Jesus Christ is the subject of the Bible from beginning to end. This is a very helpful piece of information for those who have found understanding the Bible challenging at times. Our Lord and Savior is the blueprint of our design, and in him is everything that God created us to be. In the beginning of the Bible, in the first few chapters of Genesis, God informs us about His incomparable creation power. He created the earth for our habitation, and then created the first man, Adam. He took a rib from Adam’s body and made Eve, Adam’s wife. Adam and Eve ultimately sinned against God, and from the point of their catastrophic betrayal towards our Heavenly Father, the Old Testament reveals our infatuation with sin. Many have refused to let it go, and the consequences of not choosing to be obedient to God and to love and honor Him the way He requires has been tragic throughout human history.
The New Testament reveals that at just the right time, God sent Jesus Christ into the world to save it. God’s redemption plan for humanity was founded before the foundations of the world. Jesus Christ was always the slain Lamb of God, and God’s Plan to reconcile us back to Him unfolded through the ministry, sacrifice, and resurrection of His only begotten Son. It is important for us to understand that God’s Word must come to pass. Numbers 23:19(NLT) tells us, “God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act?” Human beings lie. We try to twist the truth to bend to our own agendas, but God is not like that. Again, when He says He is going to do something, He does it.
After Adam and Eve sinned against Him, they lost the holiness God had given them, and they fell from the position of authority and dominion He has given them over the earth. This was a tragic mistake, and the consequences of it fell upon us all, because all of us did as Adam and Eve did and sinned against God too. Romans 5:12(NLT) says, “When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.” Adam bowed to the devil because he took the word of satan and believed it over and above the Words that God has spoken to him. Positionally, Adam moved out of God’s territory of love, light, and life, and moved himself into satan’s territory of fear, darkness, and death.
Adam and Eve moved themselves into slavery because they choose to bow to ultimate oppressor, satan. When they moved into his domain, everything God had given them moved with them and became the property of satan. This was the treasonous act that sold us into the slavery of sin and broke our communion and fellowship with the One True Living God, but He had a plan already in place. In His prophecy of what would happen thousands of years after their sin, God told satan in Genesis 3:15(NLT), “And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”
There are two offspring or seed that God foretells us about in this verse, the seed of the woman, which is Jesus Christ, and the seed of satan, which are demons and all those that have satan’s seed. We should never get that part twisted; there are those that are seeded for satan whose minds and hearts are very dark. Jesus Christ spoke to people like this in John 8:44(NLT) and told them, “For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the fatheroflies.”
In His prophecy all the way back in Genesis 3:15, God said that there would be hostility between the woman’s offspring, which is Jesus Christ and those who follow him, and the devil’s offspring, which is those that love the darkness and are evil. God said that Jesus Christ would strike satan’s head, which means that Christ would demolish satan’s kingdom, and satan would strike the heel of Christ; and that happened when satan possessed the people who beat and mocked Jesus Christ, hung him on a tree, and crucified him.
Jesus Christ is fully human and fully God. He is the woman’s offspring, and that woman is Mary. Galatians 4: 4-7(NLT) tells us, “4 But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. 5 God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. 6 And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” 7 Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child.” Through the work that God accomplished through Jesus Christ, the promise of God’s seed, the Holy Spirit, was provided.
You and I don’t come into this world with spirit-life. Because of Adam’s sin, our human spirits are not alive to God when we’re born. We must be born again through the Holy Spirit before our human spirits are recreated with new life. Jesus Christ said in John 3:6(NLT), “Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.” In John 6:63(NLT), he said, “The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”
Numbers 23:19 tells us that God is not a man, and He does not lie. He promised to send His Holy Spirit, His seed, and He fulfilled this promise through Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2:1-7(NLT) declares, “1 Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. 2 You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil–the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. 3 All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else. 4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) 6 For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. 7 So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.”
God’s prophesy was carried forth by Jesus Christ and fulfilled when the Holy Spirit returned to the temples of the human body. We have God’s seed! We are redeemed through Jesus Christ, and he has restored our friendship with God. After his sacrifice and resurrection, Jesus said to the disciples in Luke 24:49(NLT), “And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.” Our blessed Lord knew that we desperately needed the infilling of the Holy Spirit. He fulfilled God’s mission by sending the Holy Spirit to indwell all those who follow him and desire to have God’s seed and become a child of His glorious love and light.■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Appreciating the Prophecy and the Promise”, written for 4theChristianMan.com© 2023. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.