1. Jesus In Genesis

2/23/2020

Introduction

This morning, before we partake of communion together, we are going to consider a few aspects of how the book of Genesis points us to Jesus and His work of redemption. As we see do so, it will refresh us on the big picture of God’s history-long plan of redemption that began at the beginning and is still going on today. It will help us see our place in God’s eternal purposes. Hopefully it will also encourage us as His children to persist faithfully in trusting and obeying Him in the part of His plan which He has for us in this world.

Genesis 3

By Genesis 3:15 Adam and Eve have already sinned after the temptation by Satan in the form of a snake. God then pronounced a curse on the serpent, and made this proclamation:

Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

There would be a Seed of the woman which would bruise the serpent’s head. The serpent would, however, strike a blow on the Seed’s heel. This is a prophesy of the coming and work of Jesus. Jesus would be the born of a virgin. A woman does not have the “seed.” So this birth would be unique. He would defeat Satan, breaking the power of sin over the world. Nonetheless, the accomplishment of this would not be without his own suffering. As we know, Jesus did indeed suffer and die. Yet, He rose again, overcoming sin and judgment as He Himself fully paid for it.

So what does Genesis 3:15 tell us? It prophesies at the very beginning of the virgin birth of Jesus, the defeat of Satan, as well as the suffering of Jesus.

Genesis 12

Genesis 12:1-3 gives us a second aspect of God’s plan revealed in Genesis.

Genesis 12:1-3 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; 2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

Salvation, forgiveness of sin, and reconciliation to God, has always been by faith in the work of God on our behalf. God made promises to Abraham and he believed Him. His obedience to leave his homeland and follow God showed the presence and reality of his faith. Notice what Genesis 15:4-6 says about faith and its relationship to righteousness.

Genesis 15:4-6 Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.” 5 And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6 Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

That faith in God was accounted to Abraham as righteousness. Abraham’s obedience did not earn the salvation. Rather it was faith in the promise and work of God which became the instrument through which God credited the righteousness of the coming work of Christ to Abraham’s account.

Abraham trusted God’s Word. God did the work. God did the promising. God has been carrying it out. God promised to bless Abraham greatly, as well as to bless those who blessed him and curse those who cursed him. Beyond that God promised to make him the channel through which all families of the earth would be blessed. It would be through his line of descendents. Jesus is the fulfillment of that in the salvation that He brought to people from every tribe, nation, tongue, and land. (cf. also Genesis 26:4, to Isaac, Genesis 28:14, to Jacob)

So what does Genesis 12 and 15 tell us? It shows us that God’s way of salvation from sin and death would be through the family of Abraham and would be by faith in the work of God to bring it about.

Genesis 22

Genesis 22:1-18 gives us a third aspect of God’s plan revealed in Genesis.

Genesis 22:1-18 Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance. 5 Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.” 6 Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. 7 Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.

9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” 13 Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. 14 Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.”

15 Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, 16 and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

In Hebrews 11 this same event is talked about.

Hebrews 11:17-19 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; 18 it was he to whom it was said, “In Isaac your descendants shall be called.” 19 He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.

The “resurrection” or “redemption” of Isaac’s life by the substituting sacrifice of the ram caught in the thicket is a picture. It pictures the power of God to provide a substitute on our behalf. It pictures Christ’s resurrection of us through our redemption by His substitution of His own life for ours on the cross. A sacrifice was needed, and God provided. Abraham received back Isaac’s life as a picture, as a type. It was a foreshadowing of our own resurrection through God’s provision. God’s power would provide. Even though these physical bodies will die God has the power of resurrection to give us His life.

So what does Genesis 22 tell us? It shows us that we need to trust God beyond this life to bring about His salvation. It shows us that we need to trust in God to bring about a substitute who will take the place of our sin and judgment and set us free from sin and death.

Genesis 49

Genesis 49:10 gives us a fourth aspect of God’s plan revealed in Genesis.

Genesis 49:10 “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

The right to rule remained in Judah within the Davidic line until the coming of Jesus. He will reign eternally over Israel, and all people in the re-created heaven and earth. To Him will be the obedience of all peoples.

Not only would God provide our redemption from our own sin personally, but God would also right all wrongs and bring justice. He would deal with sin and rule over everyone.

So what does Genesis 49:10 tell us? It shows us that God’s plan through history would continue through the line of Judah, and would include the whole world being brought into obedience under the promised one’s rule.

Genesis 3, 5

Genesis 3:17-24 helps us wrap this all together. This is within God’s judgment that was meted out after mankind’s sin. Here God is addressing Adam.

Genesis 3:17-24 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’;
Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. 18 “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; 19 By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust,  And to dust you shall return.”

20 Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. 21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.

22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”- 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.

The result of Adam’s sin was a broken, cursed, sin-inflicted world. His sin caused death. A physical animal died to bring Him covering. Spiritually he was separated from God, the source of life. He lost eternal life. He would eventually physically die and return to the dust from which he had been made. We read of that in Genesis 5.

Genesis 5:1-5 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. 2 He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man in the day when they were created.

3 When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth. 4 Then the days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were eight hundred years, and he had other sons and daughters. 5 So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died.

After 930 years, and many sons and daughters who were born in his likeness (which was as an image of God) he died. And that is how the rest of the chapter goes. It lists the man, his main son, how long he lived, and then its states “and he died.” That occurs for every one of them in this genealogy—except Enoch (Chanoch in Hebrew). He simply disappeared, because God took him (after having gained the reputation of one who walked with God). This tells us that the universal consequence of sin was death. This sin problem and its consequences passed along to every generation. It also tells us that only the direct intervention of God could change that—as it did in Enoch’s case.

Romans 5:12-21 takes this and points out how Adam was a type of Jesus who was to come and bring salvation from sin and death.

Romans 5:12-21 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned- 13 for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. 16 The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification. 17 For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. 18 So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. 19 For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. 20 The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Adam typified how the act of one man affected all men. He brought death by his sin. Christ brought life by His death and resurrection. Because of many sins Christ came to bring the free gift of justification. This justification is the imputation and declaration of His righteousness to sinners through the taking on of their sin upon Himself. Not only did they receive this redemption and reconciliation to God through Christ’s work, but they also would reign in life through Jesus Christ eternally. The eternal life lost by Adam through sin is given back to us through Christ—for all those who place their faith in Jesus.

This is what we remember when we partake of communion. This is what the book of Genesis points forward to in so many ways. It relates the entrance of sin and death into this world through Adam and Eve, but it also declares a coming redemption which God alone could and would provide as our substitute under God’s judgment for sin. It is God’s work of redemption alone in which we must place our faith. Then this redemption and work of God would bring our resurrection back to life from the dead.

In this redemption God would involve both man and women. Woman would bear the seed and give birth to the Messiah. The Messiah Himself would be a man, prefigured in type by Adam. He would be descended from the line of Abraham, and come through the tribe of Judah. He would not only bring redemption, overcoming, Satan, sin, and death, but He will also one day reign as ruler over all peoples. All those from all nations following in Abraham’s steps of faith in believing in God’s promise would receive these blessings of new life themselves.

Conclusion

Have you received this redemption and new life? Have you trusted in Jesus as your Lord and Savior? Partaking of communion together here will not save you. Rather, it pictures and reminds us of what Jesus did in His salvation of us. If we do not have trust in Jesus Himself, then this will do us no good. It cannot remind us of what Jesus has done for us, it can only remind us of the judgment that our sin deserves—death, separation from God—which we will eternally experience once we physically die if we persist in our rejection of Jesus’ one and only way of salvation. If you have not trusted Him yet, trust Him now.

Admit your sinfulness to Him. Ask Him to save you and forgive you because of what Jesus did in His death, burial, and resurrection in your place. Ask Him to give you His righteousness and take away your sin. Entrust yourself to Him. He can save you from the judgment for your sin and give you His life today. He can free you from sin and help you overcome it one day at a time until He brings you to be with Himself and finishes making you holy.

If you have received it, then may our study of God’s Word this morning refresh the big picture of God’s work of redemption for you. May it encourage you to remain faithful in trusting and obeying God throughout your life’s journey in this broken world. God is not done with this world. He began His work of redemption immediately after Adam and Eve’s sin, and we are in the midst of it now.

Christ has not yet come and instituted His rule over all things and all people here on earth. But just as surely as God took on flesh in the person of Jesus Christ when He was born of a virgin, lived perfectly, died innocently, and rose victoriously to pay for our sins and reconcile us to God so too one day He will return and fulfill all the rest of Scripture. Sin will be judged. All those who cursed Abraham and the way of faith in God’s redemption will themselves be cursed by God. Then God’s people will reign with Him eternally with His life inside of them in new, resurrected, perfect bodies in a recreated perfect world.

This is what we remember. This is what we praise God for. This is what we hope for. Given these truths, we can see sin for its true destructive deadliness. We can see what it cost to free us from our slavery to it. We can see God’s amazing love in bearing our death upon Himself and giving us life. So if you have any sin in your life, do not mock God by allowing it to remain. Confess it. Turn from it. Trust in His forgiveness. Trust in His power and ability to overcome it both now and forevermore. Walk in His love and with His help glorify Him.

We are going to have a moment of silent prayer where we can deal with any issues in our hearts, and where we can thank God for His amazing love. Then we will pray and partake of the elements together as we corporately remember and give God thanks.¹

© 2020, Kevin A. Dodge, All rights reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB),Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org

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