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Readings
- Psalm 103
- Psalm 19
- Isaiah 40:1–17
- Revelation 7:1–17
- Large Catechism, I, 158–166
Commemoration
Today we commemorate Adam and Eve. Father and mother to us all, Adam and Eve were the first two human beings created by God’s own hands. Adam, formed from the dust, was created first and Eve, formed from one of Adam’s ribs to be his companion, was created second. Failing to obey God and listening to the Serpent’s temptation, Eve ate of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which God had forbidden, and Adam, forsaking his role as head, joined her in rebellion. For their disobedience, they were driven from the Garden; by their disobedience, death entered the world. Nevertheless, in the midst of the tragedy of the Fall, God promised that the woman’s Seed — Christ, the Savior — would crush the Serpent’s head. In His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead, Christ defeated sin, death, and the devil — fulfilling the promise of Genesis 3:15. As Luther commented: ‘God arranged to remove through Christ whatever the devil brought in through Adam.’