Let us pray:
Our Father in Heaven
As we open the book of Genesis, we ask
for guidance from on high
Show us the wondrous things from this book
We pray this in the precious name of Jesus, our Lord and Savoir. Amen.
The book of Genesis is the book about origins.
In fact, the name Genesis means precisely that: origins
Now allow me to mention as we begin our study today the things which the book of Genesis mentions as originating
First of all, we have the origins of the cosmos
That is, of the heavens and the earth in Genesis 1:1. We have the origins of plants, spoken of in Genesis chapter 1.
We have the origins of animals
We have the origin of man, the origin of woman
The origin of sin, the beginning of the origin of death, the beginning of the origin of redemption
The beginning of nations, the beginning of languages, the beginning of Israel and even the beginning of the Arabs, or the Arabic nations.
These are just some of the beginnings that we find mentioned in the book of Genesis.
So the book of Genesis is very important because it goes way back into pre-history as we know it, to describe
the origins of everything which exists
upon this earth
Now allow me to give you a little bit about the timeline of Genesis. The book of Genesis
describes the first 2500
years of human history. I believe as I've examined the contents of the book that
it was written by Moses and actually
it was written approximately 1500 years
before the birth of Jesus
and so you can imagine that the book of Genesis was actually
describing events that took place approximately
the year 4000BC - four thousand before Christ
And actually, it was written 1500
years before Jesus Christ was born
The book of Genesis presents a short chronology
of planet Earth. In other words, it does not allow for long periods of millions of years where God is creating
what is known as "progressive creationism". The book of Genesis teaches that
this planet is approximately 6,000
years old, from the moment in which God began to create upon it.
And I'd just like to tell you up front from the very beginning that in this seminar,
I take the book of Genesis as literal history
I believe that it represents a short time span
For the events that are described in it. In other words,
we don't have to go back millions of years to find out the origin
of things in this world. All we have to do is go
back approximately 6,000 years to find
the events for example that are described in Genesis Chapter 1, and chapter 2
The book of Genesis is the seed plot of the bible
Allow me to explain what I mean
One of my favorite national parks in all the United States
is the one that we have just up the mountain
Sequoia National Park. I just enjoy going up there
and unwinding, and taking it easy for a whole day
breathing some fresh air especially when its foggy here in the valley
And I just enjoy, uh going for example to the grant tree and to the general Sherman tree and just
standing there underneath these trees. It's amazing!
Some of them are almost 3,000 years old. Can you imagine a tree that's almost 3,000 years old?
And they are hundreds of feet tall
And I am just am awed every time I go up there
And I stand under these trees and I see how thick they are
and how high they go, and I'm just amazed
But have you ever stopped to think, that
the might Sequoia, for example the general sherman tree
actually came from a
little seed?
Have you ever stopped to think that that whole tree
that you find up there, the general sherman tree in Sequoia National Park
actually was enclosed
in cold form, sort of speak
in that little seed, and the seed sprouted, and
it produced after almost 3,000 years
this gigantic tree. In other words, the
Sequoia tree was contained in that seed.
Thats the relationship between Genesis and the
rest of the bible. The book of Genesis has the seeds
The rest of the bible is the development and growth
of those seeds, and eventually, the growth
reaches its climax or its fullness
in the book of Revelation.
In other words, we're not
going to stay in this seminar in the book of Genesis. We're going
to begin in Genesis in each lecture, and we're going
to study these seeds and then we're going to see
how these seeds develop throughout the course of the
whole bible. Now, the bok of Revelation
is a very important book to study along with Genesis
You notice for example in the brochure that many of you received
in the mail or perhaps in the newspaper, or maybe somebody gave
you one of the brochures, you notice there that this seminar
is not only about Geneiss, it is also about the book of
Revelation. You see, I beleive that we cannot understand
the book of Revelation unless we understand the book of
Genesis. We can never understand the end
unless we understand first of all the beginning.
Because the end is simply the culmination of a process
which began way back in the book of Genesis.
Allow me to give you an example of the relationship
between Gensis and Revelation. We'll study these things more
fully a little bit ater on, but I want to show you a couple of the examples
so that you can see how important it is for us
to compare and to inter-relate Genesis with
Revelation. Go with me, in your bibles
to Genesis Chapter 3 and verse 15.
And by the way, on the lists of texts that you have there is in parenthesis, a page number
which will make it a lot easier
for you to find the bible verses as we move along
because the people have heard me say that I go awful fast, but
with the list, you'll know exactly where we're going, so you'll be able to
one up on me. You'll be able to look up the next text actually before I
even mention it. Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15
This is immediately after sin. I want you to notice
what it says. God speaking: And I will put enmity between
you, that is the serpent, and the woman,
and between your seed
and her seed
Now let's stop there for a moment. We have four elements
in what we've read from this verse so far. First of all,
is enmity or war. Secondly,
there is a serpent whom God is speaking to
in this verse. In the 3rd palce, we have a woman because there's war between the serpent and the
woman. And in the 4th place, we have the seed. We actually two seeds
The seed of the serpent, and the seed of the woman. So we have these four
elements: enmity, serpent, woman, and
seed. And I want you to notice that the enmity runs
between the serpent and the woman, between the seed of the
serpent and the seed of the woman, and between the seed of the woman
and the serpent. Let's notice this verse again.
God says, "I will put enmity between you
the serpent, and the woman. There's the first enmity--the serpent and the woman
And between, your seed--that is the serpent
seed and her seed. So you have enmity between the serpent and woman and between seed and seed
But that's not the real warfare. Even though there is warfare
The critical and most important warfare is between the seed of the woman
and the serpent, because the last part of the verse says
He, that is the seed of hte woman, will bruise
your head, the serpent's head, and you
will bruise his heel. So the enmity runs three
ways. Serpent vs. woman, seed of the
serpent vs. seed of the woman, and the seed of the woman vs.
the serpent. There's no way in the world that we can understand
a chapter like Revelation 12 without
comprehending Genesis 3:15. Because in
Revelation chapter 12, I'll just mention it, we have
a couple of lectures on Revelation chapter 12
You see, in Revelation 12, we have
a child who is born to a woman
And standing next to this woman who is about to bear the child
is a dragon who is identified as the ancient
serpent the devil and Satan. And it says that he
wants to devour the child as soon as the child is born
The child of the woman. Do you see Genesis 3:15
in that passage in revelation chapter 12?
versus 1-5? Very clear.The warfare was going
to be between the seed of the woman and the serpent
And that's exactly what you have in Revelation 12:1-5
But Revelation 12 doesn't end there. Later on in the chapter,
when the child is caught up to God and the throne, which refers to
the ascension of Christ, we're told that now the woman
flees into the wilderness and the serpent is
after the woman. And later on
even in this chapter, in verse 17, we find
that the final warfare is no longer against he woman, but
against the seed's seed. In other words,
the seed of the woman's seed, and so there's no
way that we can really understand, uh, Genesis
chapter 3:15 uness we find the greatest development
in Revelation chapter 12, as well as other pasages
that we find in the New Testament. Now, allow me to give you one
other example. Genesis chapter 2
and verse 24. Genesis chapter 2, and verse
actually its verse 25.
Speaking about Adam and Eve,
it says, "And they were both naked, the man
and his wife, and were not ashamed."
We're going to find in our seminar that the reason they were not ashamed
is because they were not covered with human garments, but
made out of material. They were actually covered by
the glorious light of God. They had no artificial
garments. They were naked with respect to garments made out of
satin, or made out of other material. They were covered
with the glory of God. They wer covered with the light of
God. The same type of garments that God has according to
Psalms 104. And that's the reason why they were not ashamed.
But then in Genesis 3:7, we find that Adam
and Eve sinned, and suddenly we find them hiding from
God. And now they are ashamed even though
they've covered themselves with fig leaves. They still don't
feel like the fig leaves are covering their nakedness because the light has
gone away from them. And so they're hiding from God even though they
have covered the nakedness of their bodies with fig leaves, they know that their nakedness
is nakedness of soul. And do you know what God
does? In Genesis 3:21, it says that God makes
garments of skins and clothed
Adam and Eve to cover their nakedness.
Now there's a text in the book of Revelation
which we could never understand
unless we catch this background from Genesis
chapter 3. And that is the
central verse in the passage that deals with the battle of Armageddon.
You know there's a lot of talk today about Armageddon
What it's going to be? What nations it's going to involve, what the issues
are in this great battle. And I've heard a lot of
books written by many different scholars on the battle of Armageddon. In fact, we're
gonna have a whole lecture later on in this series, on the battle of Armageddon.
But you know what I find interesting? Most of those
commentaries with very few exceptions, dea
with all sorts of issues connected with the battle
of Armageddon. They talk for example, about the kings of the east
And they talk about the drying up of the river Euphrates, and they
talk about the three evil spirits like frogs coming
up out of the mouth of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. They have a lot to say about
all of these things. But there's one verse which very
rarely is even commented on, and it deals with
with the central issue in the battle of Armageddon.
And it shows that we must study Genesis in order
to understand it. Go with me to Revelation 16 and verse
15, and you'll see this.
Revelation chapter 16 and verse 15. Right
in the middle of the passage
on the sixth plague of Revelation,
and while you're looking for that text, allow me to say this,
this is the only place, where
Jesus speaks in the book of Revelation between
Chapter 3 and chapter 21
The only verse--if you have a red letter edition of the bible
where it gives the words that are spoken by Jesus, you'll find that the last words
of Jesus are in Chapter 3. The next time that Jesus
speaks is in chapter 21 with the exception
of Revelation 16 and verse 15. Do you
figure that if Jesus-- that if this is the only place that Jesus speaks
between revelation 3 and revelation 21, that it must be a very important
verse? Obviously! Notice what we find
there in Revelation chapter 16 and verse 15:
Jesus is speaking. Behold, I am coming
as a thief. Blessed is
he who watches and keeps
his garments lest
he walk naked and they see
his shame. Now you tell me. Is that verse
have anything to do with Genesis chapter 3? You have the same elements
You have garments, you have nakedness, and you have shame.
Obviously, there's going to be some people at the end of time
living during the period of the battle of Armageddon who are going
to be found naked and their shame will be revealed
just like Adam and Eve. But you cannot understand what this
means in the end time unless you first understand what
happened with Adam and Eve in Genesis because at the end of time
there's gonna be a repetition of what happened in the book of Genesis
These are just two examples of how
Genesis is very intricately entwined
with the book of Revelation. Now
this question frequently comes up when we study the book of Genesis, and that is
is the book of Genesis really
literal history? Or is the book of Genesis legend, myth, or as Carol Bath
the great theologian said, "saga"?
I want to tell you upfront that I believe that the book of Genesis
from Genesis 1:1 through the end of chapter
50 is dealing with literal historical
events. In fact, it might surprise
some of you to know that up till the age of the englightenment
in the 18th century--if you go before the eighteenth century,
you'll find that practically every scholar
that ever wrote on the book of Genesis believed that book of Genesis
was actual, literal, history
as it took place
But in the age of enlightenment appeared
historical criticism
and appeared the scientific method and so they
started applying the scientific method and historical criticism to God's
Holy word besides doing it to the natural world
and to documents that had been written in antiquity, and for this reason,
many of the scholars came to the conclusion that the book of Geneiss
particularly chapters 1-11 were not describing real
literal hisotry. I saw this problem
very clearly a few years ago when I was
at a speaking committment up in Berrien Springs, Michigan
there's the university where I went to
school. They have a fantastic theological library.
with hundreds of thousands of books. And of course, I only had
to speak in the evening. And during the daytime, I took advantage and went to the
library for aobut 8 or 9 hours a day doing research
for this series on the book of Genesis. And as I examined
the commentaries that were written on the book of Genesis
there's something which really struck me. And that's
is that most of the commentators really
did not believe in the historicity of the book of Genesis.
They did not believe that it's literal history.
And these were Christian commentators who were actually writing
on the book of Genesis. In fact, I had to
snicker when I was uh, researching the story
of Eve and the serpent which spoke to Eve
and a scholar, several of them actually, said the reason
why this story was included in Genesis is to
explain the reason why people are afraid of snakes
and then I went on to story of Cain and Abel.
And severeal of the authors said the reason
why you have the story of Cain and Abel in the book of Genesis is to
explain the origin of sibling rivalry
and then I continued studying and got to Genesis chapter 11
where it speaks about the Tower of Babel, the confusion of the languages
and the commentaries said this did not
really happen in history. This idea that
they tried to build a tower and God confused their languages.
The scholar said the reason why this story was written
was in order to explain why in the world you had so many
different languages, and so on
Most of the scholars that I read would be called
liberal scholars. They do not beleive in the
full inspiration of scripture. And therefore, they do not belive
that the stories of Genesis are really literal history
Is the book of Genesis though literal history?
Let me share this with you, folks! If we
don't beleive that the book of Gensis is dealing with literal history events
we are not only impuning
the veracity of Moses. We are impuining
the veracity of Peter, and
Paul and Steven and Luke
and Jesus. Do you realize
that every single story
without exception in the book of Genesis
is repeated as literal history in the new testament by the new testament authors?
Many of these events in Genesis are told
by Jesus in the gospels. Let's notice for example
Matthrew chapter 19 and verses 4
through 6. Matthre chapter 19 and verses 4-6.
Here Jesus is speaking about the origin of
marriage. And notice what we find there--Genesis chapter
19 and verse 4.
And he that is Jesus answered
and said to them, Have you not read
that He who made them at the beginning made them
male and female, and said
For this reason a man shall leave his father
and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two
shall become one flesh? So then, they are no longer
two but one flesh. THerefore, what God
has joined together, let no man separate.
Question: Did Jesus believe
that there was a literal marriage originally in Genesis
between Adam and Eve? He most certainly did!
And if you say that that story is myth or legend
or saga, you are not only impuining the veracity of Moses,
you are questioning the veracity of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ! Notice also,
Matthew chapter 24:37-39
Just a few examples here. Matthew 24:
37-39. This is
speaking about the flood in the days of Noah. It's called
Noah's flood, but it really was the Lord's flood. Notice
Matthew verse 24 and beginning with verse 37
But as the days of Noah were,
so also will the coming of the Son
of Man be. For as in the days before the flood,
they were eating and drinking, marrying
and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah
entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came
and took them all away. So also
will the coming of the Son of Man be. Did Jesus,
believe that the flood in the days of Noah actually
took place hisotrically? He did.
By the way, if you don't believe that the flood took place historically,
you don't have any basis for believing that Jesus is telling the truth when he says he's gonna come
again. Because he says, as it was back then,
so will it be. But if that back then didn't happen, what makes
you think that what he predicted in the future is going to happen?
Let's notice another couple of examples. First,
John chapter 3 and verse 12
You'll notice that
we're using scripture a lot tonight, and the list that you got tonight is a short list.
We're going to be using a lot of scripture here in the future
lectures of the seminar. Notice 1 John 3
and verse 12
It says there,
And not as Cain who was
of the wicked one and murdered his
brother. And why did he murder him?
Because his works were evil and his brother's
righteous. Question: Did the apostle
John who wrote 1st John beleive that the story
of Cain and Abel was literal history? He most certainly
did. Because it tells us here that Cain
killed his brother Abel. So
John beleived that this was a real, historical, occurance
Let's notice another example. Hebrews chapter
11 and verse 5. Hebrews 11:5
Here we find a very interesting
person mentioned. Actually, he's not mentioned
very freuently in scrpture. The bible tells us that
he was caught away to heaven. In fact, he never suffered death
accoridng to Genesis 5 compared to Hebrews chapter 11
his name was Enoch. Now notice Hebrews
chapter 11 and verse 5. By faith
Enoch was taken away so that
he did not see death. And was not
found, because God had taken him. For
before he was taken, he had this testimony, that
he pelased God. NOw let me ask
you: Did the author of the book of Hebrews believe that Enoch
was a real historical person? He most certainly did! And by the wa,
I believe that the author of the book of Hebrews was the apostle Paul
I believe that there's plenty of internal evidence to that fact. So did
Paul believe that Enoch was areal historical person?
He most certainly did! Let's notice one further example
and by the way, in the reference material that you'll receive this evening, you're going
to find half a page of references in the New Testament to every
single event and person in the book of Genesis
You have Abraham, you have Issaac, you have Jacob,
you have Joseph, you have the twelve sons of Jacob,
I mean, you have every single event in the book of
Genesis repeated somewhere in the New Testament. Notice
Luke chapter 3. This will be the last example
that we'll give of the importance of believing in the historicity of the
book of Genesis. Luke chapter 3 has
the genealogy of Jesus Christ.
And I want you to notice--we're only going to read two verses
Chapter 3 and verse 23 and then we're going to
jump down to verse 38. It says in verse 3,
Now Jesus himself began his ministry at about
thirty years of age, being as was supposed
the son of Joseph, the son of Heli, and then it continues
giving the genealogy, "the son of, the son of, the son of.."
And I want you to notice how the list ends in verse 38.
It says there, the son of Enosh
the son of Seth, the son of Adam
the son of God. Do you believe that Jesus
was a literal historical personage? Do you think that Jesus existed
in history? Well we have proof from secular
historians that Jesus did exist. Now you notice that this
genealogy actually begins with Jesus
and ends with whom? Ends with Adam.
NOw was Jesus a real, literal, historical person?
He most certainly was! So must Adam also be a
literal, historical person? Obviously, yes! You can't have it
one way iwth Adam and another way with Jesus.
Jesus is a real historical person, so is Adam.
By the way, you'll notice in this genealogy that the roots of Jesus
are traced all the way back from His day to
Adam. And you don't have long periods of millions
of years in between according to this genealogy.
And so I believe that it is of extreme importance
for us to believe in the historicy of the book of
Genesis. It is not myth, it is not legend.
It is not saga. It is real,
history. NOw, allow me to
mention a few things about the disciples that are
addressed in the book of Genesis. Do you know that hte book of Genesis addresses
at least in seminal form, most of the
disciplines that are studied in universities today. Allow me to give you a
list quickly. The book of Genesis has a lot to say about
theology. You know, if people believe the book of Genesis,
there won't be any atheist in the world, because the book of Genesis
begins by saying, "In the beginning, God created the heavens
and the earth." That is a theological statment. The book of Genesis
does not try to prove the existance of God. The book of Genesis
takes the existence of God for granted. It makes this
wonderful theological statement. The book of Genesis has
a lot to say about cosmology--the origins of the heavens
and the earth. You can find that in chapter 1 verses 6 through
8. The book of Genesis actually speaks about the
origin of chronology or time. Because after
each day of creation, it says that God,
God saw that what he had made was good, and it was the evening
and the morning of the first day, and the second day, the third day, and so on
And in Genesis chapter 1, it speaks about God making
the son, the moon, and the stars to establish the season
and periods of the year. You can find that in chapter 1
So in order words, God created chronology. He created months
He created years, and he created days, as the
frame of reference of time in this earth. You also
find in the book of Genesis, the origins of geography.
Where the dry land came from. You see,
it tells us in Genesis chapter 1 verse 2 that the earth was
compltely covered with water before creation. But God was the one who made the earth
Geography! The book of Genesis also addresses
the issue of botany. It says that every plant reproduces
according to its kind. And that is true even till
this day. Every plant reproduces according to its
kind! So Genesis definitely has somethign to say aobut
the origins of trees and plants and the grass.
The book of Genesis actually speaks about the origin of
zoology--the study of animals. And by the way,
the book of Genesis indicates that all of the animals were created "adults" so to
speak. All of the animals were created on the fifth and
the sixth day, adults! They did not take millions
of years to evolve according the book of Genesis. Go
God spoke and on the fifth day, the birds and the fish appeared
God spoke, and on the sixth day, the land animals
appeared. So the book of Genesis indicates that man
is not the end of a long evoluitonary process
where we come from primates, and the primates came from lower forms of life
The book of Genesis simply says that clearly, and
directly that God spoke, and things
were done. And so the book of Genesis deals with
zoology and it says that every animal reproduces according to its kind. THat
is also a scientifically true statment
The book of Genesis has a lot to say about anthropology--
the study of man. In fact, it speaks about the origin of
man and woman and it speaks about how
Adam was taken from the dust, and I believe that that's a literal
story. That God took clay and he formed Adam and
he took a rib from Adam and he made Eve. And you say, that kinda
unscientific. Well the fact is, that scientists weren't there.
And if we have faith in God's word,
Faith means having faith and trusting what God says
We'll have absolutely no problem with that story. The book of Genesis says
has a lot to say about sociology. Why do people
get married today? And why do they have children? Why
do we have this uproar recently about a man marrying a man, and a woman marrying a woman?
It's because that's contrary to what we find in
the book of Genesis. God established the ideal social
circle. He established marriage. The marriage between a
man and a woman, to have children, within a family unit
And Genesis has the origins of that.
The book of Genesis has a lot to say about psychology, believe it or not!
It would be interesting for you sometime to sit down and look at all the
psychological concepts that you find in the book of Genesis. It's amazing!
You know, psychologists today try to solve the problem of depression
and low self esteem and fear with all sorts of
gimmicks, and methodologies. The fact is, that we're going to
notice in our study tomorrow that the origin of fear
and the origin of a low self concept
nad the origin of strife in marriage
and the origin of strife between brother and brother
like in the case of Cain and Abel, is not due
to some psychological malfunciton. It is due to
sin. And unless a counselor
deals with the issue of sin, the problem
will not be resolved. Genesis has a lot to say
about psychology. The book of Genesis has a lot to say about Geology.
The study of the earth. You know, you have
scientists today who don't believe that there was a universal flood
I believe that you have to study the story of the flood in order to be
read the earth correctly. Because at the flood
the earth went through huge changes. In fact, if you
read in Chapter 8 of Genesis, God caused a mighty wind to
blow and that mighty wind, you know
buried everything that was on the surface of the earth. In other words, you had a
an upheaval of the earth. You know, we all probalby
have seen the graphic pictures on television
of the Tsunami. Have you noticed that? The devastation
the destruction? And that was just a tidal wave in a
certain region of he world. Can you imagine what
it must have been like, to have this whole world
totally covered with water? With a huge
storm that lasted forty days and forty nights? Where the bible
says that out of the earth came gushing forth
jets of water, and the windows of heaven were opened?
The earth was in turmoil. No wonder science today cannot
read the eath in teh correct
way. Because the earth is nothing like it was at the beginning
And so in order to get a true concept of
geology, we must make reference to the book of Genesis.
The book of Geneiss addresses the issue of philology--the
study of languages. It tells us where languages originated.
The book of Genesis has a description of Ethnology--the
origin of nations. In fact, in Genesis chapter 10, we have
the table of Nations, which describes the origin of all of the nations
that have ever existed on planet earth.
The book of Geneisis also addresses some very important existential
questions. Like you noticed in your hand bill, we're going to be
dealing with all of these issues as we go along in this seminar.
How did I get here? Why am I here?
Does my life have meaning and purpose?
Is there really a God who loves me?
You know, lots of people after the Tsunami
says, "If there's a God like that, you know ,I don't even want to believe
in a God like that. And if a God like that exists,
then I certainly don't want to serve Him." The fact is,
Is God good? And why is there so much evil
if God is good? We'll have a whole lecture when we're going to decode
the paradox of good and evil. We're going to answer the question, "How can
I experience personal people in a world of strife?" Everybody's
nervous today. Everybody is anxious about perhaps another terrorist
attack. Or homeland security. How
can we live life and experience perosnal peace
in all of the strife that surrounds us? How can I enjoy quality time
in the rat race of life? What happens the moment I die?
If I die, will I live again? Is there
really a better world coming? Is there such a thing
as absolute truth? If there is absolute truth, how
can I find it? How can I enjoy life
filled with health and with prosperity? All of these issues
are addressed very carefully in the book of Genesis.
Now, did you know that hte book of Genesis
is actualltye story of two seeds?
And we're going to further develop this concept of the
two seeds. It begins in Genesis 3:15
I will put enmity between you an the woman. See the two
sides there? The serpent and the woman.
Between the serpents seed and the womans' seed. See, there you have the two again.
He, the seed of the woman, will
bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.
You see the controversy and the conflict there? Between
serpent and woman?
Seed and seed? Seed and serpent?
The story of Genesis which is developed in the rest of scripture has to do
with a battle between two seeds.
Not only do you have this in Genesis 3:15,
But you also have it in the story of Cain and Abel. Do you know the first
example of Genesis 3:15 is in the story of Cain and Abel?
You say, "How is that?"
Well, lets look for the four elements. Is there a woman in the story of Cain and Abel?
Sure. It's Eve! She's the mother of both of them.
Do you have in the story of Cain and Abel enmity?
You most certainly do!
Cain gets angry and hates his brother.
Do you have in the story of Cain and Abel, two seeds?
That are totally unlike, one good and one evil?
Absolutely! And do you know that even the serpent
is involved in the story of Cain and Abel? Not directly in Genesis
If you go to 1 John 3:12, which we've already read,
it says, "Not as Cain who was of the wicked one."
So the one who wanted Abel dead
was not only Cain, it was the wicked one of whom Cain
was the seed. So you have this enmity
between Cain and Abel. A little bit later on in the book
you have this illicit relationship between the sons of God
and the daughters of men. We're going to deal with this later on.
Who are the sons of God that unite with
the daughters of men? We have two different seeds--the righteous and the
unrighteous intermingling. Once again, we have the idea of the
two seeds. And then of course
in the story of Noah, you have the story of the righteous who are saved inside
and the wicked who are destroyed outside.
And then a little bit later on in Genesis chapter 10, you have
the descendents of Shem, the son of Noah, and then on the other side,
you have the descendants of Ham and Japhet. By the way, we're going to notice that the descendents of Ham and Japheth
the nations that came from them, were the very enemies that tried to destory
Isreal in the Old Testament. Israel descends from Shem.
Wheareas all the nations that tried to destory
Israel descend from Ham and Japheth.
Very interesting! We'll deal with this a little bit later on, but you have
this idea of the two seeds. And then you have the
builders of the tower of Babel. And God commands
Abraham: He says to Abraham, "Get out
of the place where the Babel builders built this tower." Because
the bible says that Abraham and his family were getting contaminated
with the gods of Babylon. And So God says to Abraham,
You can't be with that evil seed. You must separate
from them. So there you have once again the idea of the two seeds.
Time and again in the book of Genesis, you have this idea
of the two seeds. Then you have the story of Isaac
and Ishmael. Notice once again, the same idea of the two seeds.
Isaac is the seed of the promise. Ishmael we're told
in Galatians chapter 4 that he arose
to try and kill Isaac who was the son of the promise
Once again, you have this enmity between the good seed,
and an evil seed. And then of-course you have the story of Jacob and Esau.
See the two seeds in this book? It's amazing
And by the way, in the book of Revelation, this is going to culminate.
These people who are individuals in Genesis: Isaac,
and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, Cain and Abel,
actually are individuals who represent
two world wide groups at the end of time
They're symbolic in miniature of the characteristics
which two groups will have at the end of time.
And so we must know the characters of Jacob and Esau
Isaac and Ishmael, Cain and Abel, to understand
what the characters of the two groups at the end of time
are going to be like. And then of course we have Joseph
and his brothers. We have lot and the inhabitants of Sodom.
I could continue going through Genesis. You have this idea
of the two seeds.
Battles of one seed
against another. Now before we draw this to a
close this evening, I need to tell you something
which is very important. Probably the most important thing that I
am going to deal with tonight. And that is the secret
to decode or to break the code of the book
of Genesis. You see, the book of Genesis on the
surface appears to be a collection
of stories that took place
once upon a time. But those
who read the book of Genesis only as history are
missing the deeper dimension of the book of Genesis.
We're gonna see in this seminar that every
story of Genesis is not only a story
but a prophecy! In fact, I believe I can show
that every story in the old Testament
is a prophecy. A prophecy about the coming Messiah
Jesus in His first coming, and also,
a prophecy about events surrounding the second coming
of Christ. In other words, the book of Genesis
is literal history. But it is prophecy written as
history. In other words, beyond the local, historical
events, they become symbolic or representative
of future world-wide events
I already mentioned as an example Genesis 3:!5
and how its fulfilled in Revelation 12.
We'll be studying this in
more detail. You'll find the same elements. You'll find
enmity, you'll find the woman, you'll find the seed of the woman,
you'll find the serpent trying to kill the seed, and then trying to kill the woman
there's no way we can understand end-time prophecy
without understanding the issues that are brought up in Genesis
3:15. By the way, if you read Genesis chapter 1
and 2, you'll find that the Garden of Eden has
rivers of living water flowing through them
and you'll find that in the Garden was the Tree of Life.
Have you ever noticed that in Revelation chapter
21 and 22, you have the river of the water of
Life? And you have once again restored
the Tree of Life? In other words, what we have in Genesis
is the original Garden of Eden adn
the losing of Eden because of sin. In
the middle --the rest of the bible, you find the story of how God
acts to redeem that which was lost.
And in Revelation 21 and 22, you have the restoring
of the original Garden of Eden.
So there's a close relationship between Genesis 1 and 2
and Revelation chapter 21 and 22.
You find for example, the story of Cain and
Abel. This story is not only history--it's a prophecy!
We're going to have a whole lecture on the battle of Armageddon. If you
are going to know what the issues are going to be in the final
battle of Armageddon, you have to know what the issues were
in the story of Cain and Abel. And we're going to find that
the issues in that origianal story revolved around
obedience and worship. And if you go
to the book of Revelation, you're going to find that the issues which are
going to separate the world into two groups are obedience
to God's law and worship.
The only difference is that in the beginning of human history, you have
two individuals. Whereas at the end of history, those
two individuals have proliferated into two
world-wide groups that have similar characters
to those two original people.
Jesus himself said that the story of the flood is not only a story
It's a prophecy! He said, "As it was in the days of Noah,
so also shall it be at
the coming of the Son of Man." Jesus said, "What happened then, is going to
happen again in relationship with my second coming."
And I'm going to have a whole lecture on the story of the Flood, and I'm going to show you that not only is the wickedness
of the world similar to the wickedness which will exist at the end of time, not only is the
destruction of the world in the days of Noah
similar to the destruction which will take place at the end of time, I will show you
that there will be whole patters on sequential
events which will be fulfilled in the exact way
in which they took place in the Old Testament. You have also the story of the
Sodom and Gomorrah. Very interesting story! Do you know that Jesus
also said that that story was a prophecy? He said in Luke
chapter 17. Notice, let's go there and read
this passage. Luke 17 and verses
28-32. Luke 17:28-32.
Here Jesus is speaking, and He says this,
"Likewise, as it was also
in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought,
they sold, they planted, they built. But on the day
that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone
from heaven and destroyed them all." And now notice what it says:
"Even so will it be in
the day when the Son of
Man is revealed." Did you catch that?
As it was back then, so will it be
And allow me to give you a little bit of an inkling of what we'll deal with
when we talk about Sodom and Gomorrah. Do you know that before
the cities were destroyed, God sent three angels with
the warning for those cities?
In the book of Revelation, we find that before the destruction of the world,
God is going to send three angels to warn the world!
And somebody might say, "Pastor, that's just an accident
That's a coincidence!" We're going to notice that
it is not a coincidence. You see the three angels
that came to Abraham and then two of them went to Sodom
and to Gomorrah actually are symbolic of
the messages which will be presented by these angels of Revelation
chapter 14. Actually the call of
Abraham out of the place where the tower of Babel was built
is fulfilled in Revelation 18 where there is a
message given to God's people: Come out of Babylon
my people, and do not participate in her sins!
That you receive not her plagues! The call of Abraham
out of Babylon foreshadows or symbolizes the final call
of God's people out of spiritual Babylon.
at the end of time. The story of the conflict between
Isaac and Ishmael actually is taken by the apostle
Paul in Galatians chapter 4 and he says that this represents
two different kinds of people: those who live according to the flesh
and those who live according to the spirit. In other words,
these two sons of Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael
represent two different kinds of characters
of people that will live in this world at the end of time. Those
who live according to the flesh and those who live according to the Spirit.
We're going to notice in this story
that we have the description of the origin
of the conflict that exist today between Israel and
the Palestinians. We're going to deal with that issue in Bible prophecy
with Israel in Bible prophecy, with the Arabs in Bible prophecy
because that is the origin of this controversy in
bac when Abraham had Isaac
and Ishmael. Since the days of Abraham
they been at each other's throats. This isn't something new
It's something which has existed all throughout the course of
human history. Who could forget the story
of the almost sacrifice of Isaac?
I say almost because Isaac was not sacrificed. I mean, that story is so clearly a pointing
to the Messiah, that you know, I don't even have to dwell on it very much.
You know, God told Abraham, "Take your son
to mount Moriah, and sacrifice him there", and when Abraham
is about sacrifice his Son,
the voice said, "Don't sacrifice your son
and Abraham looks up and finds a ram, which is a male lamb
and he finds a ram in a thicket, and he offers the ram in
place of his son. Do you know that that represents
the fact that God the Father sent his son, Jesus to this world
and He sent Him to take our place.
He sent Him as a Lamb of God which takes away the sin of
the world. And there's a whole series of parallels
between the story that took place the in days of Abraham and
the story of the ministration of
Christ on this earth. Who could forget the story in what is called Jacob's ladder?
By the way, it's not Jacob's ladder, it's the Lord's ladder.
In Genesis chapter 28, it speaks about a ladder that's planted on the earth, and its top reached to the
highest heavens and angels were ascending and descending on
the ladder. What could that mean? Well, we don't have to guess.
Because in John chapter 1 verse 51
Jesus says, "You will see heaven open, and you will see the angels
ascending and descending upon the Son of Man!
In other words, the ladder represents
Jesus Christ. The bottom of the ladder represents his humanity, his oneness
with us. The top of the ladder represents the fact that he's God;
It represents his divinity or his deity. In other words,
the only one who can represent us before God is one who is man
with man, and God with God. He's the only one
who can bridge heaven and earth. So Jesus himself said,
"I am the ladder. The ladder of Genesis
28 is really a prophecy. It is not only a
story. Who could forget the story of Jacob and Esau?
This is a symbolic story. The fact that the very
end of the story, we find Jacob returning to his home after
he's gone into exile from his home because of sin--like Adam and Eve were cast out because of their sin. Now he's
returning home and he hears that his brother is coming after him to destroy him
And Jacob goes
through what is known as the Time of Jacob's trouble.
He's in anxiety because he's afraid that his brother
is going to destroy him. Do you know that the Bible says that shortly before the coming of Jesus,
God's people will go through a period that is known as the
Time of Jacob's trouble? They will have a similar experience to the experience that Jacob had?
It's mentioned for example in Daniel chapter 12:1
where it says that at that time Michael shall stand up --that Great Prince that stands watch over your people
and there will be a time of trouble such as never was since
there was a nation. See that's the time of Jacob's trouble. But
at that time, God's people will be delivered. Everyone who
is written in the book. The story of Joseph
is a symbolic story. Jacob is sold by his brothers for
few pieces of silver. Jesus was sold by his own brothers.
by 30 pieces of silver. If you want to understand the 144,000 of Revelation chapter 7
once again, you have to go back to the book of Genesis.
Genesis 49. There Jacob before his death gives a
description of the character of each one of his sons.
And they form the foundation for us understanding the characers--the twelve personality profiles
that will exist at the end of time.
The book of Genesis is a prophetic book.
It has a much deeper dimension than
mere history and we're going to try and decipher all of those things
in this seminar. I believe it's going to be a
wonderful experience.