God's Plan of Redemption
Notes
Transcript
Title: God’s Plan of Redemption through the Seed of the Woman
Text: Genesis 3:15
15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
PRAY
Introduction: Famous quotes
How many of you enjoy watching movies? How many enjoy reading books?
Let me share some lines from a couple of books and movies, and you tell me if you recognize them:
From Books:
There once was a boy named Eustace Clarence Scrubbs, and he almost deserved it.
(The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, from the Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis)
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times
(A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens)
From movies:
Inconceivable! (The Princess Bride)
I am your father (Star Wars)
We’re not in Kansas anymore (The Wizard of Oz)
Hopefully you knew at least one of those references. And if so, what happens in your mind when you hear these words?
If you aren’t familiar with these movies or books, the lines may mean nothing to you at all. They’re just words. They could mean a lot of different things.
But if you’ve seen the movies, if you’ve read the books, (especially if you’ve done so multiple times), those lines aren’t just words. They have a specific meaning in a specific context, and when you hear them, you call to mind a particular person, a particular setting, perhaps even a certain tone of voice, and in some sense, you call to mind the entire story of which that line is a part.
For example, if you’ve seen the movie The Princess Bride, when you hear that line “Inconceivable”, what comes to mind? You probably picture a short bald guy with his twangy nasally voice and cackling laugh. Maybe you also remember the line, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
Or if you’ve seen The Wizard of Oz, when you hear, “We’re not in Kansas anymore”, you think of a young girl with her dog in a strange land with yellow brick roads, and a talking lion, tin man, and scarecrow going off to see the wizard of Oz.
My point is this: a single line from a book or movie can have the effect of making us think of the entire story. And so when we hear those words we put them in the context of the whole story. They don’t just mean something on their own; their meaning comes from their place in the larger story that they’re a part of.
The same is true with the Bible. When we hear the line “For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son…” These words are not just pretty words to think about on their own - they are part of a larger story, and our minds ought to be drawn to their place in the larger story. For this, we need a big picture view of the Bible so that we don’t miss the forest for the trees.
Missing the forest for the trees
There is a place for studying and admiring individual trees in the forest. Some trees are tall with thick trunks, full, strong branches, many leaves and flowers, and they may especially catch our attention, much the same way John 3:16 does. But that is not the only tree in the forest, and if we spend all our time focusing on individual trees, we’ll miss the beauty of the vast forest.
I would like us to take time today to try to see the big picture - what the whole Bible is about - so that as we learn and memorize verses and study different passages, we’ll have a better understanding of how each part fits into the whole story - and it is a wonderful, glorious story.
The Big Story of the Bible
The Big Story of the Bible
God’s Purpose: One way to state God’s purpose is that from the beginning to the end, God intends to display His glory by dwelling with His people for their good.
And each of the four movements of Scripture and history are leading toward this purpose.
In Creation, Fall, Redemption, and New Creation, God displays His glory for the good of His people.
In Creation, God displays His glory by creating all things through His powerful Word.
He created the heavens and earth for His glory (Psalm 19:1 - The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.)
He created people for His glory (Isaiah 43:7 - everyone called by My name and created for My glory, whom I have indeed formed and made.)
His Creation reveals His majesty, power, goodness, wisdom, and love.
God dwells with His people, as He walks with Adam and Eve in the garden.
And as God looks upon all His creation, it is very good indeed.
God’s glory is displayed as He dwells with His people for their good.
Even in the Fall, God displays His glory for the good of His people.
Though Adam and Eve fall short of God’s glory, preferring their own way to God’s, God upholds His glory by bringing both justice and mercy. On one hand, His justice is exalted in the punishments given for sin; on the other, His mercy is displayed as He makes promises regarding His plan of redemption.
And in the New Creation, God will display His glory, dwelling among His people for their good.
Revelation tells us that God’s glory will be the light of the heavenly city, and God will dwell among His people forever for their eternal good.
As we examine our Bibles, of course, the vast majority of Scripture is dealing with that third movement, Redemption.
Creation gets 2 chapters, Genesis 1-2.
The Fall into sin only takes about the first 8 verses of Genesis 3.
The New Creation only takes the last two chapters of the Bible, Revelation 21-22.
That means that from Genesis 3:9- Revelation 20:15 is the story of Redemption - the story of how we get from the fall into sin to a perfect new creation. If you like statistics, that’s 99.64% of our Bible.
And so it is supremely in God’s progressively unfolding plan of Redemption that we see His glory displayed.
But to understand this great story of Redemption, we need to understand the other three parts of the story - How God created all things in the beginning, what has gone wrong because of sin and rebellion, and what is God’s ultimate goal and purpose.
And we need to see, as Jesus said, and as the Scriptures themselves reveal, that God’s plan and purpose is fully and finally revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Everything in the Old Testament is leading up to Him, and everything in the New Testament is explaining who He is and what He has done and will do. In Jesus Christ, God perfectly displays His glory by dwelling with His people for their good. And so, the story is all about Him.
As we memorize verses and as we read and study different portions, we must keep our focus on Jesus Christ. He is the center point of history, and He is the focal point of God’s story.
The Seed of the Woman
The Seed of the Woman
The revelation of God’s plan of redemption begins as He comes looking for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3:9. He is the good shepherd who comes looking for His lost sheep.
And His plan of redemption comes into focus more clearly a few verses later; even as He is speaking words of judgment, there is mercy and a promise of hope as well.
15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
But God did not reveal His whole plan at once. Rather, in God’s infinite wisdom, He chose to progressively unfold this plan of redemption through a series of covenants, with each one of the covenants connected to His promise here in Genesis 3:15.
There are 6 covenants:
God’s Covenant with Adam & Eve at Creation
God’s Covenant with Noah and his sons after the Flood
God’s Covenant with Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob
God’s Covenant with Israel as a nation at Sinai
God’s Covenant with David as King
God’s New Covenant in Christ.
Each of these covenants is connected to Genesis 3:15 with the use of the word “seed”, though sometimes this word is translated as offspring or descendants. It is the word Zera’ in Hebrew, and we can trace the progressively unfolding plan of God for redemption through this word.
Adam, Eve, & Seth
Adam, Eve, & Seth
So let’s begin with this initial promise in Genesis 3:15
15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Although these words were directed toward the serpent, they were spoken in the hearing of Adam and Eve, and these were words of promise for them. And God’s pronouncement of judgment to Eve in v. 16 that “in pain you will bring forth children”, were indirectly a promise of life to come.
So although God had promised death on account of sin (you shall surely die!), He also promises life for those who will trust Him. Adam and Eve would have a seed - an offspring, a descendant, a baby boy - who would come and crush the serpent’s head, triumphing over Satan, sin, and death. He himself would suffer death for our sin, and He would be the Redeemer for everyone who trusts God’s promises.
As we briefly saw last week, it seems from Adam and Eve’s response in Genesis 3-4 that they trusted God’s promise of a coming Redeemer, but they didn’t understand God’s timeline. They may have expected Cain to be the promised seed, but that dream was shattered when Cain killed his brother. Then it seems they may have thought the same about their next son, Seth.
25 [Eve] gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another seed in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.”
God did not choose to reveal to anyone in the OT how long it would be - how many generations of seed would come and go before THE SEED that He promised in Gen 3:15 would come. But along the way, God progressively revealed Himself and His promises to His people and gave them many clues about how He would bring redemption.
Noah
Noah
The next major player in the seed-line is Noah. Although he is ten generations after Adam, he is the next one to receive God’s promise of a seed, connecting back to God’s promise in Genesis 3:15.
8 Then God said to Noah and his sons with him,
9 “Behold, I now establish My covenant with you and your descendants [seed] after you,
God has chosen Noah and his family to be the ones through whom He will bring the ultimate seed of the woman who will crush the serpent’s head. And Noah’s blessing on Shem toward the end of chapter 9 seems to indicate that it will be through the family of Shem.
26 He also declared: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the servant of Shem.
27 May God expand the territory of Japheth; may he dwell in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant.”
Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob
Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob
(Gen 22:17-18; 26:3-4, 24; 28:13-14)
Abraham
Noah was the 10th generation from Adam, and Abraham was the 10th generation from Noah. And he is the next one to receive the promise of seed.
In fact, God made this promise abundantly clear to Abraham. Genesis 12-24 are the ones that deal with Abraham’s life, and in these chapters we find the word “seed” used 22 times (often translated offspring or descendants). 19 of those times, it is God’s promise to Abraham regarding Isaac and his descendants.
Following Abraham’s obedience in offering Isaac, God swears an oath in His own name that He will certainly fulfill His promise and bring the seed from Abraham’s line through Isaac. He says,
16 saying, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your only son,
17 I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants [seed] like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants [seed] will possess the gates of their enemies.
18 And through your offspring [seed] all nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
God gave His promise and His oath, and as the author of Hebrews says, these are two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie.
God had told Abraham that he and Sarah would have a son, and although it was humanly impossible, nothing is too hard for God. They trusted God’s promise and gave birth to a son, Isaac. And God’s promise to Abraham was that
12 … through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.
Isaac
Well, God gave the same promise of seed to Isaac in Genesis 26:3-5. He told him,
3 Stay in this land as a foreigner, and I will be with you and bless you. For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring [seed], and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.
4 I will make your descendants [seed] as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands, and through your offspring [seed] all nations of the earth will be blessed,
5 because Abraham listened to My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”
God had also indicated to Isaac’s wife Rebekah regarding her twin sons that the older will serve the younger - God had chosen the younger son as the seed, the son of promise.
Jacob
So, indeed, Jacob, the younger son, received the same promise of seed from the LORD.
As he was fleeing from his brother Esau after stealing his birthright, the LORD appeared to Jacob in Genesis 28:13-14. In his vision, Jacob saw a ladder reaching up to heaven, with angels climbing up and down it.
13 And there at the top the LORD was standing and saying, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants [seed] the land on which you now lie.
14 Your descendants [seed] will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and east and north and south. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your offspring [seed].
Well, Jacob had 12 sons who also had sons and they multiplied quickly. Jacob had received the name Israel when he wrestled with God at the end of Genesis 32, and before long Jacob’s descendants became known by his new name, Israel. Exodus 1:7 recounts that after the generation of Jacob’s sons died,
7 … the Israelites were fruitful and increased rapidly; they multiplied and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them.
Israel
Israel
(as a nation – Exodus 33:1)
So Israel became a nation even as they lived in Egypt and were enslaved there. And following the exodus, when God brought them out of Egypt and through the Red Sea, the LORD indicates that Israel as a national group is now the collective seed.
1 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of the land of Egypt, and go to the land that I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants [seed].’
The Israelites, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are the collective seed in fulfillment of God’s promises. Moses had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, and now they are heading toward the land God had promised them as an inheritance.
Well after a 40 year detour in the desert, they made it to the promised land and settled there. Following Joshua’s conquest of the land, that whole generation died off, and another generation rose up who did not know the LORD or the works that He had done for Israel.
The period of the Judges was a dark time in Israel’s history, when they went through a constant cycle of rebelling against God, suffering the consequences of their idolatry, crying out for mercy, and receiving God’s help through the judges. The repeated theme is that “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
Later God did give them a king, but their first king, Saul, was a mirror image of the people’s own rebellion against God. He was the people’s king. But then,
22 After removing Saul, He raised up David as their king and testified about him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after My own heart; he will carry out My will in its entirety.’
David
David
And David is the next one to receive the promise of seed. So it narrows again from Israel as a collective seed to David and his descendants.
(2 Samuel 7:10-16; 22:51)
1 After the king [David] had settled into his palace and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him,
He expressed his desire to build a house for God - a temple. But through the prophet Nathan, the LORD told David that he was not the one to build a house for God. Instead, God would build a house for him! God made a covenant with David, and He said,
11 … I will give you rest from all your enemies. The LORD declares to you that He Himself will establish a house for you.
12 And when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant [seed] after you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom.
13 He will build a house for My Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
14 I will be his Father, and he will be My son…
There was, of course, an immediate fulfillment of this promise through David’s son Solomon. He was the direct descendant or seed of David, and he did, in fact, build a temple for the LORD’s name. But Solomon didn’t live forever.
So there was a seed to come from David’s line, one who would build the true house for God’s name, one whose kingdom will never end because He lives forever to reign. One who is the Son of David and the Son of God.
Well, centuries passed. Israel went into exile because of its rebellion. It seemed for a time like God’s promise had failed.
But although the grass withers and the flowers fall, the word of our God endures forever. What He promises, He will fulfill.
Jesus, the Seed of the Woman
Jesus, the Seed of the Woman
Along the way, there were some prophecies from Isaiah and others regarding the coming Messiah. He would be born of a virgin in the town of Bethlehem. He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. He will reign forever on the throne of his father David and bring worldwide peace under His authority.
Jesus is the Seed of the Woman
1,000 years had passed since God made a covenant with David. 2000 since God’s covenant with Abraham, and 4000 or more since God’s initial promise in the Garden of Eden. Much longer than any of them would have thought or any of us would have expected.
4 But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive our adoption as sons.
He came! God did what He said. He sent the seed of the woman to redeem fallen humanity.
This is what Jesus came to do, as God announced through and angel to Joseph before Jesus was born:
21 She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.”
Jesus is the Seed of David
He came as the Savior, as the Redeemer, and as the King, in fulfillment of God’s promise to David. So said the angel to Mary:
31 Behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus.
32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David,
33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end!”
These are some of the same words spoken to David in 2 Samuel 7, indicating that Jesus is the seed God had promised. He is the Son of David and the Son of God, as Paul also said in Romans 1:3-4
3 [the gospel] regarding His Son, who was a descendant [seed] of David according to the flesh,
4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.
Jesus is the Seed of Abraham
Paul also mentions for us that Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham regarding his seed. Ultimately, that promise is fulfilled in Jesus:
16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say, “and to seeds,” meaning many, but “and to your seed,” meaning One, who is Christ.
God’s promise to Abraham regarding his seed, God’s promise to David regarding his seed, and God’s initial promise of seed that He made in the Garden are all fulfilled in Jesus. When we connect the dots and see this as One United Story, One Grand, Amazing Story, the Bible comes alive in a new way.
When we see that the Bible is One Story and it’s all about God’s glory revealed in His Son for our good, that will help us to interpret and apply each individual part correctly.
In Luke 24, Jesus taught His disciples to understand all of Scripture in relation to Him, and the Apostle Paul also says in 2 Cor 1:20 that all the promises of God are “Yes” in Christ. That is, all of what God has spoken and promised in His Word is fulfilled in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Application
Trust in Jesus
Trust in Jesus
If you trust in Jesus, if you are united to Him by faith, His victory is your victory. By His perfect life, death, resurrection, and ascension He has triumphed over the serpent, over the devil, death, and sin. And all those who trust Him will also be victorious over Satan, sin, and death. Are you on the winning side? Are you on the Lord’s side? Galatians 3:29 says,
29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.
Jesus is the seed in whom all of God’s promises are fulfilled. And if you belong to Him, you also inherit all the blessings God has promised. Do you belong to Jesus? Are you trusting Him?
Give Thanks
Give Thanks
If you are, give thanks today for God’s amazing plan of salvation in His Son. Marvel at God’s wisdom, power, and goodness displayed in His plan of redemption. For all eternity we will be thanking and praising Him for His matchless love and kindness in saving us. So keep practicing for heaven!
See the Single Story of Scripture
See the Single Story of Scripture
And practically, as you read and study the Bible, as you memorize and meditate on verses this year, Read the Bible with the One Story in mind. The things we read and learn in Scripture are not isolated stories or nuggets here or there. The whole book tells a single story - God’s amazing plan to create and redeem people for Himself through Jesus Christ. So make sure you are seeing and understanding the whole picture even as you admire its individual parts.
Don’t miss the forest for the trees.