"History's Golden Thread" - Pastor Stephen Bohr

shall we bow our heads for prayer father in heaven we thank you once again for the privilege of being here to study your Holy Word we ask for the guidance of your Holy Spirit as we open to the book of Genesis help us to understand the great issues that are brought forth in this wonderful book and we thank you for hearing our prayer for we ask it in Jesus name Amen we're going to begin our study in our lecture today at the place where we ended in our last lecture Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15 Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15 now for those of you who were not here for the previous lecture I recommend that you get a copy of the hard copy as you go out this evening because you'll be able to review all of the details from our last lecture but basically what we studied is that Adam and Eve sinned and gave up their position of dominion over the earth and of course God pronounced upon them the sentence of death but we found that God came down to the Garden of Eden and he made that wonderful promise to Adam and Eve as they were listening to God speak to the serpent in those words of God to the serpent were God's declaration of war and they're found in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15 God is speaking here to the serpent and I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel three kinds of enmity between the Serpent and the woman between the seed of the Serpent and the seed of the woman and between the seed of the woman and the sir but the enmity runs in other words in three directions but the real enmity is between the seed of the woman and the serpent because the last part of the verse says he the seed of a woman will crush your head serpent and you are going to wound you're going to hurt his hue in other words God is saying I'm gonna send a seed to the world and he's gonna do battle with you in the process of the battle you're going to hurt him but by hurting him his foot is going to come down on your head and is going to crush your head he's gonna eliminate you he's going to destroy you now when Satan heard those words he trembled he shook and he made up his mind from that point on that he was not going to allow that seed to come to the world and the first example of this we find in Genesis chapter 4 and verse 25 we all know the story of Cain and Abel probably the Bible tells us that Cain arose and he killed his brother now the question is was it really came who wanted Abel dead or was there someone behind the scenes who wanted Abel dead the fact is first John chapter 3 and verse 12 I'll just refer to it says not as Cain who was of the wicked one and killed his brother notice that this text says that Cain was of the wicked one in other words came did not act alone the wicked one was behind him instigating him to kill Abel now the question is why would Satan want Abel dead because God had promised in Genesis 3 verse 15 that he was going to send a seed to the world to do battle with him and he was going to crush his head and so the devil is thinking maybe this Abel is the promised seed or perhaps the promised seed is going to come from him so I'm going to nip this in the bud and so he in influences came to kill his brother Abel so when Abel dies the devil says mission accomplished no more seed because Cain is mine and Abel is dead but in Genesis chapter 4 and verse 25 we find that God's plan was not frustrated it says there an Adam knew his wife again and she bore a son and named him Seth and then she explains why she called him Seth Seth means substitute or one who takes the place of she says this for God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel whom Cain killed God has given me another seed notice that key word that we find in Genesis 3 verse 15 the seed will crush your head the devil gets rid of Abel by using Cain and God says I will give Eve another seed so God's plan was not sorted the devil's first method for trying to keep the seed from coming is by trying to directly kill the seed and we find this clearly in the story of Cain and Abel you'll notice that the same elements of genesis 3:15 are found in the story of Cain and Abel you have a woman who is Eve you have a serpent because Cain is of the wicked one you have two seeds which is Cain and Abel and you also have enmity between the two seems and so the first example of genesis 3:15 is the story of Cain and Abel although we know now that Abel was not specifically the promised seed the seed would come later on from Abel and so the devil learns that God is not expecting any of these preliminary seeds to crush his head but that what God is doing is that he's preparing a holy line or a lineage from which eventually the seed will come and so the devil says now I'm going to go to plan B it does me no good to kill the seed because I kill one seed and God introduces another so he says I'm going to go to the second method the second plan and we find that in Genesis chapter 6 and verses 1 and 2 Genesis chapter 6 and verses 1 and 2 verses that we're going to study later on when we deal with the flood in the days of Noah it says now it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born to them that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were beautiful and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose notice here that it speaks about marital relationships between the sons of God and the daughters of men now I want you to notice before I answer who is the group referred to as the sons of God and which is the group referred to as the daughters of men I'd like to read verse 5 which shows the results of these unions of the sons of God with the daughters of men it says in Genesis 6 and verse 5 then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually this evil came as a result of the relationship between the sons of God and the daughters of men the sons God going into the daughters of men which is an expression in the Old Testament which means to have sexual relations with in other words the sons of God entered into marital relationships with the daughters of men now the question is who are the sons of God and who are the daughters of men the best answer is by looking at the context you look at Genesis chapter 4 and you have the genealogy of Cain the wicked one and it's interesting that in the genealogy of Cain you have three women mentioned and then in Genesis chapter five you have the genealogy of Seth that is the genealogy of the righteous so in Genesis chapter four you have the genealogy of Cain in Genesis chapter five you have the genealogy of Seth and in Genesis chapter 6 you have the sons of God and the daughters of men in other words these marriages were actually marriages between the seed of Cain and the seed of the woman the seed of Abel the seed of Seth the good and righteous seed when the righteous and the wicked began to mix together the world became corrupted now let me ask you how many people do you think lived in this world the day before the flood a hundred a thousand about five thousand anybody give me ten thousand let me give you some statistics between creation and the flood one thousand six hundred and fifty-six years transpired in a world where there was no scarcity of Natural Resources because most of the effect upon the natural resources came as a result of the flood in a world where men lived to be almost 1,000 years old how many children can a thousand year old man have actually the oldest was 969 in a world well God where God had old man and woman be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and in Genesis 6 it says that the whole earth was filled with violence in other words the whole earth was populated and yet here's the terrifying thought of the millions of people that no doubt lived on planet Earth before the flood only eight remained faithful to God and Genesis says that there was particularly one Noah was righteous in the eyes of the Lord what would have happened if God had allowed history to continue without the flood intervening the human race would have become totally corrupted and God would not have had anyone in a holy line through whom to bring the Messiah into the world in other words the devil was using two plans plan number one try and kill the seed plan of number two tried to intermingle and mix the two seeds so that thus the genealogy of the righteous would lose its identity and if it lost its identity there could be no promised seed coming from that lineage now all throughout the Old Testament we find the devil using these two methods these are his primary methods in trying to keep the seed from coming he uses came to kill Abel so that the seed can't come he mixes the sons of God with the daughters of men to make the lineage disappear in its uniqueness so that the seed cannot come now I'm going to take you through a tour of many stories in the Old Testament that we need to look at through the lenses of genesis 3:15 you see in genesis 3:15 God is saying to Satan I'm gonna send you a seat and your very existence is at stake so do you think that the devil is going to make it priority number one to keep the seat from coming who's gonna crush his head obviously yes so we need to read the Old Testament with enlightened eyes we need to see in the background this controversy between Satan who is trying to keep the seed from coming so his head won't be crushed and God working to bring the seed into the world I'd like to take you to the time after the flood we're only going to study certain highlights the time after the flood go with me to Genesis chapter 10 and verse 1 Genesis chapter 10 and verse 1 now we need to understand the Genesis chapter 10 is chronologically after Genesis chapter 11 in other words God gives chapter 10 all of the nations of the earth and then in chapter 11 he explains how those nations came to exist now notice Genesis chapter 10 and verse 1 now this is the genealogy of the sons of Noah Shem ham and Japheth and sons were born to them after the flood notice that Noah had three sons Shem ham and Japheth now let's go to verse 20 it says in verse 20 the following these were the sons of ham according to their families to their languages in their lands and in their nations and that is said about each of the sons of Noah nations languages cultures of the world all came from these three signers now if you go to Genesis chapter 11 you'll discover something very interesting the holy line continues through Shem one of the sons of Noah the other two sons ham and Japheth continue the unholy line if we could say in fact if look at the nations that came from ham and japheth you'll discover that these were the very nations that later tried to destroy Israel allow me to just mention some of the nations that came from Japheth you have Magog by the way it's mentioned in Revelation chapter 20 is a great enemy of God's people you have the Medes coming also from Japheth you have Greece is called Javon you have tyre an arch enemy of Israel and you have Rome mentioned also as one of those who descended from Japheth now how about him you have Egypt coming from him you have Assyria which destroyed the ten tribes of the north in Israel destroyed Samaria in the year 722 Babylon came from ham the Canaanites came from ham the Philistines in other words all of these nations which later became enemies of Israel and frequently tied to destroy Israel came from ham and from Japheth they were trying to destroy the shemites we call them Semites today and so in Genesis chapter 10 we already find in two of the sons of Noah the devil from them forming the nations through which he is going to try and destroy Israel now there's a fundamental misunderstanding and that is that the devil hated Israel that the devil you know he wanted to get rid of Israel but the fact is folks that the Battle of Satan against Israel is not because the devil hates Israel it's because the devil hates Israel's Messiah because God had promised that from this lineage the Messiah would come and so when the devil is trying to blend Israel with the nations to cause them to lose their identity when he tries to destroy Israel Renate several examples from the bible the devil is not focused primarily against Israel attacking Israel and trying to destroy Israel is the way in which he can cut off the holy line and keep the Messiah from coming are you following what I'm saying this is the way we need to read it everything the devil does in the Old Testament is to keep the seed from coming because his very existence is at stake now let's go to Genesis chapter 11 in verse four this is happening about a hundred years after the flood the experience of the Tower of Babel it says there in chapter 11 and verse 4 that those who had gathered in this valley said this come let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top is in the heavens let us make a name for ourselves lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth now we're going to study later on that their intention was to establish what we call today a new world order centered in their capital which will unite all of humanity in rebellion against God and when their plan failed the name which was given to that place according to verse 9 was Babel have you ever heard of Babel before in the book of Revelation the arch enemy of God's people is called what Babel I'm here you have the origin a Babylon you know it's interesting that there where the Tower of Babel was built lived the family of a very very well-known man his name was Abraham he lived in the very place where these tower builders had the intention of establishing a society in rebel against God in fact the name of the individual who was the ringleader in the building of the Tower of Babel was Nimrod and the name nimrod means rebellion it was a rebellious endeavor and abraham lived in that area in ur of the chaldeans ancient babylon and we find that abraham and his family were starting to be defiled by the gods in that place go with me to the book of Joshua Joshua chapter 24 and verses 2 & 3 Joshua chapter 24 and verses 2 & 3 I want you to notice what was happening to Abraham and his family who lived there in this apostate area known as Babel or Babylon it says and Joshua said to all the people thus says the Lord God of Israel your father's including Terah the father of Abraham and the father of nahor dwelt on the other side of the river that's the river Euphrates incidentally in all times and what was the problem they what they served other gods were they becoming defiled by the gods of Babylon they most certainly were and it says in verse 3 then I took your father Abraham from the other side of the river that is the river Euphrates let him throughout all the land of Canaan and multiplied it says here his descendants in the King James Version it says his seed and multiplied his seed and gave him Isaac what was the problem there in Babel where they had planned to form a society in rebellion against God the problem is that Abraham lived there and it says that he and his family were serving other gods but God had plans for Abraham he could not fulfill his plans for Abraham there in Babel in earth and so it were told here that God took Abraham out of the place where they were serving other gods to take him to the land of Canaan and God had a special plan for Abraham God had to take him away so that he would not become defiled with those nations and eventually the holy seed which would come from Abraham would disappear you say God knew then what the devil was tried to do so he took Abraham out because God had plans to do something very special with Abraham let's notice what it is Genesis chapter 12 in verse 1 Genesis chapter 12 and verse 1 and then we'll jump down to verse 3 it says now the Lord had said to Abram get out of your country notice God says get out of your kind of get out of Babylon we're gonna find in Revelation there's a call to come out of Babylon in the end time get out of your country from your family because his family was serving other gods we noticed in Joshua and from your father's house verse 3 I will bless those who bless you and I will curse him who curses you and in you all the families of the earth shall be what all the families of the earth shall be blessed what plans did God have with Abraham he had plans that through Abraham all of the nations of the earth would be blessed but now listen to what I'm going to say it wasn't Abraham who was going to bring the blessing it was the seed of Abraham Abraham was the instrument to bring the seed eventually into the world notice what we find there in Genesis chapter 22 and verse 18 Genesis chapter 22 and verse 18 will be studying Genesis 22 later on in our seminar God says to Abraham this in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice notice that in in Genesis chapter 12 and verse 3 God says in you all the nations of the earth will be blessed here he explains that it is in the seed of Abraham that all of the nations of the earth will be blessed you see God was planning to bring the blessing into the world through the seed of Abraham now go with me to Galatians chapter 3 and let's notice who that seed is Galatians chapter 3 and we've read this verse before verse 16 3 verse 16 it says there now to Abraham and his seed where the promises made he does not say and to seeds as of many but as of one and to your seed who is Christ who was the seed of Abraham through whom all of the nations of the earth were going to be blessed it was Christ according to the Apostle Paul in other words God called Abraham out of Babylon out of ur of the Chaldeans because he and his family were becoming defiled with the gods there they were going to lose their identity Satan was doing the same thing as he did before the flood blending the two seeds so God took him out to Canaan and he says in your seed all of the nations of the earth will be blessed now the devil knew that God had a special plan with Abraham and he knew that God had promised Abraham that he was going to give him a seed so now the devil says to Abraham it's been many many years and you don't have any seed your wife can't even have any children and so the devil whispers in his ear Abraham maybe there's a different plan that God is contemplating here maybe you need to have children in a different fashion so the devil whispers in Sarah's ear Sarah tell your husband to take the slave woman Hagar and perhaps the seed will come from Hagar notice what we find in Genesis chapter 16 and verse to Genesis chapter 16 and verse 2 it says there so sir I said to Abram see now the Lord has restrained me from having children she blames the Lord but it wasn't the Lord please go into my maid perhaps I shall obtain children by her and Abram heeded the voice of Sarai do you think that was just the voice of Sarai absolutely not because you had genesis 3:15 in the background everything that devil does he does with the intention of keeping the seed from coming or destroying the seed now why is the birth of this child significant the name of the child that Abraham had with Sarai was Ishmael do you know what Ishmael wanted to do with Isaac when Isaac the son of the promise was born he wanted to destroy him Korea suppose was using Ishmael whom he had convinced Abraham and Sarah to have to kill Isaac the son of the promise there's no doubt that the devil was the one who wanted Isaac dead you say well where does the Bible say that well in Galatians in Galatians chapter 4 and verse 29 Galatians chapter 4 and verse 29 we find this reference to Ishmael it says there in Galatians chapter 4 and verse 29 but as he who was born according to the flesh that is Ishmael then persecuted him who was born according to the spirit even so it is now what did the child of the flesh Ishmael do he persecuted the child who was born according to the spirit who was behind Ishmael it must have been Satan because Satan was behind Cain wasn't he in destroying Abel Satan is fighting for his own existence he's trying to keep the seed from coming and then a little bit later on you have another verse actually two births twin you have Jacob and you have Esau have you ever had read the story of Esau and Jacob whose character did Esau have who was Esau like like God he took wives in Canaan when his father said don't take wives he said I will if I want to he sold his birthright for a plate of lentils he didn't consider the fact that the he who had the birthright would bring the Messiah into the world he eventually says who cares when you're hungry and so he sold that for a plate of lentils and we're told in Genesis chapter 27 and verse 41 Genesis chapter 27 and verse 41 so Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing which was with his father blessed him and Esau said in his heart I will what I will kill my brother Jacob who do you suppose was behind the idea of using Esau to kill his brother Jacob there's no doubt whatsoever that the devil knew that Jacob was going to play a very important role in the plan of salvation that God was developing in fact the twelve from the twelve sons of Jacob was going to come the promised seed specifically from Judah now we move forward a little bit more to the days of Joseph and in our lecture tomorrow we're going to study a little bit more about this experience of Joseph because it's very very interesting it has much to do with what we're talking about this evening I'm gonna make a long story short but Joseph suffered many in Justices everything seemed to go wrong and he was a good kid he was sold as a slave to Egypt because he refused to commit adultery handed up in prison anyone who was why should I even bother to serve God look what happens to those who serve God but he knew that God had a plan and of course the plan was eventually to become the prime minister of Egypt so that when seven years of plenty came he could administrate and store the excess that the land produced so that when the seven years of famine came society could survive now at the end of the story Joseph reveals himself to his brothers and his brothers they they they hon Joseph and they say Oh Joseph we're so sorry for what we did please forgive us do you know what Joseph says go with me to Genesis chapter 45 Genesis chapter 45 and verses 5 through 7 Genesis 45 and verses 5 through 7 Joseph says but now do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here for God sent me before you to preserve what life for these 2 years the famine has been in the land and there are still five years in which there will be neither ploughing nor harvesting and now notice verse 7 and God sent me before you to preserve a what a posterity for you in the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance do you suppose that God knew that the devil was going to cause those seven years of famine what was the devil's intention his intention was to starve Jacob and his family to death but God knowing it sent Joseph beforehand down into Egypt to make provision as it says here to preserve the posterity other versions translated to preserve the seed do you see what's going on here in the background all of these events that are taking place are revealed a plot that is taking place beyond history behind history we only see external events but when we know that God told the devil the seed is gonna come and he's gonna crush your head we know that the devil says I can't let the seed go and so through all of these circumstances and events the devil is trying to keep the seed from coming now there's so much more that we could say I'm not going to read all of the verses but I'm gonna I'm gonna give you the concept notice Genesis chapter 15 verses 13 and 14 moving on a little bit further forward in history Genesis chapter 15 and verses 13 and 14 here God is giving a prophecy to Abraham and it says there then he said to Abram know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs and will serve them and they will afflict them for hundred years and also the nation whom they serve I will judge afterwards they shall come out with great possessions what is God saying he's saying your people are going to be taken down into a certain land we know that that was Egypt and at the end of 400 years I am going to bring them out of the land of Egypt in another place as he says I'm going to take them to the land of Canaan now isn't it interesting that God would promise to take Israel out of Egypt and to Canaan do you know that God had promised Abraham and his seed the land of Canaan many people today believe that that the Jewish nation owns the land of Israel by divine right but do you know as we study the scripture we discover that the reason why God gave Abraham the land of Canaan and his seed the land of Canaan is because God had plans for the Messiah to be born in that land what Jesus born in what was before the land of Canaan he most certainly was he was born in Bethlehem of Judea that used to be Canaan and so the devil he heard that prophecy four hundred years after that he's going to take him out he's going to lead him to Canaan do you suppose the devil wanted them to go to Canaan where the Messiah was going to be born absolutely not so what did the devil do with Pharaoh was it easy for Israel to leave Egypt it was a battle a supernatural battle in fact do you know that in Ezekiel chapter 29 verse 3 Pharaoh is called the great dragon Pharaoh is called the great dragon because he's the dragon seed and Farrah is going to do everything in his power to keep Israel from leaving Egypt who do you suppose didn't want Israel to leave Egypt he wasn't Pharaoh alone it was Satan because Satan knew this prophecy he knew that if Israel went to the land of Canaan the promised seed was going to be born there because he had seen God take Abraham out of Babel out of her to take him to the land of Canaan the devil knew that there was something special which was going to happen in Canaan and he was not going to allow Israel to leave to go to Canaan Israel arrived at the borders of the promised land they sent out spies 10 of the spies came back with a bad report there's Giants there we can't go in there who do you suppose was the one who instilled in them this idea that you can't go into the land of Canaan you're not strong enough go back to Egypt wasn't God it wasn't their idea whose idea was it who did not want them to go into the land of Canaan Satan and then 40 years later they arrived at the borders of the promised land again about to enter the land of Canaan and you had the experience of Numbers chapter 25 you know just tell you something about it they're ready to go into the Promised Land and Balaam is invited to curse Israel and he can't curse Israel because Israel isn't a good relationship with God and so finally Balaam tells Balak the king he says the only way that that these people can ever be defeated is if you corrupt them from inside you can't destroy them from outside because their relationship with God is right the only way you can do it is by corrupting them from inside do you know what happened the women the idolatrous women of Moab came and enticed the children of Israel the men of Israel to have illicit sexual relations and to practice idolatry and to worship the gods of Moab 23,000 of the cream of Israel fell on the borders of the promised land because of the blending and the mixing of the two seats once again behind the scenes is Satan working to keep the seed from coming God working to bring the seed into the world why do you suppose the nations of Canaan stood up against Israel they were not going to give Israel this land because something special was going to happen in that land say that know it because God took Abraham to that land he took Israel to that land he says I know the seed is going to be born in that land by the way do you know that mom Moriah which is the place where Abraham took his son Isaac and placed him on the altar Mount Moriah was the last place that David concurred in establishing the city of Jerusalem the devil was not going to give up Mount Moriah without a fight because Mount Moriah is the very place where later on the Temple of Solomon was built we're going to discuss that later on and then of course we have the story of David do you know that in 2nd samuel chapter 7 12 and 13 and i'm kind of going a little bit fast here we can't read all the verses you have them on the list i hope that you look them up in the light of what we're studying god said that the throne of David would be forever God would give David a seed who would sit on his throne forever now let me ask you who was that seed Luke chapter 1 verses 32 and 33 tells us that that seed from the house of David was Jesus do you suppose the devil knew that the Messiah was going to be a son of David do you suppose he heard this promise that God made of course he did why do you think David had so many problems for example he's sitting in the palace playing his heart for Saul twice and Saul who was possessed by an evil spirit the Bible says took his spear and he howled at at David - nailed to the wall whose idea was that it's that saws idea I don't think so it was the evil spirit who wanted to see David did why would he want David dead because the seed was going to come from whom from David then you can call the first chronicles chapter 21 in verse 1 but it told David don't you number Israel because your strength is in me not in numbers and it says there in 1st chronicles 21 in verse 1 that Satan enticed David to number Israel it was his intention that by numbering Israel God would destroy David because the seed was going to come from David and then of course you have the sad experience of David and Bathsheba the idle mind is the devil's workshop the Bible says that David should have been out to war but he was idle in the palace of course he goes out sees this beautiful woman to make a long story short commits adultery with her and then has her husband murdered in battle do you know what the penalty in in God law in the Old Testament under the theocracy what was the punishment for adultery and murder the person was to be taken out and stoned who do you suppose wanted David stoned Satan you say this this idea of committing adultery and killing did not merely come from David's mind there is one who wanted to destroy David not because he hated David but because he hated the seed who would come from David are you catching a picture here all of the Old Testament must be seen within this framework of genesis 3:15 because it's a battle for self existence it's priority number one and then of course we have the story of Solomon you know I have several verses here first Kings chapter 11 verses 1 and 1/2 3 says that Solomon you know who was the wisest man who ever lived and he also became the most foolish man who ever lived because when he was a young when he was a young man he went astray from the Lord do you know why he went astray because basically he had a thousand wives and do you know where those wives were from you can read it in this passage in first Kings chapter 11 they were from the pagan nations which surrounded Israel now why do you suppose the devil wanted Solomon to blend with the women from other pagan nations because he was hoping that Solomon would lose the identity from whom the seed would come because Solomon was the son of David he was from the lineage of David and the Messiah was going to come from the lineage of Solomon I could give you so many other stories you have Sennacherib the king of Assyria who comes and destroys the ten the ten kingdoms of the north which is known as Israel then he comes against Judah he's going to destroy Jerusalem and the Assyrians were known for committing genocide I mean they didn't take any prisoners they uprooted whole nations and when they surrounded Jerusalem 185,000 soldiers ready to strike the angel of the Lord came out and in one night slew 185 thousand soldiers delivering Judah the two tribes of the south the devil was the one who led Israel to mix with the nation's so that they would be expelled from the promised land to Babylon have you noticed that that because of their sins mixing with the nation's Israel's taken captive to babble they were expelled from the land do you know that God had told Moses in Deuteronomy chapter 28 then if they were unfaithful they would be expelled from the land and the devil was really happy when they were expelled from the land because he knew that the Messiah was going to be born in the land this is what the taking and the losing of the land is all about it's not about Israel is it it is about Israel's Messiah and then you have the story of Esther you have Esther 3 and verse 13 there it says that a man called Haman prepared a plot and he worked upon the mind of the king it says to destroy and to slay and to kill all the Jews in a certain day I suppose the devil hates the Jews I believe he hates everybody but why would he want to uproot the Jewish nation after the captivity because he knew that from the Jews would come the promised seed you see the Old Testament is seed centered it is not Israel centered Israel could not give the devil a deathblow on his head the devil overcame there but there was one who could and that was the Messiah Jesus Christ notice Azra chapter 9 and verse 2 the devil was not only trying to destroy Israel after the captivity he was trying to do something else as well Ezra chapter 9 and verse 2 Ezra's that little book right before Nehemiah I'm sure that helps you an awful lot it says here after the captivity for they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons the nobles that is those who had kingly blood so that the holy seed is mixed with the peoples of those lands indeed the hand of the leaders and rulers had been foremost in this trespass what was the devil leading the Nobles to do after the captivity he was leading them to intermingle with the nations to mix according to this the holy seed and so all throughout the Old Testament Satan is working by trying to kill the seed by trying to corrupt the seed that is the lineage from whom these seed will come the devil is trying to keep the prophecy of genesis 3:15 from being fulfilled but we find that in the fullness of time God sent forth his son born of a woman the devil was not able to keep him from coming when the moment came the fullness of time came God sent his son to this world in Matthew chapter 1 and verse 1 tells us that he was the seed of Abraham and he was the seed of David by the way don't you find it interesting that you have in Genesis chapter 11 you have the genealogy from the days of Adam until the days of Noah in Genesis that's Genesis 5 in Genesis chapter 11 you have the genealogy from the times of Shem the son of Noah to the son up to the days of Abraham and in Mathew chapter 1 you have the genealogy from the days of Abraham till the times of Christ and after that genealogy you don't have any more genealogies in fact the Apostle Paul says don't get caught up in genealogies they're not important anymore because the purpose for the genealogies was to trace the holy line the Messiah and so Jesus was born the seed of Abraham the solitary seed through whom all the nations of the earth were going to be what we're going to be blessed did the devil know that he had been born the devil know where he was going to be born oh yes so the devil says I wasn't able to keep him from coming I wasn't able to destroy Israel I wasn't able to intermingle Israel with the nations to lose their identity he has come so what does the devil do when Jesus is born go with me to Revelation chapter 12 Revelation chapter 12 and I want you to notice verse 3 Revelation chapter 12 and verse 3 it says here and another sign appeared in heaven behold a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns and seven diadem's on his heads his tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them down to the earth and now notice and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth to devour her child as soon as it was born they are the same elements here as genesis 3:15 do you have a woman sure do you have a seed of the woman sure do you have a dragon or a serpent yes do you have enmity you must certainly do this is the first fulfillment of Genesis 3 verse 15 where it says he the seed of the woman will crush your head and you will bruise his heel in other words Jesus is born into the world and the devil tries to nip him in the bud tries to destroy him but we find in verse 5 that it tells us she bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron and her child was caught up to God and to his throne so the child escaped the hands of Satan in fact Jesus came to this world and he lived a perfect life the life that you and I should live when I receive him he gives me his life he credits his life to my account and then at the end of his life he died he died the death that I should die he died for my sins he never allowed himself to be overcome by Satan in other words he fulfilled the promise of promise of genesis 3:15 he gave a deathblow to the devil on his head and then Jesus went back to heaven now the story doesn't end there because when Jesus ascends back to heaven the devil says now I have to take second best I wasn't able to defeat the seed of the woman and so now I'm going to go after a woman and in Revelation chapter 12 and verse 13 if you go with me there we find the devil persecuting the woman who brought the seed into the world and by the way we're going to find that the woman represents the church the woman represents the church in this case the Old Testament church brought Jesus into the world and then after Jesus ascends to the throne the church continues and is persecuted by Satan notice Revelation chapter 12 and verse 13 it says here now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child thus genesis 3:15 say that there was going to be enmity between the Serpent and the woman yes is that being described here in Revelation 12 amity between the Serpent and the woman yes is that the primary enmity no the primary enmity is that the seed of the woman is going to crush the Serpent's head that's enmity number one the enmity between the Serpent and the woman is a secondary enmity do you notice that in Revelation chapter 12 you have that idea because it says that the child is born from the woman the child defeats the serpent and he's caught up to God and to his throne then the devil says I wasn't able to defeat him so I'm going after whom I'm going after the woman and there you have the other type of enmity I'm going to go against the church and that's the reason why during the period of the Roman Empire you have these savage persecutions against the church the body of Christ during the Middle Ages you have a savage persecution also against God's faithful followers millions of them died in the period of the Middle Ages because now the devil was not able to destroy the seed Jesus so he has to take second best the seeds seed if you please now let's go to Galatians chapter three very quickly and then we'll go to our last verse revelation 12 verse 17 Galatians chapter 3 and verse 27 Galatians chapter 3 and verse 27 this is a very very important verse because it speaks about the seeds seed you see that the only true seed is whom Jesus it doesn't say to seeds as of many but to your seed which is one Christ but now notice Galatians 3 verse 27 for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have what have put on Christ and now notice verse 29 very important verse and if you are Christ's how do we become Christ's we just read it in verse 27 how do we become Christ we become Christ at baptism and so it says if you therefore if you are Christ's then you are what you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise so the question is who is the seed of Abraham today the seed of Abraham is Christ but who else is the of Abraham those who have accepted Jesus Christ question do you suppose the devil hates the church as much as he hates Christ of course because the church is the body of Christ so the final persecution is going to be against Abraham's seed Abraham's spiritual seed who have received Jesus as their Lord and Savior final verse Revelation chapter 12 and verse 17 speaks about this final persecution and the four elements of genesis 3:15 are here and the dragon was enraged with the woman there you have the woman the serpent and he went to make war there you have the enmity with the rest of her offspring actually it should see the remnant of her seed who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ [Music]

Channel: Aaron

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Length: 56min 26sec (3386 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 28 2018