When God became man: The first promise

(In this Christmas season, I plan to post daily a revised version of each devotional Linda and I compiled in a booklet as a gift to the church in 2004.)

"And 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" (Gen. 3:15).

The initial promise of Christmas came at the moment when humanity's greatest need was realized. God pronounced judgment on the tempter, whose beguiling ways had persuaded the first woman and man to rebel against their Creator. But in His sentencing of Satan, God presented what is known as "the proto-evangelium," the first gospel.

The seed of the woman, not the man, promised by God was His own Son, who would appear in fulfillment of this promise thousands of years later. In humanity's darkest hour, God provided hope for a fallen race. He fulfilled that hope through an unborn child in a virgin's womb, through a baby born in Bethlehem, through a man who lived a perfect life, and through a suffering servant who delivered a crushing blow to the evil one -- though He would not escape unharmed -- through His crucifixion and resurrection.

-- Photo by Aleks Dahlberg on Unsplash