Revelation 19:10

Jesus in Genesis (2)

/ Tim A. / Leave a comment

LOOKING FOR JESUS – GENESIS (2)

“For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10c).

Can Jesus and the gospel be found in the Old Testament? It is my declaration that He can and that the gospel is there as well.

Look in Genesis 3. This is the chapter of the fall of man and sin entering into the world. After the sin of Adam and Eve we find God’s declarations to the serpent, to Eve and last of all to Adam. Within this chapter there is a prophecy of a Savior who would come, and a type (picture, shadow) of what would take place by that Savior who would come. This is what we will look at in this post.

In God’s Word to the serpent He said (v. 15),

“I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel.”

We can see the enmity (fear, strife) between the serpent and the children of Eve. It is even present to this day. When I see a snake it causes fear in me. That is one of God’s creatures which I want absolutely nothing to do with. In my mind they are a symbol of all that is vile and wicked and evil. If you want to handle the things, you go right ahead. If it bites you you cannot blame anyone but yourself. The same thing is true of sin. When you play with sin, it will bite you, and it already has.

The seed of the woman, the one who would bruise the head of the serpent is the promised Redeemer who would come. When Eve had Cain it seems as though she expected him to be the one. There was such expectancy. It is seen in what she named him

“Cain…I have gotten a man from the Lord” (4:1).

It was not to be Cain, because he was not a man who had a heart for the things of God. This prophecy would not be fulfilled for about four thousand years. It is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. On the cross, upon which Jesus died Satan (that old serpent) “Bruised the heel” of the Seed of the woman. Upon that same cross the head of the serpent was not only “bruised” but the power of Satan was crushed, and his authority over men taken away. After the cross Jesus rose from death showing that He was indeed the Son of the living God, and God the Living Son (Romans 1:4). By that same resurrection we have the promise of eternal life.

There is also a shadow/type of the cross seen in this chapter of Genesis. In Verse 21 it says,

“Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.”

Now in the minds of some, this verse may seem very insignificant, but I do not think it will be to many who are reading this. Remember Adam and Eve had been warned by God that they would die if they ate fruit from the forbidden tree. Now they had eaten fruit from the tree, and God provided redemption for them. It was a covering for their sin. It was in the form of animal skins, and I personally believe the skins to be lamb skins. Life was taken; blood was shed. This was the first time death had come into the world, and it was God who did the killing. In this shadow of the cross there were animals put to death for the sins of these two sinners. God in his holy and righteous way provided a means of salvation which would bring salvation to the human race. To think that God in His wisdom, power, love and grace was showing us the wonderful life of Jesus Christ in providing covering for Adam and Eve. They had tried to cover themselves in fig leaves, but it was not good enough for God. The “Fig leaves” of religion, self-righteousness, good works, or ceremonial laws will never satisfy the righteousness of God. The blood or the righteous Lamb of God alone has done that.

Isn’t the love, grace and mercy of God something wonderful. It is the most wonderful knowledge that we could have. It is, in fact the most wonderful thing we could have in our lives.

Jesus in Genesis (1)

/ Tim A. / 1 Comment

This is from near the beginning of my blogging experience.  From May 2006.

In writing previously of LOOKING FOR JESUS I have dealt with future events. I think it would do a great service to see that Jesus can also be found in the Old Testament. He can be found as the Living/Spoken Word of God in Creation; He can be found in direct prophecies concerning His incarnation – God becoming flesh and dwelling among men; He can also be seen in His pre-incarnate manifestations, and many times in types or shadows of persons or events.In the Revelation of Jesus Christ chapter 19 and verse 10 we find these words at the end of the verse,

“…For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

Now, when it comes to Jesus it has almost always excited me to find Jesus in the Old Testament, and that gives me a better understanding of who Jesus really is. It is the declaration of John the Apostle that prophecy is about Jesus.

Where many sermons and writings in our world today have much to do with our personal problems, anxieties, desires, etc., it seems to me that Jesus is much neglected in our churches. My purpose and aim in writing is to lift up Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God. That is what I pray is done in these writings of LOOKING FOR JESUS, and the others as well. When you get Jesus as Lord of your life, your aim in life will be to glorify Him, and when those problems, anxieties, desires, etc. come along they will not seem so big.

Look in Genesis 1:3,6,9,11,14,20,24,26,29. In these verses it says, “And God said,…” It seems to me that that is the Voice of God, and that Voice is the Person of the Word of God going forth creating the things which God Says.

Now to some who read this you may think me to be a little off base, but read John 1:1,

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

And in verse 14 of John one,

“And the Word was made flesh, and He dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,)full of grace and truth.”

Was Jesus present at the creation of all things? Of course. John even goes on and says,

“All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.”

You can also see Paul’s writing in Colossians 1:14-20.

Now look with me in Genesis 3:8-10. This takes place following the rebellion of Adam and Eve.

“And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

Who was it that Adam and Eve heard in the garden? It is my conviction that it was the Living Word of God. Who did Adam and Eve have sweet communion with? The One who would be born as the Man Jesus.

Let me take you now to the fifth chapter of Genesis. That is only a genealogy. It is the first of the Bible. It is of the lineage of Seth, the holy line of God, and within this list of generations can be found a message of the gospel by looking at the meanings of the names. You can find these meanings in Strong’s Concordance. That is where I checked it out the first time I heard this. The names begin with Seth which means Appointed, Enos means Mortal, Cainan equals Sorrow, Mahalaleel equals Blessed God, Jared is Came down, Enoch is Experience, Methuselah equals Death which would bring, Lamech means Strength, and Noah means Rest/Comfort. Take those meanings and put them in sentence form – Appointed mortal sorrow, Blessed God came down experienced death which would bring strength and rest/comfort.

Truly God’s Word is inspired by His Holy Spirit. I do not know about you, but that is really WOW!. What is even greater is that God became flesh to take the judgment for our sins, then carry them away in burial and rise again for our justification, and eternal life.

I pray all who read this know this God/Man who is Lord and Savior.There will be more from Genesis later.