/Yahweh to the serpent: And hostile intentions I will set between you
and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He Himself will
strike a death-blow to your head, and you yourself will strike a
death-blow on His heel...And the Angel of Yahweh called to Abraham...and
he said..."For blessing I will bless you, and the greatness, I will make
great your seeds as the stars of the heavens and sand which is on the
shore of the sea. And will be blessed in your Seed all the nations of
the earth"... Isaiah: ...And will come forth a shoot from a stump of
Jesse, and a sprout from his roots will bloom...And a wolf will live
with a lamb, and a leopard with a young goat will lie down, and a calf
and a young lion and a fattened cow together; and a small boy will guide
them in... For a Child is born to us, a Son is given to us...and His
name will be called, "Wonder", "Counselor", "God of Might",
"Father-eternal", "Prince of Peace" Micah: When the one with child has
born a child, the remnant of the brothers will be returned to the sons
of Israel, and He will stand and shepherd in the strength of Yahweh...
The angel: And she will give birth to a Son, and you will call His name
"Jesus"; for This One will save His people from their sins. /
It's all about the seed. If you want a good garden, you had better start
out with good seed. If it's moldy, or cracked it's not going to bear
very well. That's us. We are spoiled and cracked seeds. Ever since Adam
sinned in the garden, all His seed offspring have been lousy. We inherit
from ancestor Adam his own sinfulness. That's why you fail to produce
like a good crop should. Your life isn't as fruitful as it should be,
and many of your failures look like nasty weeds in the garden of your life.
That's why God promised a different Seed--a better Seed. Indeed, a
perfect Seed was promised to Adam & Eve and all their descendants in the
perfect Garden of Eden. This Seed was not cracked or spoiled in any way.
That's because His father wasn't a sinner like Adam. His Father was the
heavenly Father, so He was holy and righteous just like God the Father.
This Seed of Eve was the only perfect Man Who ever lived on this earth.
You know the name of this Seed born at Christmas--Jesus!
This Seed was sent down to the earth to bless people of all nations in
this world. He would come from the royal line of Jesse, King David's
father. Long after there ceased to be real "Kings" to rule Israel, one
would rise up. He would grow from what seemed like a dead stump--the
royal line of Israel. This Seed would sprout and bloom in ways that none
other before or after Him ever could. For He would grow and produce,
bearing perfect, holy and righteous fruit wherever He went!
You know how this Seed came to be. He was born as a child, a young boy.
But He was anything but a normal lad. For this Seed was God, in the
flesh! He was a Wonder! He was a Counselor. All the might of God was
His! He and His eternal Father were One! And He had come to this earth
to be the Prince of Peace. For His task was to fight against the prince
of this world, that snake-in-the-grass, Satan! This Seed had come to do
battle, one that would end in the certainty of death!
This Seed called "Jesus" came to earth for one very important
purpose--to save His people from their sins. Satan that nasty tempter
had gotten all people to fall, just like Adam & Eve in the garden, and
had laid claim to everyone. "Not so fast!" God declared. He would send
His only-begotten Son in the flesh to fight against the devil, and to
crush that nasty serpent's head, once and for all. That's just what
happened at the +. There Jesus was victorious against the devil, to set
you free from his grasp!
But the battle cost the promised Seed of Eve very dearly. Not gold or
silver, but the price He paid was His holy precious blood spilled and
the innocent suffering and death of His body on that tree. As a man, God
had come down and made Himself kill-able, and Satan took advantage,
striking the death blow on our Savior. But God is smarter than that
serpent. He remained God's devil, after all. Satan played right into
God's hands, for it was Jesus' intention all along to die a martyr's
death for you!
For on that +, Jesus let His body be killed, and His blood be shed so
that you could eat & drink these gifts in the Lord's Supper! That's why
it's called Christ-mass. Jesus had come to "save His people from their
sins"--dying their death on the + in their place was the only way. Now
that He's taken the punishment you deserve, you get the forgiveness, the
life, and the salvation which He had come to accomplish for you. For you
are His people, for whom the promised Seed was born, lived, and died!
John C. Drosendahl, Pastor
[email protected]
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