the Holy Spirit tells us: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:1-5, NIV)

 

And while we’re on the wondrous subject of the redemption and rescue linked with Christ’s first advent, let’s not forget that His first advent also guarantees the fulfillment of prophecies regarding His second advent. Listen to this promise in Isaiah 25 – God’s promise to all who not only believe in His first advent, but who also follow the Christ in obedience. I add that important qualifier because multiple millions of men and women – even in churches – ‘believe’ in Christ, but they do so only with their minds and not their hearts; Otherwise, their belief would result in a godly lifestyle.

 

Here is that passage from Isaiah 25: “The Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain; A banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, refined, aged wine. And on this mountain, He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, even the veil which is stretched over all nations. He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the Lord has spoken. And it will be said in that day, “Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.” (Isaiah 25:6-9)

 

Today on this second Sunday of Advent we’ve looked briefly at three more prophecies of God – promises of God – that foretold Messiah’s first coming.

Ever since that catastrophic day in the Garden of Eden, Sin became an inseparable part of our human nature. Sin incited Cain to kill his brother, Abel. Sin led Lamech to boast of his murders (Genesis 4). Sin resulted in the event surrounding the Tower of Babel. Sin led to the fiery destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Sin is why the people have walked and continue to walk in darkness.

 

If not for God’s promise of a virgin-born Savior, a Child born to us, a Son given to us . . . if not for Jesus, you and I and everyone else on this planet could never escape the darkness.

 

God’s promises of a Savior are rooted in world history. And those promises are also APPLICABLE to our personal day-to-day lives. I remember walking in darkness. I said at the beginning of today’s message, my life was all about me, and I didn’t care who I used to satisfy my selfishness. It was a terrible life, one that still fills me with remorse whenever I think about those years.

 

But I also remember when ‘light’ pierced my darkness and I saw myself as I was. I can tell you, it broke my heart. Suddenly, my comfortable ‘atheism’ was no longer comfortable, and my memories of childhood prayers brought me to my knees as an adult, and I prayed.

 

Of course, I didn’t know it at the time – I was completely ignorant of the New Testament – but my prayer modeled the publican’s prayer in Luke 18:13 – “‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ And oh! Was He merciful! Which is why I stand here today, the result of what was – and remains to me – His incomprehensible mercy.

 

But the point of application I want to make now is not about what God did for me, despite my dark history. My point now is about what God has done – and continues to do – in your lives, because you also remember when you walked in darkness and you remember when God’s light shone around you. And you remember when you prayed something similar to what I prayed – for mercy and for forgiveness.

 

And here you are today – the result of God’s incomprehensible mercy toward you.

 

As I bring this message to a close, there might be one or two, or a few here today who now recognize your own past and current spiritual darkness – a darkness that fills you with remorse over wasted years and lost relationships. If that’s the case, you know what you need to do: Ask God for His forgiveness. He will never cast aside any who humbly comes to Him in repentance.

 

Ronnie Hinson wrote these lyrics in 1967. The song describes my life. I pray that they also describe yours:

 

“There's a Lighthouse on the hillside that overlooks life's sea, When I'm tossed about, it sends out a light that I might see. And the light that shines in darkness now will safely lead us o'er. If it wasn't for the Lighthouse,
my ship would be no more.”

 

“I thank God for the Lighthouse, I owe my life to Him. Jesus is the Lighthouse and from the rocks of sin He has shown the light around me, that I might clearly see. If it wasn't for the Lighthouse, where would this ship be?”

 

Truly, if it wasn’t for the Lighthouse – where would our ships be?

 

The First Promise of a Redeemer

First Sunday of Advent 2025

 

Today is the first Sunday of Advent. The Season of Advent is the time provided us by the Christian church to prepare ourselves for the celebration of Christ’s birth. The word itself means the ‘arrival of something or someone important.’ Christians gratefully celebrate the Lord’s first advent because He came from His throne in Glory to rescue us from God’s eternal wrath because our sins. And in our celebration, we also look forward to His promised second Advent when He comes to rule on earth with a rod of iron as the Psalmist tells us in the second psalm.

 

Although we celebrate Christ’s birth of December 25, Jesus did not become flesh on that Christmas day. He actually entered humanity nine months earlier – in March of that year – when He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the virgin womb of Mary, His mother. It was at His conception that Jesus became fully human while always remaining fully God.

 

As I prepared myself for this message, I thought this season would be a good time to remind us of some of the prophecies throughout the Old Testament that promised humanity a deliverer, a rescuer from God’s wrath against us for our sins. Many Bible scholars count more than 300 such promises. Today we’ll examine the first of those prophecies. We find it in the third chapter of Genesis, the context of which takes place in the Garden of Eden, after God created the heavens and the earth in six days.

 

Chapter three tells us of Satan’s seduction of Eve into questioning God’s word about the Tree of Knowledge. His deceptive innuendos about God’s trustworthiness led to her disobedience. Moments later – or so it seems from the text – Adam joined her in eating the forbidden fruit. As a result, Sin entered the world, and with it, incalculable grief and bitterness, disease, terror and murder, loneliness and death spread through all Creation. St Paul tells of the ongoing aftermath of their sin:

 

“For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.” (Romans 8:22-23)

 

After our first parents swallowed the Serpent’s bait, God cursed the Serpent, whom Scripture identifies as the Devil, and Satan (See Revelation 12:9), saying “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)

 

Many Bible scholars call Genesis 3:15 the ‘protoevangelium’ – meaning, ‘the first gospel.’ It is in this text that God makes His first of hundreds of  promises to send humanity a Redeemer to rescue us from Satan’s chains of physical, spiritual and eternal darkness; Genesis 3:15 is God’s first promise to send a Redeemer who, although wounded by the Serpent, will ultimately deliver a crushing defeat to the Devil.

 

But before we move further into the first promise of Christ’s advent it’s necessary to first address the challenge many make regarding the literalness and the historicity of those first chapters of Genesis. We do this

because if Genesis One is anything other than accurate history, if Genesis One does not faultlessly describe the six twenty-four hour days of creation, if Genesis one and the succeeding chapters are simply allegory or metaphor to explain Creation and the entry of Sin into the world, then the promise of Genesis 3 – and ALL the other promises of Christ’s first advent melt into what will easily become deadly spiritual confusion.  

 

In other words, if Genesis 3:15 and chapters one and two are allegory, you and I cannot have any confidence that light WILL overpower darkness. Neither can the child of God have confidence that the promise of Revelation 12:11 is our future: “And they overcame [Satan] because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.” (Revelation 12:11)

 

Many scientists believe Genesis One should not be taken literally. They believe the creation days spanned eons of time. They preach their evolutionary theories as if they are undeniable truths.

 

But what they teach should not surprise us because many of them don’t even believe in God. And because their evolutionary theories comprise a huge part of the ‘religion’ of Humanism, even a growing number of seminary students have been – and are being – seduced by their godless professors to scoff not only at the literalness of Genesis One, but to dismiss the idea of Scripture’s full inerrancy, infallibility, and divine inspiration. Therefore, it is no wonder that so many in the pews are also bewitched into believing lies about God’s promises and His immutable commandments.

 

My purpose today is to not go into a great amount of detail regarding the first chapter of Genesis. We don’t have time to do a proper examination of the contrary opinions about God’s word. And besides, with the easy access many of us have to the internet, it’s simple enough for those who are interested to conduct their own research into the debate on both sides of this question. I suggest using key words in your search, such as, “Creation Science,’  ‘Young Earth Scientists,’ and ‘Creation vs. Evolution.’

 

But while I won’t spend a lot more time with Genesis One, I will ask and then answer two important and related questions: Should Christians really care if Genesis One is literal or allegorical? And should Christians care if the earth is young or billions of years old?

 

Yes. We should care. Why? Well, for example, if earth is billions of years old, that would mean there were billions of years of death and disease before Adam and Eve fell. And THAT would directly contradict the entirety of Scripture’s testimony that sin is the cause of death. Furthermore, if sin was not the cause of death, then Jesus’ substitutionary atonement was completely unnecessary, and the promise of Genesis 3:15 is a non-issue.

 

Secondly, at the end of Genesis one, God called His entire creation “very good.” But if the earth is billions of years old, and death occurred before the Fall, then God called death, disease, starvation, and all other kinds of tragedies ‘good.’ And that would render the promise of a Redeemer in Genesis 3:15 pointless.

 

Thirdly: When God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses, the Lord reiterated to Israel: (Exodus 20:11) “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore, the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.”

 

But if Genesis chapter one is not literal history, then God lied to Moses and to the entire nation of Israel. And if He lied about the six twenty-four-hour days, then what else of the Ten Commandments are untrue? And if God lied to Moses about Genesis chapter one, then we have no assurance that He didn’t lie about Genesis 3:15.

 

And finally, for our purposes today, the Lord Jesus quoted from Genesis chapters one and two when He reminded the Pharisees: “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?” (Matthew 19:4)

 

But if Jesus was mistaken about those first chapters of Genesis, then what ELSE was He wrong about?

 

The last several points I’ve tried to make remind me of what the apostle Paul said during his defense before the Roman and Jewish leaders: "Why is it considered incredible among you people if God does raise the dead?" (Acts 26:8)

 

It was a reasonable question: Why is it considered incredible that the Almighty God could raise the dead? And Christians today should ask a similar question of the naysayers and scoffers: Why is it so incredible among you people if God created the heavens and the earth in six 24-hour days? After all, He is God.

 

Every rational person will immediately recognize that the works of Almighty God extend infinitely beyond any human capacity to understand. And that should not surprise us, because if finite and pathetically limited Man was able to understand the infinite and utterly unlimited God, then God would not be God.

 

Genesis 3:15 is God’s first hint that He had good news for fallen humanity. The horrific and all-encompassing sin of our first parents did not catch God by surprise. Do we not believe the Omniscient God knew what would happen in that Garden? Of course He did. And that’s why Scripture tells us that His plan for Mankind – trapped by our inherited sin nature – that is why His plan for our rescue and redemption from eternal death extends backward into eternity past – long before He created the heavens and the earth.

 

John tells us in the Revelation that Jesus was ‘slain from the foundation of the world.” (Revelation 13:8) And St Paul reminds the Christians at Ephesus that God “chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world.” (Ephesians 1:4)

 

In other words, before God spoke the heavens and the earth into existence, and before our first parents brought calamity to planet earth, God, in His omniscience knew what would happen in the Garden. And already knowing what would happen, He’d already planned redemption and salvation for all who wanted redemption and salvation.

 

And, speaking of God’s omniscience, let’s bring that point home to our own lives. Do we not realize that – even before Genesis one – do we not realize that He knew our names and where we would be on this first Sunday of Advent in 2025?

 

And do you not realize that our omniscient Creator directed your steps throughout your life, even to your decision to move into Ashwood Meadows?

 

Don’t let yourself be fooled into thinking you’re here because you or someone else researched the available independent living facilities, and chose this one. No, you’re here because God orchestrated the research, just as He also orchestrated your decision to come to this service today so you would hear this message.

 

Listen to Proverbs 16:9 “The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” Several verses later in this same chapter of Proverbs we read: (Proverbs 16:33) “The lot is cast into the lap, But its every decision is from the Lord.”

 

Which brings us back to the Almighty and Sovereign God’s orchestration of the events in Genesis chapter three that led to that first gospel message of hope and promise for fallen men and women. We need to know in the depths of our souls that the unfolding story of Adam and Eve holds enormous significance for everyone in the sanctuary.

 

Why?

 

Think for a while of the sheer and incomprehensible magnitude of the consequences and the repercussions of Adam and Eve’s sin. Those ripples have spread like tsunami waves throughout the thousands of years since the creation. Their waves of devastation continue to this very moment and will continue to do so until the second advent when the King of kings returns to create a new heaven and a new earth.

 

But – and this is an extremely important point – although their sin, like an overwhelmingly deadly virus, resulted in overwhelming disaster for all creation throughout history – nevertheless, God‘s grace toward them was greater than their sin.

 

I need to repeat that. God’s grace was greater than their sin.

 

I hope you remember the story in Genesis. God covered their naked bodies with the skins of animals He had to slay. And that picture ought to send our thoughts to Calvary, where God – who became a Man – shed His own precious, divine, and eternal blood to cover the naked sins of every man, woman, and child who comes in repentance to the Cross. God’s own blood clothes the penitent sinner with His righteousness infinitely more effectively than the animal skins that covered Adam and Eve’s naked bodies. And so, Scripture assures the Christian: “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Galatians 3:27)

 

And “He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness.” Isaiah 61:10

 

Which brings us now to this point of application: What sins have YOU committed in the past – perhaps especially those whose consequences and repercussions extend even to today?

 

This is really an important question because UNLESS we believe God’s grace was greater than Adam and Eve’s sin, and even so His grace is greater than YOUR sins – unless we believe that Biblical truth, we can never hope to find true rest for our souls.

 

Do you see why it is so important for the Christian to accept the literal and historical Biblical record of Creation and the subsequent chapters in Genesis? If it’s all metaphor and allegory, then we have NO reasonable assurance of hope for forgiveness and eternal life.

Once again, we should ask the scoffers and deniers why it seems so incredible for anyone who believes in the God of the Bible – why should it seem incredible that He created the heavens and the earth in six literal days, as He tells us in that first chapter of Genesis?

 

And why should it seem incredible that the God who loves us so passionately would set in those early chapters of Genesis the first of so many promises of a Redeemer who would, at His first advent, set in motion the divine rescue of men, women, and children from Satan’s darkness?

 

The Serpent introduced seeds of doubt into our first mother’s mind – doubts about God’s commandments and His trustworthiness. And Satan still operates by the same playbook, introducing seeds of doubt into our minds about God’s commandments, His trustworthiness, and the inerrancy, infallibility and full inspiration of His written word we call the Bible.  

 

Christian! For good reason, the Holy Spirit warns us today: “Be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith.” (1 Peter 5:8-9)