The Promise of Rescue

, ESV

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it…

9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

ESV

…when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

God With Us: Sovereign, Kind, & Faithful

With God there are no alternative plans. The birth of Jesus was and always has been Plan A. In fact, to call it Plan A indicates that there was a Plan B. Rather let’s say Jesus’ birth has always been the Plan.

At the beginning of creation, God graciously gave to our first parents Adam and Eve to eat from any tree in Eden. He gave them just two commands—one, to be fruitful and multiply (1:28), and two, not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (2:17).

Do you think God was surprised when Adam and Eve disobeyed? If He were, then He was not omniscient (all-knowing), and would therefore not be God.

If He were not surprised however, that means that He created knowing Adam and Eve would sin. Acknowledging this has one of two implications: either He didn’t really care all that much if they sinned or He had a greater purpose in mind in creating—namely, He created the world in order to redeem the world.

Since the first implication isn’t feasible given what God has revealed about Himself in Scripture, I propose that it has always been God’s intention to send Jesus, the Word made flesh, God with us, to save us from our sin.

One of the reasons I believe this is because of the promise of the virgin birth of Jesus. Immediately after Adam and Eve sinned, God pronounced a curse—upon the serpent, upon Adam, and upon Eve.

For the sake of time, I won’t go over each of those curses this evening. We’re all fairly familiar with them anyway, even if you’re unfamiliar with the Bible. They include things like work being hard and childbirth being painful. Can anyone here confirm that those curses have been felt?

But along with the curse came the Promise. contains this Promise to mankind when God says to the serpent, “I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” (HCSB)

There are at least two very important observations I want you to see in this Promise. One, God’s promised that the seed of the woman would strike the head of the serpent. I hope you’ll pardon me if this seems explicit, but I assure you it’s nothing compared to what our students hear in public school. A woman doesn’t have seed!

The reason this is important for us to note here is that this is the first promise of the virgin birth of the Rescuer, Jesus. All the way back in the Garden of Eden. God did not react to our sin; He preemptively decreed our rescue. tells us that Jesus was “chosen before the foundation of the world” to be our blood ransom.

The flip side of that coin is found in where the Apostle Paul says that God chose us in Christ also before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless. So here we see God’s sovereignty and kindness in that He chose Jesus to rescue and He chose us, His Church, to be rescued.

But the second important observation for us in is the severity of the wounds promised, both upon the serpent (Satan) and upon the seed of the woman (Jesus). We read here that the serpent will strike Jesus’ heel, but that Jesus will strike the serpent’s head.

And at the Cross of Christ, in one fell swoop, this Promise is fulfilled. You see, when Jesus died upon the Cross, Satan rejoiced. He thought he had won. But all he had done was struck Jesus’ heel, not realizing that was the means God ordained from before creation to inflict the fatal blow upon Satan’s head. This is what Peter means when he says that Jesus was chosen before the foundation of the world.

This may seem to some of you a bit of an odd sermon for Christmas Eve. But Christmas isn’t so much about the gifts we give and receive from one another as it is ultimately about the most undeserved gift.

But I want you to understand that this gift of Rescue in Christ was not unexpected. He was promised all the way back in Eden. This is why we sing, “Come, thou long-expected Jesus, Born to set Thy people free; From our fears and sins release us, Let us find our rest in Thee.”

I want to speak for a moment just to those of you here who have not yet trusted Jesus for the forgiveness of your sin. It may seem odd what I am about to say to you, but I not only beg you, I also command you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to turn from your sin, turn to Jesus to rescue you from your sin and the just wrath of God. When you do so, you will be made a co-heir with Christ as the Apostle Paul says in and will receive the greatest gift ever given—the gift of everlasting life.

I’ve labored this point so far that because of God’s sovereignty and kindness, He is also faithful. Not just kind of faithful. He is the very sum of faithfulness. He promised from the beginning that He would come and rescue us, and He has.

But there is another promise. Jesus promised the disciples that He would come again. In Jesus said that He would come again, that He would not leave His disciples as orphans. says, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.”

Some of you may say, “Jesus said He was coming again. But it’s been 2000 years!” And Peter, anticipating your thoughts, reminds us that the only reason He hasn’t come back sooner is because He is showing you patience. He continues to give sinful, rebellious mankind opportunity after opportunity to surrender to Him and trust Jesus for the forgiveness of their sin.

Elders, would you please join me at the front of the platform? Our musicians are about to lead us in singing Silent Night. And if you feel compelled to surrender your life to Jesus as your king tonight, please come speak with me or any of our other pastors and elders either during this song or after it’s conclusion.

There is one line in particular I want you to take special note of and that is the phrase “the dawn of redeeming grace.” It is sung so often we can easily forget what that truly means. What those words mean in everyday language is that the birth of Jesus two-thousand years ago was God making good on His promise to rescue us.

Let’s pray and then we’ll conclude tonight’s service by singing Silent Night and you’ll be dismissed.