Devotional - 98-12-19 - The Promise of the Redeemer

Encore from 98-01-03

Genesis 3:14-15 And Jehovah God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, cursed art thou above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

From this passage we see that the seed of the serpent (Satan) gives a minor injury to the seed of the woman (Christ) when compared with the smashing blow that is finaly dealt to Satan. The final outcome is that the seed of the woman shall be triumphant whereas the seed of the serpent shall go down in utter defeat. We can rest assured that the human family will ultimately be brought into a wonderful relationship with God -- greater than that which existed before the fall! To be in opposition to or believe otherwise would mean that Satan's deceitful will is superior to God's Holy righteous will. In the small classes I teach, I reflect on many related passages about this one verse. I search through the Bible citing passages and wind up at one in particular in Habbakuk, to show how the fundamental thought of a crushing blow to the serpent's head is played out as the Lord deals with the antichrist as seen by Habbakuk. I suggest the reader read the entire chapter of Habbakuk to see the splendor of Jesus coming.

Habbakuk chapter 3: God came from Teman, And the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, And the earth was full of his praise. And his brightness was as the light; He had rays coming forth from his hand; And before him went the pestilence, And fiery bolts went forth at his feet. He stood, and measured the earth; He beheld, and drove asunder the nations; And the eternal mountains were scattered; The everlasting hills did bow; His goings were as of old. I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction; The curtains of the land of Midian did tremble. Was Jehovah displeased with the rivers? Was thine anger against the rivers, Or thy wrath against the sea, That thou didst ride upon thy horses, Upon thy chariots of salvation? Thy bow was made quite bare; The oaths to the tribes were a sure word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers. The mountains saw thee, and were afraid; The tempest of waters passed by; The deep uttered its voice, And lifted up its hands on high. The sun and moon stood still in their habitation, At the light of thine arrows as they went, At the shining of thy glittering spear. Thou didst march though the land in indignation; Thou didst thresh the nations in anger. Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, For the salvation of thine anointed; Thou woundest the head out of the house of the wicked man, Laying bare the foundation even unto the neck. Selah. Thou didst pierce with his own staves the head of his warriors: They came as a whirlwind to scatter me; Their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly. Thou didst tread the sea with thy horses, The heap of mighty waters. I heard, and my body trembled, My lips quivered at the voice; Rottenness entereth into my bones, and I tremble in my place; Because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble, For the coming up of the people that invadeth us. For though the fig-tree shall not flourish, Neither shall fruit be in the vines; The labor of the olive shall fail, And the fields shall yield no food; The flock shall be cut off from the fold, And there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in Jehovah, I will joy in the God of my salvation. Jehovah, the Lord, is my strength; And he maketh my feet like hinds' feet, And will make me to walk upon my high places.

From the very beginning, God gave the power of propogating the human species to both man and woman. The sacred writers of the scriptures always spoke of the progeny as proceeding from the seed of the man -- never the woman. When the Lord spoke of the seed of the woman in this specific manner He could mean nothing else than there would one day be a person who was born of a woman but whose conception would have no connection with mortal man. All men and women from the beginning born through natural procreation (begotten by the father, born of the mother) inherit the sinful fallen nature of their parents.

Genesis 5:3 And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:

Seth bore the image and likeness of his parents with the same fallen nature that they had, but since the redeemer promised in Genesis 3:15 is to be the "seed of the woman" we see that no male had anything to do with his birth. He cannot be classified with any of the "sons of men". He is different from all other men, although He is a man - the God-man.

The Promise to Abraham Deuteronomy 32:8-9 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, When he separated the children of men, He set the bounds of the peoples According to the number of the children of Israel. For Jehovah's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.

The Almighty gave all the nations their territory and boundaries in relation to Israel. Israel is the hub - or center of all nations. All history revolves around the people of this nation. The division of the nations happened at the tower of Babel centuries before Abraham was born. The time came when the Almighty was to further carry out His plans. He found in Abraham, a man through whom He could work, even though he was brought up in an idolatrous home. Abraham followed the light that "lighteth every man that cometh into the world". God led him step by step and eventually he entered into a solemn covenant with him.

Genesis 12:1-3 Now Jehovah said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto the land that I will show thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make they name great; and be thou a blessing; and I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

The above verses constitute the cornerstone of all prophecy. When anyone attempts to enter the prophetic field, without a clear understanding of this passage, he is almost certain to end up with wrong conclusions. One must have a clear comprehension of this passage in order to properly understand the truth of God's Word. This covenant contains a seven-fold promise:

1. I will make of thee a great nation
2. I will bless thee
3. and make thy name great
4. I will bless them that bless thee
5. him that curseth thee will curse
6. In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed
7. The land promise in verse one "unto the land that I will show thee" is mentioned again in verse seven "unto thy seed will I give this land." This is further expanded in Gensis 13:15

None of these promises have ever been fulfilled in the measure here presented, but we can be sure that in God's time the Lord will make good every promise - literally and specifically as He has stated.

Jeremiah 1:12 Then said Jehovah unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I watch over my word to perform it.

In these promises we see that a special blessing is assured to both individuals and nations who sincerely (and not for material gain) bless Abraham and his seed, the Jews. Likewise individuals and nations who have cursed and persecuted the Jews have themselves been cursed. Egypt has become one of the basest kingdoms in the world. Assyria and Babylon fell because of their mistreatment of the Jews. Rome, Spain and the Nazi regime suffered special curses for having persecuted the Jews simply because they are Jews. We have fallen far short of conducting ourselves as a Godly nation, yet we have in times past nationally and indvidually blessed Abraham's seed. God has blessed our nation greatly because of this fact. The sixth item on the Almighty's program for blessing all nations in Abraham, is more fully explained in:

Genesis 22:15-18 And the angel of Jehovah called unto Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said, By myself have I sworn, saith Jehovah, because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the seashore. And thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. Because thou hast obeyed my voice.

The word seed in "thy seed" is in the singular number in the original Hebrew. Confirmation of this in the English is found in:

Galatians 3:16 Now to Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

This word is also a collective noun as set forth in:

Genesis 15:5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and number the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.

Since Abraham's seed (singular number) is here promised to become as numerous as the stars in heaven, we see that it is used in a collective sense and refers to Abraham's literal seed, the Jews. These passages show that the Messiah is to be of Hebrew origin; they show also that through Abraham and his literal descendants, the Jews, the world will be blessed. The part of the promise concerning Abraham's literal descendants, the Jews themselves, has only been partially fulfilled the complete blessing, and fulfillment is in the future.

May the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob through the Messiah Jesus Christ enrich your study through His word, In Jesus name, Amen.

In His Service,
Liv4Yeshua

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