“Christianity – very near as old as creation”

“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

Reading to you these words, I may address you in the language of the holy angels to the shepherds that were watching their flocks by night, ‘Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy.’ For this is the first promise that was made of a Saviour to the apostate race of Adam. We generally look for Christ only in the New Testament. But Christianity, in one sense, is very near as old as the creation. It is wonderful to observe how gradually God revealed his Son to mankind. He began with the promise in the text and this the elect lived upon till the time of Abraham. To him, God made further discoveries of his eternal council concerning man’s redemption. Afterwards, at sundry times and in divers manners, God spoke to the fathers by the prophets, till at length the Lord Jesus himself was manifested in flesh and came and tabernacled amongst us.

~ George Whitefield¹

¹From Sermons on Important Subjects by the Rev. George Whitefield; originally published, London, Henry Fisher, Son and P. Jackson, 38 Newgate Street, 1832. Sermon 1, “The Seed of the Woman and the Seed of the Serpent”.

For information on George Whitefield, a ‘Calvanistic Methodist’, who with John and Charles Wesley were founders of Methodism, read more here.