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Prophecies #1

             So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 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: 14-15) 

            The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

            The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. (Genesis 12:1-3 & 7)

            The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. (Deuteronomy 18:15)

 

            Today’s passages are among the earliest prophecies given concerning Jesus. They’re incredibly specific and vague at the same time. Note that the first was given to the serpent, Satan, in the presence of Adam and Eve. Satan would injure one of Eve’s offspring but be utterly defeated by that offspring. The hope for mankind was going to be a human. No amount of sacrifice of animals would save them from their enemy, but one of their children would.

            In the second prophecy, God promises Abraham that one of his offspring would be given the land. That narrows the possibilities. Only those descended from Abraham need to apply.

            According to the third prophecy, God would raise up another Moses from among the Israelites. God used Moses to free the Israelites from their slavery and to guide them into a relationship with God. That’s what the second Moses would do, too. And Moses warned them to listen to this new prophet – because they didn’t listen to Moses. Jacob’s family went to Egypt, and Jacob’s family and a mixed multitude emerged from Egypt. That means only a descendant of Jacob (AKA Israel) could be the one they were waiting for.

            Some claim that other faiths have “the same” stories of gods who die and come to life again. The problem they face is that while their blurbs may be similar, the stories aren’t really because no prophecy external to the other stories predicted the events in the other stories. They aren’t placed in history. The prophecies about Jesus riddle the Old Testament. We’ll look at a couple more tomorrow.

 

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