10-13-19 – There are no sermon notes because we have a guest speaker. The “Overwhelming” series will continue next week.
10-6-19 Sermon Notes
“Overwhelming – Seed of Woman”Genesis 3:15 and Galatians 4:4
Last week, we concluded our study of the Lord’s Prayer. This week, we begin an eleven-week series entitled “Overwhelming” focusing on the prophetic proof of the Messiah.
Introduction
A Statistical Improbability
Some Bible scholars suggest there are more than 300 prophetic Scriptures completed in the life of Jesus. Circumstances such as his birthplace, lineage, and method of execution were beyond His control and could not have been accidentally or deliberately fulfilled.
In the book Science Speaks, Peter Stoner and Robert Newman discuss the statistical improbability of one man, whether accidentally or deliberately, fulfilling just eight of the prophecies Jesus fulfilled. The chance of this happening, they say, is 1 in 1017 power. Stoner gives an illustration that helps visualize the magnitude of such odds:
Suppose that we take this mathematical formula and lay that number of silver dollars on the state of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the present time, providing they wrote using their own wisdom.
The mathematical improbability of 300, or 44, or even just eight fulfilled prophesies of Jesus stands as evidence to his messiahship.
Read Genesis 3:15 – New International Version (NIV)
15 “And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
Message
This verse is the first hope of God’s plan to defeat evil and restore His relationship with people. It predicts the full victory of God over Satan. It is the prophecy of a spiritual conflict between the woman’s offspring (i.e., the Lord Jesus Christ) and Satan’s evil forces. God promised that Christ would be born of a woman (Isaiah 7:14) and would be “struck” by His unjust death on the cross. Yet, He would rise from the dead to completely “crush” Satan, sin, and death in order to save the human race.
The person spoken of in this verse is called the offspring of the woman, and not of the man which can agree with no other than the Messiah, who was to be born of a virgin, which was afterwards more clearly revealed by Isaiah 7:14(“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel”). This was fulfilled in Jesus, who was truly the offspring of the woman and of her only, being made of a woman and not begotten by man. He was conceived in the womb of the virgin by the power of the Holy Spirit.
God was the one talking in this verse. He was speaking to the serpent who deceived Eve and led them, including Adam, to sin.Revelation 12:9 identifies who this serpent was. It was no other than the Devil and Satan.
God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat of the forbidden fruit. However, because of the craftiness of Satan, sin has entered into mankind.
So let us examine this vital biblical prophecy and take a look at future victory promised to all the followers of Christ.
The enmity between Satan and the children of God
After cursing the serpent, God went on to say, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman.” What does enmity mean? It came from the Hebrew word, eybah, which means “hostility or hatred”.
So God put hostility or hatred between Satan and the woman. It is worth noting that Satan presented himself to Eve as a friend. He had convinced Eve that he was someone that she could trust. Eve believed Satan to the point that she trusted Satan more than God.
Even if we talk about the literal meaning of this verse, we can see the fulfillment of this prophecy. Serpents or snakes are among the most hated and despised animals around the world. Women, especially, hate and are afraid of snakes.
So whoever does not do the commandments of God, he is a seed of the Devil. This prophecy has been given thousands of years ago and yet, we can see how enormous the enmity between the seed of the Devil and the children of God.
What will happen to Christ? The verse says that the ‘offspring’ will bruise the serpent’s (Satan) head, and the serpent (Satan) will bruise His (Jesus’) heel.”
Though the serpent will be able to bruise the heel of Christ through crucifixion, this is not as fatal as the injury he will receive in his head. The word bruise here can be translated as “wound”, “crush”, “attack”, or “strike”.
The NIV translation rendered this verse as “He will CRUSH your head, and you will strike his heel.” Snakes always stay low so they usually hit the bottom part of our body. The serpent was only able to strike the heel, which in comparison, is very MINOR to what Christ will do to him. Christ will CRUSH the serpent’s head.
This symbolizes the ultimate and complete defeat of Satan. Revelation 20:10 reveals what the final fate of Satan will:
“THE DEVIL, WHO DECEIVED THEM, WAS CAST INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE AND BRIMSTONE where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
Read Galatians 4:4 – New International Version (NIV)
4 “But when the set time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman,…….”
Now you say, what does this verse have in common with Genesis 3:15?
Here you have a single verse that points directly back to the Genesis verse. “…God sent His Son, born of a woman,…..”
So, what does it mean that God sent Jesus in the “fullness of time?” Why did God send Jesus when He did? Why not earlier? Why not later?”
Without going into great detail, suffice it to say that conditions were ‘ripe’ for His arrival. Among them are the following:
- Great anticipation of Messiah’s appearance
- The known world was unified under Rome
- Road system in place
- Common form of Greek language throughout the Roman Empire
The timing of Christ’s incarnation was such that the people of that time were prepared for His coming. The people of every century since then have more than sufficient evidence that Jesus was indeed the promised Messiah through His fulfillment of the Scriptures that pictured and prophesied His coming in great detail.
Concluding Remarks and Application
We will see in the coming weeks more prophecies and their fulfillment. Some of them are: descendant of David (2 Samuel 7), details of suffering (Psalm 22), place of birth (Micah 5:2), and the virgin birth (Isaiah 7:1-4).
The end result of this series is for each of us to have even more confidence in the truth and hope that we have in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.