The First Whisper of Hope: God’s Promise in the Garden
Pastor Rasol Manouchehri Ardakani - 1 December 2025
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Happy December 1st!
It has finally arrived. For many of us, today marks the start of the countdown. Perhaps you have already opened the first little door on your Advent calendar this morning. Maybe you found a chocolate shaped like a star, or a little picture of a donkey. There is a wonderful feeling of anticipation in the air as we start looking toward the manger, the shepherds, and the star over Bethlehem.
However, if we want to understand the true weight of "God With Us," we actually need to look back much further than the Gospels. We need to go right back to the beginning.
Our reading today comes from Genesis, which might seem like an odd place to start a Christmas series. We are in the Garden of Eden. It is not a scene of snowy fields or silent nights; it is actually a scene of heartbreak. Adam and Eve have just made the choice to walk away from God's one command. They are hiding in the shame of their mistake, and the perfect closeness they had with their Creator has been shattered.
In that heavy moment, you might expect God to walk away. You might expect Him to say that if humanity wants to go its own way, it can get on with it alone.
But He doesn't.
Instead, right there in the mess of that first sin, God speaks the words we read in Genesis 3:15. He speaks to the serpent, the enemy, and He makes a promise. He says that one of Eve's descendants is coming. There will be a battle, and while the enemy might strike his heel, this coming Rescuer is going to crush the serpent's head.
Theologians often call this verse the proto-evangelium, which is just a fancy way of saying "the first Gospel." It is the first whisper of Christmas. Before there was a wreath on a door or a carol sung, there was this promise. God was saying, "I am not leaving you in this brokenness. I am sending a Rescuer."
I find this incredibly comforting. It tells me that God is not reactive; He is proactive. He didn't look at the broken state of the world centuries later and suddenly decide to come up with a "Plan B" to fix it. Jesus was always the plan. From the very moment darkness entered the story, God was already shining a light toward the solution.
God is with us in the beginning. He is with us when things go wrong. He is with us when we make mistakes that feel unfixable. Just as He didn't abandon Adam and Eve in the garden, He doesn't abandon us. He steps into the garden, He seeks us out, and He promises that evil will not have the final word.
So, as you go about your day today, perhaps feeling the busyness of the season starting to ramp up, take a deep breath. Remember that the baby we are waiting for is the warrior who was promised in the garden. The story has started, and we know it has a good ending.
Prayer of the Day:
Heavenly Father, thank You that You have always had a plan. Thank You that when we lose our way, You don’t walk away from us. As we begin this Advent journey, help us to see Your hand at work from the very beginning of history. Fill us with hope today, knowing that You are a God who keeps His promises. Amen.