Our texts for this evening are Genesis 3:15 and 18:18: 15I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15). 18seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? (Genesis 18:18). These are our texts.
This year during the Lenten Season and through to Easter Sunrise and Easter morning we will be looking at some of the prophecies of the Old Testament which have their fulfillment in the New Testament in the person and work of Jesus. We will follow somewhat in chronological order from the first promise of a Savior to the narrowing of the line of fulfillment, through to His birth, life, suffering, death and resurrection.
Before we get to our task of prophecies and fulfillment let us take a moment to talk about Lent, the Lenten season and what Lent is all about. Lent has nothing to do with that stuff in your dryer, that is l-i-n-t. Lent, l-e-n-t is a time, a season of preparation. Much like Advent is the time, the season we use to prepare to celebrate the advent, the beginning of Jesus’ time on earth, namely His birth, Lent is a time to prepare to celebrate the events at the end of Jesus’ time on earth.
The season of Lent is a time to prepare for Jesus’ suffering. We are reminded, especially during Holy week, the time between Palm Sunday and Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem and Easter Sunday of the trials and tribulations Jesus faced. Lent is a time to prepare for our being given the Lord’s Supper out of Jesus’ Passover celebration with His apostles. And it is a time to prepare for Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross on Good Friday. Ultimately, however it is a time to prepare to celebrate His resurrection.
The season of Lent is also a time to take the time to look at ourselves, our lives, and our part in putting Jesus on the cross. Indeed, while the history of the Old and New Testament might point us to think that it was the Scribes and Pharisees, the teachers of the Law and the Romans who put Jesus to death, the truth of the matter and the facts are that it was for us and because of our sin that Jesus died on the cross. We put Jesus through His suffering and death.
Getting to our Lenten theme, the prophecies and fulfillment of the prophecies, the first promise to send a Savior and deliver all people from the sin of Adam and Eve was given in the garden of Eden. God created a perfect world and placed His perfect humans, Adam and Eve in the perfect garden He created for them. Because God had given them everything and in order to give them a way to respond to all He had given God gave them only one command, to not eat the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden, the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God’s command was that if they disobeyed, the penalty would be death, that is they would begin dying a physical bodily death and, unless redeemed they would ultimately die an eternal spiritual death.
Of course we know the history. Eve and Adam did disobey God’s command. They did eat of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden. God confronted them with their disobedience and sin. And God’s just judgement was just as He said. Their sin brought on the curse of death, physical and eternal spiritual death. And their sin brought a curse on the whole earth as well.
However, God did not leave Adam and Eve to suffer. Because of His great love for His creation He immediately stepped in and promised of a Savior, a Messiah, a Christ, a redeemer, One who would take the punishment for their sin. And of this promised Savior God also promised He would be the Savior of all people.
God’s promise was that He would send a Savior. From our first reading we hear God’s promise, “15I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15). The promise of God in Hebrew is that of a Messiah. In Greek it is the promise of a Christ. Thus, this promise was truly the beginning of the Christian Church, those who believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior. Remember, this first promise was made to Adam and Eve who contained in their DNA all nations, Jew and Gentile alike.
As history progressed from Genesis, God eventually reiterated His promise and renewed and narrowed the line of fulfillment of His promise. Out of all the people in the world, God chose Abraham to be the person through whom, through his family God would send the Savior. Notice it was God who chose Abraham, not the other way around. God chose Abraham and promised that he would “become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?” (Genesis 18:18). Notice, all nations would be blessed, would be saved through the One Descendent of Abraham, namely through the Savior.
God’s promise to Abraham also carried an earthly promise, but the earthly promise had conditions which were never met. The earthly conditions of Abraham’s family being a great nation, have a land and the like would be fulfilled if they were faithful to God’s commands. Of course we know that they were not faithful as the history of the children of Abraham relates how they continually disobeying God and fell into idolatry. Yet, and I believe it is because God knew the nature of the people, the earthly conditions pointed to an ultimate heavenly fulfillment.
God’s promise to Abraham, which was His promise to Adam and Eve and to all people was first and foremost a heavenly promise that was without conditions. God’s promise was a Savior who would take care of the sin of Adam and Eve and all people and that promise was met and fulfilled by Jesus.
God’s earthly promise to Abraham and His offspring pointed to heaven. The great nation, the land, the great promises given to Abraham all pointed to the fulfillment of a heavenly kingdom in which our Savior, Jesus would rule in the kingdom of heaven for eternity.
God’s heavenly promise pointed to Jesus. Jesus was true God born in human flesh making Him true man, truly human. Remember the price for sin was set at death, human death, death to the one who sinned. In order for Jesus to be our substitute, for Him to trade His life for ours, He had to be truly human and He was as He was conceived by the human woman, Mary.
As you hear me say continually, we get it right when we point to Jesus. The Old Testament points us to Jesus, the One who would be born to live for us, take our sins, suffer and die for us. The New Testament points us to Jesus, the one born in Bethlehem, the one in the temple at the age of twelve, the one baptized into the office of Holy Ministry, even though He was without sin.
Our calendar year, B.C. and A.D., even B.C.E. and C.E. point us to Jesus. We count time from the years before Christ up to zero and the from Christ to today, in the year of our Lord. Even counting the years as before the common era and common era do not change the fact that the zero date is in reference to the date on which we celebrate Jesus’ birth.
As we can see, Jesus is the center of all time and history. We get it right when we point to Jesus. We could point to ourselves as we tend to do, we could look inside ourselves which is what we are encouraged to do, especially by books and movies which want us to find our hope in our inner being, but what do we find when we look inside ourselves? We find that we are sinners with no hope. Thus, we are pointed to look outside our selves, to look to Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith. We look to Jesus who does all and gives all.
Lent focuses us on Jesus and His great forgiving, life-giving love for us. As we remember that God is omniscient, all knowing, that He knew all that would happen even before He began creation, He knew He would have to send His Son, God in flesh to suffer and die and yet, He created us anyway. What great love God has for us.
As we begin this Lenten season we take the time to prepare. We take the time to look at our lives, not in despair, but in contemplation of our sin and God’s great love for us. Jesus has already paid the price for our sins. Jesus love and forgiveness moves us to repent so that we might hear the greatest words we can ever hear, that is that our sins have been forgiven. And we know that with forgiveness is life and salvation. As we move through this Lenten Season, as we hear and rehear God’s promises and know that they have been fulfilled in Christ, may we be strengthened in our faith and better able, when asked, to give an answer for the hope, the certainty of eternal life in heaven with Jesus, because of His great love for us. And may we rejoice and say, to God be the glory for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
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