The Bible: One Bite at a Time Expository Sermon Series Notes Genesis to The Revelation Sid Galloway © 1999

Genesis 3:14-15 The First Messianic Prophecy (Seed Wars - His/story) The Seed of Satan vs. The Seed of a Virgin Woman

Audio Tape # 29   May 28, 2000         (Notes Updated May 29, 2000)

Review: (Gen 3)

Weekly Memory Verse - Genesis 3:15

The Text: Genesis 3:15 (Strong's #'s in parentheses)

And I will put enmity (342 eybah = hatred)
between you and the woman,
And between your seed (2233 zera = sperm, offspring) (see Genesis 38:9)
and her Seed (2233 zera = sperm, offspring);
He shall bruise (7779 shuwph = break, crush) your head,
And you shall bruise (7779 shuwph = break, crush) His heel.

Exposition and Commentary - (Gen 3:15)

The First Messianic Prophecy (Seed Wars)
The Seed of Satan vs. The Seed of a Virgin Woman

A. His/story Foretold: (God's Unified Field Theory of the Universe)

-The Bible's message of history (His/story - past, present, future) covering the origin, corruption, and correction of creation is man's only hope for a "unified field theory" that can explain all the laws of physics, chemistry, biology, cosmology, sociology, and psychology.
- The term "prophecy" means the proclaiming of God's Word, both forth-telling as well as fore-telling. A huge percentage of the Scripture, over one-third, foretells the future that God will sovereignly bring to pass.

B. The Bad News: Terminal entropy will progress toward the final day of judgment.

- Remember last week's sermon folks and the questions asked at the end:

Do you thankfully and gratefully respond to trials and suffering in life with humble submissive faith in God?
Or do you react with the Adamic attitudes that weep in self-pity crying,
"This is not fair, I deserve better."?
Or maybe you lash out in prideful bitterness, hissing through gnashed teeth,
"I can take care of myself."?

- Take your pick folks. It's either God's Way or the WILDerness.
Please learn from an ex-zookeeper of lions, tigers, and bears,
and repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand, and your enemy the Devil prowls about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. . . . . . .

C. The Good News: God has a plan to overcome man's problem and achieve God's purpose.

- Gen 3:15 is the first Biblical prophecy of a miraculous Messiah (Christ, anointed one) who would come and reverse the effects of Satan, sin, and separation from God.
- "enmity between you and the woman"
Snakes and ladies don't mix. In a graphically physical and visual way, fear and hate characterized not only Eve's new attitude toward the serpent, but women for the past 6,000 years.
- "between your seed and her seed".
The term "seed" can mean offspring in general, or male sperm. Both meanings help to paint the prophetic picture of God's plan. The subsequent generations of men and women to come through Adam and Eve will consist of followers of Lucifer (John 8:44) and followers of God (John 10). And yet this prophecie's use of the singular term "seed" (also seen in Gal 3:16) points to a future individual who would be the key to future events. This person would be the seed of a women, which is impossible since women do not have sperm. This veiled reference is the first hint of the miraculous nature of the coming Messiah, who would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14; 9:6).
* The term in Isa 7:14 can mean young women as well as virgin, but the LXX translation of the Old Testament used at the time of Jesus, as well as the New Testament, both use a term that emphasizes the meaning - "virgin" (see Mat 1:23 parthenos ). The NT then explicitly reveals that Messiah Jesus was conceived not of a human man, but of the Holy Spirit.
- "he shall crush your head, and you shall crush His heel"
This phrase puts the final stroke on the prophetic painting of His/story (History). The end of the story will be a battle in which Satan will wound the Messiah (the cross), but Messiah will destroy Satan (by His perfect life, submissive death, victorious resurrection, ascension, and second coming in glory and power - Isaiah 53).

1 Cor 15:20-28
20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. 24 Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. 25 For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. 27 For “He has put all things under His feet.” But when He says “all things are put under Him,” it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. 28 Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all."

- Beginning with this first Messianic prophecy, the Old Testament goes on to provide over 300 specific, prophetic proofs about the Messiah's entrance into space and time as a man, his life, death, resurrection, and his eternal, physical rule as the King of Jerusalem (the city of peace).
* Hebrews 11:1 says that "faith is the . . . evidence of things not seen".
* God in Isaiah 41-48 repeatedly proclaims that He will prove that the Bible is His Word and that He alone is our Creator and Redeemer. He says there that He will tell us about the ancient origins and the distant future through His prophets, and then bring it to pass in order to prove His Word originates from the One true God who transcend space and time (past, present, and future). No other religious material on earth claims 100% accuracy in hundreds of predictions of the future to demonstrate beyond reasonable doubt that its author is the God who transcends time and space.

Isaiah 44:6-7
" Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel,
... 'I am the First and I am the Last;
... And who can proclaim as I do? ...
... the things that are coming and shall come."

Why is it so dangerous for people to neglect the study of the Bible's prophecies?

- Bible prophecy reminds us that God Almighty is SOVEREIGN over space and time, that He is wise, and that He alone is good and worthy of our submissive trust.
- Bible prophecy is God's #1 way to prove His Word, all centered around Jesus.
- Without a comprehensive understanding of prophecy, believers are easily tempted to put their hope in and invest in wrong goals through wrong methods (such as dominionism, preterism, etc.). An accurate understanding of His-story is necessary for us to set proper priorities.
- Bible prophecy convicts unbelievers of their need for salvation, motivates believers to holy living, and gives us guaranteed hope.
- God is dishonored before the world when we fail to understand and cooperate with His plan. We become a hindrance not a help.

What is the process of interpreting prophecy accurately?
   (See our separate article on interpreting Scripture, including prophecy)

1. Normally: Interpret the prophetic passage just as you would any other piece of writing or normal conversation (= literally, objectively, consistently). [Remember that, all of us literal interpreters recognize that figurative symbols are used, such as John 1:28-29 where Jesus is called the "lamb" of God.]
2. Contextually: Determine if language is symbolic or metaphorical by the context, and determine its meaning also by the context (Three Contexts = Biblical, Historical, Futuristic)

Biblical = according to the meaning of the whole chapter, book, and Bible.
Historical = according to the uses of terms and phrases in the time in which they were written.
Futuristic = OK, I made this term up to refer to the struggle a prophet has in using his existing language to convey a vision or revelation God shows him of an event in the far future. For example, if a prophet is shown a vision of a war in modern times with tanks, helicopters, and jets, how is he going to describe what he sees?. He has no term for tank, or helicopter. He must use his own contemporary frame of reference. Yet his message still speaks of a literal war with real weapons.

3. Scripturally: (Interpret by comparing prophecy with prophecy, Scripture with Scripture).
4. Structurally: (Like a jigsaw puzzle, you must start with the framework, the edge pieces. For Scripture's time-line, the framework (skeletal structure) on which to hang the meat, consist of the four covenants - Abrahamic,Land, Davidic, New) Also the Mosaic constitution of Israel must be taken into account.
5. Split Fulfillments: (Messiah's first coming vs. His second - Isa 61:1-2 / Luke 4:16-21)
Note that in Luk 4, Jesus only reads the first have of a sentence of the Isa 61 prophecy and then closes the scroll. Why? He was only going to fulfill the first half during His first advent.
6. Double References: (Abomination of desolation = Both Antiocus Epiphanes of 175 BC, and the Anti-Christ, Dan 9:27; 11:31; 12:11; Mat 24)

Why is the normal-literal method of interpreting prophecies more faithful to the Bible than the allegorical , mystical method?

- I realize that those of us who believe a normal-literal method is best could be wrong. But to the best of my ability, after studying the evidence, I believe that it is the method that ensures the greatest degree of objectivity for exercising faithful exegesis and avoiding eisegesis. (Exegesis = to objectively draw the meaning out of God's Word only that which God put in it). (Eisegesis = to subjectively, though often unintentionally, to put into God's mouth the meanings and doctrines that we already want and believe).
- An example using normal conversation:
If you spoke to a friend and said, "I ate six biscuits with strawberry jelly for breakfast", you would expect the friend to interpret your sentence literally. In fact, you'd be a bit concerned if your friend kept trying to find some hidden, mystical meaning behind the words in your sentence. We must interpret literally in daily life, or communication then becomes meaningless and dangerously confusing.
- Normal / literal interpretation follows two simple, logical truths:

1. Jesus wants His sheep (normal folks) to understand His Scriptural revelation.
2. Thus He has presented His prophecies so that they can be understood according to normal rules of human language.

- Only when the context of the normal communcation clearly indicates a "figure of speech", should the terms and phrases be taken as symbolic of deeper meaning.
- For example, here in the swamps of south Louisiana we often say we had to fight off trillions of mosquitoes during a crawfish boil. Obviously the use of "trillions" is a figure of speech (hyperbole). Another example is when folks up north say, "I'm freezing". They don't mean they actually have a temperature of 32 degrees F.. Yet they are talking about being literally cold.
- Literal truths are conveyed even by figurative statements or pictures. When Jesus is call the "lamb", the "door", the "vine", these symbols are still speaking of a literal person. The symbols are used because a picture speaks a thousand words. They graphically convey specific truths about the literal person of Jesus.
- Consistency is a crucial part of the science of interpretation (hermeneutics). Those who reject the literal / normal method are often inconsistent in their interpretations as a result.
For example, some of them will interpret the Angel Gabriel's message to Mary about giving birth to Jesus inconsitently. They accept that the part of the message about a virgin birth is to be interpreted literally, but then they say the second part about Jesus ruling on David's throne over the nation of Israel is symbolic and figurative. Yet there is nothing in the text to support this shift in method.

Why do some teachers use an allegorical method? (Roman Catholics, Amillennialists, Post-millennialists, preterists, etc..)

1. Ignorance - for some it is due to a lack of comprehensive, exhaustive, and systematic study of the Bible's prophetic texts. Understanding prophecy is like putting together a very large jigsaw puzzle. It's not hard, it just takes a lot of patient time and systematic effort. The good news is that God desires prophecy to be understood, so He gave us a verbally inspired (2 Tim 3:16; 2 Pe 1:19-21) written record of the prophecies in Scripture, and the Holy Spirit guides us in understanding them.
** When I've compared the writings of the most respected scholars from differing interpretive camps (MacArthur, Pentecost, Benware - vs - Sproul, Gentry, Adams, etc.), it is clear that the preterists, amills, and post-mills, do not have as comprehensive a knowledge of Biblical prophecy as do the premillennialists. And when the task at hand is a large jigsaw puzzle, it is essential to know all of your pieces well.
2. Rebellion - for some it is a refusal to accept God's plan for history (His/story), especially His plan for the nation of Israel as a group distinct from the church. Human nature tends to perceive history and the Scripture through self-focused lenses. It is hard to accept that some other people, nation, or group, might be chosen as God's lead characters in His Story. The Roman Catholic crusades and the Jihads of Islam are prime examples of the fruit that grows from this natural root.

How does the cross fit into the Gen 3:15 prophecy and into our personal lives:

The cross is the key to understanding the whole of history (His/story), and the heart of Gen 3:15. At the cross, Jesus' perfect submission to the Father, and His substitutionary death, paradoxically accomplished the prophesied victory over Satan, sin, and terminal entropy. All of the Old Testament looks forward to that event, and all of the New Testament is anchored to it as well.
John 3:13-18 [Jesus said]  “No one has ascended to heaven but He who came own from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."
The Holy Bible, New King James Version