Death Sentence Sermon

Genesis 3:15

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

In Genesis 3, God preaches an Advent sermon to Satan. With no cute or clever delivery, God simply preaches the Advent of His Son, Jesus Christ, the woman’s offspring and Satan’s doom.

God speaks to the essential point which must be resolved. What is to be done about sin and it mastermind?

The Word of God is unambiguous. He makes no concession to demons who stir God's children to transgress His Word. Not for a moment will He endure sin without answer.

Here is God's counter-blow. There will be enmity; there will be hostility because no agreement can exist between darkness and light.

“For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols?” (2 Cor. 6:14b-16a)

The first Advent sermon was a death sentence. Satan didn’t come away bewildered by a wrong impression. God unmistakably set down what He would do and endure to redeem His people.

God conclusively declared that He would give over His Son, born of a woman, to bear the poison of death for each of us.

There would be fatal conflict between the evil one and the pure beloved Son of the Father. There would be no middle ground.

All Christ-centered preaching is direct address. It is not give and take, negotiable nor elastic. Preaching is divine monologue which, without compromise or concession, proclaims Christ alone as God and Savior.

Ever since this investiture of the Gospel Satan has sought to bleach and neuter Advent. Short of having his crushing defeat annulled, and unable to conquer Christ, the devil haggles for parity, still to make a fight of it. But God preached the conquest of Satan, sin, and death by the coming of Christ. The preaching of Christ in Genesis 3 was not a set-back for Satan. Rather, it was his shattering.

Without Christ’s Advent, there would be no life for us, no future and no joy.

I often hear Christians lament how Christ is being taken from Christmas by substitution of “holiday” trees or the safer “seasons greetings.” But I believe Satan is far more interested in taking Christ out of Advent and Advent from you.

Christmas is subsequent to Advent. Advent delineates Christmas. Without Advent there is no Christmas. Without Genesis 3 there is no Luke 2. Without the witness of God's incarnate Son to the woman in Eden, there is no Son of God in the woman’s womb at Bethlehem. Without God's ultimate first Word there is no ultimate final hope.

God came to our rescue. Genesis 3:15 is the proto-Gospel, the direct antecedent of “good news of great joy that will be for all the people; for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

The pulpit is for Christ alone. The mighty Advent sermon of Genesis 3:15 disallows anything other than Christ-incarnate, Christ-sacrificed, and Christ-victorious.

The Son of God has devastated death and sin. He has crushed Satan's head and in so doing borne all the damage of our iniquity Himself. The coming of Christ to have done this for us -- to have endured all this for us -- this is the incomparable Advent Gospel.