The Ray of Hope ....Genesis 3 pt 8

http://billrandles.wordpress.com/ ^ | 12-07-11 | Bill Randles

[pastorbillrandles]

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.(Genesis 3:15)

The setting for this mysterious prophecy is in the garden of Eden, at the arraignment of Adam,Eve, and the serpent. The LORD is in the process of confronting the transgressors, but at the same time giving the man and the woman the opportunity to humbly confess their sin.

Each of them refuse to admit their fault. Adam sought to mitigate his own guilt by blaming God and his wife, and Eve blamed the serpent, and by implication, God who allowed the serpent to speak to her. Lacking a humble confession of the part of our first parents, the LORD turned now to the serpent.

But note the totally different tone by which He addressed the intelligent, moral being who had seduced the woman to turn against God. There was no gentle urging to confess, no call for introspection or re-evaluation. There was only a stern pronouncement of temporal and ultimate judgment upon the deceiver.

The category of the animal Kingdom which yielded to the deceiver, ie, the snake, would bear physical witness to the judgment and humiliation pronounced upon the malevolent being who spoke through the snake. From that point on they would crawl on their bellies and dust would be mingled with their food.

We have to go all the way to the end of the Bible, to clearly see who that spiritual, intelligent and malevolent being actually was speaking through the serpent.

The Bible begins with a woman and a serpent, but in Revelation 12 the vision at the end is of another woman, and by now the serpent has become a dragon, whose end is to be “cast down”,

And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.(Revelation 12:9)

Who is the serpent/dragon? The “old serpent” is none other than the Devil (literally “accuser”), Satan (Literally “enemy”), the former archangel named Lucifer. This is the one to whom the “seed of the woman” prophecy was directly addressed.

This prophecy came in the garden, at the meeting place of human failure and Divine wrath, where the sinners stand before the judge listening, trembling and awaiting sentencing.

It was in that very judgment pronounced upon the serpent, that a ray of hope and grace streamed through the gloom toward the guilty couple.

For Adam and Eve overheard, that there would come through the woman, a seed, who would one day deal a capitol blow to the serpent, and by implication undo all the damage he had wrought.

Paul would one day tell us by the Holy Spirit, that “where sin abounds, grace does much more abound”, thus any damage done to the human race by the sin of Adam, would be more than countered by a greater Adam, yea even the last Adam, Jesus Christ.

And in this prophecy God established from the beginning the rough outline of all of human history, yet He assured us in it of the ultimate outcome, the triumph of the seed of the woman over the serpent.

We would do well to take a little time to unpack this potent word, over the next few articles.

First of all however, it is significant to note that the answer is said to come through the woman, and not through Adam. The woman indeed was deceived by the serpent, however she is never made responsible for the fall by the LORD. Remember that Adam was there “with her” when she took the fruit.

He was the one who was given the commission by God. He was the one who had received the word directly from God, he stood there listening to that Word misrepresented and twisted and did nothing about it! To Adam was vouchsafed the entire human race, when he fell, we fell, for all of us were “in Adam” and not “in Eve”.

Thus Adam’s sin is of vastly greater consequences.

Through the Woman would come a seed, who would undo the damage. In childbearing the human race shall be saved, for a child will come, through the woman exclusively, and not through the man, who would be able to reverse the curse! Hallelujah!

No wonder we sing the carol with such gladness , wonder and with tears streaming down our faces,

O little town of Bethlehem, How still we see thee lie! Above thy deep and dreamless sleep The silent stars go by; Yet in thy dark streets shineth The everlasting Light; The hopes and fears of all the years Are met in thee tonight.

How silently, how silently, The wondrous gift is given! So God imparts to human hearts The blessings of his heaven. No ear may hear his coming, But in this world of sin, Where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Christ enters in…

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,(Galatians 4:4)

For unto us a child is born and unto us a son is given…(Isaiah 9:6)

[Obadiah]

Interesting thanks for posting.