21. Beginner Bible Course: The Bible's first promise -- 'the seed of the woman'

EPISODE 21  The simple Bible overview of…THE BIBLE’S FIRST PROMISE  - THE SEED OF THE WOMAN - “HE!”

I know a lot of dads brag about their kids, but I've heard it's not bragging when you can back that up. My first born son was a curved wrecker. I mean, the kid was practically perfect. Now in his mid twenties, he's still a curved wrecker, but there was one thing when he was a little tight, that drove me nuts. When he was sitting in his high chair and someone dragged the fork across their plate. He'd start to scream. When he was old enough to sit in his own chair, he'd screech plug his ears and go running from the table. I thought he was being a drama King. It really annoyed me. Hey dude, man, up then I remember to be in a little tyke and biting down on a foil gum wrapper.

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00:00:43

It sent electricity through my entire body and did I get melodramatic? My daddy head and heart came together and I realized then the little guy couldn't help it. There was something about a metal fork on a ceramic plate that affected him at the deepest level. In our last episode, I talked about the consequences that fell like Domino's in a chain, went Adam and Eve broke God's heart and law, shame, hiding and relationships, fear pain, death separation from God. Some might read that and think what I thought about my little tight drew. Isn't God being sort of a, how can I say this?

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00:01:23

Delicately trauma King? Yeah, I know some of those things, Adam and he brought on themselves, but cursing creation calling for their physical deaths, bringing separation between you and them in scripture, breaking God's laws and heart are put under several different terms. The most common is sin, which essentially means to fall short of God's standard, like an arrow missing the bulls-eye of a target. Another one is trespass, which means going outside your appointed lanes. Another one is wickedness. That's a good English word. Translation wicks are twisted.

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00:02:04

Wickedness means to twist God's creative design. Why does our sin wickedness and trespass bring a fork across the plate reaction from our creator? I try answer that question with my students with this word picture. Imagine the whole class comes to my house for a Christmas party. After two hours of games together, you're called up to the main floor there on our black high-top kitchen table. You see the most amazing punch you've ever seen. A five gallon crystal bowl full of punch with little green, Christmas tree ice cubes and red Christmas bells floating in the top. You're about to dive in. When I say, excuse me, being their Bible teacher, they think I'm going to say grace over the refreshments, walking up to the bowl.

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00:02:52

I turn and smile and say, we can have this punch without our secret ingredient. Out of my pocket, I pull a Ziploc bag with what looks like one small cocoa pebble inside. I opened the bag and dumped the cocoa pebble into the bowl and stir it up. This is Nelson pours for everyone, but before anyone takes a drink, one of the girls in the class says, Mr. Nelson what's that Brown thing you put in the Punchbowl? I say, it's my secret ingredient. Bottoms up everyone. The class still hesitates. No, Mr. Nelson what is it? I smile and say, it's my secret ingredient. And if I told you what it is, it wouldn't be a secret anymore.

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00:03:33

Would it? But, okay. I'll tell we have a bunny. That's from our bunny bottoms up. I asked my students, how many of you who drank that? Punchh in almost every class, one or more of the boys raises his hand. Then I tell the students, I think that's your answer. When we doubt the goodness of God and we fall short of his standard, go outside the lines. He's drawn for us or twist his pattern for us. It's a turd in God's Punchbowl carried along by the spirit of God. The writer Habakkuk says about God, your eyes are too pure to look upon sin. That's just one of many scriptural places that teach us to doubt.

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00:04:16

God's goodness, to fall short of his standard, to trespass outside of the lanes he's laid down for us or to twist his creative pattern is a turd in God's Punchbowl, which brings us back to Genesis chapter three, verse 15, the first promise of The Bible God's plan B. I tell my students circle this first double circle it. In fact, dog, ear, the page, this is a biggie. God speaks to Satan in the serpent. I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, but you will strike his heel.

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00:04:57

My students get kind of that, huh? Look when that's red in class, but it's too important to miss. So I break it down for them. The first part's a little easier I'll put enmity between you and the woman in Matea is a blood feud it's Hatfield's and McCoy's, it will extend beyond her to her seed and Satan seed her offspring and the bellboys who have joined Satan it's that last phrase that make my students scratch their heads. He will crush your head, but you will strike his heel. Perhaps using the imagery of a Viper Satan will lash out in latch onto someone striking him on the heel.

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00:05:41

But that HE that someone will crush Satan's head and crush. Satan the head I asked my students who is this HE for whatever reason, God doesn't reveal the identity in Genesis. In fact, he doesn't reveal specifically the identity in the entire old Testament. But what God does do in the old Testament is leave us a trail of clues prophecies about him. People who model characteristics of him, events and objects that communicate something about what he will do. This HE in Genesis three 15 is the thread on which the rest of the old Testament pearls are hung.

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00:06:25

The hero of our redemption story. I tell my students from now on, we're calling him the STOMPER, the STOMPER, the appointed one, the anointed one. Genesis also doesn't tell us when he'll come. In fact, it will be millennia before he arrives. And that will be none too soon. Just how low could we sinful trespassing, wicked children go. We'll discover that in our next wordpicture.