Advent recapitulates the entire story of Scripture in four short weeks. We begin where humanity began—walking with God in the cool of the day—and we trace the long arc of His pursuit through exile, tabernacle, prophecy, and finally incarnation. This four-week series explores what it means for God to be present with His people. We start this week where all longing begins: with the loss of Eden and the first whisper of hope that God will not leave us orphaned. Over the next four weeks, we will watch God refuse to abandon His creation, build a dwelling place among the rebellious, promise through the prophets that He is coming, and finally step into our world as Immanuel—God with us.
Advent recapitulates the entire story of Scripture in four short weeks. We begin where humanity began—walking with God in the cool of the day—and we trace the long arc of His pursuit through exile, tabernacle, prophecy, and finally incarnation. This four-week series explores what it means for God to be present with His people. We start this week where all longing begins: with the loss of Eden and the first whisper of hope that God will not leave us orphaned. Over the next four weeks, we will watch God refuse to abandon His creation, build a dwelling place among the rebellious, promise through the prophets that He is coming, and finally step into our world as Immanuel—God with us.
The Garden — Where Presence Was Lost
“And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.” — Genesis 3:8 (ESV)
The garden was never just a location. It was a relationship. Genesis 3:8 tells us that God walked in the garden “in the cool of the day”—language that suggests routine, intimacy, and ease. This was not a one-time visitation. This was the rhythm of communion between Creator and created. Adam and Eve lived in the unmediated presence of God, and it was good.
But sin fractured that communion. When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, the first consequence was not punishment but distance. They hid. For the first time in human history, the presence of God became something to avoid rather than enjoy. The communion that defined their existence was severed, and their hiding marked the beginning of a self-imposed exile.
God’s response is striking. He does not abandon them to their hiding. He comes searching. “Where are you?” He calls (Genesis 3:9). The question is not born of ignorance—God knows exactly where they are. It is an invitation. It is the first movement of pursuit in a story that will span millennia. Even in judgment, God refuses to leave humanity without hope.
The Promise — Where Hope Was Born
“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 (ESV)
In the midst of the curse pronounced on the serpent, God plants The Seed of hope. Genesis 3:15 is known as the protoevangelion—the first gospel. It is cryptic, veiled, and yet unmistakable. A descendant of the woman will one day crush the head of the serpent. The enemy who brought about the fall will be defeated, though not without cost.
This promise becomes the heartbeat of the Old Testament. Every sacrificial lamb, every prophet, every covenant renewal points back to this moment and forward to its fulfillment. Humanity is exiled from the garden, but we are not exiled from God’s plan. The presence we lost in Eden will be restored—not because we deserve it, but because God refuses to let go.
Hope in Advent — The Confident Expectation of Restoration
Hope is confident expectation rooted in God’s character and promises. It is not wishful thinking or optimism divorced from reality. It is trust that God will do what He has said, even when circumstances scream otherwise.
The Hebrew word for hope throughout the Old Testament is qavah (קָוָה). It carries the sense of waiting with confident expectation—like a rope pulled taut between two points. Qavah is not passive. It is active, patient, and rooted in trust. The psalmist declares, “I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope” (Psalm 130:5, ESV). Isaiah uses the same word: “But they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength” (Isaiah 40:31, ESV). This is the hope that sustained Israel through exile, the hope that anchored the prophets’ visions of restoration, and the hope we practice in Advent—a confident waiting for God to fulfill His promises.
Advent begins with hope because hope is where the story begins. We were made for the presence of God. We lost it through rebellion. And from the moment of exile, God began the work of restoration. The whole biblical narrative—from Abraham to Moses to David to the prophets—is the story of God moving toward us, preparing a people, and making a way for His presence to return.
This pursuit is unique to Yahweh. No other religion has a god who desires to be present with his people. Ishtar does not desire to be present. Rama and Buddha are silent and distant. Allah does not seek to be with his followers. Only Yahweh pursues His people with relentless love. Only Yahweh refuses to leave humanity in exile. The gods of the nations are distant, indifferent, or absent. But the God of Israel is Immanuel—God with us.
Isaiah later echoes this hope when he prophesies, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14, ESV). Immanuel means “God with us.” The promise of Genesis 3:15 will culminate in a child born to a virgin, a Savior who will restore what was lost in the garden. He will come incarnate—Christ in the flesh, a babe born in innocence, born to die, dying to restore communion and presence between His people and Himself.
Advent invites us to inhabit that same posture of expectation. We light the first candle and remember that humanity lived for thousands of years longing for the fulfillment of God’s promise. And we remember that we too live in the tension of the already and the not yet, the space between the first advent and the second coming. Christ has come—the presence of God has been restored in Him. But we still wait for the day when He will return and dwell with us forever in a new creation where there is no more hiding, no more exile, and no more separation.
From one man He made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from any one of us. Acts 17:26-27