TUESDAY, July 21, 2009                                                       READ: Genesis 3: 15                                                                                                        

GOD PROCLAIMED THE GOSPEL

MEMORIZE: And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”         Genesis 3:15

God is omniscient, knowing all that exists and can be known, even before it exists. God planned it all. God is never taken by surprise and never has to discover anything. God knows everything.

God knew that Adam would fail and would sin against His command. He made provisions for Adam and each of his descendants to be saved from sin, even before He laid the foundations of the world (cf. 1 Peter 1: 19 – 21; Revelation 13: 8b). We are able to see in our text, Genesis 3: 15, how God proclaimed the gospel when He spoke to the spiritual serpent, the devil, after he had contrived to get Adam to disobey God’s command and sin against Him. God was not shocked or surprised when Adam willfully and intentionally took of the fruit of the tree of which God had commanded him not to eat. It is disappointing to hear people who consider and call themselves Bible believers, who do not seem to have any hesitation, state that Jesus is not in the Old Testament. If Jesus of Nazareth, God, the Son, is not present in the Old Testament, then might it be asked, where did the early believers learn what they came to know about Jesus Christ (cf. Ephesians 3: 4-6; Acts 13: 46, 47; Galatians 3: 16-18; 4: 4, 5). The New Testament does insist that it contains the full expression of the One who was being hinted, intimated and foreshadowed in the Old Testament (cf. Hebrews 9:11-28). That hinting, intimation and foreshadowing began right here in our text. The serpent had used the body of the snake and spoken to Eve. He was able to deceive her into thinking that God had been holding out on both her husband and her. He was able to deceive her into thinking that they could do better by taking matters into their own hands. He deceived her into taking of the fruit which her husband had told her that God had said they should not eat. He got her to think that, even though her husband had heard what God had said, he really did not understand that obedience to God was holding them back. The serpent had deceived her into going beyond what God had designed for them. She wanted to become like God, knowing good and evil by themselves, for themselves. He deceived her into eating the fruit, then getting her husband to listen to her voice over against what God had said to him, and he ate of the fruit as well. The man was designated as the representative head of the human family. By eating of the fruit, he set the tone for the entire human family. God, by the single act of Adam, the designated head, mercifully consigned all human beings as having participated in Adam’s act of rebellion, so that by the single act of His Redeemer, He would provide redemption for all, and life and righteousness to all who believe and obey Him (cf. Romans 5: 12-21). The serpent, having been cast out of Heaven for his iniquity, was determined to continue to work against God’s program (cf. Isaiah 14: 12-17; Ezekiel 28: 12-18). The serpent, the Devil, Satan, knows a lot, but he does not know the truth. Jesus said that he was and is a liar, the father of lies (cf. John 8: 42-45). God, in telling the devil, Satan, of the consequence of his actions, indicated to him that He would ensure that there was “… enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel.” God was proclaiming the Gospel of His Son, to the devil (cf. Romans 1: 16; Ephesians 2: 7). The devil evidently thought that he had really disrupted God’s plan and was inflicting successful revenge against God. God was informing him that his actions actually served His purposes well. There would be “… enmity between you and the woman ….” This is a prophetic word concerning the struggle which would exist between the devil and the woman – Eve, as “… the mother of all living.” As the Scriptures have shown us, God was going to establish a line through which the Coming One would come, and each of those specifically chosen mothers of the line would be a target of the devil (cf. 12: 14-20; 16: 1-6; 20: 1-18; 21: 9-13; 29: 26-35; Ruth 4:13-17; Matthew 1: 18-25; Revelation 12: 13-17).

PRAY:LORD, God, Almighty, I believe that Your word is true and that it is sure. I am praising You for who You are. Please help me to understand Your word and to join You in what You are doing. Bless me I pray, in Jesus’ strong name. Amen.