From the Garden to the Manger: The Promise of a Redeemer

I already feel late to Christmas.

My sister put her tree up right after Canadian Thanksgiving. Holiday ads flood Sunday football. Gift wrap, Christmas sweaters, and advent calendars line the first hundred feet of Superstore.

Our workplace held its Christmas banquet last week.

A trip tucked into the last month likely distracted me from all the buildup. But now, arriving home—trading African sands for a dusting of snow—I realize the first week of Advent has arrived, and I feel behind.

The desire to make Christmas meaningful and Christ-filled grips my heart. The season reminds us of the extraordinary gift of salvation, the value of our embodied life, and the steadfast faithfulness of God’s promises kept. Christmas isn’t secured by traditions or new gadgets. At its heart stands a long-awaited Savior who came unexpectedly, sacrificially, and majestically.

Yet in the haze of lights and noise around us, faithfulness can feel frantic.

And it's been tugging on my heart and mind lately.

So maybe the best place to begin is the beginning. Advent’s longing didn’t start in Bethlehem but in the garden, after sin fractured God’s good creation and hope whispered through God’s promise:

"I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Gen. 3:15)

Theologians call this the protoevangelium—the first gospel, a foreshadowing of the good news to come.

But this promise came after devastating news.

Good news is only good once we face what’s wrong. In the beauty of the garden there was peace and freedom as Adam and Eve walked with the Lord—a place of calm, unbroken contentment.

But the tempter watched and waited for the right moment to whisper doubt, fuel a desire for independence, and spark a longing for something more.

It’s hard to imagine Adam and Eve walking with the Lord yet becoming convinced there was something better. But we do the same, don’t we?

We chase satisfaction in our work, our children’s success, our possessions, or the image we project. Our relentless hunt for “more” ironically leaves us empty.

For Adam and Eve, that hunt ended in shame. They hid among the trees, hoping God wouldn’t see them.

But the God who sees knew exactly where they were and what they had done.

God named the consequences, yet tucked a promise of redemption within them.

Despite their shame, hope took root. Salvation would come—not through their efforts

but through God’s love and mercy, through a Savior who would destroy the tempter’s work.

This season, many of us feel buried under the weight of responsibility and longing. Yet a deeper hunger stirs within us.

The gospel shapes our celebration of Advent, anchoring us again in the purpose of our Savior’s coming.

1 Need of a Saviour

“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Rom.5:12).

The sin of Adam and Eve came to us all. Our instincts—our very nature—incline us toward ourselves rather than toward God. Rescue from the dominion of darkness, from the depth and depravity of who we are, is our most desperate need.

We had no hope in the world—nothing to commend ourselves to God, no sufficiency of our own to restore what we had broken. And yet, He sent us salvation. Advent reminds us that things really are this bad and that we cannot heal ourselves.

Athanasius of Alexandria writes, "it was our sorry case that caused the Word to come down, our transgression that called out His love for us, so that He made haste to help us and to appear among us." 

In the lights and beauty of the Christmas season, it can feel difficult to tune into Advent’s deeper longing. We’d rather linger in the happiness of Christ’s birth story—wise men, shepherds, and angels singing.

We do have much joy to hold onto.

The Son of God came down. 

Love poured out for us.

And praise be to God: He did not abandon us to our fate. He made a way.

2 Destroy Sin

“Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).

A true understanding of Christmas does not ignore the horror of our sin. It acknowledges it—and then rejoices that Christ’s coming brought an end to sin’s dominion.

When we examine our lives and see how sin still infiltrates our hearts and minds, we remember the gospel: we are reconciled to God. Though temptation and sin weigh heavily on us, God offers grace and mercy. “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace” (Eph. 1:7).

Sin is no longer the last word, nor the most important thing about us. Praise be to God!

3 The Final Crush

“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you” (Rom. 16:19).

After their exile from the garden, Adam and Eve lived with hope in the beautiful world God had made, yet they sharply felt the strain of suffering and the sting of sin. The words of promise carried them — and the generations after them.

Israel clung to the hope of a Savior. And just as unexpectedly as He came the first time, He will come again. We hold onto this hope as well — His return to make all things new, to bring a final end to the sin that entangles.

The grace of our Lord Jesus is with us. He is sufficient for us every single day.

As we take in the beauty of lights, ornaments, songs, and seasonal joy, we can easily fall into the rhythm of lighthearted celebration. But Advent is a sobering celebration — a reminder of our dire need and God’s extravagant provision.

And though the season is layered with many other traditions and festivities, may we pause to reflect on the grace and mercy of our Savior — the One who awakens the longing in our hearts to know Him more.