The Promise of Redemption
This week’s reading:
In the beginning… the opening chapters of the Bible tell of the good creation of God’s world. Everything is right and true and beautiful. Yet we soon learn that men and women are not only the glory but also the shame of God’s creation. Instead of trusting God and loving Him with all that we are, we have rejected His word and severed our good relationship with Him. The consequences are disastrous – not only is our relationship with God severed, but so too is our relationship with one another and even with the world around us. We now stand under God’s judgment.
And yet… !
And yet, even as Genesis 3 speaks of God’s judgment, there is mercy. A child will be born of the woman. And this child will bring an end to the evil and chaos. Genesis 12 then points us forward to God mercifully calling one man, and through that one man mercifully promising to bring blessing and redemption to the world.
How will God accomplish this? Just as Genesis 3 gave us a hint that it would be the offspring of the woman, so too Genesis 22 – in the context of a son to be sacrificed – gives us a hint that redemption will come through an unexpected substitute sacrifice.
The promise is made. Redemption will come. God’s people must now wait.
(This reflection taken from our Advent Devotional. For further reading and accompanying reflection questions, download our devotional here.)