Thursday, September 6, 2012

God Announces A Coming Redeemer

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.
Genesis 3:15

    In these words to Eve God promised to send One who would "bruise" the head of Satan.  Further, this promise was not that some angel would come mysteriously, or that this would be some mysterious bruising by an unseen heavenly being.  No, the one to "bruise" Satan's head was to be a man, her "Seed."  Do we have New Testament witness to the fact that this Scripture spoken to Eve was speaking about Jesus?  Paul writes: And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen (Romans 16:20). Who will crush Satan?  It no else but the God of peace, therefore the Seed of Eve spoken to Eve refers that Seed to be God, the God of peace.  John in the Revelation adds: "Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, 'Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down'" (Revelation 12:9). We have three witnesses that the Seed of Eve who was to "bruise" the head of Satan was no other than the Christ of God, that this occurred by God making both the Christ of God, and God, one and the same, two persons in the same essence carrying out the will of God.
     Let begin, then, at the beginning as I have outlined above.  Adam and Eve sinned and were cast out of the Garden of Eden.  Having been cast out for their disobedience caused sin to be in both Adam and Eve, although it is Biblical clear that through Adam sinned would be passed down through his progeny.  In the opening Scripture God promises a Redeemer for man.  I explained how we know that this was speaking of the Redeemer by a couple of quotes from Paul and John, the Seed, was equated with the Redeemer Jesus Christ.  There are more, so any study will validate that statement. It is the Redeemer who overcomes the power(s) of darkness. The Redeemer is to be both man and God.  The Redeemer is to be divine and this divine Redeemer will subjugate Satan. It is He, the Redeemer who triumphs over Satan and for this to occur the deliver must be divine.  No other angel or being would be able to secure this fact that Satan would be subdued, it would take a power greater than any angel, it would take God.  How else would this promise be fulfilled?  Would God not take this offense of sin created by Satan, and the disobedience of the first pair and Himself destroy sin?  Yes, His will is to have a people that would worship Him and have His blessings of eternal life. No other being could ensure this.  This revelation and promise to Adam and Eve intimates that God is more than one Person, that there is a Godhead and One Person of that Godhead is concerned with the salvation of men.  This fact which cannot be seen to be otherwise, that there is a plurality of Person making the Godhead is found at Genesis: "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' Then God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply; and fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth'" (Genesis 1:26-27). The "Us" in verse 26, and "God" in verse 27 are stating that both words refer to the same person, or to God.  Therefore, there is a plurality in the Godhead, not two or three separate persons, rather, the Godhead contains more than one single Person.  I am not going to discuss the Trinity here other than to say that it is clear from Scripture that there is a Godhead.  It is this Godhead that subdues Satan and the Person of the Godhead is the Redeemer and that Redeemer is Jesus Christ, therefore Jesus is One of the Persons of the Godhead.  No other inference can successfully be made of this statement. 
     Subsequent revelations on this doctrine are derived in accordance with this revealed primary and fundamental doctrine; Jesus is God, not a god, as some teach, rather that He is God.  Further, it is to be found that the Bible makes a distinction of Persons; Father, and Son, and the Holy Spirit, that they are co-equal, co-eternal, and this is revealed in God's word with clarity. This is not some arbitrary statement, the Redeemer was spoken by the prophets of old and Jesus made clear that what was spoken by those prophets concerning the Redeemer, the coming Messiah was Himself to whom they were speaking about: "And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself" (Luke 24:27). Moses did testify of the Messiah, or Christ, and the Old Testament further reveals the purpose of the Redeemer.  We can rest in this fact.  this promise of a Redeemer also was referred to by Abraham: "Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made.  He does not say, 'And to seeds," as of many, but as of one, 'And to your Seed,' who is Christ" (Galatians 3:16). Notice the singularity of "Seed," to the plurality of "seeds."  The promise was that One would be the Messiah, the Redeemer, and that One was revealed to be no other than Jesus Christ. Jesus made it clear that He was before Abraham, that He was eternal and furthermore, there is one statement that must be taken seriously: "Jesus said to them, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM'" (John 8:58).  Not only was Jesus before Abraham, Jesus was the "I AM."  Now for any Jew to use this holy reference and name of God, "I AM," would have been considered blasphemy against God and worthy of death.  In fact the next verse states that fact, they knew who Jesus referred Himself too: "Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by" (John 8:59). Don't you be confused, those Jewish people were not, they understood the words of Jesus plain and clear, so should you, Jesus called Himself the "I AM." Jesus is the promised Seed of Abraham, the One who would "bruise" Satan in the head, the coming Messiah.  How could He be the Seed of Abraham if all He was is a Spirit? He can't! To be the Seed of Abraham more than intimates that this Seed must be a man and by becoming a man then He is fit in all things to be the Savior of men. 
     The question: Is Jesus God? is being answered by Scripture, and not by my interpretation of Scripture for it is Scripture interpreting Scripture.  We are growing in grace, we are Sanctifying our lives here and now as we learn and apply this truth.  We are becoming Authentic Biblical Christians. 

If you instruct the brethren
     in these things, you will
be a good minister of Jesus Christ,
     nourished in the words of faith
and the of he good doctrine which
     you have carefully followed.
                                 1Timothy 4:6

May The God Of Peace Be With You

Richard L. Crumb  
     

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