Participants: Pastor Stephen Bohr
Series Code: CGC
Program Code: CGC000003S
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01:14 Shall we bow our heads for prayer?
01:16 Father in Heaven, we thank You once again for the privilege 01:20 of being here to study Your Holy Word. 01:24 We ask for the guidance of Your Holy Spirit as we open 01:28 to the book of Genesis. 01:30 Help us to understand the great issues that are brought forth 01:35 in this wonderful book, and we thank You for hearing our prayer 01:39 for the ask it in Jesus' name, Amen. 01:43 We're going to begin our study in our lecture today 01:49 at the place where we ended in our last lecture. 01:53 Genesis 3:15, Genesis 3:15. 02:01 Now for those of you who were not here for the previous 02:04 lecture, I recommend that you get a copy of the hard copy 02:10 as you go out this evening, because you'll be able to review 02:14 all of the details from our last lecture. 02:16 But basically what we studied is that Adam and Eve sinned 02:21 and gave up their position of dominion over the earth. 02:26 And, of course, God pronounced upon them the sentence of death. 02:30 But we found that God came down to the Garden of Eden 02:35 and He made that wonderful promise to Adam and Eve 02:39 as they were listening to God speak to the serpent. 02:42 And those words of God to the serpent were God's declaration 02:47 of war, and they're found in Genesis 3:15. 02:53 God is speaking here to the serpent. 03:12 Three kinds of enmity: between the serpent and the woman, 03:18 between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman, 03:23 and between the seed of the woman and the serpent. 03:27 The enmity runs, in other words, in three directions. 03:32 But the real enmity is between the seed of the woman, 03:36 and the serpent, because the last part of the verse says, 03:40 He, the Seed of the woman, will crush your head, serpent, 03:47 and you are going to wound, you're going to hurt His heel. 03:52 In other words, God is saying, I'm going to send a Seed 03:56 to the world, and He's going to do battle with you. 03:58 In the process of the battle you're going to hurt Him, 04:01 but by hurting Him, His foot is going to come down on your head 04:07 and it is going to crush your head. 04:10 He's going to eliminate you. 04:13 He's going to destroy you. 04:14 Now when Satan heard those words he trembled, he shook, 04:22 and he made up his mind from that point on that he was not 04:26 going to allow that Seed to come to the world. 04:30 And the first example of this we find in Genesis 4:25. 04:40 We all know the story of Cain and Abel probably. 04:44 The Bible tells us that Cain arose and he killed his brother. 04:51 Now the question is, was it really Cain who wanted Abel 04:56 dead, or was there someone behind the scenes 05:00 who wanted Abel dead? 05:02 The fact is 1 John 3:12, I'll just refer to it, says: 05:14 Notice that this text says that Cain was of the wicked one. 05:19 In other words, Cain did not act alone. 05:22 The wicked one was behind him, instigating him to kill Abel. 05:27 Now the question is, why would Satan want Abel dead? 05:34 Because God had promised in Genesis 3:15 that He was 05:38 going to send a Seed to the world to do battle with him, 05:44 and He was going to crush his head. 05:47 And so the devil is thinking, maybe this Abel is the promised 05:53 Seed, or perhaps the promised Seed is going to come from him, 05:56 so I'm going to nip this in the bud. 05:58 And so he influences Cain to kill his brother Abel. 06:05 So when Abel dies the devil says, mission accomplished; 06:10 no more Seed, because Cain is mine and Abel is dead. 06:16 But in Genesis 4:25 we find that God's plan was not 06:22 frustrated. It says there: 06:34 And then she explains why she called him Seth. 06:36 Seth means substitute, or one who takes the place of. 06:41 She says this: 06:55 God has given me another seed. 06:57 Notice that key word that we find in Genesis 3:15. 07:02 The Seed will crush your head. 07:06 The devil gets rid of Abel, by using Cain, and God says, 07:10 I will give Eve another seed. 07:14 So God's plan was not thwarted. 07:18 The devil's first method for trying to keep the Seed 07:21 from coming is by trying to directly kill the Seed. 07:26 And we find this clearly in the story of Cain and Abel. 07:30 You'll notice that the same elements of Genesis 3:15 07:33 are found in the story of Cain and Abel. 07:36 You have a woman, who is Eve; you have a serpent, 07:41 because Cain is of the wicked one; you have two seeds, 07:46 which is Cain and Abel; and you also have enmity between 07:52 the two seeds. And so the first example of Genesis 3:15 07:56 is the story of Cain and Abel, although we know now that Abel 08:01 was not specifically the promised Seed. 08:04 The Seed would come later on from Abel. 08:07 And so the devil learns that God is not expecting any of these 08:13 preliminary seeds to crush his head, but that what God is doing 08:20 is that He's preparing a Holy line, or a lineage from which 08:24 eventually the Seed will come. 08:27 And so the devil says, now I'm going to go to plan B. 08:31 It does me no good to kill the seed, because I kill one seed 08:36 and God introduces another. 08:38 So he says, I'm going to go to the second method; 08:42 the second plan. And we find that in Genesis 6:1, 2, 08:48 Genesis 6:1, 2, verses that we're going to study later on 08:53 when we deal with the flood in the days of Noah. It says: 09:16 Notice here that it speaks about marital relationships between 09:22 the sons of God and the daughters of men. 09:25 Now I want you to notice before I answer who is the group 09:30 referred to as the sons of God, and which is the group referred 09:33 to as the daughters of men? 09:35 I'd like to read verse 5, which shows the results of these 09:39 unions of the sons of God with the daughters of men. 09:43 It says in Genesis 6:5: 09:57 This evil came as a result of the relationship between the 10:03 sons of God and the daughters of men; the sons of God going 10:07 in to the daughters of men, which is an expression in the 10:09 Old Testament which means to have sexual relations with. 10:13 In other words, the sons of God entered into marital 10:17 relationships with the daughters of men. 10:19 Now the question is, who are the sons of God, 10:21 and who are the daughters of men? 10:23 The best answer is by looking at the context. 10:26 You look at Genesis 4 and you have the genealogy of Cain, 10:32 the wicked one. And it's interesting that in the 10:35 genealogy of Cain you have three women mentioned. 10:40 And then in Genesis 5 you have the genealogy of Seth. 10:44 That is the genealogy of the righteous. 10:47 So in Genesis 4 you have the genealogy of Cain. 10:51 In Genesis 5 you have the genealogy of Seth. 10:54 And in Genesis 6 you have the sons of God and the daughters 10:59 of men. In other words, these marriages were actually 11:02 marriages between the seed of Cain, and the Seed of the woman: 11:09 The Seed of Abel, the Seed of Seth, the good and righteous 11:16 seed. When the righteous and the wicked began to mix together 11:21 the world became corrupted. 11:24 Now let me ask you, how many people do you think lived in 11:27 this world the day before the flood? 11:29 A hundred, a thousand, how about five thousand? 11:36 Anybody give me ten thousand? 11:38 Let me give you some statistics. 11:41 Between creation and the flood 1,656 years transpired; 11:50 in a world where there was no scarcity of natural resources, 11:57 because most of the effect upon the natural resources came 12:00 as a result of the flood; in a world where men lived to be 12:07 almost 1,000 years old. 12:11 How many children can a 1,000 year old man have? 12:14 Actually, the oldest was 969. 12:17 In a world where God had told man and woman, 12:22 be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 12:25 And in Genesis 6 it says that the whole earth was filled 12:29 with violence. In other words, the whole earth was populated. 12:31 And yet here's the terrifying thought: of the millions of 12:37 people that no doubt lived on Planet Earth before the flood, 12:42 only eight remained faithful to God. 12:48 And Genesis says that there was particularly one: 12:51 Noah was righteous in the eyes of the Lord. 12:55 What would have happened if God had allowed history to continue 13:00 without the flood intervening? 13:03 The human race would have become totally corrupted, 13:08 and God would not have had anyone in a Holy line through 13:14 whom to bring the Messiah into the world. 13:18 In other words, the devil was using two plans: 13:21 Plan 1. try and kill the seed. 13:24 Plan 2. try to intermingle and mix the two seeds, 13:29 so that the genealogy of the righteous would lose its 13:34 identity. And if it lost its identity there could be no 13:38 promised seed coming from that lineage. 13:42 Now all throughout the Old Testament we find the devil 13:46 using these two methods. 13:48 These are his primary methods in trying to keep 13:52 the Seed from coming. 13:53 He uses Cain to kill Abel, so that the Seed can't come. 13:59 He mixes the sons of God with the daughters of men to make 14:04 the lineage disappear in its uniqueness, so that the Seed 14:08 cannot come. Now I'm going to take you through a tour of many 14:12 stories in the Old Testament that we need to look at through 14:17 the lenses of Genesis 3:15. 14:19 You see, in Genesis 3:15 God is saying to Satan, I'm going to 14:23 send you a Seed, and your very existence is at stake. 14:27 So do you think that the devil is going to make it priority 14:31 number one to keep the Seed from coming, 14:34 who's going to crush his head? 14:36 Obviously, yes. So we need to read the Old Testament with 14:40 enlightened eyes. We need to see in the background 14:45 this controversy between Satan, who is trying to keep the Seed 14:49 from coming, so his head won't be crushed, and God working 14:53 to bring the Seed into the world. 14:56 I'd like to take you to the time after the flood. 14:59 We're only going to study certain highlights; 15:01 the time after the flood. 15:02 Go with me to Genesis 10:1, Genesis 10:1. 15:10 Now we need to understand that Genesis 10 is chronologically 15:14 after Genesis 11. In other words, God gives chapter 10 15:19 all of the nations of the earth, and then in chapter 11 15:23 He explains how those nations came to exist. 15:25 Now notice Genesis 10:1. 15:42 Notice that Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 15:48 Now let's go to verse 20. 15:50 It says in verse 20 the following: 16:09 And that is said about each of the sons of Noah. 16:13 Nations, languages, cultures of the world, all came from 16:20 these three sons. Now if you go to Genesis 11 you'll discover 16:25 something very interesting. 16:26 The Holy line continues through Shem, one of the sons of Noah. 16:34 The other two sons, Ham and Japheth, continue the unholy 16:43 line, if we could say. 16:45 In fact, if you look at the nations that came from Ham, 16:50 and Japheth, you'll discover that these were the very nations 16:54 that later tried to destroy Israel. 16:58 Allow me to just mention some of the nations that came from 17:02 Japheth. You have Magog. 17:05 By the way, it's mentioned in Revelation 20 as a great enemy 17:08 of God's people. You have the Medes coming also from Japheth. 17:14 You have Greece. It's called Javen. 17:17 You have Tyre, an arch-enemy of Israel. 17:21 And you have Rome mentioned also as one of those 17:26 who descended from Japheth. 17:28 Now how about Ham? You have Egypt coming from Ham. 17:33 You have Assyria, which destroyed the ten tribes 17:37 of the North in Israel; destroyed Samaria in the year 17:41 722. Babylon came from Ham. 17:46 The Canaanites came from Ham. 17:48 The Philistines; in other words, all of these nations which later 17:53 became enemies of Israel, and frequently tried to destroy 17:57 Israel, came from Ham, and from Japheth. 18:01 They were trying to destroy the Shemites. 18:06 We call them Semites today. 18:08 And so in Genesis 10 we already find in two of the sons of Noah, 18:14 the devil from them, forming the nations through which he is 18:20 going to try and destroy Israel. 18:23 Now there's a fundamental misunderstanding, 18:26 and that is that the devil hated Israel. 18:29 But the devil, you know, he wanted to get rid of Israel. 18:33 But the fact is, folks, that the battle of Satan against Israel 18:38 is not because the devil hates Israel, it's because the devil 18:43 hates Israel's Messiah, because God had promised that from this 18:48 lineage the Messiah would come. 18:50 And so, when the devil is trying to blend Israel 18:54 with the nations, to cause them to lose their identity, 18:56 when he tries to destroy Israel, we're going to notice several 19:00 examples from the Bible. 19:01 The devil is not focused primarily against Israel. 19:05 Attacking Israel, and trying to destroy Israel is the way 19:10 in which He can cut off the Holy line and keep the Messiah 19:15 from coming. Are you following what I'm saying? 19:17 This is the way we need to read it. 19:19 Everything the devil does in the Old Testament is to keep 19:23 the Seed from coming, because his very existence is at stake. 19:28 Now lets go to Genesis 11:4. 19:33 This is happening about 100 years after the flood. 19:57 Now we're going to study later on that their intention was 20:01 to establish what we call today a New World Order, 20:04 centered in their Capitol, which will unite all of humanity 20:09 in rebellion against God. 20:11 And when their plan failed the name which was given to that 20:17 place, according to verse 9, was Babel. 20:22 Have you ever heard of Babel before? 20:25 In the book of Revelation, the archenemy of God's people 20:29 is called what? Babylon. 20:33 Here you have the origin of Babylon. 20:35 You know, it's interesting that there where the Tower of Babel 20:40 was built, lived the family of a very well known man. 20:47 His name was Abraham. 20:50 He lived in the very place where these tower builders 20:54 had the intention of establishing a society 20:57 in rebellion against God. 20:59 In fact, the name of the individual who was the 21:03 ringleader in the building of the Tower of Babel was Nimrod. 21:07 And the name Nimrod means rebellion. 21:10 It was a rebellious endeavor. 21:12 And Abraham lived in that area in Ur of the Chaldees; 21:17 Caldia, it's ancient Babylon. 21:20 And we find that Abraham and his family were starting to be 21:25 defiled by the god's in that place. 21:29 Go with me to the book of Joshua; Joshua 24:2, 3, 21:36 Joshua 24:2, 3. I want you to notice what was happening 21:41 to Abraham and his family who lived there in this apostate 21:45 area known as Babel, or Babylon. It says: 22:04 That's the River Euphrates, incidentally. 22:07 And what was the problem? They what? 22:13 Were they becoming defiled by the god's of Babylon? 22:19 They most certainly were. 22:20 And it says in verse 3: 22:29 That is the River Euphrates. 22:35 ...It says here his descendents. 22:37 In the King James Version it says, his seed. 22:45 What was the problem there in Babel where they had planned 22:49 to form a society in rebellion against God? 22:52 The problem is that Abraham lived there. 22:55 And it says that he and his family were serving other gods. 23:00 But God had plans for Abraham. 23:03 He could not fulfill His plans for Abraham there in Babel, 23:07 in Ur. And so we're told here that God took Abraham out 23:13 of the place where they were serving other gods, 23:16 to take him to the land of Canaan. 23:18 And God had a special plan for Abraham. 23:20 God had to take him away so that he would not become defiled 23:23 with those nations. And eventually the Holy Seed, 23:26 which would come from Abraham, would disappear. 23:30 You see, God knew what the devil was trying to do, 23:32 so he took Abraham out, because God had plans to do something 23:37 very special with Abraham. 23:38 Let's notice what it is. 23:40 Genesis 12:1, Genesis 12:1, and then we'll jump down 23:46 to verse 3. It says: 23:52 Notice, God says, Get out of your country. 23:54 Get out of Babylon. 23:55 We're going to find in Revelation there's a call 23:57 to come out of Babylon in the end time. 24:02 Because his family was serving other god's, 24:04 we noticed in Joshua. 24:25 What plans did God have with Abraham? 24:27 He had plans that through Abraham all of the nations 24:31 of the earth would be blessed. 24:33 But now listen to what I'm going to say. 24:34 It wasn't Abraham who was going to bring the blessing. 24:38 It was the Seed of Abraham. 24:41 Abraham was the instrument to bring the Seed, eventually, 24:45 into the world. Notice what we find there in Genesis 22:18, 24:50 Genesis 22:18. We'll be studying Genesis 22 later on 24:57 in our seminar. God says to Abraham this: 25:11 Notice that in Genesis 12:3 God says, In you all the nations 25:17 of the earth will be blessed. 25:18 Here He explains that it is in the seed of Abraham that all 25:24 of the nations of the earth will be blessed. 25:26 You see, God was planning to bring the blessing 25:30 into the world through the seed of Abraham. 25:33 Now go with me to Galatians 3, and lets notice 25:38 who that seed is. Galatians 3, and we've read this verse 25:44 before. Verse 16, 3 verse 16. 25:48 It says there: Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises 25:55 made. He does not say, and to seeds, as of many, 26:02 but as of one. And to your Seed who is Christ. 26:08 Who was the Seed of Abraham through whom all of the nations 26:12 of the earth were going to be blessed? 26:14 It was Christ, according to the Apostle Paul. 26:18 In other words, God called Abraham out of Babylon, 26:22 out of Ur of the Chaldees, because he and his family were 26:25 becoming defiled with the gods there. 26:27 They were going to lose their identities. 26:30 Satan was doing the same thing as he did before the flood; 26:32 blending the two seeds. 26:34 So God took him out to Canaan, and He says, in your Seed all 26:39 of the nations of the earth will be blessed. 26:42 Now the devil knew that God had a special plan with Abraham, 26:46 and he knew that God had promised Abraham that He was 26:50 going to give him a Seed. 26:51 So now the devil says to Abraham, it's been many, many 26:55 years, and you don't have any seed. 26:59 Your wife can't even have any children. 27:02 And so the devil whispers in his ear, Abraham, maybe there's a 27:08 different plan that God is contemplating here. 27:10 Maybe you need to have children in a different fashion. 27:16 So the devil whispers in Sarah's ear. 27:19 Sarah, tell your husband to take the slave woman Hagar, 27:25 and perhaps the seed will come from Hagar. 27:30 Notice what we find in Genesis 16:2, Genesis 16:2. 27:36 It says there: 27:46 She blames the Lord, but it wasn't the Lord. 27:59 Do you think that was just the voice of Sarai? 28:02 Absolutely not, because you have Genesis 3:15 28:07 in the background. 28:08 Everything the devil does, he does with the intention 28:11 of keeping the Seed from coming, or destroying the Seed. 28:15 Now why is the birth of this child significant? 28:18 The name of the child that Abraham had with Sarai 28:22 was Ishmael. Do you know what Ishmael wanted to do with Isaac 28:27 when Isaac, the son of the promise was born? 28:30 He wanted to destroy him. 28:33 Who do you suppose was using Ishmael, whom he had convinced 28:38 Abraham and Sarai to have, to kill Isaac, 28:41 the son of the promise. 28:42 There's no doubt that the devil was the one who wanted Isaac 28:46 dead. And you say where does the Bible say that? 28:49 Well, in Galatians; in Galatians 4:29, Galatians 4:29 28:57 we find this reference to Ishmael. 29:01 It says there, in Galatians 4:29: 29:12 That is Ishmael. 29:22 What did the child of the flesh, Ishmael, do? 29:25 He persecuted the child who was born according to the Spirit. 29:30 Who was behind Ishmael? 29:33 It must have been Satan, because Satan was behind Cain, 29:37 wasn't he? in destroying Abel. 29:39 Satan is fighting for his own existence. 29:42 He's trying to keep the Seed from coming. 29:45 And then a little bit later on you have another birth, 29:49 actually two births, twins. 29:52 You have Jacob, and you have Esau. 29:56 Have you ever read the story of Esau and Jacob? 30:00 Whose character did Esau have? 30:04 Who was Esau like? Like God? 30:12 He took wives in Canaan. 30:15 When his father said, don't take wives, he said, 30:17 I will if I want to. 30:19 He sold his birthright for a plate of lentils. 30:24 He didn't consider the fact that he who had the birthright 30:27 would bring the Messiah into the world eventually. 30:29 He says, who cares when you're hungry. 30:31 And so he sold that for a plate of lentils. 30:34 And we're told in Genesis 27:41, Genesis 27:41: 31:00 Who do you suppose was behind the idea of using Eau to kill 31:06 his brother Jacob? There's no doubt whatsoever that the 31:10 devil knew that Jacob was going to play a very important role 31:16 in the plan of salvation that God was developing. 31:18 In fact, the twelfth from the twelve sons of Jacob was going 31:23 to come, the promised Seed specifically from Judah. 31:28 Now we move forward a little bit more to the days of Joseph. 31:32 And in our lecture tomorrow, we're going to study 31:37 a little bit more about this experience of Joseph, 31:40 because it's very, very interesting. 31:41 It has much to do with what we're talking about 31:44 this evening. I'm going to make a long story short. 31:48 But Joseph suffered many injustices. 31:54 Everything seemed to go wrong, and he was a good kid. 31:57 He was sold as a slave to Egypt. 32:00 Because he refused to commit adultery, he ended up in prison. 32:04 Anyone would have thought, why should I even bother 32:07 to serve God? Look what happens to those who serve God. 32:10 But he knew that God had a plan. 32:14 And, of course, the plan was eventually to become the 32:17 Prime Minister of Egypt, so that when seven years of plenty came 32:21 he could administrate and store the excess that the land 32:26 produced, so that when the seven years of famine came 32:30 society could survive. 32:33 Now at the end of the story Joseph reveals himself to his 32:38 brothers. And his brothers, they hug Joseph, and they say, 32:42 oh Joseph, we're so sorry for what we did. 32:45 Please forgive us! Do you know what Joseph says? 32:48 Go with me to Genesis 45, Genesis 45:5-7, 32:55 Genesis 45:5-7: Joseph says,... 33:27 And now notice verse 7. 33:41 Do you suppose that God knew that the devil was going to 33:44 cause those seven years of famine? 33:45 What was the devil's intention? 33:49 His intention was to starve Jacob and his family to death, 33:56 but God knowing it, sent Joseph beforehand down into Egypt 34:03 to make provision, as it says here, to preserve the posterity. 34:09 Other versions translate it, to preserve the Seed. 34:13 Do you see what's going on here in the background? 34:16 All of these events that are taking place are revealing 34:20 a plot that is taking place beyond history, behind history. 34:24 We only see external events, but when we know that God told 34:29 the devil, the Seed is going to come and He's going to crush 34:31 your head. We know that the devil says, I can't let the Seed 34:35 come. And so through all of these circumstances and events 34:39 the devil is trying to keep the Seed from coming. 34:43 Now there's so much more that we could say. 34:46 I'm not going to read all of the verses, but I'm going to give 34:49 you the concept. Notice Genesis 15:13, 14. 34:54 Moving on a little bit further, forward in history. 34:57 Genesis 15:13, 14. Here God is giving a prophecy to Abraham. 35:06 And it says there: 35:07 What is God saying? He's saying, Your people are going to be 35:36 taken down into a certain land. 35:38 We know that that was Egypt. 35:39 And at the end of 400 years, I am going to bring them out 35:44 of the land of Egypt. 35:46 And in other places He says, I'm going to take them to the land 35:49 of Canaan. Now isn't it interesting that God would 35:54 promise to take Israel out of Egypt and to Canaan? 35:58 Do you know that God had promised Abraham and his seed, 36:04 the land of Canaan? Many people today believe that the Jewish 36:10 nation owns the land of Israel by divine right. 36:13 But do you know, as we study the scripture, we discover 36:17 that the reason why God gave Abraham the land of Canaan, 36:22 and his seed the land of Canaan, is because God had plans for the 36:27 Messiah to be born in that land. 36:30 Was Jesus born in what was before the land of Canaan? 36:35 He most certainly was. 36:36 He was born in Bethlehem of Judea. 36:40 That used to be Canaan. 36:42 And so the devil, he heard that prophecy. 36:45 Four hundred years after that he's going to take them out. 36:47 He's going to lead them to Canaan. 36:49 Do you suppose the devil wanted them to go to Canaan, 36:51 where the Messiah was going to be born? Absolutely not. 36:54 So what did the devil do with Pharaoh? 36:58 Was it easy for Israel to leave Egypt? 37:03 It was a battle, a supernatural battle. 37:08 In fact, do you know that in Ezekiel 29:33, Pharaoh is called 37:12 the great dragon? 37:14 Pharaoh is called the great dragon, because he's the 37:18 dragon's seed, and Pharaoh is going to do everything in his 37:22 power to keep Israel from leaving Egypt. 37:25 Who do you suppose didn't want Israel to leave Egypt? 37:28 It wasn't Pharaoh alone, it was Satan, because Satan knew this 37:35 prophecy. He knew that if Israel went to the land of Canaan, 37:38 the promised Seed was going to be born there, because he had 37:41 seen God take Abraham out of Babel, out of Ur, to take him to 37:46 the land of Canaan. The devil knew that there was something 37:49 special which was going to happen in Canaan, and he was 37:52 not going to allow Israel to leave to go to Canaan. 37:56 Israel arrived at the borders of the promised land. 38:02 They sent out spies. 38:04 Ten of the spies came back with a bad report; 38:08 there were giants there. 38:09 We can't go in there. 38:10 Who do you suppose was the one who instilled in them this idea 38:15 that you can't go into the land of Canaan. 38:18 You're not strong enough. 38:19 Go back to Egypt. It wasn't God. 38:24 It wasn't their idea. 38:26 Whose idea was it? Who did not want them to go into 38:31 the land of Canaan? Satan. 38:34 And then forty years later they arrive at the borders of the 38:37 promised land again, about to enter the land of Canaan, 38:42 and you have the experience of Numbers 25. 38:46 And I'll just tell you something about it. 38:48 They're ready to go into the promised land and Balaam 38:52 is invited to curse Israel, and he can't curse Israel, 38:57 because Israel is in a good relationship with God. 38:59 And so finally Balaam tells Balak, the king, he says, 39:04 the only way that these people can ever be defeated is if 39:10 you corrupt them from inside. 39:12 You can't destroy them from outside, 39:15 because their relationship with God is right. 39:17 The only way you can do it is by corrupting them from inside. 39:21 Do you know what happened? 39:22 The idolatrous women of Moab came and enticed the children 39:28 of Israel, the men of Israel, to have illicit sexual relations, 39:32 and to practice idolatry and to worship the gods of Moab. 39:36 23,000 of the cream of Israel fell on the borders of the 39:42 promised land, because of the blending and the mixing 39:46 of the two seeds. Once again, behind the scenes is Satan 39:52 working to keep the Seed from coming, 39:55 God working to bring the Seed into the world. 39:59 Why do you suppose the nations of Canaan stood up against 40:02 Israel? They were not going to give Israel this land, 40:07 because something special was going to happen in that land. 40:10 Satan knew it, because God took Abraham to that land; 40:14 He took Israel to that land. 40:16 He says, I know the Seed is going to be born in that land. 40:19 And, by the way, do you know that Mount Moriah, 40:21 which is the place where Abraham took his son, Isaac, 40:24 and placed him on the altar. 40:26 Mount Moriah was the last place that David conquered 40:31 in establishing the city of Jerusalem. 40:34 The devil was not going to give up Mount Moriah without a fight, 40:38 because Mount Moriah is the very place where later on the temple 40:41 of Solomon was built. 40:43 We're going to discuss that later on. 40:45 And then, of course, we have the story of David. 40:48 Do you know that in 2 Samuel 7, 12 and 13, and I'm kind of going 40:53 a little bit fast here. 40:54 We can't read all of the verses. 40:55 You have them on the list. 40:57 I hope that you look them up, in the light of what we're 40:58 studying. God said that the throne of David 41:02 would be forever. God would give David a Seed 41:06 who would sit on His throne forever. 41:09 Now let me ask you, who was that Seed? 41:12 Luke 1:32, 33 tell us that that Seed, from the house of David, 41:19 was Jesus. Do you suppose the devil knew that the Messiah 41:25 was going to be a son of David? 41:26 Do you suppose he heard this promise that God made? 41:29 Of course he did. Why do you think David had so many 41:33 problems? For example, he's sitting in the palace playing 41:38 his harp for Saul twice, and Saul who is possessed by an 41:45 evil spirit the Bible says, took his spear and he hurled it 41:51 at David to nail him to the wall. 41:53 Whose idea was that? 41:54 Was that Saul's idea? 41:57 I don't think so. It was the evil spirit. 42:01 Who wanted to see David dead? Satan. 42:03 Why would he want David dead? 42:06 Because the Seed was going to come from whom? from David. 42:12 Then you can go to 1 Chronicles 21:1. 42:16 God had told David, don't you number Israel, 42:20 because your strength is in Me, not in numbers. 42:22 And it says there in 1 Chronicles 21:1 that Satan 42:28 enticed David to number Israel. 42:31 It was his intention that by numbering Israel, 42:35 God would destroy David, because the Seed was going to come 42:41 from David. And then, of course, you have the sad experience 42:45 of David and Bathsheba. 42:47 The idle mind is the devil's workshop. 42:53 The Bible says that David should have been out to war, 42:57 but he was idle in the palace. 42:58 Of course, he goes out; he sees this beautiful woman. 43:03 To make a long story short, commits adultery with her, 43:06 and then has her husband murdered in battle. 43:10 Do you know what the penalty in God's law in the Old Testament 43:15 under the theocracy, what was the punishment for adultery 43:18 and murder? The person was to be taken out and stoned. 43:22 Who do you suppose wanted David stoned? Satan! 43:28 You say, this idea of committing adultery and killing did not 43:33 merely come from David's mind. 43:35 There is one who wanted to destroy David. 43:39 Not because he hated David, but because he hated the Seed 43:44 who would come from David. 43:46 Are you catching the picture here? 43:48 All of the Old Testament must be seen within this framework 43:52 of Genesis 3:15, because it's a battle for self existence. 43:57 It's priority number one! 43:59 And then, of course, you have the story of Solomon. 44:02 You know, I have several verses here. 44:06 1 Kings 11:1-3 says that Solomon, you know, who was 44:10 the wisest man who ever lived, and he also became the most 44:12 foolish man who ever lived, because when he was a young 44:16 man he went astray from the Lord. 44:20 Do you know why he went astray? 44:22 Because, basically, he had a thousand wives. 44:25 And do you know where those wives were from? 44:29 You can read it in this passage in 1 Kings 11. 44:32 They were from the pagan nations which surrounded Israel. 44:36 Now why do you suppose the devil wanted Solomon to blend 44:42 with the women from other pagan nations? 44:45 Because he was hoping that Solomon would lose the identity 44:50 from whom the Seed would come, because Solomon was the son 44:55 of David. He was from the lineage of David, and the 44:58 Messiah was going to come from the lineage of Solomon. 45:01 I could give you so many other stories. 45:05 You have Senacrib the king of Assyria who comes and destroys 45:09 the ten kingdoms of the North, which is known as Israel. 45:12 Then he comes against Judah. 45:14 He's going to destroy Jerusalem and the Assyrians were known 45:17 for committing genocide. 45:19 I mean they didn't take any prisoners. 45:21 They uprooted whole nations. 45:23 And when they surrounded Jerusalem, 185,000 soldiers 45:30 ready to strike, the angel of the Lord came out 45:34 and in one night slew 185,000 soldiers, delivering Judah, 45:40 the two tribes of the South. 45:42 The devil was the one who led Israel to mix with the nations, 45:47 so that they would be expelled from the promised land 45:50 to Babylon. Have you ever noticed that? that because of 45:55 their sins, mixing with the nations, Israel was taken 46:00 captive to Babylon. 46:01 They were expelled from the land. 46:02 Do you know that God had told Moses in Deuteronomy 28 that 46:05 if they were unfaithful they would be expelled from the land. 46:08 And the devil was really happy when they were expelled 46:10 from the land because he knew the Messiah was going to be 46:12 born in the land. This is what the taking and the losing of 46:18 the land is all about. 46:19 It's not about Israel, it is about Israel's Messiah. 46:23 And then you have the story of Esther. 46:26 You have Esther 3:13 there. 46:29 It says that a man called Haman prepared a plot, and he worked 46:34 upon the mind of the king. It says: 46:43 in a certain day. I suppose the devil hates the Jews. 46:50 I believe he hates everybody. 46:52 But why would he want to uproot the Jewish nation 46:55 after the captivity? 46:56 Because he knew that from the Jews would come 47:00 the promised Seed. You see the Old Testament is seed centered. 47:04 It is not Israel centered. 47:07 Israel could not give the devil a death blow on his head. 47:11 The devil overcame them. 47:13 But there was One who could, and that was the Messiah, 47:17 Jesus Christ. Notice Ezra 9:2. 47:22 The devil was not only trying to destroy Israel after the 47:25 captivity, he was trying to do something else as well. 47:32 Ezra 9:2; Ezra is that little book right before Nehemiah. 47:38 I'm sure that helps you an awful lot. 47:40 It says here, after the captivity: 47:49 The nobles that is, those who had kingly blood. 48:08 What was the devil leading the nobles to do 48:10 after the captivity? 48:11 He was leading them to intermingle with the nations, 48:14 to miss, according to this, the Holy Seed. 48:18 And so all throughout the Old Testament Satan is working 48:24 by trying to kill the Seed, by trying to corrupt the Seed, 48:29 that is the lineage from whom the Seed will come. 48:33 The devil is trying to keep the prophecy of Genesis 3:15 48:37 from being fulfilled. 48:38 But we find that in the fullness of time God sent forth His Son, 48:46 born of a woman. The devil was not able to keep Him 48:51 from coming. When the moment came, the fullness of time came, 48:57 God sent His Son to this world. 49:00 And Matthew 1:1 tells us that He was the Seed of Abraham, 49:06 and He was the Seed of David. 49:08 By the way, don't you find it interesting that you have 49:12 in Genesis 11, you have the genealogy from the days of 49:17 Adam until the days of Noah. 49:18 In Genesis, that's Genesis 5, in Genesis 11 you have the 49:25 genealogy from the times of Shem, the son of Noah, 49:30 to the days of Abraham. 49:31 And in Matthew 1 you have the genealogy from the days of 49:35 Abraham till the times of Christ. 49:37 And after that genealogy you don't have anymore genealogies. 49:42 In fact, the Apostle Paul says, don't get caught up 49:46 in genealogies. They're not important anymore, 49:48 because the purpose for the genealogies was to trace 49:51 the Holy line of the Messiah. 49:53 And so Jesus was born; the Seed of Abraham. 49:58 The solitary Seed through whom all of the nations of the earth 50:03 were going to be what? were going to be blessed. 50:06 Did the devil know that He had been born? 50:08 Did the devil know where He was going to be born? 50:11 Oh yes, so the devil said, I wasn't able to keep Him from 50:16 coming. I wasn't able to destroy Israel. 50:19 I wasn't able to intermingle Israel with the nations to 50:22 lose their identity. 50:24 He has come! So what does the devil do when Jesus is born? 50:29 Go with me to Revelation 12, Revelation 12, and I want you to 50:34 notice verse 3. Revelation 12:3. 50:37 It says here: And another sign appeared in heaven; 50:42 behold a great fiery red dragon, having seven heads 50:47 and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 50:51 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven, and threw them 50:54 down to the earth:... (And now notice.) 51:08 Do you have the same elements here as Genesis 3:15? 51:11 Do you have a woman? Sure. 51:14 Do you have a Seed of the woman? Sure. 51:18 Do you have a dragon or a serpent? Yes. 51:22 Do you have enmity? You most certainly do. 51:26 This is the first fulfillment of Genesis 3:15 where it says He, 51:32 the Seed of the woman, will crush your head, 51:36 and you will bruise his heel. 51:39 In other words, Jesus is born into the world, and the devil 51:42 tries to nip Him in the bud; tries to destroy Him. 51:46 But we find in verse 5 that it tell us: 52:01 So the child escaped the hands of Satan. 52:06 In fact Jesus came to this world and He lived a perfect life. 52:10 The life that you and I should live. 52:12 When I receive Him, He gives me His life. 52:15 He credits His life to my account. 52:18 And then at the end of His life He died. 52:21 He died the death that I should die. 52:23 He died for my sins. 52:25 He never allowed Himself to be overcome by Satan. 52:28 In other words, He fulfilled the promise of Genesis 3:15. 52:34 He gave a death blow to the devil on his head. 52:38 And then Jesus went back to heaven. 52:41 Now the story doesn't end there, because when Jesus ascends back 52:48 to heaven, the devil says, now I have to take second best. 52:53 I wasn't able to defeat the Seed of the woman, and so now I'm 52:58 going to go after the woman. 53:00 And in Revelation 12:13, if you'll go with me there, 53:06 we find the devil persecuting the woman who brought the Seed 53:11 into the world. By the way, we're going to find that the 53:13 woman represents the church. 53:15 The woman represents the church. 53:18 In this case the Old Testament church brought Jesus 53:22 into the world, and then after Jesus ascends to the throne 53:25 the church continues and is persecuted by Satan. 53:28 Notice Revelation 12:13. It says here: 53:44 Does Genesis 3:15 say that there was going to be enmity between 53:49 the serpent and the woman? Yes. 53:53 Is that being described here in Revelation 12? enmity between 53:58 the serpent and the woman? Yes. 54:01 Is that the primary enmity? No. 54:04 The primary enmity is that the Seed of the woman is going to 54:08 crush the serpent's head. 54:09 That's enmity number one. 54:11 The enmity between the serpent and the woman is a secondary 54:16 enmity. Do you notice that in Revelation 12 you have that 54:19 exact idea, because it says that the Child is born 54:22 from the woman? The Child defeats the serpent, 54:25 and He's caught up to God to His throne. 54:27 Then the devil says, I wasn't able to defeat Him, so I'm going 54:31 after whom? I'm going after the woman. 54:33 And there you have the other type of enmity. 54:36 I'm going to go against the church, and that's the reason 54:39 why during the period of the Roman Empire you have these 54:43 savage persecutions against the church, the body of Christ. 54:46 During the Middle Ages you have a savage persecution also 54:50 against God's faithful followers. 54:52 Millions of them died in the period of the Middle Ages, 54:57 because now the devil was not able to destroy the Seed, Jesus, 55:01 so he has to take second best, the seeds, seed if you please. 55:07 Now lets go to Galatians 3 very quickly, and then we'll go to 55:12 our last verse, Revelation 12:17. 55:17 Galatians 3:27, Galatians 3:27. 55:22 This is a very, very important verse because it speaks about 55:28 the Seed's seed. You see, the only true Seed is whom? Jesus. 55:32 It doesn't say to seeds, as of many, but to Your Seed, b 55:37 which is One: Christ. 55:40 But now notice Galatians 3:27. 55:55 And now notice verse 29. 55:57 A very important verse. 56:02 How do we become Christ's? 56:03 We just read it in verse 27. 56:05 How do we become Christ's? 56:07 We become Christ's at baptism. And so it says: 56:24 So the question is, who is the Seed of Abraham today? 56:28 The Seed of Abraham is Christ. 56:31 But who else is the seed of Abraham? 56:34 Those who have accepted Jesus Christ. 56:38 Question, do you suppose the devil hates the church as much 56:41 as he hates Christ? Of course, because the church is the body 56:45 of Christ. So the final persecution is going to be 56:49 against Abraham's seed; Abraham's Spiritual Seed, 56:53 who have receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. 56:56 Final verse: Revelation 12:17. 57:00 It speaks about this final persecution. 57:02 And the four elements of Genesis 3:15 are here. 57:08 There you have the woman, the serpent. 57:12 There you have the enmity. 57:15 Actually it should say the remnant of her seed, who keep... |
Revised 2023-09-29