FIRST PROMISE

She lifted her face to the sun, shielding her eyes from the light. A hint of dampness hung in the fresh morning air, still fragrant with dew. She reached her hand upward, considering the lush fruit. “Ah... That one,” she whispered to no one, plucking the biggest piece and admiring its perfection. A smile played at the corners of her mouth as she bit into the pear, juicy and sweet. 

She continued her walk, wandering among the trees along the river. An eagle flew overhead; she could hear its wings cut the air as it passed. Grasses reached toward the sky. Brilliant colours of wildflowers filled the fields. 

The world was still a beautiful place. A different kind of beautiful. Not like before. A tinge of sadness touched her heart. Very beautiful, yes. But not like before. 

Footsteps pounded on the path ahead. Someone was coming. She darted off the trail into the thick growth and crouched low. Adam had warned her not to go so far.

She peered through the leaves till she saw a young man round the turn. She held her breath. Had he seen her? Her heart beat faster.

But the young man passed by quickly, without even a glance in her direction. Still, she stayed hidden, not daring to move until he was long out of sight.
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An image flashed before her: another time she’d crouched in the bushes to hide …

“Where are you?” the voice called. 

She hunched lower, but Adam stood and answered. “I heard you coming, and I was afraid.”
It was their first fear. Their first shame. 

She saw her husband’s terrified eyes, the creases in his brow, his pathetic stance—head lowered and shoulders slumped. Pitiful. 

Then it hit her—did she look that way too? 

Inside her was a feeling she’d never known before, like something was in there—something evil, roiling and churning; laughing; taunting; loving her for yielding; hating her.

“The woman you gave me,” Adam was saying. “She did it. She took the fruit and gave it to me. That’s why I ate it.”

“What have you done?” God asked her now. 

She stood slowly, not daring to look at Him. “It wasn’t my fault. The serpent tricked me.” She hated the lie. But the truth was so despicable... unspeakable. She’d chosen to disobey.

The voice of God sounded above the battle within her. He cursed the ground because of Adam’s sin. The soil would not be as fertile as before and Adam would have to work hard his whole life to get it to produce enough for their survival.

God cursed her because of her sin. She would have many pregnancies, and the births would be excruciating for her. Her family, while bringing her much joy, would now bring much sorrow, too.

But it was what He said to the serpent that affected her most. “ … You will bruise Him, but He will crush you.” The first promise of a Saviour.

Their Creator looked on her and Adam with compassion. They were completely depraved. Completely guilty. Completely condemned. Completely helpless. Their very lives—their eternal souls—hung in the balance, utterly dependent on His mercy. It wasn’t till later that she came to understand this better.

Then the Lord God killed a spotless lamb and made clothes for them to cover their shame. But these coverings couldn’t take away their sin. This lamb couldn’t purify their blackened hearts. The Creator would send another Lamb, the perfect sacrifice, one day. Someone who would take on their sin and clothe them in His righteousness, instead. Someone who would cleanse their hearts and restore them to their God. This was His promise.

Adam believed the promise. She believed it too. Because of their faith, they were redeemed.

Everything had changed that day. Driven from their paradise, they would never again see their garden home. They had to make their way in a fallen world. Strife and sorrow followed them; pain and heartache. They tried to honour God; they taught their children of the Creator and of redemption; they taught their children’s children. But they were sinful parents, and their children were sinful. The generations became more and more corrupt—hating God; forsaking His truth—until evil enslaved most of humanity. The population increased, and society advanced and flourished; but so did wickedness. It grieved her heart. How much more must it grieve the heart of God?

Eve left her place in the undergrowth and started for home. She still saw the blood of that innocent lamb, poured out for her. Even after all these years, the Creator's promise was still her hope. She knew a Saviour would come, born of her seed. For a long time, she’d thought it would be her—that she would be the mother of God’s chosen One. By now, she knew that wasn’t to be. 

Eve would never see that perfect substitute. It would be centuries before the promise would be fulfilled in One called Jesus. He would be born in a stable in Bethlehem.

​Sweet baby whose purpose on earth was not to be adored in a manger ...​

​... but to die on a cross.

It was the Creator’s plan from before the beginning: 

Jesus, Emmanuel—God from eternity past—who was there at creation, forming man from the dust; who was there in the garden, pronouncing the curse. Yet He would become flesh and blood—a man, Himself. He would walk the earth with the fallen race. But He would still be God, the righteous One, the Messiah.

He would live a life without sin. His holiness would make him the only worthy substitute. His blood would provide atonement for Eve and for all her descendants who believed and repented of their sin, as she did. He would bring forgiveness to those who trusted in Him. Redemption... Restoration to the Father.
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He is the spotless Lamb. The perfect sacrifice. The Promised One.

The hope of Eve and all mankind.

From Winter 
Copyright © 2022 by Sandra Grace

The Book of Genesis doesn’t say it was a lamb that God killed, just that He made garments of skins for the man and the woman. 
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The beginning of ‘First Promise’—the story of Eve later in life—is fiction. The retelling of the curse follows the account in Genesis 3; however, Eve’s thoughts and feelings here are speculation and are not recorded in the Bible.

Read the true account of Eve and the first promise of a Saviour in Genesis 2 & 3; the Saviour's sacrifice for us in ​Isaiah 53; His birth in ​Luke 2.