God Promises a Redeemer

Christianity stresses the grace of God, the unmerited favor that He provides to save people from their sin. In order to better understand His grace, we have to go back to the time before there was a need for it (Genesis 1:31).
God had forbidden Adam and Eve from eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil “for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:15–17). Perfect obedience to this command would have confirmed Adam and Eve as righteous before the Lord giving them eternal life.

As a result of the fall of man the perfect world that God had created ended with the curse of sin inhabited by beings destined to misery and death. There appeared no escape for those who had transgressed God’s law.

None but the Son of God, Jesus Christ, could redeem fallen man from the curse of the law and bring him back into harmony with God. He is the only one who could satisfy the penalty of transgressing God’s law which is holy, just and good (Romans 7:12). It was God in Christ, “reconciling the world unto Himself.” (2 Corinthians 5:19). This was a plan laid before the creation of the earth; for Christ is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). Who can know the depths of such love?

“God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16.

The first intimation of redemption was communicated to man when the Lord declared to Satan, “I will put enmity (hatred), between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15). This statement foretold ongoing conflict not only between Christ and Satan but also between their respective followers.

Adam and Eve were assured that despite their great sin, they would not be abandoned to the control of Satan. The Son of God had offered to sacrifice His life for their transgression and through repentance and faith in Christ they might again become the children of God.

All that was lost by the first Adam will be restored by the last Adam allowing the fallen children of Adam to once more become “sons and daughters of God.” (1 John 3:2).