Day 01: The Promise of the Seed to Eve

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.’ (Gen 3:15 NKJV)

You start at the very beginning.

The children have complained that they are unable to sing and their tutor/guardian, Maria, begins to sing:

You start at the very beginning, it’s a very fine place to start.
When you read you begin with A,B,C,
When you sing you begin with doh, ray, me…

The Advent story of the coming into the world of the Son of God does not begin in Matthew or Luke. It begins in the ‘book of the beginnings’; we usually call it Genesis. In some parts of the world they don’t call it Genesis, they call it The First Book of Moses. I think that can be a helpful title. It reminds us that these are the writings of Moses that were created for a people who had become the ‘people of God’ through a unique covenant at Sinai. Up until that time God had related to individuals such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel, but in The Second Book of Moses (aka Exodus) we read the story of a people who were delivered from cruel bondage and who became God’s people, God’s nation, by Covenant. He revealed his character to them through the personal name of Jehovah/Yahweh who became known as ‘Jehovah, the God of Israel,’ a phrase used more than 200 times in the Old Testament.

The books of Moses are the biblical equivalent of A, B, C or doh, ray, me. They begin by introducing to the people of Israel the creator God, Elohim; The creator and lord of the universe. In Genesis chapter one he is un-named and is simply referred to as ‘god,’ Elohim. In chapter two, where relationship is the focus, he is named Jehovah/Yahweh. Moses is revealing to the people of Israel that their God, Jehovah, the God of Israel, is the one who created the universe. He is not a territorial or local god as their ancestors in Mesopotamia or Egypt might have known but he is…

’…God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth;’ (Gen 14:19 NKJV)

He is the God who entered into covenant with Abraham:

But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to the Jehovah/Yahweh, God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth…’” (Gen 14:22 NKJV)

He is described as Jehovah/Yahweh, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. At Sinai, he became ’Jehovah/Yahweh, the God of Israel.’

So Moses introduces his readers to Jehovah/Yahweh, the God of Israel, and he introduces the people of Israel. Without the First Book of Moses, the rest of the Old Testament scriptures would be incomprehensible. These five books introduce us to Jehovah/Yahweh and to the people of Israel. The first verse of the Second Book of Moses would make no sense at all without the First Book of Moses. Genesis is the beginning of the story of the human race and traces the drama of redemption. Genesis brings the record to the time of the Egyptian migration.

The thief

In the first chapters of the First Book of Moses, we read the record of a perfect creation; the first man and woman. We read that God/Elohim pronounced the couple, the crown of his creation; a creation that was ‘very good.’ But it didn’t remain ‘very good’ and the third chapter gives the record of an intruder into that paradise. The story is well known and easily accessible to any who would read it, but centuries later the apostle Paul added another dimension to the events of chapter three. He reveals the lasting significance of those events;

…through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned…’ (Rom 5:12 NKJV)

’Through one man…’ The word simply means a human being, but the subsequent verses show that Paul does have in mind a certain man, a male. Teachers, for centuries, have blamed the repercussions of this event on the woman, but Paul lays the blame at the feet of the man.

‘…Sin entered the world/cosmos.’ The human race became infected with something that the Bible describes as Sin. Sin then is older than the human race; it did not begin with Adam but with a spirit being that the Bible calls Satan or the devil. Christ described that spirit-being as a thief.

’The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.’ (John 10:10 NKJV)

Sin, in our world, began with Satan but it entered the human race through Adam’s disobedience. Human beings are capable of great acts of courage and kindness; they are also capable of Auschwitz. The race that crowned the creation and caused God to describe it as ‘very good’ Christ sometimes described as being the ‘children of your father, the devil.’

’You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.’ (John 8:44 NKJV)

…’ And thus death spread to all…’ None of us has escaped its contagion. Our world, our nature, our story have been infected by a cosmic vandal. The wonder is that God did not erase our race but had determined to redeem it. At the very moment of Adam’s disobedience and defection, God pronounced a sentence on the initiator of all the world’s sorrows.

Perpetual enmity and a decisive victory

’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.’ (Gen 3:15 NKJV)

Bible students sometimes call this verse the proto-evangelion; the first ‘good-news.’ This first promise of redemption introduces a theme that continues through the whole of the Bible; the theme of the Seed. Modern versions often opt for the word ‘descendant’ but the word ‘Seed’ carries the sense better in its later fulfillment.

This ‘first good-news’ is a Bible word-picture of Calvary; the climax of the ages. The collision of two forces, synchronized on a cross. Darkness covered the earth and hid from human eyes the promise that was being fulfilled. It was the collision of two ‘hours’ – his and ours.

’When I was with you daily in the temple, you did not try to seize Me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.’ (Luke 22:53 NKJV)

Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour But for this purpose I came to this hour.?” (John 12:27 NKJV)

The full horror of man’s rebellion was fully revealed at Calvary – and so was the heart of God.

’So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. (John 19:30 NKJV)

He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed. (Isa 53:5 NKJV)

This is the fulfillment, but the beginning is here in The First Book of Moses.