The Road To Bethlehem: A First Prophecy

As we continue on the road to Bethlehem, I want to look at what I think to be the first prophecy concerning Jesus. This can be found in the third chapter of Genesis.

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."

Genesis 3:15

• This part of Genesis 3 deals with the curses that God has made after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and fell into sin.
• Specifically, here we are reading from the curse on the serpent (representing Satan)
• We can infer three things about Jesus from this prophecy.
1. He will be born to a virgin
2. He will destroy the power of Satan in our lives
3. He will suffer in saving us
• God says He will put enmity between the woman and the serpent. What is enmity? Hate
• Who's offspring (descendent) will have strike against the serpents? the woman's
• This indicates that a descendent of Eve will do this. In other words, the person who does this will have to be born rather than just created like Adam and Eve were.
• Furthermore, if you notice, instead of saying their (Adam's and Eve's) offspring it says hers. Some people who have written Bible commentaries (and have probably done a whole lot more study of this than I have) interpret this as indicating that this person referred to here will have an earthly mother but not a father. How can this happen?

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 1:18

• Jesus was conceived in Mary through the Holy Spirit! He had an earthly mother but not a father (although Joseph took care of him as if he were).
• The serpent represents Satan - the devil. The head refers to authority or power.
• This prophecy says Jesus will crush the serpent's head? What do you think that will do to the serpents power? end his power
• What did the serpent lead Adam and Eve to do? sin
• Do you recall what the wages of sin are? death
• If Jesus has died for our sins and we have accepted him as lord and savior, does the serpent still have power over us? no
• This verse ends with "you will strike his heel." The Hebrew word for strike can mean to bruise or to break or crush. The word for heel may also be translated footstep or footprint. Though I am not a Hebrew scholar, I might translate this as "You will break him where He walks."
• Where was Jesus broken? the cross
• Aren't you glad that when Jesus died on the cross that he rose from the dead and wasn't defeated after all?
• From this one verse here, we can sense God foretelling (prophesying) Jesus' birth, purpose (to crush the power of sin) and death. I don't know if Adam and Eve understood all of this at the time, but I'm glad that from looking at all of the Bible we can understand this!

The Road To Bethlehem: Jesus, Creator

As we begin the month of December and look forward to Christmas, I want to work our way through the Old Testament (with some journeys into the New Testament) and see what it has to say about Jesus. We'll be looking at prophecies about the coming Messiah that were fulfilled by Jesus as well as passages that - thanks to what we read in the New Testament - are about Jesus. Today, we'll begin at the beginning: Genesis 1.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1

Now of course, we read that "God created," it doesn't say "Jesus created." Why is it that we can read this and think of Jesus?

¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was with God in the beginning. ³Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

John 1:1-3

• Here in John, "the Word" refers to Jesus. Thus, we could read this passage as:
1. In the beginning was Jesus, and Jesus was with God and Jesus was God.
2. Jesus was with God in the beginning.
3. Through Jesus all things were made, without Jesus nothing was made that has been made.
• Based on what we read in John, would you agree that Jesus was involved in Genesis 1:1?
• Though Jesus had not come into the world, the world was created through him. Let's read a little bit more in John 1.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

John 1:14a

• What is this verse talking about?
• Though Jesus was there in the beginning, he did not become flesh until that first Christmas!
• Now that we've seen Jesus in the very first verse in the Bible, we'll be looking out for him in other places in the Old Testament as we go through the month of December.

Each of us must receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior

Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God

John 1:12

• How do we receive Jesus?
• Believe in Him!
• Do our good works do anything?

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9

• What does it mean to have faith?
• Faith is belief and trust in and loyalty to God
• How do we know we can trust God? (He has a plan for us, nothing can separate us from His love...)
• Our faith is a gift from God. Remember how we learned about the wages of sin? Let's look at the rest of that verse...

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:23

• Eternal life is a gift from God!
• What is eternal life? (living in Heaven forever with God)
• What else do we remember about eternal life? (Remember John 3:16)

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

• By faith - which is a gift from God - we can believe in Jesus and when we believe in Jesus, we have eternal life - which is a gift from God!
• Do you like getting gifts?

Summary questions

• Do you know that God loves you?
• How do you know God loves you?
• Do you know that you are a sinner?
• Do you know that Jesus died for your sin?
• Do you know that Jesus is the ONLY way to God?
• Do you personally believe in Jesus - trust in Jesus - as your Lord and Savior?

God sent Jesus to die for us

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8

• Did Jesus die for us because we were good or bad?
• We earned death (remember Romans 6:23?) but Jesus died for us.
• So then, Jesus took our punishment, right?
• After Jesus died, what happened to Him?

...Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living...

1 Corinthians 15:3-6

• Jesus rose from the dead. Death did not stop Him!
• So, if Jesus died for our sin and our sin is what separated us from God, we don't need to be separated from God anymore!
• Is Jesus the only one who can get us to God?

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

John 14:6

• So Jesus is the only way to God. Is that all we need to know?