Genesis chapter 3 verse 15, this is a text of scripture that has been referred to as the proto evangel or the first gospel promise. And it is, where God says, and I will put enmity between thee, that's the serpent, Satan, and the woman, And between thy seed, that's the seed of the serpent, and her seed, that's the seed of the woman, it shall bruise thy head, that is, the seed of the woman will bruise the serpent's head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Last time we were studying together in the book of Genesis concerning the Lord himself and his great purpose and his promise. God's purpose of grace is seen chiefly in the doctrine of sovereign election. The doctrine of election is everywhere in the Bible and it's certainly found in the book of Genesis where we have instances of God choosing out certain men to be His servants. Now the New Testament discussion of election in Romans chapter 9 is pivotal in this regard. It talks about Jacob and Esau in particular. But there are numerous examples of God's sovereign choice in the book of Genesis. In Seth, the son of Adam and Eve. In Noah, in Abraham and various others. We see the grace of God being displayed in that God Himself displays His favour to man with no ulterior motives at all and it's irrespective of man's merits or demerits. We know when we come to Romans 9 the statement is made concerning Jacob and Esau that the children had not yet been born and had not done any good or evil. Why? That the purpose of God according to election might stand. You see, someone like Noah is described as one who found grace in the eyes of the Lord. He was set apart sovereignly by God. There was nothing in Noah any more than any other person on the earth at that time to merit the favor of God. It's not that Noah was this really good individual and the rest of them were bad. No, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord and that's why Noah became a just man and one who walked with God because of the grace of God. He was in Himself no better than others of that generation. And when we apply that to ourselves, we have to remember Paul's words, What hast thou that thou didst not receive? You and I are no better than anybody else out there in this community. If we think that we have a leg up for God's favour because of this, that or the other thing that we have done, or because of some other reason, we're wrong. We are no better. than anyone else. There's nothing special about me or you, except that God has had mercy upon us. And God's choice of Noah was sovereign. We again mentioned Abraham. There was nothing in Abraham to merit the favor of God. What we read about Abraham in Genesis chapter 12 is not long after the Tower of Babel and all of that confusion. But God visited Abraham in a place called Ur of the Chaldees and He called him out. Why? Because he was better than anybody else in that community? No. In fact, the Bible teaches us, as we learn from Joshua chapter 24, that Abraham was an idolater like everybody else in that land of Mesopotamia. But God called him out. Why? Because He chose to. There was nothing in Abraham to deserve God's favor. Anyone who tells you that they're proud of the fact that they're God's elect, I would wonder about whether they are God's elect. Because this is a doctrine that humbles us by the thought that the Lord has had mercy on us and there's no reason for it outside of God's own self. Now, there are many examples, as we noted, of the working of sovereign election. Joseph was chosen over Reuben, Ephraim, the son of Joseph was chosen over the other son of Joseph, Manasseh, and so on. And in all of those cases that are mentioned here in Genesis, it is God progressing His elective purpose to bring the Messiah. See, there's a promise here in Genesis chapter 3 that gives significance to every other covenant promise in the Bible. This is the first promise concerning the gospel. I'll read it again. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman. In other words, you're going to be the woman's enemy and she will be your enemy. And the same will be true of the seed. Between thy seed and her seed, the woman has a seed, And the serpent has a seed. And the statement is made, it, that's the seed of the woman, shall bruise thy head. Let me suggest to you that is a direct reference to what happened at Calvary. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ did. He crushed the serpent's head at the cross. While at the same time thou shalt bruise his heel, We could develop this further, but I want to mention it right now. There is an alternate thought here regarding this matter of bruising his heel. If you look at the Hebrew, there is a suggestion that it could be like the snapping at the heels of someone. You know the way a dog would do? Some kind of a creature would snap at your heels? That's what the devil has done in relation to Christ and his cause in the world. And that's all he can do. I heard a preacher say one time, the devil has had his teeth removed, but he can gum you real good. And that is true. The devil can give us a lot of trouble, but he's a defeated foe because of Christ. Now when we look at God's elective purpose, it was to bring about the Messiah ultimately. Christ was going to come from a certain line according to the flesh. Here's the first promise of the Messiah in the Bible, Genesis 3.15. And you'll see the focus on the word seed. The seed of the woman. That's a thought you want to keep in your mind. The seed. He was going to come from a certain line according to the flesh. And we see this develop right through the Old Testament, right up until the time when Christ was born. There had to be an Isaac, and there had to be a Jacob, and there had to be all of these other people, David and so on, in order to bring forth the Messiah according to the flesh. When I talk about sovereign election last time, and I said just in closing, that there were some conclusions we could make regarding election or three observations, if you like, about this great truth. And I just want to mention these before we go any further. There are three conclusions that we can make regarding election as we see it in Genesis and throughout the Bible. Number one, the origin of election. The origin of election. People do not elect themselves. Election is the work of God. And let me again emphasize, it is based upon and it is rooted in His sovereignty. Look once again at Genesis 6 verse 8. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. It doesn't say that the eyes of the Lord found grace in Noah. Just carefully note that. It doesn't say that. It says that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. In other words, he found favor in God's sight. It was God who had mercy upon him. You go to Deuteronomy chapter 29 and verse 29. There's a lovely statement there concerning God's Secret purpose. There are things that you and I find mysterious. We don't understand them. One of those is sovereign election. Look at this verse, Deuteronomy 29, 29. The secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. The secret things belonging to the Lord are God. There is no reason for election that you and I can find outside of the purpose of God. It is referred to rightly in Romans 11 verse 5 as the election of grace. the election of grace. He said even so at this present time also there is a remnant, and he's talking about the people of Israel, there's a remnant among them according to the election of grace. Not of works, but of grace. So this is the first conclusion we can make regarding election. This is the first observation. The origin of election is the sovereign grace of God. It's the work of God. There's a second conclusion about election, and it is what I would call the obligation of election. There is a responsibility that is consequent on the one who is elect, the one who is chosen. What a wonderful privilege it is to be chosen of God. It's an unspeakable privilege to be called one of God's elect, one of God's chosen. But it brings along with it tremendous responsibility. There is an expectation, you see, that comes along with election. And what is that? It is that the chosen ones are to obey God and trust Him. That's our obligation. We are to trust the Lord. We are to have faith in the Lord. We are to obey the Lord. And this is, in fact, how the chosen ones Give evidence of their election. How do you know somebody's elect? Because they trust the Lord and they believe the Lord and they obey the Lord. Someone says, well, I'm one of God's elect and they live like the devil. Can we believe that? The Lord expects those whom he has set apart for himself. to show that they are His elect by separating from the world, by living a different kind of life. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 1. The first chapter of Ephesians, and right away Paul speaks about the blessings that we have in Christ. We're blessed with all spiritual blessings. in heavenly places or if you like in heavenly things in Christ. Notice verse 4. According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world were chosen in Christ. What for? That we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will." When it says that we should be holy, it really means in order that. If you read it this way, according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, in order that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Election is unto holiness. It is in order that we may be holy. The Lord has saved us for that purpose. Notice the words of Titus chapter 2 from verse 11. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly. Where? In this present world. The Lord hasn't just saved us to take us to heaven, but that we might live differently in this present world, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, notice this, who gave Himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. This is the Lord's purpose. This is his purpose in election. That the chosen ones show forth their election of God by living holy lives. There is the obligation of election. And then thirdly, There's the outcome of election. God has a purpose that is going to be fulfilled even when men fail. And that's a great encouragement to us. The Lord has a purpose that is not going to be frustrated. There are plenty of times in my life when I become frustrated. And I'm sure you do too. You know how that is. And you're sitting at a red light and the person in front of you should be going because it turns green. And they don't go. And they don't go. And they still don't go. And they sit there and the light changes back to amber and it goes back to red again. You're like, what happened there? Well, they're on their phone. Or they're doing something else. Or they're looking down at something. They weren't paying attention. That is very frustrating. Frustration. Listen, there's lots of things that frustrate us in this life. Lots and lots of things. Far more even important than sitting at a red light. But you know the great thing is that God never gets frustrated. The Lord is never frustrated. His purpose is always fulfilled. And again we're in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 11. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance. being predestinated. There it is again. That's choosing the destiny of beforehand. Predestinated. According to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will. What a tremendous, encouraging word that is. The Lord works all things after the counsel of His own will. Sometimes we're tempted to think, Lord, what are you doing? What are you doing Lord? The Lord knows what he's doing. He's never one minute early and he's never one minute late. His purposes will ripen fast according to the hymn writer and he was right. Unfolding every hour. The purpose of God is not frustrated. It's going to be fulfilled, that's the outcome of election. And under this particular thought, I would point out that there are lessons that can be drawn from the biblical narrative, particularly in the book of Genesis, as it has to do with the biographies of the patriarchs. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and so on. You see in the first book of Moses, in Genesis, the development of God's purpose in the establishing of his covenant. There is a covenantal development in the Bible from the very beginning, even in Genesis. And here we are in Genesis 3.15. The identity of the one who's going to remove the curse that has been pronounced upon sin is given to us here. Here's the identity of the curse remover, if you like. Who is he? He's the seed of the woman. Notice it again. I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed. Her seed. That's the Messiah. It, her seed, shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel. The one who removes the curse is the Messiah. And in revealing that truth, you're going to note that God gives general statements in the scripture that lead to certain specific statements. This is what we call progressive revelation. So the Lord didn't give all the information at the beginning, but he gives the information as you go along through the Bible. And as you're reading your Bible through, that's what you're doing. You're gathering more and more information about this promise that is right here in Genesis 3.15 and how it's going to be fulfilled. There's progressive revelation. In other words, there's more and more light that leads right up to the time when Christ comes. And what I'm saying is that we see the identity of the seed that's mentioned here in Genesis 3.15 becoming clearer all the time as we read through our Bibles. It starts out just with this first gospel promise, and it gives scant, bare details of who He will be. all it tells us here is that this will be the seed of the woman but that seed will come into humanity obviously because he's referred to as the seed of the woman in the human race so to speak he's going to be part of the human race the seed of the woman so we can say right away that the animal kingdom will not include anything that comes close to being the seed. None of the animals will be the fulfillment of Genesis 3.15. That's very clear. And so during the operation of the sacrificial system, the offering up of the animals, the lambs each day, morning and evening, those Levitical sacrifices in the first seven chapters of Leviticus, and all of the priestly work that was done offering up the blood of bulls and of goats and of beasts. They were not to look for the seed there. The seed was going to be a man. That's the first bit of information that we get from Genesis 3.15. He will be a man. So in that context, it's really interesting to look at Genesis chapter 4. I'm going to say something here that you may or may not agree with. But it's my conclusion and it's my conviction that Cain and Abel were twins. People say, where do you get that from? Well, look at what the Bible says. Genesis 4 verse 1, And Adam knew Eve his wife. that is in a carnal sense in normal conjugal marriage relations Adam knew Eve his wife and she conceived and bear came and said I have gotten a man from the Lord and then it says this and she again bear his brother Abel it doesn't say she conceived and bear his brother Abel I think that's a very interesting piece of information that's left out there. She did not conceive again. It doesn't say that Adam knew his wife again, because it will say this later on in relation to Seth. Look at chapter 4 verse 25. And Adam knew his wife again and she bore a son and called his name Seth. So in this instance we know that that's a son who's separate from the elders. But in this case, Adam knew Eve, his wife, she bare Cain. After conceiving, she bare Cain and she again bare his brother Abel. My conviction is that they were twins. And that makes the murder of the one by the other all the more unbelievable. Because if you know anything about twins, and there are quite a number in our family on both sides, it's uncanny how twins are in terms of They choose the same things and they go the same places and it's unbelievable some of the things that happen with twins. It's almost like telepathy. I don't believe in that. But it's really interesting to observe the closeness of twins. These twins, if that's the case, were divided by a murder. One killed the other. Hard to imagine. But what I want us to concentrate on here is something more important and that is the words of Eve in verse one. When she conceived and birth came she said I have gotten a man from the Lord. I have gotten a man from the Lord. The construction of this statement in the Hebrew. You'll have to take my word for it. shows us that Eve may well have initially thought that Cain was the fulfillment of the seed promise in Genesis 3.15. Because the Hebrew reads something like this, I have gotten a man, even the Lord. I believe that Eve may have mistakenly thought that Cain was the fulfillment of the covenant promise concerning the seed. Here he is, the seed of the woman. She's just had this child. I've gotten a man from the Lord. Here's the seed. Now, if she did feel that he might be the curse reverser, she would have been very quickly disabused of that notion. Because Cain was the murderer of his own brother. And so it was obviously not the promised seed. But the godly line of covenant continued through Seth. We see this down in verse 25, as we've indicated in chapter number 4. Adam knew Eve, knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth. For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed." There's that word again. Another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. So here you have Seth. And the godly line of the covenant is going to continue through him. But then there comes a threat to the continuation of the human race. and the promise of the seed appears to be under threat. How so? Well in Genesis chapter 6 we read of how man had become so corrupted and the human race itself was under threat of extinction. The Lord destroyed this entire world by a global cataclysmic flood. But you see in the midst of this God entered into a covenant with Noah. The flood came, but Noah and his family were saved. Eight people, Noah, his wife, their three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their three wives. The only ones that survived in the human race. Why? Because Genesis 6, 8 says, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. If you read on in the story, Noah and his family emerged from the ark, in Genesis chapter 8, the Redeemer can still come. The promise of a seed that was under threat is still able to be fulfilled. And the creation mandate that was given to Adam at the very beginning was in fact repeated to Noah. Let me compare two scriptures. Genesis chapter 1 verse 28, the Lord said, God blessed them and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the face of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Now, compare that creation mandate to what God told Noah in Genesis chapter 8 verse 17. Bring forth with thee, that's out of the ark, every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth. Judgment had come, judgment upon sin, yet isn't it interesting that sin continues to be a problem? Because you see the statement of the curse repeated in chapter 9 verse 25 where God said, Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. It's interesting to note that before the flood came in Genesis 6 and verse number 5 man's condition is described as being great wickedness and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart only evil continually. But you see this even after the flood in Noah's family in Genesis 8 and verse 21. The Lord smelled a sweet savour and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake, for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. It was still true. But the curse was followed by a promise of blessing on Shem. You see that in Genesis 9, verse 25. Cursed be Canaan. There's the curse. But the next verse says, verse 26, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant. The godly line of Shem. The Semites are his descendants. God shall dwell in the tents of Shem. He says in chapter 9 verse 27. Interestingly the word tent as you may know could be translated tabernacle. It's often referred to in scripture in that way. Men dwell in tabernacles. Actually the building known as the tabernacle was a tent of sorts. God tabernacling with man. God shall dwell in the tents, in the tabernacles of Shem. This could well be a hint for us at the incarnation, because when you go to John chapter 1 verse 14, the Bible says of Christ, the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. That word dwelt in the Greek is the word tabernacled, or dwelt as in a tent among us. Now God made a covenant with Noah, it's called the Noahic covenant. It was followed by a covenant with Abraham, the Abrahamic covenant. And if we had time to consider Genesis chapter 12 and Genesis chapter 15 and Genesis chapter 17, we would see mention made there of that covenant. There are some who call themselves dispensationalists and they will identify different covenants in the Bible as we do. But they mistakenly come up with the idea that God had, in some cases, they'll teach seven different methods of saving people in different dispensations. The more extreme hyper-dispensationalists believe that. There are many who think that God saved the Israelites differently from what he saves us. But I want to tell you that there are two covenants. There's the covenant of works that God made with man in the Garden of Eden. A covenant that Adam failed in and there kicked in, if I could use that term, the covenant of grace that God had established from all eternity and salvation in every instance, Old Testament and new, is under that covenant of grace. Now within that we have terminology, the old covenant and the new covenant, which often mystifies people and confuses people. But actually, when you talk about the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, within the one covenant of grace, it's actually not two covenants, but two modes of administration. In other words, what happened in the Old Testament, under the law, and what happens in the New Testament. But it's all under one overarching covenant of grace. Salvation has always been, and always will be, by grace. But as you look at the promise to Abraham, the Abrahamic covenant, and our references made In chapter 17, I want you to look at, in verse 7, the Lord said to Abraham, and I will establish my covenant between me and thee. That's an interesting way of putting it. I will establish my covenant between thee. This is not a new covenant. This is the Lord renewing the same covenant that He made with Noah. The same covenant that He made with our first parents, Adam and Eve, about the Messiah. It's the promise of the seed. And if you notice that, In Genesis 17 and verses 7 and 8 and verse 9, it talks about the seed. I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee and their generations for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee the land wherein thou art a stranger and so on. In verse 9, God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant, therefore thou and thy seed after thee in their generations. See, this promise of the seed all the time starts out in Genesis 3.15, but it continues. So the Messiah is going to come into the family of Abraham. And that covenant that was made with Abraham was repeated to Isaac. We could show you that scripture if we had time to turn there. You could also see that of his two sons, Esau and Jacob, Jacob was chosen. You come right up to Genesis chapter 49, to that time when Jacob was dying and had his sons gathered around him. In Genesis 49 and verse number 10, in midst of all that he said, There was this promise, this prophecy. Genesis 49, 10. The scepter shall not depart from Judah. What's the scepter? The scepter belongs to the king. And a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come. And unto him shall the gathering of the people be. And Shiloh is a name for the Messiah. It's a reference to the coming Christ. Now notice here is the promise to Judah of all the sons that were gathered. He mentions in verse 3 of Genesis 49, Reuben. Verse 5, Simeon and Levi. But in verse 8, Judah. So these words about Shiloh coming have to do with Judah, the tribe of Judah. And here's the ultimate fulfillment of the covenant promise. So let's put this together. Genesis 3.15, the seed will be a man, not an animal, a man, the seed of the woman. But not only will he be from the human race, but he will be in the line of Abraham. But not only that, the very tribe into which the Messiah would be born and would come is mentioned. So let's just say this, that the book of Genesis is obviously messianic in its focus. It's pointing to the Messiah. And if we were to go right to the New Testament, we would see that there are two genealogies in relation to Christ. One is in the first chapter of Matthew, and the other is in the third chapter of Luke. Both of these genealogies are different. In the one case, in Matthew, You will see how it speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ coming from a particular line. Matthew 1 verse 1. The book of the generation of Jesus Christ. Who? The son of David. Who? The son of Abraham. You see this covenant promise of the seed goes away back to Abraham. He's the seed of Abraham. leads right down to the birth of Christ. But you go to Luke chapter 3 and you'll notice there that the genealogy is traced back from Joseph's side of the family, the earthly guardian of Christ. You see, Luke chapter 3 verse 23, And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being, and these words in brackets and parenthesis are really important, as was supposed the son of Joseph. That's what everybody thought, in other words. He's the son of Joseph. His father is a carpenter. But that wasn't true. Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus. He was the earthly guardian. But Jesus was not born of Joseph. He was born of the Holy Ghost and conceived of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin. But according to the flesh he was of Joseph's line. So we see a different genealogy here in Luke 3 from what we have in Matthew chapter 1. Because it talks about Joseph which was the son of Heli and so on right on back until you come to verse 38. which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, see that? Seth, the seed, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God. So the line goes away back there, traced to a different route, because that's Joseph's line, whereas the other one has to do with the line that goes from Mary. But the very tribe into which the Messiah would be born and would come is mentioned. And then the genealogies confirm this in the New Testament. But the promise of the seed ties the narrative of the patriarchs together. You read through the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and so on. It's all tied together by the promise of the seed. And that is essential to the progression of God's redemptive purpose and the fulfillment of His promise. The seed promise is a crucial aspect of redemption. We'll take time to deal with this further at another time, but we should understand that God's covenant all the way through, first of all with our first parents, and then with Noah, and then with Abraham, it was renewed to David, The covenant was made with David. The ideal king was going to be from his family. And he would rule forever. That's the promise that you have in the Old Testament. And then it goes right up to the time of Christ. Let's put this all together. The promise of Genesis 3.15. The purpose of God in bringing about the seed of the woman. He was to be a man, not an animal, a man, the seed of the woman. He was to be a Semitic man, a Semitic God-man indeed. Genesis 9 verse 27 makes that clear, because God would dwell in the tents of Shem. He would be a Semitic man from the line of Abraham. Genesis chapters 12, 15 and 17 speak of that in the covenant. He was to be a Semitic man from the line of Isaac, from the line of Abraham. It was so important for Isaac to be born, you see. Because he was to be that child of promise, and that's all developed in the book of Galatians. If you go there and see that there's talk about Ishmael and Isaac, and Isaac was the child of promise, he was the seed, but ultimately the seed is Christ. Look with me at Galatians chapter 3. And really this is the ultimate in the fulfilment of the promise of God. Galatians 3 and we read from verse 16. Well we'll read verse 15 because it mentions the covenant. Brethren I speak after the manner of men, though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth or addeth thereto. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. God's covenant was with them. He saith not unto seeds as of many, but as of one unto thy seed, which is Christ. Do we know when we read there in Genesis chapter 17, when God talked to Abraham about his seed, He wasn't just talking about Isaac. He was talking about the ultimate fulfillment, which was Christ. That's what it tells us here in Galatians 3.16. and to thy seed, which is Christ." There is the promise of a seed. He was to be a Semitic man from the line of Isaac, from the line of Abraham. He was to be a Semitic man, furthermore, from the line of Jacob, from the line of Isaac, from the line of Abraham. Then he was to be a Semitic man from the tribe of Judah, from the line of Jacob, from the line of Isaac, from the line of Abraham. And he was to be finally a Semitic man from the family of David, from the tribe of Judah, from the line of Jacob, from the line of Isaac, from the line of Abraham. There's a repetition therefore of the covenant. And the word covenant is used in relation to Noah, to Abraham, and to those other patriarchs, and to David. And we read, or rather we sang today, from a psalm that we will now read which is psalm 111 and in there it says in verse 5 he hath given meat unto them that fear him he will ever be mindful of his covenant and I recall reading a devotional by Spurgeon in which he pointed out something that I had never seen and it's right here on the surface of the verse He will ever be mindful of his covenant. Spurgeon said that literally means his mind will be full of his covenant. That's what God thinks about. That's what God's mind is upon. His covenant. Fulfilling that promise. That's why his people will be saved. Go down to verse 9 of the same psalm. He sent redemption unto his people. He hath commanded his covenant forever. Now when you look at the various mentions of the covenant in the Old Testament from that first promise in Genesis 3.15, each new mention of the covenant was better because it revealed something more concerning the promised Redeemer. More data, if you like, was being fed into the narrative. And those gracious covenant developments expressed just one way in which God was directing events providentially toward the fullness of time into which Christ would come. You know, the Bible is a wonderful book. You take the book of Ruth. The story of Ruth just appears to be a nice little love story in the middle of the Bible. But when you think about it, Ruth is someone who is on the outskirts. She's an outcast from Israel. And she's brought in as a Gentile bride of Boaz. And when you read the narrative, you find that Boaz and Ruth had a son. And Abed became the father of Jesse. And Jesse was the father of David. And through David the Messiah would come. Here's a woman who has no claim upon God's favour whatsoever, but in sovereign grace she's brought in. And she's taken, as one preacher said, from the land of Moab into the line of the Messiah. and Ruth gets mentioned in the genealogy of Matthew chapter 1 because right there it says in verse 5 and Salmon begat Boaz which is Boaz of Rechab and his mother was no paragon of virtue originally either was she Rehab the harlot all the mercy and grace of God she's in the genealogy And Boaz begat Abed of Ruth. Who's Ruth? She's another woman who comes from a rather undistinguished background. And by the way, there's another mention there, and that's Tamar. And her story is not exactly a great one. And in verse 6 of Matthew 1, you have her that had been the wife of Uriah, Bathsheba. And her story isn't a very great one either, is it? Oh, the grace of God! in using women like Tamar and Rahab and Ruth and Bathsheba to bring the Messiah according to the flesh into the world. God's covenant promise being fulfilled. The gospel accounts of the birth of the Lord Jesus and his identity are no surprise to people who see the messianic theme in the Old Testament covenant relation. Matthew's genealogy mentioning Christ as the son of David, the son of Abraham. Luke's genealogy tracing his human ancestry all the way back to Adam. They stand together as a joint testimony to every covenant promise of God. And though as you reach through your Bible, the covenant promises move very slowly at times, they always move steadily forward. from the paradise of Eden to the manger at Bethlehem. It all came about and they had to come about the fulfillment of these promises because they were covenant promises guaranteed by the oath of God. So we often sing His oath, His covenant and blood support me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay. On Christ, the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. God's oath, God's covenant, the blood of Christ who is God. They support us. We know that God's covenant promises will be fulfilled. We haven't got into a lot of the detail concerning the promises of the covenant, but we've just given a basic short synopsis of the development of the covenant in the Bible right from Genesis 3 15. Where God promised our first parents that the seed of the woman would destroy the serpent. Think about this, the first sinners who walked the earth received a rather general but a very direct and encouraging promise that a saviour for humanity was going to arise from the human race. Humanity had just been cursed and plunged into darkness by sin. But there was one promise that would come into the human race through that woman who would reverse the curse of sin. As has been said, reversing the curse was good news. In fact, we call it the gospel. This is the first gospel promise in your Bible. So think of that every time you read it. I will put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Thank God for the work of Christ, our Messiah, who came in fulfillment of all God's promises to live our life and to die our death, and to rise on the third day triumphantly, to ascend up into heaven, to there intercede for us, and to await that great day when He will come again in power and in glory. May the Lord bless us today by filling our minds with the thought of His gracious covenant.