HOPE OF ALL THE EARTH
Between Your Offspring
December 24, 2025
SCRIPTURE
GENESIS 3:14-15
So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And 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 3:14-15
So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And 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."
It seems utterly, painfully dark. Everything seems completely, hopelessly broken. Adam and Eve fell for the lie that every human after them has also believed—that we can be the centre of our own universe, the captain of our own fate, the master of our own soul; that we can be full and complete and satisfied on our own and by ourselves; that we can be big enough and strong enough to sit upon the throne of our own lives. And, as it always has and only ever can, it ended in disaster for them.
Sin entered the world and, through sin, death. Everything was broken. Like drowning people, Adam and Eve thrashed about, desperate to grab anything that might save them, but instead they dragged all of creation down with them.
In this moment of utter despair, we are given the very first promise in Scripture that a Saviour is coming. Things will not always be broken; sin will not have the last word; death will not have the final say. This is the very first assurance that God has not given up, has not walked away, has not turned his back on us and, in fact, never will. God will pursue his wayward children relentlessly.
This promise, given moments after creation broke, assures us that the brokenness is temporary. Sin is a foreign intrusion into God's world. It's been rightly observed that beauty is more original than sin. It has not always been this way, and it will not always be this way.
The long night of weeping, of pain, of loss, of separation from God and from one another, is not a forever thing. There is coming a day when the one who has helped break everything will himself be broken. The enemy of our soul will receive a crushing blow from which there will be no recovery.
And the waiting is hard. That's partly what this season of Advent is about--learning to wait well and to anticipate with eagerness the dawning of that day, when the kingdom of God comes in all its fullness and everything that has been so dark will be illuminated with a light of unimaginable brilliance.
All of God's people find themselves in what Dr. Seuss called "the waiting place," and for some of us it's harder than others. For some of us, the broken edges of a fallen world seem sharper than usual, and they can cut deep.
But it will not always be this way. Someday, the sun will set for the last time, and we will shed our last tear. Someday, death will claim its last victim, and everything that is crooked will be set straight, and everything that is broken will be mended.
The wait may be long, but it is worth it. As any child on Christmas Eve can tell us--the joy of the morning makes the long wait worthwhile.
Sin entered the world and, through sin, death. Everything was broken. Like drowning people, Adam and Eve thrashed about, desperate to grab anything that might save them, but instead they dragged all of creation down with them.
In this moment of utter despair, we are given the very first promise in Scripture that a Saviour is coming. Things will not always be broken; sin will not have the last word; death will not have the final say. This is the very first assurance that God has not given up, has not walked away, has not turned his back on us and, in fact, never will. God will pursue his wayward children relentlessly.
This promise, given moments after creation broke, assures us that the brokenness is temporary. Sin is a foreign intrusion into God's world. It's been rightly observed that beauty is more original than sin. It has not always been this way, and it will not always be this way.
The long night of weeping, of pain, of loss, of separation from God and from one another, is not a forever thing. There is coming a day when the one who has helped break everything will himself be broken. The enemy of our soul will receive a crushing blow from which there will be no recovery.
And the waiting is hard. That's partly what this season of Advent is about--learning to wait well and to anticipate with eagerness the dawning of that day, when the kingdom of God comes in all its fullness and everything that has been so dark will be illuminated with a light of unimaginable brilliance.
All of God's people find themselves in what Dr. Seuss called "the waiting place," and for some of us it's harder than others. For some of us, the broken edges of a fallen world seem sharper than usual, and they can cut deep.
But it will not always be this way. Someday, the sun will set for the last time, and we will shed our last tear. Someday, death will claim its last victim, and everything that is crooked will be set straight, and everything that is broken will be mended.
The wait may be long, but it is worth it. As any child on Christmas Eve can tell us--the joy of the morning makes the long wait worthwhile.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION OR DISCUSSION
Today's scripture sounds quite depressing and even has the word "curse" in it, but the author says it contains a promise. What is the promise held in Genesis 3:14-15?
What is the hardest thing for you about waiting?
Today's scripture sounds quite depressing and even has the word "curse" in it, but the author says it contains a promise. What is the promise held in Genesis 3:14-15?
What is the hardest thing for you about waiting?
PRAYER
Write a prayer about waiting.
Write a prayer about waiting.