NT Framework - The First Good News

In the very earliest pages of the Bible, there is tragedy and triumph. The tragedy is obvious, original sin and the fall of man through Adam; the triumph though is less obvious. In fact, it's only a hint of the coming victory.

More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com 

This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).

Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and
our series on the New TestamentFramework.
Today a smaller, bite-sizedpiece from the larger lesson.
We hope you enjoy it.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
So let's look at some of the predictions that the
Messiah would be born of avirgin.
First of all by turning toGenesis 3.15.
Now this is known as theProto-Evangelium.
Proto means first evangelismfor gospel.
So the first gospel, or thefirst good news, it's after the

(00:32):
fall of man.
So God, at that point, bringsin some good news.
This is the first time the goodnews is proclaimed and it's in
the context of the curses uponthe woman and the man and the
serpent and all that.

(00:52):
And so notice it's snuggledinto the curses.
But that's good news, right,that's what we need to know.
In spite of the curse, there'sstill good news.
So in verse 15, the Lord saysand I will put enmity between
you, he's speaking to theserpent.

(01:12):
Verse 14, speaking to theserpent, so between you, the
serpent, and the woman.
So this is a conflict betweenSatan and the woman, eve, and
between your seed, that's theserpent's seed, and her seed.
And then it says he, he shallbruise you on the head, meaning

(01:36):
her seed.
Right, her seed is the he andit's a singular, it's masculine.
He shall bruise you on the headand you, the serpent, shall
bruise him on the heel.
So this verse gets a lot ofattention, of course, among
scholars as to the meanings ofall these things the serpent,

(01:59):
the seed, the bruising on thehead, the bruising on the heel,
what all this signifies.
But basically what'sinteresting is that there's this
conflict between the serpent'sseed and her seed and the
question is well, who's the seed?
I mean in a general sense nowthis is a by the way this word
seed is zera in the Hebrew, it'sa collective noun, zerah in the

(02:24):
Hebrew it's a collective noun,and a collective noun can refer
to one or it can refer to many.
It's, as I've used the wordbefore, deer.
Deer is a collective nounbecause you don't say deers.
If you're talking about morethan one deer, you still say
deer.
So you have to have somecontext to know if you're

(02:46):
talking about just one or awhole field of deer.
It's a collective noun.
This usage here in general.
Of course, the offspring of thewoman Eve it's said in a few
verses that she's the mother ofall living are her seed, just as

(03:13):
the seed of the serpent, that'sall unbelievers and probably
also inclusive of demons andthings like that His offspring,
so to speak.
But that's general, because ifyou look at the immediate
context of verse 15, right afterhe says between your seed and

(03:34):
her seed, he says he Is he morethan one or is it just one?
It's just one.
So the specific meaning of seedhere ultimately really is the
Messiah right.
It's the one that will comeforth from the woman who will

(03:55):
defeat the serpent.
The serpent, of course, canbruise the heel or batter the
heel.
The Hebrew means like abattering of the heel.
It could render you where youcouldn't walk.
It's not something to be takenlightly, but the position of the
heel of a human over a serpent,we're in the superior position

(04:20):
right.
We can crush the head of theserpent and defeat it totally.
So there's a lot of imageryhere being used, with the
natural imagery of just a humanand a serpent, and it's looking
forward ultimately to theMessiah right who will defeat

(04:41):
Satan.
But in the process Satan willinjure, so to speak, the Messiah
.
So some have looked at this andsaid and I agree that this
actually does hint at the virginbirth, and the reason is
because they say that the womanhas a seed and that throughout

(05:02):
the rest of the Old Testamentfor example, I think it's
Genesis 36 or 38, where Onanspills his seed Seed is usually
ascribed to a male.
It's a term for sperm and theysay well, you know, a woman
doesn't have sperm and we allknow that.
I'm just using modernterminology to convey this
concept.
But somehow a woman is going tohave a sperm and the point is

(05:31):
to hint at or foreshadow, orlook forward to the idea of a
virgin birth, even here in thefirst giving of the good news,
the proto-evangelium.
But it's really only a hint,it's not super clear.
So I make the point, but I makeit with some reservations, okay

(05:57):
.

Speaker 1 (05:58):
Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with
Jeremy Thomas.
If you would like to see thevisuals that went along with
today's sermon, you can findthose on Rumble and on YouTube
under Spokane Bible Church.
That is where Jeremy is thepastor and teacher.
We hope you found today'slesson productive and useful in

(06:18):
growing closer to God andwalking more obediently with Him
.
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next time, we hope you have ablessed and wonderful day.