Christ And Covenant Forward Preview

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INTRODUCTION

The Bible is a unit, and must be understood as such. It is notsixty-six books; it is ONE book having several writers, but

ONE author – God! This amazing book is totally unified fromGenesis to Revelation around the themes of Christ and covenant.The Bible is not a history book, but it is a book that is entirelyabout HIS story. It is the progressive unfolding of God’s promiseto resolve the sin problem and His plan to restore humanity toHimself. The plan unfolds, generally at first and then becomesincreasingly more specific until the promise is completelyfulfilled in Christ. Simply stated, the Bible is the story of Christand how God fulfilled His promise in Genesis 3:15 to bring theSavior into the world to save humankind from sin.

GENESIS 3:15 - THE KEY VERSE

I will put enmity between you and the woman, betweenyour seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and youwill bruise his heel.

This verse is the foundational text for all Scripture. Every eventthat occurred after Genesis 3:15 is based on this passage. It isliterally the entire Bible in seed form. Just as an entire tree iscontained in a seed, similarly, the entire Bible is contained in thisseed verse. Therefore, in order to have a comprehensive under-standing of Scripture, it is imperative that this foundational verseis properly understood.

Christ And Covenant: Key To The Scripture

I will put enmity between you and the woman, betweenyour seed (i.e. seed of the serpent ) and her Seed (i.e.Seed of the woman ). He ( Christ ) will crush your headand you ( Satan ) will bruise his heel.

This verse is the first proclamation of the gospel – the goodnews of salvation through Christ. It is God’s announcement to Adamand Eve of His decision to send the Savior to fix the sin problem.Although this prophetic proclamation is symbolic, the symbols areso accurate and so specific that it is absolutely astounding! Genesis3:15 is a figurative reference to the two unique aspects of Jesus’life – His virgin birth and His death by crucifixion. Like a Polaroidsnapshot, this highly symbolic verse is extremely vague at first, butwith continued exposure to light (i.e. time), it becomes increasinglyplain until it is fully developed, four thousand years later, in theperson of Christ. The remainder of Scripture, between the promisedeclared and the promise realized, is t he systematic revelation ofhow God used individuals and managed circumstances to bring Hisperfect plan of redemption to fruition.

PROGRESSIVE REVELATION

The systematic unfolding of truth is known as progressiverevelation. God consistently and progressively revealed truth fromGenesis to Revelation. Simply stated, He does not present truth allat once, rather little by little, precept upon precept, line upon line(Isaiah 28:9-10). As a parent instructs their children, giving themincreasingly more responsibility as they mature, likewise ourdivine parent disclosed more and more details about His plan asHis people grew and matured. So in Genesis 12:1-3, He uprootedchildless Abraham, moved him to a strange land and divulgedmore details about His plan – “through you (i.e. your seed) allnations will be blessed.” This blessing was salvation for the worldthrough Abraham’s descendant, Jesus Christ (John 3:16).Throughout the approximately four thousand years from Genesisto the gospels, the plan developed as God used righteous men likeNoah and Abraham, prophets like Isaiah and Micah, good kings

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like David, wicked kings like Manasseh and risqué women likeTamar and Rahab to bring about His plan. Notice that the NewTestament passages, Galatians 3:8 and 3:16, stipulate that thereferences to the Seed in Genesis, is a reference to Christ.

The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentilesby faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abra ham :‘All nations will be blessed through you.’ …The promiseswere spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripturedoes not say ‘and to seeds,’ meaning many people, but toyour seed , meaning one person, WHO IS CHRIST !

The Polaroid snapshot of the Seed in the book of Genesis isfully developed in the New Testament in the person of Christ! Anydoubt or question is completely removed.

DECODING THE SYMBOLS

The symbolic language in Genesis 3:15 effectively illustratesGod’s promise to send the Seed of the woman and God’s plan forthe Seed of the woman. Let us take a closer look at both parts ofthis verse – the promise and the plan – and decode the figurativelanguage.

THE PROMISE OF THE SEED

His Virgin Birth: The phrase, Seed of the woman, is paradox-ical. The woman does not carry the seed (sperm); the man does.This paradoxical phrase is significant because it symbolically refersto the virgin birth, the One to be born of a woman without any maleseed (sperm). The importance of the virgin birth cannot be overemphasized. In fact, it was absolutely crucial for the plan of redemp-tion to work. Adam is the head of the human race; therefore, it isthe man who transmits the seed of sin to all humanity. In order forChrist to be born without sin, there had to be a sinless conception.Accordingly, when the angel appeared to Mary and informed herthat she was chosen to give birth to the Messiah, she respondedwith this appropriate question, “How can this be since I know not


a man?” (Lk. 1:35). The angel explained that the conceptionwould take place through the instrumentality of the Holy Spirit.Since there is no sin in the Holy Spirit, no sin was passed on toChrist even though Mary herself was a sinner (i.e. born of man andwoman) and needed a Savior.

Science proves this to be true. Every baby who is born carriesthe blood of the father, not the mother. Therefore a paternity testdetermines who fathered the child. Everyone born of Adamcarries his tainted blood and is born in sin and shaped in iniquity(Ps. 51:5). I Corinthians 15:22, briefly, but graphically describesthe horrible result of sin for all of his posterity, “in Adam all die.”Notice the dramatic contrast because of the sinless Seed of thewoman, “in Christ, all will be made alive.” All who are in Christare born again by the Holy Spirit. “Anyone in Christ is a newcreation; the old has gone, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17). Godis his or her Father with the corresponding privilege of sinsforgiven and removed as far as the east is from the west(Ps. 103:12). Therefore, born again believers are adopted into thefamily of God and carry the blood of their new adopted Father.The words of this hymn are theologically accurate.

What can wash away my sin?Nothing but the blood of Jesus!What can make me whole again?Nothing but the blood of Jesus!

THE PLAN FOR THE SEED

His Sacrificial Death: The purpose of God’s promise to sendthe Seed of the woman was to resolve the sin problem and redeemhumankind. But how was the Seed to accomplish this tremendoustask? Our key text, Genesis 3:15, provides the answer withamazing clarity even though it is stated in symbolic terms. Thelatter part of the verse asserts that Satan shall bruise His heel andChrist will crush his head. The bruising of the heel was a prophesyof Christ’s sacrificial death by crucifixion. Crucifixion was themethod of capital punishment used by the Romans. When theynailed a person to the cross, they did so with the knees bent and

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the body weight resting on a small crude seat called a sedulum.With the hands in an outstretched position, the condemned personwould soon get tired, the body would droop, causing the lungs tocollapse, and making it difficult to breathe. Because the kneeswere bent, the condemned man could push up with his legs, take abreath and when the pain got too severe, slump again. Since theheel was placed against the vertical bar of the cross, this constantup and down motion to breathe would bruise His heel (DavidTerasaka, n.d., http://www.blueletterbible.org/commentaries).

The plan for the Seed was to take the punishment for sin Goddecreed for Adam and his descendants. “When you eat of it, youwill surely die” (Gen. 2:17). The sinless Seed would suffer deathin the place of sinners who rightfully deserved to die. In otherwords, His was to be a sacrificial death as the innocent, sinlesssubstitute for the sin of the world. God gave a snapshot of sacrificein Genesis 3:21. After they sinned, Adam and Eve clothedthemselves with fig leaves. But fig leaves that came from theground that God cursed (Gen. 3:17) could never cover theirnakedness or their sin. As a result God performed the very firstsacrifice in the Garden of Eden. Instead of instantaneously carryingout the sentence of physical death on them, God killed an animal– an innocent substitute to die in their place. Therefore, He re-moved their fig leaves, took the skin of that animal and coveredAdam and Eve with it. This blood sacrifice was absolutelynecessary for “without the shedding of blood, there can be noforgiveness” (Heb. 9:22). The shedding of blood represents thegiving of a life. The innocent animal gave its life so Adam and Evecould live. This set the parameters for the Seed; He would be theinnocent substitute who willingly gave His life so that whoeverbelieves may have everlasting life (John 10:17, 3:16).

The plan for the Seed was not limited to His death. Oh no!Genesis 3:15 asserted that the Seed of the woman would crush theserpent’s head. It is possible to live with a bruised heel, but notwith a crushed head! How do we know? After three days, Jesusrose from the dead with all power in His hand (Matt. 28:18). Deathwas not the final word for Him, but His death was the final wordfor Satan! In other words, through His death, Jesus dealt adeathblow to sin and Satan – death, hell and the grave. Jesus’

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death and resurrection crushed the serpent’s head, and through thismagnificent victory, He obtained the keys of death and hell (Rev.1:18).

THE SEED

In Genesis 3:15, God pronounced enmity (hatred) between“your seed and her seed.” Just as her seed is a reference to Jesus,the Seed of the woman, your seed is a reference to Satan, the seedof the serpent. However, both of these terms have a double refer-ence.

THE SEED OF THE SERPENT

Although the seed of the serpent symbolically refers to Satan,there is a secondary meaning. The seed of the serpent also refersto wicked persons that Satan used to accomplish his evil purposes.Satan’s main strategy was to use the seed of the serpent to destroythe seed of the woman. There are several examples of the seed ofthe serpent in Scripture as well as in history. We do not have towait long because the seed of the serpent raises his venomous headin Genesis 4 in the person of Cain. Cain killed his righteousbrother Abel, the seed of the woman. The enmity started there andcontinued in persons such as Pharaoh who drowned the Jewishbaby boys in the Nile River, Herod who slaughtered all males twoyears or less, and Hitler who murdered millions of Jews. In thefuture, the Anti-Christ will continue Satan’s murderous plotagainst the Jews during the Great Tribulation.

THE SEED OF THE WOMAN

There is also a secondary meaning of the seed of the woman (inlower case letters). The seed of the woman is the lineage that Godused to bring the Messiah into the world. Many, but not all of those persons, were righteous. And even those who wererighteous had flaws. Noah got drunk, Abraham lied, Rahab was aharlot and David committed adultery and murder – nevertheless,God used them all! Why? It was never about them, but about God

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and His determined will to bring the Messiah into the world toaccomplish His plan of redemption. The seed of the womanincluded men like Seth, Enoch, Judah, and Solomon; and womenlike Tamar, Ruth, Bathsheba and Mary.

TRACING THE SEED

Because the Seed is so important and central to God’s promiseof redemption, there are many genealogical lists in the Bible. Theyare given in order to trace the lineage of the Seed of the woman.

Genesis 5 genealogy from Adam through Sethto Enoch then Noah

Genesis 11 genealogy from Shem to AbrahamI Chronicles 1 – 9 genealogy from Adam to David and

the kings, pre and post-exileMatthew 1 genealogy of Christ as Son of David,

Son of Abraham

Genealogy is critical to God’s program. The writer of thegospel of Matthew knew that he had to prove that Jesus came fromthe right lineage. If He did not have the right lineage, He could notpossibly qualify as the promised Messiah, the Seed of the woman.Through His heritage as Son of Abraham and Son of David,Matthew proves that He is, unquestionably, the One! He passedthe paternity test – He has the right parentage. He is God mani-fested in human flesh, the sinless substitute, born to die so thatsinful humanity could live! Consequently, the Bible can be sum-marized as the story of the Seed.

THE STORY OF THE SEED

From Genesis 12 to Revelation , the Bible is literally aboutGod bringing His incredible promise of Genesis 3:15 to fruitionthrough Abraham’s seed, the nation of Israel as follows:

Genesis 12 to Joshua: God promised Abraham that throughhis lineage the Messiah would bless the whole world with salva-tion. He therefore formed the nation of Israel, delivered them from

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slavery, and established them as His chosen people in the Prom-ised Land. Judah, the fourth son of Israel, was destined to becomethe royal lineage of the Messiah (Gen. 49:10).

Judges to Ruth: Boaz, from the tribe of Judah, continued thelineage of Christ. He married Ruth, the Moabitess, becoming herkinsman-redeemer and producing a son named Obed. He becamethe father of Jesse who had a son named David, the king.

Samuel to Esther: The historical books continue the lineageof the Seed with the stories of the kings of Judah, specificallyDavid’s descendants through Solomon . Even though the Jewswere disobedient and ended up in Babylonian captivity, Godremained true to His promise and returned them to their land afterseventy years (Jer. 25:11-12). The Seed must come through theJewish nation, through the loins of Abraham and David, based onGod’s promise to them.

Isaiah to Malachi: God gave more details about the life anddeath of the coming Seed of the woman through the prophets, andespecially through Isaiah, the prince of the prophets. Theseprophecies were essential for positive identification of the Seed.For example, Isaiah identified Him as the Suffering Servant (53:1-12), the One born of a Virgin (7:14), the One who is both humanand divine (9:6). The child who is born speaks of His humanity,but the Son who is given speaks of His divinity, His pre-existenceas God. Micah revealed that He would be born in Bethlehem (Mic.5:2), and Jonah became a type of Christ who spent three days andnights in the heart of the earth (Jonah 1:17).

Matthew to John: The promise was finally fulfilled throughthe Jewish virgin, Mary. The Seed was born, ministered, died androse again, satisfying the promises and the prophecies.

Acts to Jude: The Seed established the church and functionsas Head of His body, giving her instruction for holy living in theepistles and power to carry out the Great Commission recorded inMatthew 28:19-20.

Revelation: The Seed will return as King of Kings, establish-ing His kingdom and reign of peace for one thousand years. Afterthe final conflict, He disposes of Satan in the Lake of Fire,executes judgment at the Great White Throne, and then ushers ineternity with the new heaven and new earth, restoring all that was


lost through Adam’s sin. From beginning to end, the Bible isindeed about Christ, the story of the Seed of the woman.

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