Types In Genesis Lesson Three - Seed of the Woman
An Apology on the Trinity, Virgin Birth, and Christmas
I noticed around the first of November this year that stores and shopping centers had already begun to anticipate the business transactions to take place during the Christmas holidays. I saw many kinds of Christmas decorations and gifts abounding in a grocery store when most people had not yet thought about the thanksgiving holiday. Christmas has become "materialized" to the point of taking Christ out of Christmas and added into the holidays are material wealth and individual pride. While we think of materialism many times by the phrase "Keeping up with the Joneses", that is, in reality, only an effect of the philosophy of materialism. The philosophy of materialism could actually be stated something like, "Nothing can be considered 'real' unless it is physical."
In reality this could be considered an evolutionary philosophy. The evolutionist medical doctor of the last century, Sir Arthur Keith, while writing about the human body, denied that men had souls, mainly because of his strong adherence to the same materialism that causes many Americans to believe that money is the most important thing in life. I think it is significant to point out that forgetting about the Christ whose birthday is supposed to be celebrated on Christmas leads to materialism, so taking the authority away from the first mentioning of Christ's miraculous birth (predictions or prophecies in the Old Testament) leads to complete denial of the faith.
Importance of the book of Genesis
No book in the world has been scoffed at, ridiculed, allegorized, anathematized, and even called a myth more than the first book of the Bible, the book of Genesis. The Bible as a whole, but the book of Genesis in particular needs to be understood and interpreted as historical fact. God went way out of His way by inspiring human authors, so that the language used would be understood by all people. In fact, if people distort the book of Genesis, and particularly the first eleven chapters of Genesis, they undermine the entire rest of the Bible. I am sure there are literally thousands upon thousands of Christians that do not realize what undermining of the faith a seemingly small compromise with liberal thinking actually does.
Henry Morris makes the statement, "No other book of the Bible is quoted as copiously or referred to so frequently, in other books of the Bible, as is Genesis." (Genesis Record, Pg. 21).
In the Old Testament, for example,
1. Adam is mentioned by name in the books of Deuteronomy, Job, and I Chronicles; and
2. Noah is mentioned in I Chronicles, Isaiah, and Ezekiel. Abraham is mentioned by name in fifteen books of the Old Testament, and eleven of the New.
3. Jacob is named in twenty books (other than Genesis) in the Old Testament, and in seventeen of the New Testament. In a special sense, every mention of the people or nation of Israel is an implicit acknowledgement of the foundational authority of Genesis, since Israel was the new name given to Jacob by God, and Israel's sons became the twelve tribes of Israel.
Apart from the book of Genesis, there is no explanation for Israel, nor consequently for all the rest of the Old Testament.
The New Testament is, if anything, even more dependant on Genesis than the Old Testament. These is at least 165 passages in Genesis that are either directly quoted, or clearly referred to in the New Testament. Many of these are alluded to more than once, so that there are at least two hundred quotations or allusions to Genesis in the New Testament.
It is also significant that the portion of Genesis which has been the object of the greatest attacks of skepticism and unbelief, the first eleven chapters, is the portion which had the greatest influence on the New Testament. Yet there exist over one hundred quotations or direct references to Genesis 1-11 in the New Testament.
Furthermore, every one of these eleven chapters is alluded to somewhere in the New Testament, and every one of the New Testament authors refers somewhere in his writings to Genesis 1-11. On at least 6 different occasions, Jesus Christ Himself quoted from or referred to something or someone in one of these chapters, including specific reference to each of the first seven chapters.
Furthermore, in not one of these many instances where the Old or New Testament refers to Genesis is there the slightest evidence that the writers regarded the events or personages as mere myths or allegories. To the contrary, they viewed Genesis as absolutely historical, true, and authoritative.
It is quite impossible, therefore, for one to reject the historicity and divine authority of the book of Genesis without undermining, and in effect, repudiating the authority of the whole Bible.
Look at his serious note: again from Henry Morris, "If the first Adam is only an allegory, then by all logic, so is the Second Adam. If man did not really fall into sin from his state of created innocency, then there is really no reason for him to need a Savior. If all things that exist can be accounted for by natural processes of evolution, there is no reason to look forward to the future supernatural consummation of all things. If Genesis is not true, then neither are the testimonies of the prophets and apostles, and Jesus Christ Himself becomes a false witness, either a deceiver, or one who is deceived, and His claims of omnipotence and omniscience becomes blasphemy. This makes faith in the glorious Gospel of Christ an empty mockery." (Genesis Record, Pg. 22)
The tri-unity of God It is also very common for the materialist today to try to destroy the foundation of any Christian culture that is left in the United States by ridiculing the fact that the Godhead is three and yet one. The doctrine of the Trinity- that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost are equally and eternally one true God, is difficult for the human finite mind to comprehend, and yet it is foundational to understanding God's plan for Christmas.
Skeptics will ridicule it as a mathematical impossibility with such nonsense as:
1 + 1 + 1 = 3 not 1
We will take time to show their ignorance in this matter, and demonstrate that this basic doctrine of Scripture is very realistic in both universal experience and in scientific understanding of the cosmos. Both Old and New Testaments teach both the Unity and the Trinity of the Godhead. The idea that there is one God, who created all things, is repeatedly emphasized in such Scriptures as this in Isaiah:
45:18 For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I [am] the LORD; and [there is] none else.
A New Testament example is found in James:
2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
The three persons of the Godhead are at the same time noted in such Scriptures as Isaiah 48 again:
48:16 Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there [am] I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me.
The speaker in this verse is obviously God, and yet here is God saying that He has been sent by both the Lord GOD, (the Father) and His Spirit (the Holy Spirit). In the New Testament, the Doctrine of the Trinity is given in such verses as the Gospel of John:
15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, [even] the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
Then we have the Great Commission:
28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
We have one name (God) - yet three names! That Jesus as the only begotten Son of God, actually claimed to be God, equal with the Father, is very clear in Scripture - for example in the book of Revelation:
1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
The Doctrine of the Trinity could be stated, "God is a tri-unity, with each Person of the Godhead equally and fully and eternally God. Each Person is necessary and each is distinct, and yet all three are One. The Father can be viewed as the unseen, omnipresent source of all being, manifested by the Son, and the believer experiences Him by the Holy Spirit. The Son proceeds from the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son.
A Sign of the Godhead
To the materialist, this might seem paradoxical, but the first chapter of Romans states that such a person, even without ever being saved, is a liar and has no excuse!
1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
1:19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed [it] unto them.
1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, [even] his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified [him] not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 1
1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
God's wrath is certainly revealed by materialists and others who seek to take Christ out of Christmas, and try to "explain away" the things of God. Please pay particular attention to the twentieth verse above, which states that anyone, even the ungodly, can see God's eternal power, and even His Godhead in His creation! In other words, there is a scientific model, by which the saved or the unsaved can understand the difficult parts of the Doctrine of the Trinity.
Space, Mass, and Time
For thousands of years, men have realized that the universe is a space-matter-time universe. "The common phenomena of universal experience are always related to just these three (space, matter, and time)- and no other - physical identities. The universe is actually a "continuum" of space, matter, and time, no one of which can have a meaningful existence without the other two".(The Biblical Basis for Modern Science, Pg. 59.).
What we observe with our senses through our finite minds is what scientists sometimes call the "phenomena of matter". Even though we live in the three entities (space, mass, time) of the cosmos, space and time is unintelligible to us without the phenomena of matter. Space appears like "nothing" unless there is some event of matter that we can see. (like a planet or comet, etc.) In order for matter to exist ,it must take up space, and the event must happen through time. We could say that the universe exists in space, is manifested by matter, and understood or experienced through time. In the same fashion, the Son is the physical embodiment of the invisible Father. This is why Jesus said, "If you have seen me, you have also seen the Father." Again, we can not make sense out of any phenomena of matter without the event happening through the entity of time. Again, time is "invisible", but its job is to interpret its other two entities, in the name of matter, so that they can be understood
or experienced by the human senses. In the same fashion, the Holy Spirit takes on the responsibility of interpreting the Father in the name of the Son, thereby "comforting" us. This is why the Baptism of the Holy Spirit enables a child of God to experience God, or actually "feel" His Spirit. This is also why the Holy Spirit does "lead us into all truth". We cannot have space without matter and time, they are three but yet only one universe - not polyverse. This is a very good "scientific model" by which we can understand the tri-unity of the Godhead.
God exists in three Persons, yet He is one God. The tremendous "power" of the universe has caused modern scientists to marvel.
Now it is easy to see the materialist were wrong with there silly equation, it should be:
1 x 1 x 1 = 1 * One God-Three Names
Creation shows God's Eternal Power The power that is unleashed by our sun (just one of many stars in the universe) is tremendous and causes among many other events hurricanes, tornadoes, and other weather phenomena on earth, as well as all the biological processes; yet the earth only uses an infinitesimal minuet amount of the sun's energy.
This massive storehouse of energy could be multiplied by the many stars(many of which are more massive), so that mankind can only marvel. The more mankind explores the cosmos by rocket or satellite, the more intricate and grand are God's reservoirs of power revealed to be. We must realize that the more we delve into God's storehouse of power that this is only in the scientific sense an "effect". Again, the Law of cause and effect is stated, "For every effect, there must be a sufficient cause." The eternal power of the Godhead, is superior to the storehouse of power in the universe because it was God who created the universe. No wonder the Psalmist declared:
19:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
19:2 Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
19:3 [There is] no speech nor language, [where] their voice is not heard.
19:4 Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, 1
9:5 Which [is] as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, [and] rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.
Virgin Birth
Ancient and modern skeptics have based much of their attack on Christianity on the Doctrine of the Virgin Birth. The reason, of course, is that the Virgin birth would not only take a biological miracle, but makes Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of the Father. The Bible does stress the Virgin birth both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, and is a very important and non-negotiable part of God's plan to show His love to His people by saving lost men. Immediately after man first sinned, God not only placed a curse on man and the earth in which he lived, but also gave the first promise of the coming Redeemer.
3:15 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.
In this very well known verse God is telling the snake two very important aspects of the result of sin:
1. There was to be two distinct "seeds"
A. seed of the serpent
B. Seed of the Woman
2. There was going to be a "battle of the seeds"
A. seed of the serpent will bruise the Seed of the woman's heel.
B. The triumphant Seed of the Woman will crush (literally) the head of the seed of the serpent.
This "battle of the seeds", is seen all through the Old Testament such as Cain killing Abel, Moses saved out of the Nile, etc., but none so obviously portrayed in Scripture as the time when all of the Jewish boys sentenced to death at the time of Christ's birth, and Joseph had to take his family to Egypt to save the baby Jesus' life. This verse also promises that this Redeemer, who would gain the victory over Satan, would be
of the woman's seed. All through the Bible and all through history, everybody else has been the seed of some man, never of the seed of the woman. Jesus did not have a sinful father, but was born of a Virgin. He was God in a man's body - a biological miracle. This prophecy was made crystal clear in the book of Isaiah:
7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
7:15 Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.
7:16 For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.
The Virgin obviously points to the "woman" of Genesis 3:15, and was very unique because it was a sign from the Lord Himself.
A sign of this type would not be necessary in any ordinary birth, and the Virgin was going to bring forth One who would be called Immanuel, which means "God with us".
The Hebrew word for "virgin" in Isaiah 7:14 occurs only six other times in the Bible. Although its exact meaning has been debated, its usage is always consistent with the meaning "virgin" and in some cases this is the only possible meaning.
The scholars who translated the Old Testament into the Greek Septuagint used the standard Greek word for "virgin" in translating Isaiah 7:14. So did Matthew when he quoted this prophecy (Matthew 1:23) as being fulfilled in the Virgin birth of Christ. Isaiah 9:6 speaks of the "child born" as One who is also "The Mighty God". Micah 5:2 says that the One who is born in Bethlehem would also be One "Whose goings forth have been from everlasting"!
All of these prophesies point to a miraculous birth.
1. It was promised that the coming Redeemer would be a descendant of Shem (Genesis 9:26),
2. then of Abraham (Genesis 22:18),
3. then Isaac (Genesis 26:4),
4. then Jacob (Genesis 28:14),
5. then Judah (Genesis 49:10),
6. and finally David (II Samuel 7:12,13).
The line from Judah proceeded from David to Coniah, but because of Coniah's wickedness, God said, "No man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of the house of Israel." (Jeremiah 33:17).
As always, the alleged contradictions and seeming paradoxes of the Bible are all understood to be in harmony with the rest of Scripture with more study.
Many modern scholars, ignorantly have ridiculed God's plan because the genealogies of Matthew 1:6-16 and that of Luke 3:23-31 seem to disagree.
The solution to this is in the fact that Matthew gives the legal and royal lineage from David through Solomon and Conias, also called Jechonias, through Joseph, the foster father of Jesus.
Luke gives the true biological line from David through Nathan to Heli, the father of Mary. To have the legal right to the throne of David, Jesus must be the legal son of Joseph, but He could not be the true son of Joseph because God's judgment on Coniah. He also had to be of the actual "seed of David" to occupy the throne.
How could this problem be resolved?
The only answer to this problem is the Virgin Birth or as stated in Genesis, the Seed of the Woman! Not only is the Virgin Birth true because it is clearly taught in the Bible, but also because it is the only type of birth that fits Jesus mission here on earth about 2,000 years ago, and God's eternal plan of salvation for His people.
Isn't it fitting that the One who performed the many miracles during His life here on earth, who offered Himself willingly on the cross for the sins of His adulterous people, and who then rose from the dead, foiling Satan's plan to destroy the Seed of the Woman again, should have such an entrance into this world as a Virgin Birth?
If He is our Savior, (which, of course, He is) then He must be more than a mere man, although He is, none the less, the Son of man. In order to die for our sins, He must be sinless Himself, (which, of course He is).
The "Seed of the Woman" was implanted in the virgin's womb as it is written in Luke chapter one:
1:35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
The first Christmas, which means "Christ-sent", climaxed the greatest event in all of history since the creation of the world, but this event and the resurrection following was not the end of God's plan.
If we were to take the time to read the book of Revelation chapter 12, we would see another vision of the Woman giving birth to a man child and of war in heaven and war on earth. Obviously this points to the ending of the age long "Battle of the Seeds" where Satan himself will loose the battle and be ultimately cast into the lake of fire.
This same Jesus who created the world in the first place, and humbled Himself to become a man, so that He could be the innocent substitute, thereby taking the death penalty for you and me, will return soon, to consummate God's plan of eternal marriage bliss with His people - who were tested and overcame. This Christmas season could be the "best yet" if every one that loves God would seek out someone trapped in the world view of materialism, to give them the Love story of the eternal Creator God, manifested by the virgin born Son, so that they could have the chance to be delivered from binding world views, and experience the power of God's Holy Spirit experience themselves. I'm intend on "spreading the wealth" this Christmas - How about you?