December 2

December 2 – The First Promise of a Savior

READ: Genesis 3:15 – “…he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

DEVOTION: 

Genesis 3 records how sin entered the world.  

Satan takes the form of a serpent, tempts Eve who eats the forbidden fruit, and then offers some to Adam.  God is directly disobeyed and Creation’s perfection falls apart. 

Adam and Eve are driven out of the Garden into a world that now includes pain, toil, incivility, abuse of power, greed, disease, and ultimately death.

Since that time the world has continued to be filled with a myriad of problems, and sadly, we ourselves are the cause of a number of them.  Like Adam and Eve, we have disobeyed God and made our own contribution to the world’s brokenness.  But we are not without hope.  

God addresses the serpent (Satan) for his role in all this, and says, “he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:15)

There is one word in that statement which changes the entire course of human history.  One word which reveals God’s redemptive plan.  One word which shines a light on things to come.

The most significant word in Genesis 3:15 is a two-letter word: “HE”

“HE (One who is to come) will crush your head (serpent, Satan, deceiver), and you… you will strike his heel.”

“Satan, you will injure the One to come. But HE will destroy you.”

This is humanity’s first glimpse of the Gospel.  God’s promises that Someone is coming who will put an end to Satan’s death-grip on our world, and obliterate sin’s reign in our lives.  

That Someone is Jesus Christ, God’s greatest gift.  Isaiah 53:5 in the New Living Translation says, “He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.”

REFLECT: How does the promise of Satan’s defeat and destruction give you confidence in Christ for the challenges you are facing today?

PRAY: Father, I pray that You will open my eyes to the gifts You give each day—and open my lips so that I can give witness of Your gifts to others. Help me to celebrate the miraculous birth of Your Son, Jesus Christ, and share the Good News of salvation because of His ultimate sacrifice on the cross.