A Foreshadow of the Messiah

"I 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

Adam and Eve, having sinned due to the enticement and temptation of the serpent, are about to receive their punishments. But first, the Lord details the punishment of the serpent, through which Satan used to work out his evil treachery against the Lord and against humanity. After telling the serpent that his seed will crawl on their bellies and eat dirt for the rest of their time on earth, the Lord then offers up a glimmer of hope for mankind, as well as a symbol of doom for Satan. 

 

God said that there would always be a struggle between man and Satan. Satan will continually tempt mankind, causing humans to fall into sin and utter destruction, making them enemies of God. Humans needed a savior.   

 

But then, God told the serpent, a human offspring of the woman would be born to destroy the death grip that Satan has on humanity. While Satan would bruise the heel of this savior, inflicting a devastating and mortal wound, humanity’s savior would rise up to crush the head of Satan, bringing reconciliation between God and man. The Creator God pledged to crush the head of the serpent under the feet of the seed of the woman. This Messiah would be the solution to man’s fallen, sinful condition. 

 

While this prophecy may have been confusing initially, in hindsight, we understand this prophecy to refer to the coming of Christ. Christ, a human being born of a virgin, lived a sinless life in humble submission to His Father’s will in order to save the human race from the devastating effects of sin. While Christ suffered and died, he fulfilled this first Messianic prophecy by rising from death, proving His authority as Savior and Son of God.

God's Plan For Marriage: One Man, One Woman, One Flesh

 "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." (Genesis 2:24)

The concept, definition, and status of marriage has been hotly debated and questioned for the last quarter century. But probably never has it gotten as much media airtime as it did last week during the oral arguments for California's Proposition 8, which eliminates the rights of same-sex couples to marry. Proposition 8 is being touted as a political issue by both sides. Proponents for the bill say that the individual states have the right to define marriage, while arguements against the bill say that it discriminates against same-sex couples, denying them the same legal rights that heterosexual couples have.

Photo by Brad Stone, New York Times

While the issue is deeply political, it is also strongly spiritual. From the beginning of time, God has defined marriage as the bond that exists between one man and one woman. God laid the framework for His definition of future marriages. The man is to leave his family, stemming a new family with his wife, becoming one flesh. This "one-flesh" bond does not mean that man and woman are equal, for there are obvious physical, emotional, and psychological differences. This one-flesh bond means that they are to become one in the eyes of God, a foreshadow to how His people would become one through the body of Christ.

The irony of this verse however, is that families did not exist yet. Adam and Eve had not yet had children. But God had given Adam the imperative command to "be fruitful and multiply" in 1:28. Not only was God laying the framework for future marriages, but also for future families as well. God desires that families consist of one father and one mother.

The political and social arguments for or against same-sex marriage are constantly changing. But God's definition of marriage is clear. For God, as well as for His people, marriage is the spiritual union between one man and one woman.

The Creation and Mandate of Man

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them.

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And unto every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. (Genesis 1:26-30)

 

Michaelangelo's "The Creation of Man"

These verses have four very important theological and social implications. First, the creation of man was a direct act of the Godhead. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were all present and active throughout the process of creation.

Secondly, God chose to make male and female in both the image and the likeness of Himself, giving humanity a special relationship to God. These are not necessarily physical attributes (although god is described as having certain body parts, such as “the hand of God”) as they are spiritual. The soul of man, being created in God’s image, has the unique capability of embodying God’s communicable attributes, such as rationality, reason, intellect, will, and emotion. Man was also originally created in the likeness of God by embodying God’s moral attributes, such as righteousness and the ability to have relationships. These moral attributes, however, have been lost as a result of the fall, but can be re-gained through faith in Christ alone. Since every human being is created in the image of the Godhead, every human being is special to God. Therefore, we should recognize that every human life is sacred. From the unborn baby, to the woman with mental retardation, to the young man with quadriplegia, to even the elderly man with dementia, every life is special and significant to our creator.

Third, God has put man in charge of the earth, its resources, and its creatures. Man has been given the right, by the Creator, to use everything in the earth for his own benefit. However, even though God has given man dominion over the earth, man should not abuse it. We should be wise regarding our earthly environment, striving to eliminate pollution and harmful waste that destroys God’s creation, while at the same time knowing that we are not sinning when we consume the plants and creatures of the earth.

Finally, man is called to multiply his kind. God has given man the “cultural mandate” to reproduce without shame.

These implications mean that all men and women, regardless of race and social class, have been directly created by God in His own image and likeness. Since man is God’s representative on earth, man has been put in charge of the earth and its resources. Man also is commanded to reproduce in order to keep charge of the earth.