The First Gospel Promise
I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will crush his heel. (Genesis 3:15)
You remember the story of creation and the fall into sin, right? In six days, God created everything by his Word. It was perfect and holy, just as he was. God had created Adam to be special. God made Adam in his own image. And after Adam named all the animals, God created a helper for him, Eve. God told them not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. And on the seventh day, God rested.
But soon after that, Satan rebelled against God and was cast out of Heaven. Satan saw an opportunity and he took it. He disguised himself as a serpent, and he tempted Eve to eat from the tree which God had told them not to eat from. Eve ate and also gave some to Adam. Then they knew that they were naked, so they hid from God. When God asked each of them what they had done, they passed the blame on to someone else. When Eve blamed the serpent, God cursed the serpent and gave Adam and Eve the first promise of the Messiah.
That promise was not only for Adam and Eve, but it was passed down throughout the ages, even as sin is passed down from one generation to the next. That promise is for me and you as well. That promise was fulfilled as Jesus hung on the cross, and when he rose triumphantly from the dead. It is the promise that we will one day be perfect, just as Adam and Eve were once perfect, and Satan cannot take that away from us. It is the promise of God’s love for his creation. Amen.
The song for today is “In Adam We Have All Been One” by Concordia Publishing House