According to the Bible, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and all living beings. The Word of God tells us that the most unique of His creation was the human being. God said that the human being alone was made in His very image. It was the human being only into whom He breathed the breath of life, making the human being a living, eternal soul. Of all the living creatures, it was the human being alone with whom He communed and talked with as friends talk among each other in those grand, carefree, energized and exciting, sinless early days.
To the human being the Creator granted authority over all other living creatures and even gave Adam the monumental task of giving them all their names. If you wonder about my characterization of those “before the fall” days as energized and exciting, imagine the power of a perfect brain as it was originally created in order for Adam to be able to do that!
Does this sound like a fable? A fanciful fiction one might read to a child? A fairy tale?
Fast forward to the city of Bethlehem some 6000 years later*, when, as foretold in countless prophecies over that span of time, God Himself made His appearance on earth as a human being: God Incarnate – “in the flesh” – Immanuel – “God with us.”
But why did this happen? And why is it “good news” that Jesus Christ appears on the earth in the form of a human being?
Did you know that there is absolutely no explanation for the birth of Jesus Christ without the book of Genesis and a literal interpretation of its historical account of Adam and Eve, the serpent, and the fall of humanity into sin after their disobedience in the Garden of Eden when tempted by the serpent to eat the forbidden fruit? None. You simply can’t divorce one event from the other.
So, is the birth of Christ a fairy tale? Are the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ fairy tales?
In the New Testament in the first book of Corinthians, the apostle Paul writes:
“For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.” I Cor 15:21, 22)
Let’s flip way back to the book of Genesis so we can see how the Creator set this plan in motion way back then in the account of the fall in the Garden of Eden. After the disobedient deed is done, God, because He is righteous, must devise a plan to make things right if He wants to continue in relationship with human beings.
And, so, He does!
He reveals His plan by delivering a series of curses, believe it or not. A curse to the physical animal the serpent; a curse to Satan who appeared in the form of the serpent to deceive the humans, a curse to the woman who was deceived, and a curse to the man who went along with the deception and disobedience.
The first connection in Genesis to the grand plan of salvation and in all of the Scriptures is the curse to Satan:
“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.” Genesis 3:15
Jesus Christ appeared on earth, being born to die for the sins of mankind because the righteousness of God had to be satisfied in order for humans to be forgiven and restored to fellowship with God. It had to be done. There was no other way.
And God took it all on Himself. He was the only One Who could do anything about it, and He didn't have to. He didn't have to.
He, alone, as God the Father demanded He offer His One and only Son as a sacrifice for all of us. He, alone, as God the Son lived a perfect life while on earth then was punished for every sin that had ever been committed or ever will be committed.
When Christ was on earth he was taunted and tempted by Satan, giving Satan opportunity to “bite him on the heel,” but when Jesus Christ accomplished His task of paying for the sins of the world and THEN rose from the dead, He dealt the deathblow to Satan, thereby “bruising him on the head.” A fatal blow.
Such is our God forever and ever. He is the Ultimate Hero.
Think of it! In the third chapter of Genesis, in the Garden of Eden, we see God in all His majesty crashing to earth with a THUD in the form of an innocent baby Who would be born to a wondering family and an unsuspecting world centuries later.
The next logical thought is “WHY?”
I’ll be writing much more about that in this series for Advent, but the only possible answer is “LOVE.”
“For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
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*The earth's age; only 6000 years old? Curious? Young Earth Creation: Evidence that Demands an Audience
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