Now turn with me in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 3. Genesis chapter 3, right at the beginning of our Bibles this morning. This may not be the typical Christmas passage that we usually think of this time of year. Typically we go to Matthew chapter 1 or Luke chapter 2 when we think of the story of the birth of Jesus Christ. And those are great chapters that detail the events that happened in the birth of the baby Jesus. And we will get there eventually.

But this morning, I want to start a little earlier in the story. We are taking a couple week break from our series in the gospel of John. We’ll pick that back up at the start of the new year. We’ll pick up in John chapter six. But this morning, as we are in the week of Christmas, I want to Think about the things that led to our Savior coming and becoming God with us. Not that he became God, but he became the one who is with us. I want us to go back to the very first Christmas passage in the Bible. And it’s here in Genesis 3.

In Genesis 3, we are given a promise. And it is here in Genesis 3 that we first begin to see a future-oriented view in the Bible. They begin to look forward. And what we’ll be looking at this morning is the promised seed. We will see what the Bible has to say about God’s promise to Adam and Eve and to all mankind. and how that promise plays out in the Bible. So we will really see three aspects or three elements to God’s promise. We see first the promise of the seed is what we’ll look at here in Genesis 3. Then we’ll move to look at the hope of this seed. The hope that builds throughout the storyline of the Bible. And then lastly, we will see the fulfillment of this seed that is promised here in the very first few pages of the Bible.

But by way of introduction, we’ll remember the context there in the garden. We know the story of creation. In Genesis up until this point, God made the entire world in six 24-hour days. And he rested on the seventh day. But on that sixth day, he created Adam out of the dust of the earth. And after tasking Adam with naming all of the animals, Genesis chapter 2 verse 20 tells us that for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. So God put Adam to sleep and made the woman, Eve, out of Adam’s rib. And then God brings the woman to Adam. And verses 23 through 25 of chapter 2 tell us, then the man said, this one finally is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. This one shall be called woman because this one was taken out of a man. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and cleave to his wife, and they both shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were naked and were not ashamed.”

All is good. In fact, God said after he made everything that it was very good. And he puts Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it, to take dominion, to be fruitful, to multiply. And really everything is pretty simple at this point. Everything that Adam and Eve had to think about is right before them. And one thing I’ve wondered as we read through this creation story and the story of the first few days of history, did Adam and Eve have any concept of the future? Did they have any thought of what the future would be like or that there would be future. They really don’t have much of a concept of time or how long things will go on like this, yet they’re really a day or a few days old. Not much has happened. They’re just getting used to how long a day is. Did they have any concept of what will happen in the future? They really wouldn’t even need to think about it at this point because nothing’s happened yet. Why would any moment be any different than the moment they were living in?

And as we know, God gives them one rule. In verses 16 and 17 of chapter two, God commanded the man saying, from any tree of the garden, you may surely eat. From the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat. For in that day, for in the day that you eat from it, you will surely die. In the day that you eat from it, you will surely die.

Sometimes it’s interesting how God says things. Think about when God is working through Moses, leading the people to the promised land, and Moses has final words for them before they go in, and he says, you need to keep the covenant and obey God. But when you don’t, this will happen. And as God gives them the one rule in the garden, he says, when you eat from it, you will surely die. In that day, you eat from it, you will surely die. So the one rule here is don’t eat from this one tree, the tree in the middle of the garden.

But as we know, when we get to chapter three, it doesn’t go too well. The serpent shows up in the garden and he begins to talk to the woman and he asks her about God’s one rule. And ultimately the serpent deceives Eve and she breaks God’s law. In verse six we see, verse six of chapter three, then the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that it was desirable to make one wise. So she took. She took from its fruit and ate. And she gave also to her husband with her and he ate.

The woman saw what was before her eyes, she took it. She had no thought of any other moment than the moment she was in. She saw what she wanted and she took it. And Adam, her husband, did the same.

So God confronts Adam and Eve about their sin. And he spells out the consequences for them. And now, all of a sudden, there is a concept of time and change for them. Things they’ve never experienced before. Things are no longer what they were. They’re different now.

And it is here that we see the promise of the seed. That is our first aspect of this promise that we’ll look at, is the promise itself. God goes on to explain the consequences of sin for man and for the woman. But first, He curses the serpent. First, He curses the serpent. In verse 14, Yahweh God said to the serpent, because you have done this, cursed are you more than any of the cattle. And more than any beast of the field, on your belly you will go and dust you will eat all the days of your life.”

And then God, through his curse of the serpent, gives Adam and Eve the very first promise of hope in the Bible, the very first promise of redemption. from their now fallen state. God says to the serpent, God promises to this serpent in verse 15 of chapter three, 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.

Notice the language here in this promise. I will, he shall, you shall. This is not a conditional promise. This is not an if you do this, this is how it will go. This is a promise that will happen. This is not a prediction. This is God telling the serpent and Adam and Eve how things will go in the future. This is what will happen.

This is what is sometimes called the proto-evangelium, or the first gospel. The first gospel given to us in the Bible. The very first promise of deliverance and salvation. Now Adam and Eve have a perspective of the future. They now know of something that will happen in time that has not yet come. They have something to look forward to. And God says this will come through a seed. There will be a seed of the serpent that will be at enmity or at war with the seed of the woman. There will be this back and forth between the seed of the serpent and the seed of Eve, the woman. And seed here, as is common in the Bible, means offspring or children, descendants.

And we see in this promise that there will be more to come. This curse does not just affect the serpent and the woman, but their seed as well. There will be more from both. There will be those who follow this episode in the garden, who will live out this conflict between humanity and the serpent. We’ll begin to look at that next, but what we see first here in Genesis 3 is this promise of the seed. The hope given after man’s fall, after man’s rejection of God.

Next we see, number two, the hope of the seed. We saw there were two seeds involved in this promise in Genesis 3. There was the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. And the seed of the serpent sometimes is thought of as maybe his demons, Satan and his demons. But it’s more than that. The seed of the serpent includes all those who join in the serpent’s rebellion against God. And this appears in all those who reject God’s truth and oppose his people. And then the seed of the woman includes all those who belong to God, not all of her children. There will be a line that comes from the woman of those who ultimately will fulfill God’s promise here.

But as God promised, there would be conflict between these two seeds. And it doesn’t take long before we see Exactly what God’s talking about. With Adam and Eve’s very first children, Cain and Abel, we see the battle that will continue for generations. In Genesis 4, the very next chapter after this promise, we see that Cain kills his brother Abel. God warns Cain in verse 7 of chapter 4, and he says, sin is lying at the door. and its desire is for you. You must rule over it. It’s as if he’s saying, remember what happened with your parents in the last chapter. But Cain rebels, and he murders his brother. And we’re told in the New Testament, in 1 John 3, verse 12, Cain, who was of the evil one. Cain, who was of the evil one, slew his brother. And for the, what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil and his brothers were righteous.

He was of the evil one. He was a seed of the serpent. And he slew the seed of the woman. His deeds were evil. And Abel’s deeds were righteous. There’s a division here. This conflict between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman, between good and evil, has already begun in the first generation after this promise was given. So God has to raise up another son, Seth, through whom this seed line can continue. And there’s still hope for this seed promise that God has given.

And from here, the storyline of the Bible adds greater depth and clarity to this promise. As we come to chapter five, turn to chapter five with me. We see another scene that unfolds next. You know, the things that happen in the Bible, one after the other, are not coincidental. It’s not just telling the story of the things that happened. God’s telling a story. He has a point in what he tells us. Because in chapter five, we read of a man named Lamech. Lamech has a son. In verse 29, we see that now he called his name Noah. Lamech had a son and he named him Noah. And now listen to what Lamech says about his son, Noah. He says, this one will give us rest from our work and from the pain of our hands arising from the ground which Yahweh has cursed. Surely this would be the one who would deliver us from the curse. That’s what Lamech is hopeful of.

And while Noah would not be the ultimate fulfillment of this promise, what we do see is there’s an expectant hope that there would be one coming. Lamech knew the promise. He believed it. God said there’s one coming and maybe this is him. And his son Noah would be a deliverer, as he would be called to build the ark. so that God’s seed line could continue and survive the flood, the flood that was God’s judgment upon the sinful seed of the serpent, who had grown so sinful that God dealt with him by literally washing them off the face of the earth.

Noah would be part of the hope of the promised seed.

We see a man named Abraham come. Turn to Genesis 22 with me, as I read earlier. We know the story of Abraham. God calls him from his land and shows him a promised land and makes him a promise that he will have many offspring who will bless the world, and yet Abraham has no children. But Abraham believes God, and God does produce children through Abraham, and produces Isaac, whom he says is the one he promised. But then he calls him to sacrifice his son. And he does so obediently, but God stops him. And listen to the promise God makes Abraham after he spares his one and only son.

In Genesis 22, starting in verse 17, he says, Do you hear it? Do you hear the echo of the promise in the garden. Three times in his promise to Abraham, God mentions the seed. Some of you virgins may say offspring, but it’s the very same word used in Genesis 3. The seed. The seed is coming. The promise is still alive. There was one who would come to be the conqueror and deliverer of his people, and he was coming through Abraham.

And we could go many places and follow this thread of this hope of the promise that was given. Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, he saw the hope of the promise in his sons. As he was blessing his sons before he died in Genesis 49 verse 10, he says, the scepter shall not depart from Judah. The ruler that’s coming will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of all the peoples. All peoples will obey this one someday.

And then we hear about this warrior king that is coming through the mouth of Balaam. A most unlikely source. A pagan false prophet in Numbers chapter 24. Turn over to Numbers 24 with me. In Numbers 24, God even used this false prophet to announce the promise he was keeping. Listen to the hopeful words of expectation for God’s people.

Numbers 24, starting in verse 16. The oracle of him who hears the words of God. and knows the knowledge of the Most High, who beholds the vision of the Almighty falling down, yet having his eyes opened. I see him, but not now. I behold him, but not near. A star shall come forth from Jacob. A scepter shall rise from Israel.” Remember what Jacob said. The scepter and the ruler is coming. and he shall crush through the forehead of Moab, and tear down all the sons of Shef, and Edom shall be a possession. Seir, its enemies, will also be a possession. While Israel performs valiantly, and one from Jacob shall have dominion, and will make the survivor perish from the city. Do you hear the echo again? A great ruler who is coming to do what? crushed through the forehead of his enemies. Where is that from? What does that sound like? This is the same promise. God would use this promised seed to crush the head of the seed of the serpent, the enemies of God.

As the storyline continues, we see hope build more and more, and more details are added to this promise of the seed. Moses tells us that this coming one, God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you. He will be a prophet. He will speak the words of God.

Psalm 2 tells us that this one will be God’s ruler who will rule with a rod of iron. Turn with me to Psalm 110. Psalm 110 is a famous psalm that we quote often. It’s the most quoted psalm in the New Testament. And we remember it often because of the beginning words where, starting in verse one, he always says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies as a footstool under your feet. Immediately we know who he’s talking about. We know who this psalm is about.

But look at verses five and six. The Lord is at your right hand and he will crush kings in the days of his anger and he will render justice among the nations. He will fill them with corpses. He will crush the head that is over all the earth. Who is the head over all the earth? Who is the ruler of this world? It’s that old serpent from the garden.

This promise is echoed over and over and over again through the Old Testament. And this storyline keeps growing through the words of the prophets. We see Isaiah, we know the familiar Isaiah prophecies of the virgin who will give birth and the child who will be born to us. Speaking of this one who will be wonderful counselor, mighty God, eternal father, prince of peace. He’ll be on the throne of David over his kingdom. The seed was coming to establish this righteous kingdom and to destroy and crush the seed of the serpent.

Let me get more detail and more detail through the prophets. I don’t have time to read them all. So turn with me to Malachi 4, the very last chapter of the Old Testament. Malachi chapter 4, the very last words of God to his people for almost 400 years. And what does he leave them with? As he’s about to go silent. And will no longer speak through any prophets for four centuries. What does he leave them with? We read this as our call to worship this morning. The very last words of God to his people.

Verse two of Malachi four. But as for you who fear my name, The sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go forth and skip like calves from the stall. And you will tread down the wicked. For they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I am preparing, says Yahweh of hosts.

For those who fear God, those who believe His promises, The righteous seed of the woman. God promises he will send the sunrise that will tread down the wicked. Tread down the wicked like a serpent underfoot. The promise is still there. The seed is coming. There’s still hope. It runs all the way through the Old Testament from the first pages to the last paragraph. There’s one coming to crush the wicked under his feet. That is the hope of this seed. The one whom God’s faithful people, the seed of the woman, look for.

And lastly this morning, we see the fulfillment of the seed. With those final words on the last page of the Old Testament, God’s people are left with hope. The very next page shows us who that hope would be fulfilled in. Matthew chapter one, verse one, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham, the son of the ones we’ve been tracing this seed line through.

As we continue to read in Matthew chapter one, we see the angel come to Joseph and tell of this child that would be born. After giving this genealogy, showing that this all connects, this is the seed line.

Verses 21 through 23 of Matthew chapter one, she will bear a son. You should call his name Jesus. For he will save his people from their sins. Well, in order for that to happen, the curse has to be lifted. Because he’s the one. He’s the one they’ve been waiting for.

And all this took place in order that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled. Saying, behold, a virgin will be with child, and she’ll bear a son, and they will call his name Immanuel. which translated means God with us.

Through this child, what God had spoken through the prophets would be fulfilled. This is the one they were waiting for.

As we come to Luke’s account of this birth, the passage Pastor Stephen spoke on last week with Mary’s song of praise to God for what he is doing. I hope you caught the last lines of that song. Turn over to Luke chapter one. Luke chapter one. What was the very last thing she said in her song? Did you catch it?

Mary closes her song in verses 54 and 55. He has given help to Israel, his servant, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his seed forever.” She saw it. He remembered his mercy. He remembered the seed. He remembered the promise to Adam and Eve. He remembered the promise to Abraham. He remembered his promise.

In verse 55, to his seed forever. Mary knew. She saw this, that this one, her child, this was the seed of the woman. The one who promised so long ago.

Jesus is the fulfillment of this seed line promise. He is the seed of the woman who crushes the head of the serpent. He is the seed of Abraham through whom the whole world is blessed. He is the warrior king from the line of Judah. He’s the son of David who will rule forever and crush his enemies with a rod of iron. He is the one who brings all the promises to Israel to be. He’s the one who’s the light to the Gentiles. He is the one. through whom all the nations will worship the God of Israel and walk in his ways.

And just in case you think I’m stretching things to make all of these seed promise passages line up, turn with me to Galatians. Galatians chapter four. In Galatians chapter 4, Paul sees these things line up too. This is how the Apostle Paul explains how this promise of the seed comes true.

Galatians chapter 3, I should say. Galatians chapter 3, verse 16. Now the promises. We’re spoken to Abraham. We covered that one. He does not say, and to seeds, referring to many. but rather to one and your seed, that is Christ.

Christ is the ultimate fulfillment of the seed, the seed promise that’s all over the Bible. The seed rings true in many different people throughout the Bible story, but ultimately they all point forward to the one seed that was to come, Jesus Christ.

As Paul says in Galatians 4, the next chapter, but when the fullness of time came, when God did all that He needed to do leading up to the right time, when He gave all of these promises, when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, the seed of the woman. born of the Virgin Mary, the Son of God. That is how the birth of Christ, the thing we celebrate this season, ultimately fulfills the promises of God. And the very promise God gave in the garden in the first days of history, I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between her seed and your seed, and he will bruise you on the head, and you will bruise him on the heel.” That’s him. That’s Jesus.

The serpent did everything he could do to try to stop this from happening. The devil himself, the serpent in the garden. entered Judas Iscariot that night. And he went out and he betrayed Jesus. He turned Jesus over to the officials who had him crucified. And he died hanging on the cross in the place of sinners who believe in him.

But even though the serpent did strike him, And even though he did bruise his heel, Jesus rose again the third day. And he stepped out of that tomb, and he stepped right on the skull of that old serpent, and he crushed him. He defeated Satan, sin, and death. And one day soon, he’ll throw that old beast into the lake of fire forever.

But there’s one last element of this promise. The seed is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, but there’s more fulfillment still. If you’re still in Galatians 3, look there again. If you remember, the promise to Abraham is that his seed would bless the world. And look what Paul explains after explaining that yes, ultimately the seed is Jesus. Look at verses 26 through 29.

For you are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek nor slave nor free man. nor male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise.

Christ is the ultimate seed, but if you belong to Christ, you are part of this ancient promise. If you belong to Christ, you are an heir of the promise that comes true in him. If you belong to Christ, you have crushed the head of the serpent and he has no power over you.

So, do you belong to Christ? Are you a son of God through faith in Jesus Christ? Have you been baptized into Christ? Are you clothed with Christ? Do you know him? Do you know Him? Do you trust Him as your Savior from sin and the curse that was given so long ago in the garden?

You see, since that day in the garden, there have only been two seeds. There’s the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. If you are not in Christ, You are of your father, the devil. You’re a seed of the serpent. And like Cain and all those who follow in the serpent’s rebellion, if you are outside of Christ, you are at war with God. And the only way to be a seed of the woman, a child of God, a conqueror of sin and that old serpent, is in Christ. only in Christ, by faith in Christ.

So if you do not know him, if you have not yet come to Christ, you need to come to him. You need to come to him today. Please stay behind and talk to me or somebody else here to learn more about who Christ is and how you can have salvation in him.

And if you do know Him, rejoice in the promises of God. This is why we celebrate this time of year. We have a God who keeps His promises. Let’s go tell it on the mountain. Let’s stand and close in a word of prayer.

Our God in heaven, we thank you. We thank you for keeping your promises. We thank you for being a God who is good, for being a God who does not change. We thank you for being a God who is not surprised by anything. And not only do you know what happens, you determine what happens. You are good. We thank you that you are in control of all things and that as we see your hands work throughout history, bringing all things to fulfillment, glorifying yourself and redeeming your people. We thank you for who you are.

Lord, I do pray that if there is anybody here this morning who does not know Christ, I pray that you would bring them to yourself. Don’t let them go home here today without knowing you. without having a reason to celebrate Christmas. God, we thank you for who you are. I pray that you’ll help us to go and tell of who you are. Pray this all in Jesus’ name, amen.