Lesson 19

It’s not all Bad News

 

Introduction
Satan’s thought that it would be all over for mankind once they had sinned, but God had a solution to the problem. Satan did not count on God’s love and mercy for fallen man.

The Protoevangelium
The prefix ‘proto’ means ‘first’, and ‘evangelium’ means ‘good news.’ It is a term that explains Genesis 3:15 … “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” This is the first verse in the Bible that foretells the coming of the Messiah (Saviour and Redeemer) Jesus Christ. Notice that God reveals the Good News before He tells Adam and Eve about the judgement on their sin. Remember, God is directing this information to Satan. From that moment his death warrant is signed.

The bruising of the heel is speaking of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross. “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses; blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:13-15). The sacrifice of Christ would defeat and destroy the devil and those who follow him. This in turn would be the means of salvation for Adam’s offspring. Satan has sought to hinder mankind from believing in and accepting God’s only means of salvation.

The Covering
“Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21). Adam and Eve had tried to cover their sinfulness, but only God can provide true atonement. An innocent party had to die for the guilty. Animals (lambs?) were slain and their blood spilt so that they could be covered. Note ‘skins’ meaning that the atonement was for both of them individually. “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul” (Leviticus 17:11). We can clearly see that this is what the blood of Jesus Christ did for us.

The Lost
“And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of Us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life” (Genesis 3:22-24).

Being cast out of the garden does not sound like good news, but it was! There are several reasons why this happened:

Conclusion
The opening verse of this study reveals information about One who would come to save us from sin. In Luke 19:10 the Lord Jesus declares, “For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Those who hold to a naturalistic worldview have no answer to the question ‘Why is there death, sorrow, sickness and suffering in the world?’ They try to fix the problem through politics, religion, money, education and blaming others. As Bible-believing Christians we have the answer, and that answer is salvation through Jesus Christ. These things are a result of sin.  God allows the consequences of sin to remain so that mankind can fully realise that it is lost without Him.

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