Killing the Dragon & Saving the Girl
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The Bible is a book full of great stories
David and Goliath
Sampson
Esther
The Exodus
And what this tells us is that our God, the creator of all things, has revealed himself by scripture as the great story teller. Not only is the bible full of great stories, but the bible itself is one great, awesome, and magnificent love story.
And Easter is a day that we celebrate the climax of this great love story, When Jesus rose from the grave conquering evil and saving his people.
We see how this love story ends in the book of Revelation where Jesus feasts with his glorified bride in the marriage supper of the lamb.
Now, what tends to happen with great stories, especially ones we are really familiar with is we tend to get bored. We feel like we have heard it over and over and it loses its excitement.
I am sure you can agree with me, when you watch a great movie for the first time its gripping, its exciting, its amazing.
And you might go back and watch it again. But after seeing it multiple times, we often become bored with the movie and it loses its grip on us.
And this happens so often when we hear or read stories in the bible.
Polls have been taken and you know what one of the greatest challenges is in reading the bible?
Its boring.
Especially stories that get told so often like the Christmas story and the Easter story.
So this morning we are going to look at the greatest story ever told, and my prayer is that it will not be seen as boring, but as truly life-changing.
And any good story needs a good title. So I have entitled this sermon
Killing the Dragon & Saving the Girl
Killing the Dragon & Saving the Girl
This title comes from a catechism I have developed for my children. And it is also the catechism Karis and Owen said for at their baptisms.
It goes like this: (page two of the kids handout)
Q: What is the chief end of man?
A: To glorify God and enjoy him forever
Q: How do we learn to glorify God?
A: By reading the Bible
Q: What is the Bible about?
A: Killing the dragon and saving the girl
Q: Who is the dragon?
A: Satan, Sin and Death
Q: Who is the girl?
A: The Bride of Christ!
Q: Who is the Christ?
A: The Savior of the world and the Savior of me!
This story of killing the dragon and saving the girl starts back in the first few chapters of Genesis and it begins with a man named Adam or what we will call him in this story Dirtbag
Adam aka “Dirtbag”
Adam aka “Dirtbag”
Like with any good story we must first explain the context… a little background
God begins by creating kingdoms and then filling those kingdoms with rulers
Day 1 - Day and Night - Day 4 - Sun, Moon, and Stars
Day 2 - Separated the waters to make space - Day 5 - fish and birds
Day 3 - Makes dry ground and Vegetation - Day 6 - Animals and Man
With the creation of man and woman in we see...
Made in the image of God
What does this mean? It means that they was made to reflect God in every way - this was their mission. To bring the glory of God to all the earth
Given dominion over all things
And God declared that his creation was good
Creation of Man in (rewind and Zoomed in)
This is where we are going to really begin the story, of Adam, or as we can call him “dirtbag”
7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
Formed from the dust (dirt bag)
So how was Adam made? from the dust, or from the dirt. - so to call him dirtbag is not derogatory - and all God’s creation was good. So this is not a mean name
After forming Adam from dirt God breathed life into his nostrils
7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
Emphasis needed
After forming Adam from dirt God breathed life into his nostrils
The Bible then tells us that God not only created man but that he created a Garden for him to work in.
The Bible then tells us that God not only created man but that he created a Garden for him to work in.
Look at Gen. 2.8-9
8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 2:8-
So here we see that God made a land which he calls Eden,
he then planted a Garden in Eden,
and in the midst of the Garden he planted two sacred trees.
The Tree of Life
The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil - which they were not to eat of.
{Garden Temple Slide}
Eden
Tree
Garden
East à
Tree
The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil - which they were not to eat of.
If we keep reading in the bible we will soon find out that the Garden is actually a temple.
And is the prototype for the Tabernacle and Temple which comes later in the bible
This sketch of the garden on the screen resembles the architecture of both the Temple and the Tabernacle
Eden is the outer court of the temple
The Garden is the Holy Place
And the Tree’s represent the Holy of Holies
So God put Dirtbag in the Garden and made him priest of the garden temple
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so.
15
Part of Adam’s priestly work was to name all the animals
This was part of his mission in taking dominion over all things.
God had the animals come to him and whatever Adam called them would be their names
Look at
20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.
Adam names all the livestock, birds, and beasts
Kids, imagine if God gave you this job… if you could name all the animals
If a fun little furry critter came up to you with floppy and ears and said “woof, woof” What would you name it?
How about a big silly looking animal with black and white spots that said “mooooooo” what would you name it?
So God had all the animals coming to Adam and he is naming each of them.
Adam noticed a pattern that there were boy animals and girl animals and that they helped each other. The boy dogs and the girls dogs were together. The boy cows (bulls) were with the girl cows
But Adam did not have a girl of his own. He didn’t have a helper like the animals did.
Adam is not the only one who noticed that he didn’t have a helper, he didn’t have a girl of his own… Look back at
18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
Genesis 2:18
God also see’s that its not good for Adam to be alone, so he said he would make a helper for him.
He would give Adam, this dirtbag, a very special gift
God was about to make the crowning glory of his creation
God was about to make the most beautiful part of his creation
God was about to make the most glorious part of his creation
He was going to give Adam a helper, a girl, a wife, a bride!
Before Adam could receive this great gift, before God would give him a bride, something had to happen to Adam. He had to die first.
Now the story takes its first unexpected turn. And we will call this chapter of the story Death & Resurrection
Death & Resurrection
Death & Resurrection
Death
You see in the bible whenever something great comes there must first be a sort of death
Each day of creation is preceded by night. Night must occur to enjoy the joys and mercies of morning
To enjoy the life of Spring we must first go through the death of Winter
To be apart of the glories of Heaven we must first walk through the valley of death.
So for Adam to experience the glory of his bride, he must first die for her to come into being
21 And Yahweh God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man. While he slept, he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh where it had been.
Genesis 2.
The Hebrew word for “deep sleep” represents a death sleep.
So God caused a death sleep to fall upon Adam.
While Adam was in this death sleep God opened up his side and took from him one of his ribs.
After taking the rib God closed up the flesh where it had been
God did not leave Adam in his death sleep with his side ripped open. God himself closed up his side, he healed his body, from where the rib had been removed.
Adams side was pierced by God himself in order to bring about a bride that would help Adam with his mission.
However, God did not leave Adam in his death sleep with his side ripped open. God himself closed up his side, he healed his body, from where the rib had removed.
So after God closed up the flesh, he took the rib and from it formed a bride for Adam.
You see, Adams body was torn open so that Eve might come into being
Adams side was pierced by God himself in order to bring about a bride that would help Adam with his mission.
So Eve came not from the dust of the earth, like Adam, rather Eve came from Adam himself.
Now when Adam wakes up his whole world changes.
There is nothing about Adam that is left unaffected by what he is about to see.
What we find in the next verse is that when Adam see’s Eve, He says that she’s fire
The next verse is Adam’s responds when he meets Eve, or as we will call her “Firegirl”
Eve aka “Firegirl”
Eve aka “Firegirl”
When we hear someone say, “I’m on fire” or “She’s on fire” culturally we know what they mean.
To be on fire is to be awesome or amazing!
If your favorite player for KU is making a lot of shots we might say, “he’s on fire”
That
If your doing well at work and you get a bonus or raise you might say “you’re on fire”
If you have set a goal to read a book a week and instead for the last month you’ve read 2 books a week you could tell people you’re on fire.
If God has given you a passion for something you could say you’re on fire for that passion
If something is fire or on fire its really good, its exciting, its powerful.
So why call Eve Firegirl? Well look with me at Adam’s response when he sees her and I’ll explain why.
So why say that he is on fire? Its not me, Adam says it about himself...
Genesis 2.
22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.
23 Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”
23 Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”
When God raises Adam from his death sleep he presents to him his bride, and he is excited! “This at last is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh”
Genesis 2.
Adam had been naming the animals and no matter how glorious the animals were, he knew they were not for him. They were of a different kind.
Adam had been waiting for a woman that would be bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh.
One that would be united to him, one that would be part of him, one that he could have a covenantal bond with, Eve was truly one flesh with Adam.
So when he see Eve this is his response! At last! finally, my bride!
she was perfect. She was spotless. She was without blemish. She was full of splendor or glory, she was holy, she was on fire!
splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), .
And you know what ADAM (Dirtbag) called her? Woman (but oh its so much better than that)
The Hebrew word for Woman is ISHAH and it comes from the feminine Hebrew word ESH which means fire.
So kids we can call Eve “Firegirl”
You see Eve wasn’t made from dirt like Adam, she was made from Adams rib. She is made out of better stuff.
So when Adam see’s her he doesn’t call her Mud Girl, or Dirt Girl, he calls her Fire Girl
And you know what happened to dirtbag Adam after he see’s fire girl Eve?
He is lit on fire as well.
we see this in verse 23
So in verse 23 Adam says, “She shall be called Woman (or fire girl) because she was taken out of Man” (made from better stuff). But for the first time in the bible Adam is no longer called dirt bag.
The Hebrew word for Man is ish which is the masculine for fire. So he is now fire boy.
You see, Eve glorified Adam. She made Adam better.
Everything that Adam was was made better by Eve
Eve glorified Adam, she turned him from a dirtbag into a man on fire.
So in verse 23 Adam says, “She shall be called Woman (or fire girl) because she was taken out of Man” (made from better stuff). But for the first time in the bible Adam is no longer called dirt bag.
The Hebrew word for Man is ish which is the masculine for fire. So he is now fire boy.
And you know what fire does in the bible?
And you know what fire does in the bible?
sometimes it destroys, and other times it glorifies.
It makes things better.
Gold and silver are purified, or glorified through fire.
Adam is now united with his bride, and they have a mission before them. Their mission is now to set the whole world on fire. They are to take dominion of all things, they are to glorify all things. And part of the way they do this is by having kids, little torches that take the perfect image and glory of God and fill the world with his glory.
They were to take the kingdom of the Garden and advance it to cover the whole world.
They were to see the whole world set on fire with the glory of God.
And God would live with his people, and his people would live with God. And they would be in perfect relationship working together to make the whole world look like heaven.
They were going to make the whole world into God’s temple.
But… something happened.
This is the chapter in the story where we see the villain, the bad guy, the enemy.
The Dragon
The Dragon
Darkness entered the Garden in the form of a dragon (Satan was pictured as a snake until God curses him to eat dust)
The dragon was crafty, he was cunning, he was smooth with his words.
This dragon came and began to talk with Fire girl, while Adam, fire boy, was standing there next to her.
The dragon was trying to trick Firegirl into eating the fruit that God told Adam not to eat.
The dragon was crafty, he was cunning, he was smooth with his words and he
He told her that if she did eat she would be like God -
Hit pause, timeout...
Now, if Adam was being a good priest, and protecting the garden and most of all protecting his bride what should he have done?
As soon as that crafty dragon came to his bride and began to deceive her he should have crushed its head and kicked it out of the Garden.
He should have killed the dragon and saved the girl.
He should have protected his bride, his glorious girl. But he didn’t
The dragon continued to deceive, and eventually Eve took from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and ate it - thinking she was doing a good thing. Thinking that it would be good to be more like God.
You see, she was tricked, Adam was not. Adam knew that his bride would be cursed by eating the fruit. God told him that would happen. But he did nothing
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
After seeing his bride become cursed by eating the fruit, what should Adam have done?
The first option was to drive out the serpent from the garden, but when he failed to do that what should he have done seeing fire girl, his bride, cursed?
For a moment Adam was still sinless, he was pure while his bride was cursed.
Adam was righteous while fire girl was destined for death.
If Adam had true love for his bride he should have taken her by the hand and ran to God and offered himself as a sacrifice in place of his bride.
He should pleaded with God to take his life instead
He should have offered himself as a perfect sacrifice, taken the curse of his bride upon himself.
But he didn’t, as the text says, he saw his bride eat the fruit, and he took it from her and ate it himself.
Adam and Eve were removed from the Garden, they failed the mission God gave them to bring the life and glory of God to the ends of the earth. What we find is that rather than spreading life and glory what flowed from Adam and Eve was death and depravity.
The Apostle Paul knew this tragic tail…
When writing his letter to the Romans he told them this story when he said
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
Romans 5:12
The curse of death that came from Adam’s sin has spread to all people everywhere
The days of fire girl and fire boy being in perfect relationship with God are over, for sin has brought death.
The glories of being united to God in perfect union are over. The curse of sin has separated all people everywhere from God.
The curse of sin and death
Paul goes on in verse 14
14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
Paul says that Adam was a type of the one to come
Types in the bible are people, events or things that foreshadows or echoes something or someone else.
The Garden of Eden was a type of the Temple
Jonah was a type of Christ (you’ll have to come back next week to see how Jonah pre preaches the resurrection)
As Jonah went down into the belly of the fish for three day before being resurrected, so Jesus went down into the grave for three days before he was resurrected.
So Paul says that Adam was a type of the one who was to come, somehow the story of Adam pretells or echoes the story of Jesus
So in some mysterious way Paul is saying that Jesus is a like new Adam
So if Jesus is the new Adam than who is the new Eve?
Here we move into the final chapter of the the story. The chapter that contains the climax and resolution. The Chapter where God reignites Firegirl. The Chapter where we get The New Adam and the New Eve
The New Adam and the New Eve
The New Adam and the New Eve
When we looked at Genesis was saw a pattern laid out for us
Adam - Death - Resurrection - Bride - Mission
Adam - Death - Resurrection - Bride - Mission
God’s plan was to give Adam a bride, but for this to happen he had to first go into a death sleep
He must first have his side torn open
He must first be healed
And then upon his resurrection from death sleep he is given a bride who glorifies him
We see the life of Jesus following this same pattern.
You see God’s plan to have his glory and his kingdom fill the earth was not done away with when Adam sinned. Rather, God chose to carry out this mission himself
Jesus would become the New Adam, He would humble himself and become like Adam was before he met Eve, before he sinned.
Paul helps us understand this in Phil 2
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
PHil 2. 8
Look at verse 8
It says that he was found in “human form”
This word for human is the same Greek word used to translate the Hebrew ADAM (dirtbag) in
Jesus became like Adam, a new Adam, became like dirt, in order to save the girl, the new Eve.
The problem is that though Jesus was perfect like Adam, his bride was already cursed.
The New Adam has come to save the girl who is cursed.
And who is this cursed bride? its you, and its me.
This is the story of the gospel
Jesus has come in perfection, as the new Adam to save for himself a people, a bride.
For Jesus to accomplish this he must, like Adam have his flesh torn apart and be put to death.
And what he accomplished in his death was everything Adam failed to accomplish.
Adam should have crushed the head of the dragon in the garden - but he didn’t
upon the cross Jesus fulfills the prophecy in , by crushing the dragons head
Adam should have taken his cursed bride to God and offered himself as her sacrifice so she would not have to die. But he didn’t, he let her eat the fruit and become cursed
15 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.”
So Jesus, the greater Adam, did what the first Adam failed to do. He offered himself as a sacrifice in his brides place. So she won’t have to die, rather, Jesus died in her place.
Jesus redeemed her, saved her from the curse of death!
God took the the blood of Christ and from it recreated the cursed bride into a new creation into a new glorified bride. To a bride on fire
And after three days in the tomb, three days of death, God healed his flesh
And after three days in the tomb, three days of death, God healed Jesus’ flesh and brought him back from the dead!
And when he did, he presented to Jesus his new bride.
And like Adam, when Jesus was raised, he was not the same, he was glorified.
He was no longer a man of dirt, but a man of heaven, a man of glory!
You see the first Adam was glorified by his bride, The second Adam is the one who glorifies his bride.
This is why
Ephesians 5:
Death
You see the first Adam was glorified by his bride, The second Adam is the one who glorifies his bride.
This is the power of the resurrection! Jesus has killed the dragon and he has saved the girl. And the way in which that happened was by Jesus becoming the better Adam and saving the new Eve.
Like I said in the beginning, The story of the bible is first and foremost a love story. and Paul not only knows the tragic tail of sin and death, but he always knows well the love story of Christ and his church, his bride, his Firegirl. Paul summarizes this love story in
Resurrection
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
How should husbands love their wives? how should Adam have loved Eve? Just as Christ loved the church and give himself up for her
You see, Adam did not give himself up for Eve, and Paul is telling us husbands, to not live like Adam but to love like Christ.
Read again, Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
Bride
Jesus is glorifying his bride, his church, us!
He is sanctifying us. He has cleansed us.
In the same way God presented Adam with firegirl, so Jesus is presenting us to himself in splendor and glory!
Because of the resurrection we are being set on fire
28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
28
We are to love our wives as we love our own bodies, why? because Fire girl came from her husbands rib. wives are bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh
29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body.
29-
As Eve was made from the side of Adam so the church was made from the side of Christ
We are part of Jesus body. we bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh through the resurrection.
Paul then calls our attention back to the original love story when he quotes
31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”
Now all of this might sound a little mysterious - Does the bible really work this way?
As God wrote this love story did he really plan all this out? did he want to tell the story in such a way that Adam and Eve actually echo Jesus and the church?
Like Paul says in verse 32
32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.
Eph 5:
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church,
30 because we are members of his body.
31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”
32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.
The Resurrection is the climax to this great love story.
Jesus the great king has killed the dragon and he saved the girl
He has lit his people on fire through the spirit and has sent them out to extend the glory of God to the ends of the earth.
We now share in his story, which is now our story, The story of the king killing the dragon and saving the girl.
Lets pray
Kingdom