Down to Earth: A Christmas Devotional JourneySample

Day 9: The Plan

Reflection

No sooner does Humanity separate itself from God than God initiates the Rescue Plan.

When Adam and Eve eat of the fruit from the Tree of Life, everything is different. The Lord who knows all things already knows where Adam is and what has happened. But He asks anyway: "Where are you?"

The relationship is already damaged. Eden, in all its goodness, is compromised. When we watch the news and see spirit-crushing headlines, when we walk around our communities and see the effects of poverty and addiction, when we see dishonesty and corners cut in the workplace, we observe the aftershocks of Adam and Eve’s decision to forsake God’s Instruction and go their own way.

What God made good was corrupted. As He curses the serpent, God says there will be hostility between the generations of the woman and Satan, and also between the generations of their offspring. This is the story of the Old Testament. A tempestuous relationship between God, the people of God, and Satan. But God, the very definition of Righteousness, will not let that be the final word. That cannot be the end of the story.

Let’s consider the offspring of the woman. We can use the opening chapter of Matthew as a guide, through the generations from Eve all the way down to Jesus. This, revealed in Genesis 3 mere moments after the Fall, is the Creator’s Rescue Plan for His Creation.

Satan will strike Jesus’ Heel, but the final blow – the crushing of the head – belongs to our down-to-earth Savior.

And all pain, tears, and darkness will be defeated once and for all, so that God never again need ask the question, "Where are you?"

Prayer

God of The Rescue, I praise You in Your Righteousness and Mercy. Thank You that the broken world I see all around me will be redeemed and evil will be crushed forever.