Solus Christus: Is There Hope?

Is there hope? As we saw in yesterday’s meditation, Adam’s sin caused the fall of the entire human race. In it, we lost communion with God and were plunged into sin. Is there hope for us? Fortunately, God didn’t leave us without the hope of a Redeemer. Our devotion on this day of Advent moves us forward to the first mention in Scripture of the good news of the gospel, and we find it in the most unlikely of places—God’s curse on creation after the fall of Adam and Eve. Even in the midst of the curse that God places on all of creation because of the sin of Adam, He promises a Redeemer:

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. (Ge. 3:15)

This is often referred to as the “protoevangelion” because it’s the first promise of the good news of a Savior—God’s first promise of redemption through the Messiah. It’s also sometimes called the “covenant of commencement” (which we'll talk about in a later devotion), for here God commits Himself to redeem His people to Himself and destroy satan, who used the serpent who tempted Adam and Eve as his tool. It is significant that Paul alludes to this commitment in Ge. 3:15 to guarantee the triumph of the redeemed (Christians!) over satan: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” Here begins the work of redemption that Christ would accomplish by becoming one of us, living the perfect life we couldn’t live, and dying the death we deserved to die. Here begins the good news of the story of Advent.

While the beginning may have looked bleak and sin seemed to have triumphed, God gave us a glimmer of hope that anticipates the coming of His Son to redeem His people. Sin may have won a battle in the Garden of Eden, but the war was far from over. God would fight for His people. Indeed, He would send His only Son to fight and die for His people.

On this day of Advent remember that God didn’t waste a moment after Adam and Eve fell but immediately set His plan of redemption into action. God never fails His people, even when His people fail Him. God never leaves us for a moment without hope, even when we put ourselves in seemingly hopeless situations. God is always faithful to His people. That’s the God we serve, and that’s the God whose becoming man we anticipate in Advent and celebrate in Christmas. Ask Him to make His faithfulness so real to you today that it overflows in you and you can’t help but share that faithfulness with a lost sinner. Then, ask Him to give you the strength to do it.

By His Grace,

Taylor