Welcome to 10 minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life.

In the time it takes to get to work.

I'm Jeff Parrott.

Throughout the Bible, there is a glorious pattern of the darkest moments being infused with deep hope.

We see this even in the earliest pages of the biblical story.

After Adam and Eve rebel against their good creator and usher in the decreatational effects

of sin, death, and evil, God directs these words to the serpent who deceived them.

I will put enmity between you and the woman,

between your offspring and hers. He will crush your head and you will strike his heel.

Theologians call these words from Genesis 315, the Proto Evangelium, the first mention of the gospel.

God says that he will provide this offspring, this seed from the woman, this future son, who will have his heel struck by the enemy, yet will at the same time crush the head of the serpent and deliver the ultimate victory of God's kingdom.

This first promise of the gospel becomes a pattern of hope throughout the Old Testament,

but it's a hope that seems fragile, even unlikely at times, from a human perspective.

God promises this victorious offspring, this seed that would

strike down his enemy. And yet this seed, this offspring that God promises, is one of the most

threatened realities throughout the Old Testament. Now, if you've read through the pages of the Old

Testament, you've likely noticed the repeated theme of fragility

and improbability surrounding the birth and preservation of offspring. The continuation of this

seed seems vulnerable to both external threats like the enemies of God's people and internal

limitations like barrenness and old age.

Over and over again, we see the improbability,

even what feels like the impossibility of God's family continuing,

...