Cornerstone Curriculum, Official Certification Edition

LESSON 3 | THE OT WITNESS TO CHRIST AND HIS KINGDOM: THE PROMISE GIVEN / 131

Here God lays out the entire plan of salvation in a short passage that summarizes one of the most important ideas in Scripture. The setting of this episode related to the text is that tragic moment when the first human pair, Adam and Eve, are caught in their shameful admission of eating the fruit of the knowledge of the Tree of Good and Evil against the direct commandment of the Lord. The serpent, who deceived Eve into her disobedient act, Eve, and Adam are all before the Lord who is calling down his judgment upon them. In speaking to the serpent, God makes a declaration about the future that literally makes this text the beginning of the end of the entire written revelation of Scripture. God here unequivocally states that his sovereign purpose for the serpent will be perpetual and unending hostility between the serpent and the seed of the woman, between its offspring and that of the woman. This “seed” would have his heel bruised by the serpent, but the serpent would have his entire head crushed in by the seed of the woman. This graphic image of the serpent and seed lies at the heart of the salvific vision of the Bible. God says that as a result of the voluntary human rebellion, he has established relationships in the universe which will perpetually be in place, unbroken hostility and enmity between the serpent and the seed of the woman, between its offspring and that of the woman. From the earliest readings of this text, Jewish scholars saw it as the first mention of the divine promise of the Messiah, this seed, this person who would come of the woman and yet would bring a brutal and final end to the serpent and its accursed lying, deception, and ill-will toward the human race. We know that this promise is renewed with Abraham whose seed would be blessed and would be a blessing to all the nations (Gen. 12-13). This promise of a seed, an heir, a blessed warrior who would make an end of the works of the devil, was renewed with Abraham’s sons, Isaac and Jacob, and then passed on to Jacob’s son Judah (Gen. 49). The promise weaves through the OT, through the house of Judah, until it is made explicit that the seed would be an heir of the house of David (cf. 2 Sam. 7), and the prophets add even more color, knowledge, and revelation about the character and work of this seed (e.g., Isa. 9.6-7; 53.1-12). Finally, the seed is revealed in the NT to be the person of Jesus of Nazareth, who himself is the fulfillment of the ancient promise of the Lord to bring to the earth one who would redeem his people, restore creation, and reign forever as the Lord and King of God’s universe. The apostles make it explicit that Jesus of Nazareth is in fact the long sought for seed of Abraham (e.g., Paul in Galatians 4.4, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under

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