Welcome back to “Praying the Names of Jesus.” If you missed the explanation for the name of
Jesus we’re studying this week, click here or scroll down to Monday’s entry.
I was forty-six when I adopted my first child – not as old as the biblical Sarah but a far sight older than Mary, the teenage mother of Jesus. But no matter how old you are or how long you’ve waited, a child can be one of life’s greatest blessings, opening you again to wonder, renewing your amazement at God’s good plan for the future.
Little wonder that a child was God’s first promise to the world. After Adam and Eve sinned, as they were being forced from their garden paradise, God made the greatest of all his promises, assuring them that Eve’s offspring would one day crush the serpent whose temptation had pushed them out of Eden and into so much misery. No wonder Mary has sometimes been called the new Eve, her obedience a striking reversal of Eve’s disobedience. And as for the Christ child – he has always been identified as the fulfillment of God’s promise to crush Satan, our worst enemy, and lead us back to paradise.
So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,

“Cursed are you above all the livestock
and all the wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”(Genesis 3:14-15)

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)
–Ann Spangler
Adapted from “Praying the Names of Jesus” by Ann Spangler, with permission. Each day for five weeks, learn to better understand the nature and character of Jesus through his many names. Did you miss any entries? Stay subscribed to this feed and you’ll receive the entries you missed once the feed restarts.