The Promised Seed

Genesis 3:8-15

Immanuel – 12/7/25

The Christmas Season is fully upon us. Decorations are up, presents are being purchased, familiar songs are in the air, snow is on the ground. I’ve already tasted Christmas cookies from a number of different families. Even though December is the darkest month of the year, and one of the coldest, Christmas fills it with warmth and light.

All these things are good. Even if your Christmas is touched by some form of pain, it is still right for the cold to be warmed, and for light to scatter some of the darkness. All the Christmasy things I’ve just described only accomplish that for a moment, because when all the Christmas lights come down, you know winter will hold its grip for another three months (at least). And the winter clouds, generously given by Lake Ontario, make a largely sunless winter a harder obstacle for some than for others.

But when the warmth and light of Christmas ends, the joys of Advent do not. Advent is about anticipation, fulfilment, and a hope that endures. This Advent season we are taking a break from 1 Timothy to consider the way Scripture anticipated the coming of the Son of God through a series of promises.

Today                                                “The Promised Seed”

Next Week                                        “The Promised Prophet”

12/21 – Our Christmas Service          “The Promised King”

Candlelight Christmas Eve Service    “The Promised Priest”

Each of these, the Scriptures anticipated. They were fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth, the Promised One. And he gave us an enduring hope when he promised that he would return and bring with him the fullness of his kingdom!

The fullness of Christ’s kingdom is how the story ends. Today we consider the beginning of the story, and how the beginning anticipates the end. The Bible opens with these words:

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.         -Genesis 1:1

God speaks, and things that did not exist come into being. Theologians call this ex nihilo – meaning out of nothing. There was nothing, no beginning materials, only God – his infinitely creative mind and awesome power. Then, as the crown of his creation, God created man and woman.

God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over…every living thing.”

                                                                   -Genesis 1:27-28

God created man and woman to bear his image; and I promise you, he did not – nor does he ever – give his creations genders out of alignment with their bodies. He created his male and female image bearers, blessed them, and gave them dominion over the earth. And after he had finished creating, and installing Adam and Eve as earth’s king and queen, he looked at the whole situation and said, “Behold, it is very good” (Genesis 1:31).

From the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were to extend their reign. But in the garden, among the many trees God planted there, one tree was laden with fatal poison.

“You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

                                                                             -Genesis 2:16-17

It was fitting for the knowledge of good and evil to fill a fruit. Because if they ate, they wouldn’t merely get some intellectual knowledge about the meaning of good and the meaning of evil. They would get experiential knowledge. The way you know how an apple tastes is because you’ve experienced it. In the same way, they would know good and evil because the moment they ate the fruit, they would know how evil feels, their souls would taste it. They would also immediately know how terrible evil feels compared to the good they had known. There was deadly experiential knowledge waiting in the fruit.

You may wonder why God placed such a poisonous tree so close to his beloved king and queen. Because God created man and woman to be fulfilled in relationship with him. Of all the good he gave them, the greatest good was their relationship with him. But for there to be relationship, for there to be authentic love, there has to be choice.

Love without choice is not love, it’s mindless slavery – like an automaton, a robot. If God did not give us agency to choose, then all he would have created were chat bots. For love to exist means both parties choose it, they see something in one another they find deeply desirable, and they are filled with love.

Relationship needs moral agency. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was the evidence of humanity’s real agency. If they did not eat, it meant they trusted God, believed him, honored him, and desired to do his will. To not eat meant Adam and Eve genuinely, truly, freely, loved their Creator.

But into that garden slithered a liar. It was paradise until he flitted temptations from his tongue. Satan lied about God, he lied about the forbidden fruit, he lied about the consequences of eating. Tragically, you know what happened next. They ate. Everything changed.

Read vs 8-13

See the brokenness that instantly filled the world. In verse 8, Adam and Eve heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden. It was a familiar sound to them, the sound you come to know through many experiences. It was a sound that once excited them – the lover of their souls approached.

But now they ran and hid. God certainly knew what happened. Still, he approached. Still he came for them. But they ran. They didn’t even want to be seen by him. They feared his presence.

The brokenness didn’t just affect their relationship with God, look how Adam blames Eve. For the first time, human relationship was corrupted and broken. Eve blames the serpent. They were supposed to have dominion over every living thing – even that relationship was broken. They ate and everything was broken.

And that same brokenness fills our world today. A moment on your news feeds and you can see it: war, disaster, lawlessness, hatred, and a thousand other horrors. Brokenness is within us too. We feel it in our bones: anxiety, depression, jealousy, fear, insecurity. Brokenness is within us and all around us.

Just consider that for a moment, the whole world was plunged into brokenness because of the sinful actions of Adam, and his wife Eve. It was called the Fall – from glory to brokenness, from holiness to sinfulness. God created man and woman in his image, but they took an apple in their hand and smashed that image into a thousand pieces. And though we may not have taken fruit from a forbidden tree, we all know its taste, for we have all rebelled the same.

God cursed Adam and Eve for their rebellion against him. He did not curse them because he is vindictive. He did not curse them because he hated them. No. He loved them. He cursed them because it was the real consequence for their real choices. When Adam and Eve chose to trust a liar over their Creator, the relationship was broken. They chose the separation. God gave them life, and apart from God there is only death. God blessed them, and apart from God there is only curse.

But even as the dark curse cause by sin infused itself into humanity, God sparked hope with a promise. Though they betrayed his trust, God was planning to win back humanity, to break their curse, and forever restore their relationship. As the gates of Eden were closing, God flung wide his arms of grace. For as he cursed that damned lying serpent, he said,

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”     -Genesis 3:15

An offspring, a child, would come from the woman and crush the head of the Serpent – a fatal blow and decisive victory. What was a curse for Satan was a promised blessing for every descendant of Eve.

          Genesis 3:15 referred to as the protoevangelium – the first time the gospel is proclaimed in the whole Bible. How interesting that in the place of defeat and shame and brokenness, out of nothing, God again speaks something into existence: the hope of the fallen, a promise of victory. Out of a hopeless nothing, God spoke into existence, the gospel!

          There are at least two things happening in God’s protoevangelium.

          First, seed in the plural sense. Every descendant of Eve will be in conflict with Satan, his demonic forces, and all those under his sway.

          This is so important! Surely, when Adam and Eve sinned and fell under the curse, Satan thought he had won. He thought he struck the heart of God and killed his beloved children. Even human parents can understand how terrible for their children to die. Satan, in vile depravity, thought he had killed the children of God.

          Adam and Eve would not die immediately. No! Instead God killed an animal, to make out of it clothing, to hide the shame of what the man and woman had done.

          The Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.                                                                            -Genesis 3:21

          Skins came from an animal, and that animal died right away. Adam and Eve would go on living, at least for a time, and they would have children, a whole line of seeds. Part of God’s curse to the serpent is that he has not won, there will be many more Adams and Eves, and they will fight against the powers of the serpent. How Satan must have writhed against this curse! God’s children may be broken, but they will still put up a fight!

          The second thing happening in God’s protoevangelium regards the seed in a nonplural sense: a single seed that will crush the head of the serpent, though the serpent will deliver a wound in the process.

          See the whole picture: Satan, his dark forces, and those under his sway will be in constant conflict with the descendants of Eve. As powerful as Satan becomes, there will always be a remnant of Eve battling against him. But some future day a single seed will come, a child born to the woman, a promised one. He will win the decisive victory over the serpent, crushing his lies and temptations forever!

From Genesis 3 forward, the conflict between Satan and Eve’s descendants paints every page. But everywhere you look in Scripture there is anticipation; anticipation of the arrival of a child, promised by God, and the way he would crush the serpent’s head.

Shadows of this Promised One are seen as Abraham raises a knife over his beloved son, only for a substitute to be found tangled in thorns; when God’s people are freed from slavery after the life of a lamb is taken rather than their firstborn sons; when God promises a descendant of David will reign as King forever; when Isaiah prophesies of a child, given, who shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

All these and a thousand more are shadows of the promised child, who God spoke of in Eden, the offspring coming to crush the head of the serpent. As you read through the Old Testament you can feel the anticipation building. And in the darkest days of Israel – which get desperately dark – the yearning for a Savior, for a Righteous King, is palpable.

Finally you come to Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament. Malachi prophecies about the Messiah, the Son of Righteousness, who will bring healing and joy for the righteous, and judgment for the wicked. It’s a glorious and jubilant picture. But when Malachi’s prophesies conclude…silence – silence for 400 years.

Not a single word from God. The messianic hope deferred. Heaven was quiet. Where was God? Had he forgotten his promises? Had he abandoned his people?

In the silence, in the dark brokenness, how loud the yearning for the promised Son, and the victorious kingdom he would bring?

Then, one silent night, for the first time in 400 years, God opened the heavens, and he opened it to the most unexpected people: shepherds. So many years of silence, and suddenly the shepherds were bathed in the glory of God; and out of the brilliance an angel spoke:

 Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.                                                                       -Luke 2:10-11

Finally the silence was broken! Finally the promised Son was born! The hope of Israel! The Savior of the world! Oh good news of great joy: he had come to crush the head of the serpent! What God had promised those many millennia before had finally come true: a baby, laid in a manger, born in Bethlehem, a spotless lamb, born to die, by whose blood a people would be ransomed.

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

                                                                             -1 John 3:8

Jesus is the seed from the protoevangelium. And though shadows of it could be seen since Abraham, the way Jesus crushed the head of the serpent was totally unexpected. Indeed, the serpent would strike the promised seed.

Jesus knew it would be so.

“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds…Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.”

“Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!”

                                                                   -John 12:23-24,26-28 (NIV)

Jesus knew he was going to die. Through a complex and powerful matrix of lies, Satan would use both the Jews and the Romans to put the Son of God to death. Once again, the serpent thought he could kill God’s beloved Son, and strike the heart of God. And this time was even better, this son of God was divine, from the trinitarian godhead. Jesus is God in human form. Satan thought he had the winning move.

Read John 12:31-32

Satan was only able to bruise Jesus – meaning a temporary, nonfatal, wound. Jesus was the promised seed, and he knew he had to die and be buried in the earth, to produce countless more seeds in his holy image. Jesus allowed the serpent to kill him. He took the cross knowingly. Something greater was on the other side.

Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.                                                  -Hebrews 12:2

Jesus walked straight into the serpent’s trap and went to the cross. He would be the substitute, and die in place of those who deserved it. He would die like the animal in Eden, sacrificed to clothe Adam and Eve.

And when we believe that Jesus is the promised Son of God, who died that we could be forgiven, then Scripture tells us we are clothed in Christ, robbed in his righteousness. We don’t have to fear God and run from his presence because we are hidden in Christ. Jesus takes us to the holiest place, and seats at God’s right hand. And these promises in Scripture are true now! Which means we live today in the presence of God where there are pleasures forevermore.

Let me show you another way that Scripture articulates this.

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

                                                                   -2 Corinthians 5:17-21

In Christ we are reconciled to God. Jesus restored the relationship severed in Eden. He has become our clothing, to hide our naked wickedness before God and man. Or, Jesus became sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God!

We were fallen creations: broken, and sinful. But in Christ we are new creations, bearing the image of God’s own son, and are reconciled back to God. What was lost in Eden is restored in Christ. He is the promised seed!

But we are not just new creations. Christ has sent us out on the offensive. We are ambassadors of kingdom, spreading across this planet proclaiming the message of reconciliation – which is the gospel, the evangelion.

“I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.”

                                                                             -Matthew 16:18

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.         -Romans 16:20

Jesus was the seed to crush the serpent’s head. But because, by faith, we are in Christ, and we are the body of Christ, he uses our heels to tread upon the serpents!

Nothing compares to the treasure that is Jesus Christ: not Christmas presents, not decorations, not gatherings, not tradition. There is no greater gift than the one that came from heaven – a beloved Son sent by his Father. Today and forever more he is called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

The Son has been given. His name is Jesus. He will heal; no, he is healing, the brokenness of our world. He is reconciling sinners back to God! And he will return. God has promised. Even if you think heaven seems silent, hope in the Lord!

They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up on wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

                                                                             -Isaiah 40:31

What should be know? Jesus is the promised seed from the protoevangelium. All Scripture points to him. In him is found the seed of a new creation, a reconciled world, and peace from our enemies.

          What should we believe? If you are in Christ, then Christ has brought you near to God. You live in his presence. He will never leave you nor forsake you.

          What should we do? Tell everyone how the brokenness is healed. Tell them how sins can be forgiven. Tell them there is clothing for their shame. Tell everyone the gospel of Jesus Christ. Think of every work party, family gathering, community Christmas event, as an opportunity to share. If we really believe Jesus is the reason for the season, then don’t be silent!

The enemy is defeated! We are on the offensive!