The Promised One: Advent Day 1

Read & Journal

This week, as we read through the accounts of the patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—we’ll begin to see how God was unveiling his plan for salvation in Jesus from the very beginning. Today, read Genesis 3:1-19. Ask yourself these questions:

• Take a minute to meditate on what you’ve read. How would you describe what has happened in these verses in your own words?

• What do you learn about God the Father and his character in these verse?

• What do you learn about Jesus?

• What do you learn about yourself?

• How does this passage point to God’s promise of salvation in Jesus? Explain.

Ponder

Sometimes, when you’re reading a novel or watching a movie, it can take a little time for the plot to really grab your attention. “It started kind of slow,” you might say when recommending the book or film to a friend. But the first book of the Bible, Genesis, isn’t like that. The book kicks off with creation and outlines God’s intimate relationship with humanity, but by Chapter 3, crisis has come and nothing will ever be the same again because of it.

In God’s perfect garden, the serpent slithered in with the question we’ve all asked over and over again in our own lives: Did God really say. . . ? Sin entered the world, and ever since then our sinful hearts have questioned God’s goodness and the goodness of His ways. When Adam and Eve sinned, the world that had been perfect wasn’t anymore. And that sin had consequences.

Read verse 14-19 again, noting the consequences you see there—to the serpent, the woman and the man. But in that list of consequences, there’s also a promise: “You will strike his heel, but he will strike your head.” One day, Jesus, a seed of the woman, will deliver a crushing, fatal blow to the serpent, who is Satan himself.

We may live in a world that feels filled with more darkness than light. On our darkest days, we may doubt God’s goodness and discount his promises. But long before us, he was weaving his ultimate promise into the beginning pages of Scripture, into the beginning moments of humanity. He who knew no sin would ultimately become sin so that we might become righteous. And he will one day reign destroy Satan himself.