The Birth of Christ Predicted in Genesis

The Birth of Christ Predicted in Genesis
Gen. 3:1-15

One of the things that sets the Bible apart from all the other works of literature ever produced is its unity. The “unity” of the Bible is the term we use to describe the single theme that starts in Genesis and ends in Revelation. If you were to summarize the message of the Bible, what would you say? In other words, if you had the ability to boil it all down, even distill it, what would you come up with?

When I think about this theme, what I come up with is this. “Man, originally united with God, fell, and needs restoration to spend eternity with his creator.” That is about as simple as it gets. Every chapter of the Bible, every book in the Bible, relates directly to this theme. And my point is that this singleness of theme sets the Bible apart from all the other works of literature that man has produced.

Now, you may be thinking to yourself that this idea of a single theme really is no big deal, that there are lots of books that have been written that have the scope of the Bible and contain as much information as the Bible, yet they all have a single theme as well (cf. any book written by James Michner). But what sets the Bible apart from all these other works of literature is three things.

1) The number of human authors – over 40!

2) The diversity of background of these human authors – from the highly trained, highly intellectual (Moses, Paul, Luke) to the modestly educated, blue collar laborers (Peter); from royalty (David, Solomon) to obscure (Obadiah); and from clergy (Samuel and prophets) to laity (Amos). A great variety of men from different walks of life.

3) The time span involved in writing – roughly 1,600 years.
So the question is, “What is the probability that you can get 40 different guys, from all different walks of life, writing over the course of 1,600 years – and have every one of them contribute independently to the single theme that man, originally united with God, fell, and needs restoration to spend eternity with his creator?

It’s statistically impossible! For this to happen, there would have to be an external, overarching, supernatural influence guiding the whole process, which we know is what happened as the Holy Spirit filled the various men and enabled them to write the exact message God wanted to convey to His people. Or as Peter puts it in 2 Pt. 1:21 – “No prophecy (Scriptural writing) was ever made by an act of human will, [rather] men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

Now, as we think about the story line of the Bible, like most literature, it has a climax, or a high point. The narrative that starts in Genesis waxes and wanes, it swells and diminishes, it has its exciting parts as well as its dry parts. There are protagonists and antagonists and a variety of settings and points of view, but it is working towards a pinnacle. And for the Bible, that pinnacle is the birth of Jesus as recorded in Matthew and Luke (Mark and John don’t address the birth). The birth of Jesus is the pinnacle because it is Jesus who brings about man’s restoration. After that point, the story continues and finds its ultimate resolution in the book of Revelation with the judgment of Satan who is cast into the lake of fire, and the re-creation of the heavens and the earth.

This morning I want to show you the earliest stages of the development of this storyline (man, originally united with God, fell, and needs restoration to spend eternity with his creator), and we find three distinct prophecies about the birth of Jesus in the book of Genesis.

1. The Stage is Set – Gen. 3:1-15

8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?" 10 And he said, "I heard the sound of Thee in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself." 11 And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" 12 And the man said, "The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate." 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" And the woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." 14 And the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly shall you go, And dust shall you eat All the days of your life;15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel."

So here in the third chapter of the Bible we have the stage being set for a drama that will be played out for many years to come. Let me quickly draw your attention to the first three elements of the story.

a. Note first of all the human vs. non-human dimension of this conflict. In verse 15 we see God say that there was going to be “enmity between you [the serpent] and the woman.” Does that mean that for the rest of time that women are going to be afraid of snakes? No. This really isn’t about snakes. The Genesis account doesn’t tell us explicitly that Satan was filling the serpent, but we can conclude from the content of the conversation, and it is confirmed in later scriptures, that it was none other than Satan, a non-human created being who was opposed to God and God’s plans that was going after Eve. This idea is fleshed out by Paul in Eph. 6:12 when he says, “Our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the . . . spiritual [non-human, non-physical] forces of wickedness in heavenly places.”

b. Note secondly that there is an indeterminate timeframe. Verse 15 says that the enmity between these two factions was going to last longer than one generation, it was going to be carried on by the seed of the woman (a reference to all the generations that would follow her) and the seed of the serpent (a reference to all those other non-human created beings that rebelled against God and were cast out of heaven). But the text doesn’t tell us when this enmity will cease – there is an indeterminate time frame.

c. And note finally that humanity is the ultimate victor. We see this in the phrase in verse 15, “He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel." In other words, one of Eve’s male descendents (“he”) was going to inflict fatal damage to Satan. That is the significance of a head wound. But in doing so, Eve’s male descendent was going to suffer as well. But a wounded foot isn’t fatal like a wounded head is.

So to sum up this first point of the stage being set, here we see that even though Satan scored a huge victory right out of the gate, and that even though the conflict seems unfair in that it pits man against powerful spiritual beings, a time was coming some day in the future when Satan would receive a death blow from “the Man, Jesus Christ.” Rom. 5:15.

Now I’d like you to turn to Gen. 12:1-3 and let’s look at the second mention, and I’m calling this “the scope is revealed.” Once the stage is set and we know who the major players are and have a general idea of the time frame, God shows us how big this plan is and how one can get on board in the Abrahamic Covenant.

2. The Scope is Revealed – Gen. 12:1-3, 22:15-18

Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you; 2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." So Abraham went forth as the Lord had spoken to him.”

15 Then the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, 16 and said, "By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 "And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."

Very quickly, note some new dimensions of the story. First of all, a human family is identified. In 12:3, God makes a powerful promise in that “all the families of the earth will be blessed in you.” The “in you” is a reference to Abraham. The significance of this point is that from the time of Adam and Eve to the time of Abraham, humanity has really expanded. Now, instead of there being a single family (Adam and Eve), there are hundreds if not thousands of families. And so God narrows the field to the family of Abraham and promises him that the scope of this covenant is huge – it will affect all the families of the earth. So the human family is identified, but a global family will be blessed.

Secondly, we see the concept of faith is introduced. We see it in 12:1 where God simply tells Abraham to pack his bags and start travelling. God doesn’t reveal the destination to Abraham, He simply says, “get going.” In chapter 22, Abraham responds in faith to another command of God, this one much more significant than the first one as he is commanded to sacrifice his son, his only son. Again, Abraham responds in faith to the command of God, and the Apostle James tells us in James 2:21-23 “Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness," and he was called the friend of God.”

So in this second passage of Genesis that points us toward Christmas, we see the scope of the story. The final addition the book of Genesis gives us is found in Gen. 49:8-10. As you follow the genealogies of Genesis, after Abraham is chosen, he has two sons – Isaac and Ishmael. Isaac is chosen of God to carry on the covenant, and he has twins – Jacob and Esau. God chooses Jacob, the younger of the twins, to carry on the covenant, and Jacob ends up with 12 sons. At the end of Jacob’s life, he calls his sons in to bless them, and in chapter 49 we have those blessings. The blessing Jacob gives to Judah is found in verses 8 – 10, and the new element being added to the story is that sovereignty is revealed.

3. The Sovereign is Revealed– Gen. 49:8-10

8 "Judah, your brothers shall praise you; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father's sons shall bow down to you. 9 "Judah is a lion's whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, And as a lion, who dares rouse him up? 10 "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

The three things we see here are that first of all, another human family is identified. The covenant is going to be passed from Jacob to Judah. To use the wording of Gen. 3, the “seed” of the woman is now contained in Judah’s lineage. The second thing we see is the element of dominion being introduced. It is implied in verse 8 where his brothers are praising him and bowing down to him, but it is explicit in verse 10 where reference is made to a kingly instrument – the scepter. The scepter was the jeweled staff a king carried as a sign of his authority. This is why 640 years after this blessing, a young man from the tribe of Judah by the name of David became the King of Israel.

The significance of this point is that now our story takes on a new dimension of kingdom rule. This isn’t simply a one-on-one battle between the seed of man and the seed of the serpent, this isn’t simply a man blessing all the nations of the earth. This story line involves kingdoms, and dominion, and sovereignty, and obeisance. This dimension is referred to repeatedly in the gospels as Jesus emphasizes the importance of the kingdom of God. He tells Nicodemus that “unless a man is born again he won’t even see the kingdom of God.” Paul tells us that a day is coming when “every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

So the blessing that Jacob confers on Judah introduces us to the idea of sovereignty, but there is a phrase there we don’t want to overlook because it shows us the terminus of the promise. Note the little phrase, “until Shiloh comes.” “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes.” The word “Shiloh” means, “the one who brings peace.”

The point here is that the earthly rule of the tribe of Judah was going to come to an end when? When “the one who brings peace” comes. Who do you suppose that is? Right. It is Jesus. This is what Paul has in mind in Eph. 2:14 when he says – “He himself is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall.”

Isn’t it amazing to realize that 1,500 years before it actually happened, the birth of Jesus was predicted? In three different places here in the book of Genesis we see direct information alerting us to the possibility of man being restored to his place of union with his Creator. It was somewhat vague and shadowy in Gen. 3:15, but it took on more shape in Gen. 12 and 49. And what we are going to see next week is that as we get to the book of Numbers, and eventually into Isaiah, the predictions become more and more crystallized.

But what does all this mean for us today?

First of all, I want you to appreciate the unique nature of your Bible, and in particular, its unity.

Secondly, I want to appreciate your place in history. We are incredibly privileged to have a completed Bible, full revelation, and insight based on 2,000 years of biblical scholarship.

Thirdly, I want you to appreciate that we can go to the end of the story and see how it all turns out. God has not left us in the dark wondering how it will all end. We don’t live lives of suspense hoping that we are on the right side in this battle between the seed of Eve and the seed of the serpent.
And finally, I want you to really appreciate the significance of the birth of Jesus. What a tremendous event it was as God miraculously brought about the culmination of 1,500 years of prophesy.