Genesis 3:1–15 (NIV)

¹ Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

² The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, ³ but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

⁴ “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. ⁵ “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

⁸ Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

¹⁰ He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

¹¹ And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

¹² The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

¹⁴ So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,

“Cursed are you above all livestock

  and all wild animals!

You will crawl on your belly

  and you will eat dust

  all the days of your life.

¹⁵ And I will put enmity

  between you and the woman,

  and between your offspring and hiers;

he will crush your head,

  and you will strike his heel.”

The Fullness of Time

Galatians 4:4–5

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son…to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”

For generations, God’s faithful people have used the Christian calendar to learn to think about time differently.

“We know Christ has come, yet the season of Advent calls us out of our time bound moment to remember and perform the whole drama of Scripture. Through the liturgical calendar we don’t merely retell the story of the gospel, we enter it.” -Tish Warren 

The 3 Comings of Christ 

1. The Coming of Christ In The Incarnation 

“The whole purpose of Advent is to be for a moment fully and consciously Before Christ”-Malcom Guite 

Genesis 3:15 : Protevangelion : The First Gospel 

Preparation Before Celebration

2. The Coming of Christ in The Present 

“Advent is a season where we practice watching for grace. It is a time when we pay attention to how Christ continues to come, how he enters into the darkest corners of our humanity and of our own lives.”-Tish Warren 

‘Tis the gift to be simple, ‘tis the gift to be free

‘Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gained,

To bow and to bend we shan’t be ashamed,

To turn, turn will be our delight,

Till by turning, turning we come ‘round right- Shaker Spiritual, Simple Gifts

3. The Final Coming of Christ 

“Advent reminds us that awaiting the final coming of Jesus has always been the essential posture of every Christian. No matter how sophisticated our technology or how privileged our lives, the Christian faith tells us that what we most long for is not to be found till the end

of time.” -Tish Warren 

“Advent is designed to show that the meaning of Christmas is diminished to the vanishing point if we are not willing to take a fearless inventory of the darkness.” -Fleming Rutledge, Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ