At Christ’s birth, a glorious reversal of the Fall began to take place. Before God became man in the historical person of Jesus Christ, the material world of flesh was stained by sin and corruption. In the Incarnation, the material world was elevated once again to its rightful place as that which “was very good” (Genesis 1:31)—this reversal marks the firstfruits of a reality which will be completed when Christ returns. In becoming man, God began the weighty process in time which He foreordained from eternity past to bring all things nigh unto Himself in Christ our Lord. 

“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. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:10-12).

Without a sturdy, eternal perspective that rests in the perfect will of the Lord, the story of human history swiftly decays into a rather dark one. In his monumental book, Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis considers the legacy of humanity in this way: “All that we call human history—money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery—[is] the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.” 

Severed from intimate fellowship with a good and loving God, human history is not just dark, miserable, and unintelligible—it is utterly nightmarish. When humanity fell into sin, ushering in the Fall, the entirety of creation fell with us. Our relationship with one another, with the world around us, and with our Creator above all became broken and marred from its original, beautiful purpose. Every blade of grass, the very soil in which it grew, each beast that ate of it and roamed the Earth, down to the very hands that tended the Earth—all became stained and corrupted by the cancer that is sin.

Though in the very beginning, it was not so. 

As the newly formed cosmos began to stretch out its infant limbs of white-hot stars and cool ocean depths, “the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature” (Genesis 2:7). Leading up to the sixth day of creation, the Lord surveyed His work sunset after sunset and simply said, “it was good.” However, with the creation of both man and woman, His image-bearers, God proudly declared, “it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). The jewels of God’s handiwork—man and woman, male and female—crowned with the weighty task of reflecting His glory and exercising dominion across the universe, were now complete. It was within this perfect setting, one of righteousness and beauty, that our first parents walked with God “in the cool of the day” (Genesis 3:8).

Unfortunately, we all know what happened next. 

Satan entered the Garden, and with him came lies, destruction, and sin. Adam and Eve exchanged fellowship with the immortal God for the empty vessels promised by autonomous mortality apart from God—lies yielding only corruption, sin, and death. The original sin of our first parents condemned humanity to a sure death that wasn’t merely physical, but spiritual also. For though Adam and Eve lived several hundred years after the Fall, they did “surely die” in the end (Genesis 2:17). Apart from fellowship with God for whom we were made, the flesh decays and the soul withers.

But why did God withdraw from Adam and Eve? Why must humanity be reconciled with God to begin with? Because He is holy, holy, holy; utterly good and infinitely above all created things—He cannot entertain fellowship with the mere murmur of sin. The Light has no dealings whatsoever with shadow. 

Suddenly and decisively, man’s relationship with his Maker fell into ruin. God was no longer with man, not as He had been. Heaven went dark, and a black curtain of death was strewn across the cosmos. And yet, amidst the encroaching shadow descending upon mankind like a brewing storm cloud, the Light continued to both shine and speak:

“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” (Genesis 3:15).

In the cool of the Garden long ago, God made a promise to mankind. Even as the lights one by one began to go out across the universe, the Lord whispered of a great Light to come: an offspring born of Eve who would crush the head of the serpent and “save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). A way—the Way (John 14:6)—back to God. This is the same Light which now “shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). From the lips of our Lord Jesus Himself—“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

Each and every Christmas season, we, as believers, celebrate this great Light which has dawned on mankind. For though we have grown old and become darkened in our understanding of God on account of our sin, the Light yet shines in the abyss, promising life for all who draw near to Him through faith and repentance. The faithful promise of God uttered in Genesis 3:15 found its fulfillment in the very first chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, wherein he writes:

“‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us)” (Matthew 1:23).

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