Wednesday, March 22, 2006
God's Promises
God made a promise to Adam and Eve. He said that if they ate of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil they would surely die. Did God keep His promise? Adam and Eve stayed alive long enough to make some clothing out of leaves and hide. They stayed alive long enough to be evicted from the garden. Adam lived to be over 900 years old. Did they surely die. They did. They died spiritually, in that they were separated from God, and they eventually died physically. God kept His end of the bargain. He always does.
God did do something special, though. He clothed Adam and Eve with animal skins. Those animals had to die for that to take place. We do not know the details of this event, but I am pretty sure that this was also the first institution of blood sacrifices for sins. At any rate, something else had to die, for their nakedness to be covered. This is an important biblical point. Substitution is this act of changing places. The fact that animals were used can be a bit complex, but quite simply, the animal sacrifice was a picture and a promise. This picture and promise would be used for many years, and God would elaborate on that for some time.
God's first elaboration was with the introduction of the term "seed," in particular the "seed of the woman." "And Jehovah God said to the serpent, Because you have done this you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every animal of the field. You shall go upon your belly, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He will bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel" (Gen. 3:14-15 MKJV). What exactly was God talking about? He was promising that someone would come along in the future (as a part of the human race) to "bruise the serpent's head." This promise, so vague at this point, is the central course of biblical history. God now shows how that He brings this about. I also notice (for which reason I included verse 14) that God was actually speaking to the serpent at this point.
However, Adam and Eve could take great hope in the fact that God was promising not to let the sin nor the serpent win in the end. God was also illustrating that ultimately, non-humans cannot deal with human problems. Despite the hope of the animal sacrifices, Adam and Eve still had sin in their lives, they still had to die. But, this promise spoken to the serpent gave great hope to them because they could be assured of a future victory. God did not fill in great details, but He gave them a great promise. This is God's true answer to sin, a Savior.
Who that Savior is remains to be seen, but once again, the biblical history is setting the stage and arguing for God's character. The record argues that God is faithful; He keeps His Word. The record argues that God is sovereign (and not chaos or Satan or man). The record argues that God is righteous, in that He cannot leave sin un-judged. The record argues that God is good and loving, because He dealt with the sin in such a way that man could be saved out of that sin rather than be destroyed in that sin. The record argues that only God's way is the right way. The record argues that ultimately, God wins, no matter how complex sin gets between devils and men and rebellion.
God did do something special, though. He clothed Adam and Eve with animal skins. Those animals had to die for that to take place. We do not know the details of this event, but I am pretty sure that this was also the first institution of blood sacrifices for sins. At any rate, something else had to die, for their nakedness to be covered. This is an important biblical point. Substitution is this act of changing places. The fact that animals were used can be a bit complex, but quite simply, the animal sacrifice was a picture and a promise. This picture and promise would be used for many years, and God would elaborate on that for some time.
God's first elaboration was with the introduction of the term "seed," in particular the "seed of the woman." "And Jehovah God said to the serpent, Because you have done this you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every animal of the field. You shall go upon your belly, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He will bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel" (Gen. 3:14-15 MKJV). What exactly was God talking about? He was promising that someone would come along in the future (as a part of the human race) to "bruise the serpent's head." This promise, so vague at this point, is the central course of biblical history. God now shows how that He brings this about. I also notice (for which reason I included verse 14) that God was actually speaking to the serpent at this point.
However, Adam and Eve could take great hope in the fact that God was promising not to let the sin nor the serpent win in the end. God was also illustrating that ultimately, non-humans cannot deal with human problems. Despite the hope of the animal sacrifices, Adam and Eve still had sin in their lives, they still had to die. But, this promise spoken to the serpent gave great hope to them because they could be assured of a future victory. God did not fill in great details, but He gave them a great promise. This is God's true answer to sin, a Savior.
Who that Savior is remains to be seen, but once again, the biblical history is setting the stage and arguing for God's character. The record argues that God is faithful; He keeps His Word. The record argues that God is sovereign (and not chaos or Satan or man). The record argues that God is righteous, in that He cannot leave sin un-judged. The record argues that God is good and loving, because He dealt with the sin in such a way that man could be saved out of that sin rather than be destroyed in that sin. The record argues that only God's way is the right way. The record argues that ultimately, God wins, no matter how complex sin gets between devils and men and rebellion.
