FIRST PROMISE

She lifted her face to the sun, shielding her eyes in the light. A hint of dampness hung in the fresh morning air which was still fragrant with dew. She reached her hand upward, considering the lush fruit. “Ahhh … 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 as she ate, 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. Her gaze panned the scene. A different kind of beautiful, she sighed. 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.
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A young man came around the turn. She held her breath—youth was not a guarantee of safety. But he passed quickly without even a glance in her direction. She peered through the leaves, taking no chances until he was out of sight.

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 with head lowered and shoulders slumped. Pitiful. Then it occurred to her, did she look like that, 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 addressed her now.

She stood slowly, keeping her head down, not daring to look at Him. “It wasn’t my fault. The serpent tricked me.” She hated the lie. But she hated the truth more …

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.

He cursed her because of her sin. She would have many pregnancies, and the births would be excruciating for her. Her family would be her fulfillment, bringing much joy but 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. Completely 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.
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Adam believed the promise. She believed it too. Because of their faith, they would be redeemed.

Eve left her place among the foliage and started for home. She still saw the blood of that innocent lamb, poured out for her.

​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 filled their days. 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?

Yet even after all these years, the Creator had never broken a promise. 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, not in her lifetime. It would be centuries before the promise would be fulfilled in One called Jesus, the holy Lamb of God, 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.

His death and resurrection from the grave were the Creater’s plan from before the beginning. His blood would provide atonement for Eve and for all her descendants who believe and repent of their sin, as she did.

Jesus, the Messiah, would bring forgiveness. Redemption. Restoration to God. Purification through His righteousness.

He is the spotless Lamb.

​Perfect sacrifice.

​Promised One.

The hope of Eve and all mankind.
 
Copyright © 2022 by Sandra Grace

Read the true account of Eve and the first promise of a Saviour in Genesis 3. 
​Isaiah 53.
​Luke 2.