Prophecy. The Deliverer is Coming . . .

Born of a virgin
"Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit." (Matthew 1:19)

"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." (Isaiah 7:14)



The Deliverer
"The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound"
(Isaiah 61:1)



On a Colt
"This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, "Say to the daughter of Zion,'Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden." (Matthew 21:4-5)



The Sacrifice without blemish.
Preparing The Offering. The blood of the Lamb.
"Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table . . . For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial." (Matthew 26:6, 11-12)



New Covenant
"Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is my body."And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. (Matthew 26:26-28)



Give thanks. For the worst and best day in all of history.
His death.

"Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand."
(Matthew 26:46)

What Does God Require?

An offering.

“If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish . . . and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.” (Leviticus 1:3-4)

“If his gift for a burnt offering is from the flock, from the sheep or goats, he shall bring a male without blemish” (Leviticus 1:10)

"then he shall offer for the sin that he has committed a bull from the herd without blemish to the LORD for a sin offering. (Lev 4:3)

“If anyone commits a breach of faith and sins unintentionally in any of the holy things of the LORD, he shall bring to the LORD as his compensation, a ram without blemish out of the flock . . .” (Lev 5:15)

An offering made . . . without blemish. The wages of sin is death. The price that will redeem . . . innocent blood.



Without blemish.

The only offering, the only sacrifice that will rid us of guilt and free us from sin, is one without blemish. I am with blemish. You are with blemish. We all are with blemish.

"None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one." (Romans 3:11-12)

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)

So then . . . how can we ever be saved? How can we be reconciled? Forgiven? Free?

A male seed . . . without blemish.

“For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.” (1 Peter 2:21-22)

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)

The Fall and The HOPE

Two new characters enter the story in this chapter.

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.” (Genesis 3:1)

The serpent. The one who deceives. The one who slightly distorts the truth. The one who plants doubt. The one who makes what is forbidden look delicious and exciting. The one who encourages us to take just a small bite.

She ate of the tree . . . the tree that God restricted her from. The ONE thing in the garden they were not to indulge in.

The serpent deceived.
She ate.
Adam hid.
The world changed.

We must understand Genesis 3 to fully understand John 3:16. Because of what happened in Genesis 3 the world will never be the same.

We suffer from sin, choosing independence from God. Believing He is not good, believing His ways are not right, and putting our self above Him. We see it with Adam and Eve and we see it in our own hearts today. We believe the lie, like Eve we eat the forbidden fruit-we do what we shouldn’t do (sin of commission), or like Adam we sit back and hide-we don’t do what we should do (sin of omission).

The wages of sin . . . death. Physical death. Spiritual death. Separation from the Father.

Now separated from God, a perfect relationship with Him. How do we get back, reconciled to what was Good and Perfect? How can we be in relationship with our Heavenly Father again?

The Hero enters.

"I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." (Genesis 3:15)

The Protoevangelium. The first Gospel. The first glimpse of God’s plan to save us. A reference to what is to come. A male offspring that will suffer some harm, but will conquer in the end. Our Hope . . . our Savior . . . our Deliverer . . . Our Redeemer . . . Our Rescuer . . . He is coming.



"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23)

Created in His Image

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness . . . So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." (Genesis 1:26-28)

Man was God’s prized possession at creation. We were the only part of creation created in His image, after His own kind, in His likeness. Created good, for good. To fill the earth, rule over the earth, and subdue it.

And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 2:8-9)



He breathed life into mankind, provided an abundance of beauty and nourishment.

The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." (Genesis 2:15-17)

He gave us responsibility, work to do in the garden. He gave us much, even choice. A choice to love and respond in obedience.

He gave us all but one thing . . . of this you shall not eat . . . the consequences are heavy Mankind. If you eat of it . . . you will die. He won’t force you to choose obedience, He won’t force you to love Him.

He will bless you with abundance and leave you with this choice.

A choice to trust in His provision and restriction, blessing and warning. Will you believe that He is good? His provision and restriction are for the best? To trust in His ways or will pursue your own? Oh the decision made in the garden that day . . . the decisions made in my heart every day . . .

In the beginning . . .

God.

Created man in His image.

Provided abundance.

Provided a choice.

A choice that leads to a decision . . .

To believe a lie.

To fall.



"You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." (Psalm 16:11)

In the Beginning . . .

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)



We know this chapter in the bible, very familiar to us all. I start here in remembering the LORD, because apart from knowing God as our Creator, we can’t know him as our Savior.

This semester in our worldview class at Academy we read that “It has often been pointed out that if a person really believes Genesis 1:1, he will not find it difficult to believe anything else recorded in the Bible. That is, if God really created all things, then He controls all things and can do all things.” (Morris, Henry., The Genesis Record)

Today I remember that in the beginning, God . . .

Read those words slowly.

In

the

beginning,

God . . .

He was and is and is to come. We are a part of His story, His creation, His plan. We are here because of Him. Our purpose, our identity, our life is in Him.

He is, therefore I am . . .

Thankful today to be grafted in to His kingdom, for life that He gives, that before Genesis 1:1 was ever written, He had me in His mind. Before Genesis 1:1 was written, he had the cross in mind. Before Genesis 1:1 was written, He had Revelation 22 in mind. He makes all things, and He will make all things new.

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. (Genesis 1:31)