How Does Genesis Connect with Christmas?
December 5, 2024 | by: Dale Thiele | 0 Comments
Posted in: Pastoral Encouragement
At Oak Hills this year we have been slowly making our way through the book of Genesis. It has been a rich study of the foundations for this world God has created and for the covenant relationship God has established. When we dig into one part of Scripture, however, it is good to take a step back every once in a while to see the big picture. One of the most important guides for interpreting Scripture is understanding the unity of the Bible. From the beginning to the end, God is guiding redemptive history according to the plans he laid out before the foundation of the world. Therefore, we can ask, and benefit from asking, how does Genesis connect with Christmas? Let me answer that with five words.
- Creation. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1). In the Fall, all of creation was subjected to futility (Rom. 8:20). In Christ, there is a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). Jesus was born in a manger to reverse the curse of the Fall in order to bring about new creation. We can be thankful that the Fall was not the final word about this world.
- Kingdom. In Genesis 1:28, God gives Adam and Eve dominion over creation. The Fall into sin corrupts that dominion so that we live in a world that is full of conflict, pain, suffering, and wars. God promises to send another king to rule over creation with righteousness and justice and peace (Is. 9:6-7, 11:1-5). This promised king is the Messiah, or the Christ. Where humans fail in practicing dominion over creation, Jesus will succeed as the promised king to come.
- Salvation. By tempting Adam and Eve, Satan plunged humanity into the estate of sin and misery. In Genesis 3:15, God says that the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent, thus delivering humanity from the oppression of Satan and providing salvation from sin. By sharing in flesh and blood, as a descendent of Eve, Jesus destroyed the devil and his works by dying on the cross (Heb. 2:14-15). Christmas is the celebration of the coming of the seed of the woman.
- Sovereignty. God’s sovereignty is his righteous rule over all things, where he orders all things according to the counsel of his will (Eph. 1:11). Galatians 4:4 says, “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law.” God worked the events of history, beginning in Genesis, for this perfect moment when Christ was born. This includes God’s preservation of the “seed of the woman” through Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob against threats like the flood, human deception, violent threats, sexual sin, and severe famine. Joseph sums up well God’s sovereign care at the end of Genesis when he tells his brothers, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (50:20).
- Promises. The promises we hear throughout Genesis, and their fulfillment in Christ, give one of the best illustrations of the unity of the Bible. The birth of Christ that we celebrate at Christmas was not an afterthought for God; it was the central gameplan from the beginning and he began to reveal this plan very early. Two of the most important promises are found in Genesis 3:15 and 12:3. We have already looked at the promise in 3:15 as it pertains to salvation. In 12:3 God tells Abraham, “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Paul makes clear that this blessing is justification by faith alone in Jesus Christ (see Gal. 3:8-9). The “in you” of Genesis 12:3 is speaking about the descendent of Abraham. Therefore, when Matthew opens his gospel with, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, and the son of Abraham,” he is directly linking the birth of Jesus with the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies like Genesis 12:3.
As we celebrate the birth of Christ, we can find great comfort and encouragement that these events are tied to God’s plans that he started to work out in Genesis. And God continues today, in your life, to work out his plans for your good in Christ. Praise God!
