In the garden of Eden, humanity turned its back on God, inviting death and despair and hopelessness to rule the earth. But even before death and sin had taken over our world, God had a plan. And there, at the very beginning of our separation, he began to speak promises to reconcile us back to himself.
“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 3:15
The battle between Satan and Eve’s offspring would continue for thousands of years until a specific descendent would come, the promised Messiah. For centuries, the prophets wrote with longing for this Messiah. They spoke vividly of his life and his redemption of people from their sins. Their words spoke hope to generations that life would not always be full of despair and death.
The prophets may not have seen the Messiah – but through them God spoke of what he would be like. His genealogy, his birth, his life, his death, and his resurrection all pointed to one final victory – to be able to join God’s kingdom and enjoy life with him forever, as he had designed from the start.
And then, on that first Christmas, those words became living, breathing life in the person of Jesus. The very prophecies that promised the nearness of God came to fruition. The words were no longer words; they were a person, God himself, yet man born of woman. A person ready to live, and suffer, and die for the sake of winning back those who had been lost.
Thousands of years after the first prophecy in Genesis 3, the apostle Paul recognized Jesus as the fulfillment:
“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” Galatians 4:4
Today, the prophecies give us hope that every story God writes calls us to himself. He has always had a plan. He has always desired to be with us. He promised our redemption even from the very start of our rebellion. Join us as we experience the thrill of hope in seeing Jesus fulfill the prophecies about the Messiah. The story he is writing brings us back to him.
“Foretold,” our Christmas series, starts November 27 and goes through Christmas Eve.
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Daily Christmas Advent Emails
There are more than 300 prophecies about Jesus in the Old Testament. Experience more Christmas prophecies and their fulfillments through our daily advent emails, which will usually feature two verses or sets of verses: the prophecy and the fulfillment. Daily emails will start December 1 and run through Christmas Eve.
