Lesson 4: Genesis 10—12: God’s Promises to Abraham

How to Use This Bible Study Series

e Complete Portrait of the Messiah Bible study series contains multiple components for each lesson. ese components work together to provide an in-depth study of how Jesus is revealed throughout the whole of Scripture. Below is a description of each component and how you can use each one to maximize your study experience.

Teaching Notes & Video Lessons e teaching notes summarize the main points of each video lesson and include a QR code to access the video teaching. If you have access to the internet via your phone or tablet, you can scan the QR code to watch the video lesson.

e Daily Word Devotional Dig deeper into personal application for each lesson through “ e Daily Word” devotion. is day-by-day devotion encourages you with thoughts for application and further Scripture readings.

Reading Guide Questions ese questions will guide you into a more detailed exploration of each lesson’s content. Examine the concepts of the daily Scripture readings in more detail.

e Bible Art Collection is Bible study series is augmented by a one-of-a-kind, especially inspired series of original artwork created by artist Mindi Oaten. ese 66 acrylic paintings creatively depict the revelation of Christ in each book of the Bible. Viewing each of these original art pieces will inspire and further enrich your understanding of Jesus throughout all of the Scriptures. ese can be found at https://www.mindioaten.com/pages/mindi-oaten-art-bible-art-collection or https://www.reviveschool.org/

About the Cover

Genesis “ e Promised Seed”

Artist Notes: Mindi Oaten

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. —Genesis 1:1

In Genesis, the first book of the Bible, we see the beginning of the Seed.* Yet, I chose to focus on the Garden and the fall of man to begin this painting series. We entered God’s plan in the Garden, walking with Him in the cool of the day. en something went terribly wrong as man yielded to temptation, choosing to sin, which separated us from God. Mankind was expelled from the Garden and so began our life’s journey apart from communion with God. Despite this disobedience, God had a plan to return us to that place of intimacy through Jesus Christ, the Promised Seed to come. Jesus, the Seed, was there in the beginning.

The Apples

e woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden,

God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’”

“No! You will not die,” the serpent said to the woman. “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” en the woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. en the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves. —Genesis 3:2–7

Not really thinking about it, I chose to paint two apples, one whole and one bitten. Prophetically, the whole apple represents first love, relationship, and union, whereas the bitten apple represents division and the nature of sin. In Scripture, the number two is symbolic of union. God designed union when He created us to have an intimate relationship with Him in the Garden of Eden. e relational and physical union created between a man and a woman symbolizes the spiritual union of Christ and His bride, the Church. e number two can also

represent separation or division, as well as good and evil. In Genesis, Adam and Eve were forced to leave the Garden, separating us from intimacy with God when they chose to eat the forbidden fruit. Here, division entered the world. By going deeper, we see the “first” Adam brought separation and division into the world, while the “second” Adam, Jesus Christ the Messiah, reestablished intimate union by bringing us back into a right relationship with God through redemption and eternal life. e number two is used with prophetic representation throughout the Scriptures. Even the entirety of God’s testimony is divided into two sections, the Old and the New Testament.

The Garden Below

So the LORD God sent him away from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove man out and stationed the cherubim and the flaming, whirling sword east of the garden of Eden to guard the way to the tree of life. —Genesis 3:23–24

As I was praying about what to paint, God showed me a picture of the Garden below the surface. He spoke to me about the Garden still being with us; it’s just not in plain sight. ere’s been a separation, but it’s still accessible through Christ, the Promised Seed. In the painting, the flowers below the surface represent this separation from God after Eve and Adam ate of the fruit from the tree of life. Walking with the Lord gives us daily access to the Garden until Jesus returns, establishing His kingdom, a new heaven and new earth. As a symbol that He is always with us, God instructed me to paint an aspect of the Garden in each painting of the Bible.

The Seed and New Sprout: Hope

I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel. —Genesis 3:15

I painted a seed that fell into soil from the core of the apple. Spiritually, the seed represents Christ. As a physical seed is planted in the woman to bear a child, God’s plan for redemption is the Seed that will come through chosen generations. is Seed, the Messiah, was foretold in Isaiah 7:14: “ erefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (ESV).

*In reviveSCHOOL, the theme name for Jesus in Genesis is Seed.

WEEK 1

Lesson 1: Genesis 1—3

Seed: e Seed of the Woman Is Jesus!

Teaching Notes

Intro

Over the course of 730 days, we’re going to give you a picture of what Christ looks like in all 66 books of the Bible. We’re not going to go over everything in the Scriptures . . . it’s too much. We’re going to focus on where we see the Messiah in these passages. It will be like a puzzle. What I’m after is that you actually get the picture, one piece at a time, of who the Messiah really is. How does all the stuff in the Old Testament point to Christ in the New Testament? You’ve got the pre-incarnate Christ (when Jesus showed up in the Old Testament), the type and antitypes (such as when Jesus is compared to the light), and the foreshadowed Christ (such as Adam in Genesis, the fi rst Adam, who was a foreshadow of the second Adam—Jesus).

We want to focus in on the image of Jesus throughout the Scriptures. For each book, we’re going to give you one word. And at the end of the study, you’re going to have 66 words that paint a picture of the Messiah throughout the entire Bible.

Teaching

For the entire book of Genesis, as we focus on Jesus, we’re going to see Him as the Seed. When the fall of man took place, God still had an answer. It is the Seed, Christ.

Genesis 1—3: In Genesis 1, the details of the seven days of creation are given. In Genesis 2, both man and woman are created. In Genesis 3, we’ll take the discussion a little deeper. After the woman had eaten from the fruit of the tree and given it to the man to eat, “So the Lord God asked the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’” (v. 13). And she blamed the serpent (v. 14).

God cursed the serpent. Some people believe that before the curse, snakes had arms and legs.1 Whether God took away arms and legs or a voice or not, the

1 See the interesting discussion “Did the Serpent Originally Have Legs” by Bodie Hodge, Answers in Genesis, January 26, 2010, https://answersingenesis.org/genesis/garden-of-eden/ did-the-serpent-originally-have-legs/.

serpent was forced to move on its belly and eat dust all the days of its life. en God moved on to curse the others who followed the seed of the serpent (v. 15). God created enmity, which means a state of feeling actively opposed and hostile toward someone or something, between the woman and the serpent. ere is always strife—it doesn’t stop!

Why? Why was there hostility? Because the woman and the man had taken a bite of the fruit that God told them not to. Because they disobeyed God, there’s going to be hostility. Hostility would therefore exist between the serpent and the woman, and between the Seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. e Seed of the woman will strike the serpent’s head, and the serpent will strike His heel. ere’s going to be a battle between Satan and the Seed of the woman, who is Jesus. ere’s always going to be a battle.

Ephesians 6:10-14: “Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by His vast strength. Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the tactics of the Devil” (vv. 10-11). e whole goal of Satan was to deceive the woman and attack everything Jesus stands for. “For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens. is is why you must take up the full armor of God” (vv. 12–14). As we go through this school, when you understand that every day is a battle, you’ve already won half of it. So, what does this mean, the whole idea that the Seed of the woman will crush the serpent?

Hebrews 2:14: “Now since the children have flesh and blood in common, Jesus also shared in these, so that through His death He might destroy the one holding the power of death—that is, the Devil.” Jesus totally trumped Satan by dying on the cross. Even though the battle began with a bite of fruit in the garden, God had already put in the Seed, Christ, for His answer! Romans 16:20a: “ e God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” In this battle that is raging, eventually Jesus will defeat Satan and—boom—it will be over. But we’re not there yet. Even though Jesus died, was buried, and rose again, it isn’t until Jesus comes back again that Satan will be ultimately finished. Right now, he functions as god of this air. e question is, “Will we give in to the seed of the serpent, or will we function in the Seed, Christ?”

Galatians 3:19: is verse talks about the Seed. Why was the Law—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy—given? Because of Adam and Eve’s sin, we needed the Law. It’s the parameters that we need to function within. Pastor Tony Evans describes the Law as a football field. God sets the parameters. He creates the boundaries of the field. But we have the free will. e Law was given until the Seed would come. So, has the Seed come? Or are we still waiting?