As Christmas
day approaches many of us are making plans to either have relatives in or to
travel to relatives homes. Some of these
plans may have been put into action weeks, months, or possibly over a year ago. What many don’t realize is that Christmas, the
day we celebrate Christ’s birth, was a
plan that had been in place for a very long time.
Ephesians
1:4 tells us that God’s plan was in place “before the foundation of the
world.” Before God ever spoke into being
the earth and the rest of Creation he had planned to send His Son.
God did not
share all the details with man in the beginning, but over time he shared more
and more until, as Galatians 4:4puts it, “the fullness of time had come, God
sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who
were under the law.”
God first
began to reveal this plan to Satan, Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:15 where in response
to the serpent deceiving Eve He prophesied, “I will put enmity between you and
the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and
you shall bruise His heel.” Eve seems to
show some limited understanding of this promised seed in Genesis 4:1 where the
Hebrew reads, “I have gotten a man, the LORD!” Though her understanding of the
promise was wrong, for this child was Cain, her faith in the promise was correct. God would indeed provide a Seed that would
crush Satan’s head.
If we turn
over to Genesis 12 we see further revelation regarding this long-time plan of
God. God promised Abraham in verses 3-2,
“I will make you a great nation; I will bless you…and in you all the families
of the earth shall be blessed.” This
Seed that had been promised to Eve would come through the line of Abraham. Though it took many years God fulfilled his
promise to Abraham and Sarah and gave them a son, Isaac, through whom this
promise would continue.
Isaac’s son
Jacob had twelve sons, and at his death he
prophesied of Judah’s descendants reigning, “The scepter shall not depart from
Judah.” Gen. 49:10.
In II Samuel
5 one of Judah’s descendants was placed as king over Israel. His name was David. To David God further shared his future plans
regarding this Seed. “When your days are
fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you,
who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom…and I will
establish the throne of his kingdom forever…and your house and your kingdom
shall be established forever before you.
Your throne shall be established forever.” (II Sam. 7:13)
Through these
passages we see that this baby born on Christmas day was part of God’s plan
before the beginning of time, and slowly He
revealed more about this Seed as the ages passed. Take time as you do your Christmas
preparations to reflect on this promised Seed, Jesus Christ, and His reason for coming to earth.
The video version of this is available at www.youtube.com/churchoflittleton Christmas special 1
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