The Genesis of Christmas

Genesis 3:15

Let’s look at the genesis of Christmas.  How did it begin?  It actually started in the heart of God long before creation.  Jesus is called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. [Rev. 13:8]  Peter says it was BEFORE the world was made. [1 Pet. 1:20] 

Ask people when Christmas is and they will say December 25^th.  But we actually don’t know.  It could be.  The chance is 1/365!  But actually, Christmas is not a date, but a plan.  It’s not an event, but an eventuality formed in the mind of the all-wise God, Who, in His foreknowledge, determined to show His love to His creation in the most tangible way, by sacrificing Himself…by trading His life for theirs…by redeeming us!

To study Christmas B.C., before Christ, we turn to Genesis, and I’m not talking about Adam saying to his wife “It’s Christmas, Eve!”  No, our first stop in looking at the Genesis of Christmas is found in Genesis 3:15.  [read]

Did you know that if you listen closely, you can hear the sounds of Christmas in the Old Testament? Written over a 1,000-year period, the first part of the Bible contains about 300 references to the Messiah that were fulfilled in Christ. Here’s just the first…

Make sure you grasp the significance of predictive prophecy. Most of those 300 prophecies were written down more than 500 years before they were fulfilled by Christ. This is no accident and is certainly not a coincidence.  

This verse is the first promise given after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. It’s also the first gospel sermon ever preached on the face of the earth. Theologians call it the proto-evangelium, or “first gospel.” These words spoken by God contain the earliest promise of redemption in the Bible. Everything else in Scripture flows from this one verse. As the acorn contains the mighty oak, so these words contain the entire plan of salvation.

Although you may not see it at first glance, Christ is in this verse. He is the ultimate Seed of the Woman who would one day come to crush the serpent’s ugly head. In the process His “heel” would be bruised and His body would be broken on the cross. In short, this verse predicts that Jesus would win the victory over Satan but would Himself be wounded in the process.

Adam and Eve have just eaten the prohibited produce and sin has entered paradise. Their first impulse is to hide from God. Their second is to make excuses for their sin. Adam blames the woman and God and Eve blames the serpent. No one is willing to stand up and say, “I did it. It’s my fault and I take responsibility.”

Suddenly the glorious garden is not so beautiful. The entrance of sin has ruined Eden. Dark shadows fall on the ground as Adam and Eve contemplate what they have done. The smell of death is in the air. Nearby the serpent lies quietly. He alone is happy. He delights in what is happening for this was his plan from the very beginning. He intended to humiliate God by ruining paradise and now he has done it. He has shown the whole universe that God’s great experiment would not work--that no race of beings could ever be trusted to freely obey God. Left to themselves they always disobey, even in paradise.

As God surveys the moral wreckage of the fall, He immediately begins to deliver judgment. He begins where the sin began--with the serpent. Later he will come to the woman and then to the man, but he speaks to the serpent first.

Although you may not realize it at first glance, this verse is not directed at you and me, though it certainly applies to us. God is the speaker and the serpent is the one being spoken to. In Genesis 3:14, God passes judgment on the serpent for his part in the fall of humanity. First, he is cursed above every other animal. Second, the serpent will crawl on his belly forever. Third, he will eat dust all the days of his life.

Our text predicts that there will be a:
1. Permanent Conflict.

The key word is enmity, which means “hostility” or “animosity.”

This is telling us that Eve and the serpent will never get along. Ladies, what kind of snake is a good snake?  [dead!]  If the devil thought that by deceiving her he had her in his back pocket, he was greatly mistaken. Eve made a huge mistake but she would never join the serpent’s fan club.

The “seed” or offspring refers to the men and women of faith in every generation who have believed in God. This is the Godly line that leads to Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Ruth, David, Daniel, Esther, and eventually culminates in the person of Jesus Christ. It’s the Godly seed.

It’s obvious that Satan has his seed too. Throughout history in every generation, in every country, in every city, in every village, in every tribe and clan and in most families, Satan has had his people. The sinful seed started with Cain who killed Abel and continued to the wicked generation of Noah’s day, to the Pharaohs who opposed Moses and the Canaanites who mocked Joshua. It includes all the pagan peoples of antiquity as represented by Goliath who laughed at David. Who was it that threw Daniel in the lion’s den? The seed of Satan. Who hated the prophets and murdered them in cold blood? The descendants of the devil.

Then we come to the days of Jesus. When he was born, Herod tried to kill Christmas. When Jesus grew up, the Pharisees opposed Him and plotted to take His life. Jesus said, you are of your father, the devil.  You are Satan’s seed!  The devil even infiltrated Christ’s inner circle, filling the heart of Judas with malignant evil. When he was arrested, men stood in line to lie about him. When Pilate offered to release Jesus, the bloodthirsty crowd cried out for Barabbas instead.

Who was behind the crucifixion of Jesus? It was the sinister seed of Satan. The “seed of the woman” and the “seed of the serpent” have opposed each other continuously across the centuries. That struggle continues today.

1. Permanent Conflict.

There will also be a:

2. Temporary Defeat.

God then says to the serpent, “you will bruise His heel.” If you’ve ever had a foot problem, you know how painful this can be. We normally don’t think about heels until we start having problems. But what happens? You end up on crutches, taking painkillers and perhaps having surgery. It slows you down. But it doesn’t kill you. You can live with heel problems even through you have to hobble around.

When Christ died on the cross, Satan struck his heel. Where on His body were the nails pounded in? His hands and His feet--right through His heels. On Friday about sundown, when they took the dead body of Jesus down from the cross, it appeared that Satan had won the battle. On Sunday morning, the true Victor walked out of the grave, one heel in front of another, alive from the dead.

Satan delivered a terrible blow to Jesus on that Friday. No doubt he thought he had thrown a knockout punch. But he was wrong. All he did was strike Jesus on the heel. As painful as it was, that suffering was nothing compared to what Jesus did to Satan.  God put all things under His feet, making His enemies His footstool.
 

Permanent conflict, temporary defeat...

3. Eventual Victory.

“bruise thy head...” [God said to Satan]

Heel wounds don’t kill you. But no one survives a crushed head. The cross was God’s deathblow against Satan. It was payback for the fall in Eden and much more besides. Victory belongs to the woman’s seed!

I want you to notice the phrase, “thy seed and her seed” or, “your offspring and hers.” The reference to “her seed” is very interesting in Hebrew because the male is considered the one who has the seed. Children are normally referred to as the “offspring” of the father. Why does it say “her seed” here? I think it’s because this verse is predicting the virgin birth of Christ. When the Messiah was born, He was the “seed of the woman” because in His conception by the Holy Spirit, there was no male seed! He didn’t come in the usual way; He came by means of a miraculous virgin birth.

When God wanted to save the world, He didn’t send a committee; He sent His Son.

When God wanted to say, “I love you,” He wrapped His love note in swaddling clothes.

Born to die in our place, but more than that…born to live in our place the perfect life we cannot, so He could give us the gift of eternal life by paying the price of hell, so we might believe on Him and be born again!

He was bruised and yet brought healing!
He was pierced and eased pain!
He was persecuted and brought freedom!
He was dead and brought life!
He is risen and brings power!
He reigns and brings peace!
He is God, He is faithful
I am His, and He is mine!

[based on excellent work by Brian Bill]