Messiah in the Books of Moses – Genesis 3: The Edenic Prediction

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CLICK HERE to watch a discussion of Genesis 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hHV1ZMzTW8&t=10s

NOTES:

The Introduction

The promise of Messiah progressively unfolds throughout the Old Testament. Messiah became the proper name associated with the promised Anointed One of Yahweh Who would come to deliver, redeem, and restore Israel. Since the fall of Adam and Eve into sin, God has kept the hope of His people alive through the promise of Messiah. The Hebrew term Mashiach (מָשִׁ֖יחַ) literally translates Anointed One. The Greek equivalent of Mashiach/Messiah appearing in the New Testament is Christos (χριστός). Each time the word Christ appears in the New Testament, it is a reference to the office of Jesus as the Messiah.

In the study of Messiah in the Books of Moses, six Old Testament prophetic predictions will be explored: The Edenic Prediction (Gen. 3:15); The Noahic Prediction (Gen 9:25-27); The Abrahamic Prediction (Gen 12:1-3); The Judaic Prediction (Gen 49:8-12); The Balaamic Prediction (Num 24:15-19); and, The Mosaic Prediction (Deut 18:15, 18). Each prophecy will be studied within its historical context and in light of its fulfillment in the Person and work of Messiah Jesus as recorded in the New Testament.

After His resurrection, Jesus appeared to His disciples, opening their minds to understand all that was written concerning Himself in all the Scriptures. “Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures” (Luke 24:27). A study of Luke 24 introduces Messiah in the Books of Moses, establishing the primary importance of studying messianic prophecy in the Old Testament. This study focuses on the first six predictions of Messiah in the Pentateuch.

Genesis 3 – The Edenic Prediction (Gen 3:15): Humanity of Messiah
Genesis 3 records the fall of Adam and Eve into sin. Before casting the man and the woman from the garden of Eden, God gives the woman a promise that includes the first predictive prophecy of Messiah in the Bible. Genesis 3:15 has commonly been called the protoevangelium (“the first gospel”) because it is the first prophecy in the Bible, revealing the promise of a future Redeemer Who will crush the head of Satan.

Genesis 3:15 is the “mother prophecy” that launches the promise of redemption for fallen humanity through the Messiah Who is the “seed/offspring” of the woman. The Edenic Prediction establishes the humanity of Messiah, the promised “seed/offspring” Who becomes the central figure of God’s unfolding kingdom plan.

STUDY QUESTIONS

1.   Describe the serpent. What does he say to the woman? (3:1) (O) Why do you think the serpent asks the woman this question? 

2.   How does the woman respond to the serpent? (C) Compare the woman’s report of what God had said to what God actually commanded the man concerning the forbidden tree. (3:2-3; cf. 2:16-17)

3.   (A) How important is knowing Scripture when confronted with temptation? What is the danger of loose translations of the Bible that do not preserve the original reading of Scripture?

4.   What does the serpent say to the woman about God’s warning of death for eating from the forbidden tree? (3:4) What does the serpent suggest is the reason for God not allowing them to eat from the forbidden tree? (3:5) (A) How does questioning God’s motives lead to rebellion and sin?

5.   What 3 things lead the woman to take and eat fruit from the forbidden tree? (3:6)
(1)
(2)
(3)
Who also eats fruit from the forbidden tree? (3:6)

6.   What happens to the man and woman after they eat fruit from the forbidden tree? What do they realize? How do they try to cover their nakedness? (3:7) (A) Describe the way that you feel after you give into temptation. How do the consequences of sin complicate life?

7.   What do the man and woman do when they hear the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day? (3:8) (A) How does sin impact your relationship with God?

8.   What does the LORD God call to the man? (3:9) (O) Do you think that God already knows where the man is hiding before He asks? Why do you think God asks the man where he is?

9.    How does the man respond to God’s question, “Where are you?” (3:10) (O) Does the man lie or tell God the true reason why he hid himself?

10.   What two questions does God next ask the man? (3:11) How does the man answer? (3:12) (O) Do you think that the man answers God’s questions? Upon whom does the man cast blame?

11.   What question does the LORD God ask the woman? How does the woman respond? (3:13)  (O) Do you think that the woman answers truthfully?

12.   In the LORD God’s curse of the serpent, with what two things is the serpent’s curse compared? As a result of the curse, how must the serpent move? What will he eat? For how long? (3:14)

13.   (P) Prophecy (The Edenic Prediction Gen 3:15) In the LORD God’s curse of the serpent, between whom does He put enmity? How will the woman’s “offspring/seed” bruise the serpent? How will the serpent bruise the woman’s “offspring/seed”? (3:15) 

(C) How does the serpent bruise the heel of the women’s “offspring/seed”? (cf. Rev 12:17) What promise does Paul give to the Romans in Romans 16:20? 

14.   What three consequences does the sin have on the woman? (3:16) What two reasons does God give to Adam for cursing the ground? How will Adam eat of the ground? For how long? (3:17) What will the ground grow for Adam? What will he eat? (3:18) By what will Adam eat bread until he returns to the ground? Why does God say that Adam will return to the ground? What is Adam? To what will Adam return? (3:19)

15.   Why does the man call his wife Eve? (3:20) How does the LORD God clothe Adam and his wife? (3:21) (O) What do you think is significant about the “garments of skin”?

16.   Why does the LORD God send the man out from the garden of Eden? What will the man do to the ground from which he was taken? (3:22-23) (O) What do you think could have happened if the man had eaten from the tree of life while he was still in his fallen condition? How is his banishment from the garden of Eden evidence of God’s mercy towards mankind?

17.   After driving the man out of the garden of Eden, what does the LORD God do in order to guard the way to the tree of life? (3:24) (C) What promise does Jesus give to the church in Ephesus to those who overcome? (Rev 2:7) Who will have the right to eat from the tree of life? (Rev 22:14)

18.   What do you learn about God in Genesis 3? What do you learn about Messiah in Gen 3:15? How could these truths transform your life?

Write a prayer response to Gen 3.

BIBLE TEXT – GENESIS 3 (NASB)

Gen. 3:1   Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” ² The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; ³ but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” ⁴ The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! ⁵ “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶ When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

Gen. 3:8   They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” ¹⁰ He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” ¹¹ And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” ¹² The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” ¹³ Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

¹⁴  The LORD God said to the serpent, 

“Because you have done this, 

Cursed are you more than all cattle, 

And more than every beast of the field; 

On your belly you will go, 

And dust you will eat 

All the days of your life;

¹⁵  And I will put enmity 

Between you and the woman, 

And between your seed and her seed; 

He shall bruise you on the head, 

And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

¹⁶  To the woman He said, 

“I will greatly multiply 

Your pain in childbirth, 

In pain you will bring forth children; 

Yet your desire will be for your husband, 

And he will rule over you.”

¹⁷  Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; 

Cursed is the ground because of you; 

In toil you will eat of it 

All the days of your life.

¹⁸  “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; 

And you will eat the plants of the field;

¹⁹  By the sweat of your face 

You will eat bread, 

Till you return to the ground, 

Because from it you were taken; 

For you are dust, 

And to dust you shall return.”

Gen. 3:20   Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. ²¹ The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.

Gen. 3:22   Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever” — ²³ therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴ So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.

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