And the Angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good  news of great joy that will be for all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:10-11

In Genesis 3 we heard God’s first promise of a coming savior, the seed of the woman, who would crush Satan’s head. In Genesis 11 we heard the promise of a savior, who would be a descendant of Abraham, given again. Now we hear the promise repeated by an angelic host. For this Savior, the seed of the woman, the great descendant of Abraham, is born “this day” in the city of David.

This long awaited Savior is born! He is born unto you! He is the one God has promised would crush the head of Satan. He is the one through whom God would bless all the people’s of the earth. He is the one whose reign will endure forever; whose dominion will have no end.

He is born into our sinful humanity; into the family of Adam and Eve – into a family estranged from their God and cast out of God’s paradise.

This is why the Angel needed to say, “Fear not!” For God did not send his Son to condemn the world. He sent his Son to save the world through Him.

Jesus came to live, in our place, as a man. He came that he might do what Adam did not – that he might hold fast to God’s command, that he might trust fully in his father, that he might fully fulfill God’s good and gracious will. And Jesus did this for you.

Jesus became incarnate in a small village in Judea to bring you back into a right relationship with God, to set you free from your sin. He came to be your Savior. This is indeed Good News! Grand enough to inspire the angelic choir to sing.

This is the second installment of a five part series on our Summer 2011 curriculum. In the first lesson we saw the introduction of sin into the world. Today we see the continued fruit of that sin in play and also God’s continuing work in His World to bring about our salvation.

“Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth” God said. But they said to one another, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” (Genesis 9:1 and 11:4).

You see Adam will not listen. Those in his family always disobey. So they are banished from the Garden. They are destroyed in the flood. In His mercy God spares Noah and his family from their sinful neighbors; yet even righteous Noah harbors sin in his heart (It is illustrated in the end of chapter 9). Moreover his descendents chose to disobey the word of the Lord to “fill the earth” in favor of “building a city.” They know from their history the consequences of sin – yet they do it. They are stuck in sin. Like a young pup straining at the leash they are “bound” to run away as soon as the leash is loosened.

Yet God does not give up. He “came down to see the city.” He confused their language so that they would have to go their different ways. He made it impossible for them to unite together against Him. He scattered them over the face of the earth. He chose one of them through which He would bring His promised Savior, the seed of the woman, into our world.

God’s promise to Abram is of incredible importance. In the promise God lets it be known that He will bless all the nations of the world through a descendant of Abram. The seed of the woman will also be a descendant of Abraham.

The manner in which Abram was selected is also of great consequence. Abram (who was later renamed Abraham) was not chosen because of his great faith. He was not chosen because of his obedience or because of his relationship with the Lord. He was chosen out of an idol worshipping culture to know the living God. He was chosen to receive God’s great promise – and he did. He believed God and God reckoned it to him as righteousness. Again God did not give His great promises because Abram believed, Abram believed because God promised.

Abram’s (Abraham’s) faith should not be discounted. He received God’s promise in faith. He believed God’s promise of an heir despite his advanced age and the advanced age of his wife. He believed God could raise the dead and was willing to offer up his only son Isaac at God’s command. His confidence in these matters was not related to his ability to reproduce – no, it lay only in God’s ability to provide. (That said his weaknesses and sins are also recorded for us in Holy Scripture so that Jesus and not Abraham may be the person we worship and admire.)

God’s selection of Abraham and his promise to bless all the nations through his offspring is for all who receive it in faith. It is not earned. It is not given because of our goodness. No, He (Jesus – the blessing) is given because of our need. He is given so that we might be saved – so that we might be reborn into the family of God. He is… the seed of the woman, the offspring of Abraham!

At the close of the lesson we have written:

At the tower of Babel, our ancestors defied the Word of God. They united together in rebellion against Him. Like Adam and Eve before them they did not trust and obey the Lord but rather sought to do things their own way. When we do things our own way and disobey the Lord or our parents we demonstrate that we are just like them – sinful and rebellious.

The good news is that God has not chosen to leave us in our sin. Instead God scattered our ancestors throughout the world, and chose one of them, Abram, through which He would bring Jesus into our world. Because of Jesus your sins are forgiven.

Just as we were scattered because of our sin and pride, we are now brought together in righteousness in Jesus.

Over the course of the next 5 weeks we will be releasing blogs pertaining to our Summer 2011 Onsite Curriculum. Some of the blogs will come straight out of the commentaries we wrote, others will combine various statements found within the Bible lessons.

This first blog pertains first of all to the overall theme of the curriculum and touches on the first lesson. For more on the first lesson, you can see the blog posted on March 7, 2011.

“Immanuel – the Setting of the Promise”

See Isaiah chapters 7-9

It, the 8^th century BC, was a time of utter chaos in Israel and in Judah. The Holy One of Israel was being scorned. The worship of God was being replaced with the worship of idols. Spiritual darkness was spreading through the land. The neighboring nations were rattling their sabers, and a great, growing threat was looming in the East. The joy of the people shriveled as the voice of the prophet Isaiah boomed, “Into exile you will go on account of your vile sins.” The people became a nation dwelling in a land of deep darkness. The yoke of other nations was encroaching upon them. Warfare and misery was soon to be theirs.

And to these people God promised that His light would penetrate their darkness. Their joy would increase. The yokes of their oppressors would be lifted, the curse of war removed. How? He would do it through a child, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given!” (Isaiah 9:6)

The child, this Son, given to them, and to us, is the light of the world. His joy is our strength. His work sets us free. It breaks the bonds of sin. His life brings us peace. This Son, Jesus, bears his people up and His name is, “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.” The increase of his Kingdom has no end, and by the grace of God extends even unto us.

His importance cannot be overstated, for through His Son, Jesus Christ, God has brought us out of darkness and into His glorious light. He has conquered death and raised us to newness of life. This summer we will further explore the truth that through Jesus, God truly is, “Immanuel: God with us.”

The following is an overview of the first lesson.

“Immanuel – In the Seed of the Woman”

See Genesis chapter 3

God’s Word, as revealed to us in Holy Scripture, tells the story of what God has done and is doing to bring people into a right relationship with Himself. This story begins with God’s Creative Word in the book of Genesis bringing into being light, land, sun, moon, stars and all that exists. “God said,” and it was. The second chapter slows down a little and describes in greater detail part of the creation story. From these two chapters we see God’s intention – to create people who would live in harmony with him, with each other, and with all of the created order.

Sadly, sin soon entered the picture. It may have appeared as a minor sin – I mean, all they did was eat some fruit, but the sin went far deeper than appearances. Behind that bite was our human reasoning “seeing that it was good” when God had said, “When you eat of it you shall die.” Behind that bite lay the reality that Eve trusted the words of the snake over the words of God. Behind that bite was Adam’s decision to do what he wanted. Behind that bite was the reality that the trusting relationship between God and His people was already destroyed. They bit the fruit. They hid from God. They had been created to live in a trusting relationship with God in which He would be their father and they would be His children. Instead they ran away; they left the family. They would go on and have children of their own, but all of their children would be born members of Adam and Eve’s family. They would be members of a family estranged from their God.

In the Garden of Eden we see both the glory and shame of humankind. “In the image of God” He created them. People are both created in the glorious image of God and born into and a part of a rebellious family. We are created to be loved by God, to be with God and to enjoy Him. Yet in iniquity we are conceived (Psalm 51:5). And it is in the Garden that we hear the first promise of God’s salvation. For here in the Garden we overhear God’s Word of condemnation upon the serpent and learn that through, “the seed of the woman” one will come who will “crush the serpent’s head.” In other words, a child of the woman’s lineage would one day vanquish Satan.

Through the passing of time Adam and Eve would have many descendents and as their descendents multiplied so did their sin. Sin flowed from generation to generation. By Noah’s time (Genesis 6) it culminated in the great flood. Here God saved righteous Noah, who trusted in Him, through the waters of the flood. God demonstrated that He knew how to “rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the Day of Judgment” (2 Peter 2:5). Yet, even after all of that, sinned remained firmly entrenched in the hearts and minds of Noah and his family. (See Genesis 8:21)

Shortly after exiting the ark God told the people to spread out, be fruitful and multiply. But they did not listen. Instead they decided to stay where they were, build a tower and make a name for themselves. Even after the flood, people would not obey God. Like Adam, they would do things their own way. So God confused their languages and scattered them over the face of the earth. He scattered them that they might trust in Him instead of in themselves.

While in seminary, I was tasked with writing psalms in the voices of Biblical characters. This is one of those psalms.

Of Boaz.
A Hymn of Praise.

Praise the LORD, give thanks to the LORD,
For the LORD has shown favor to one is who is old and dry
And has rewarded the faithfulness of His servant.

Bless the LORD, sing praises to His glorious Name,
For the LORD Provider has blessed the earth with abundance
And has lifted the famine from the face of the land.

Shout to the LORD, lift up a shout of joy,
For the Almighty God has provided a seed of hope for His people,
A seed that will sprout a mighty branch.

Rejoice in the LORD, lift up holy hands to the LORD,
For it is good to praise the LORD;
Praise the LORD!