Let's pray together. God, we come to You this morning and we feel our desperate need of You. And Lord, I pray that You will take the small flame of passion within our hearts and fan it into a great blaze. I pray that You will open up our eyes this morning to see Your glory and to see You for who You are and to see the glorious plans of redemption that You have set out from before the creation of the world and You began revealing to Your people from the beginning of the Bible. As we look at this this morning, Lord, I pray that You will teach us about Yourself and that You'll do something far beyond anything I could do in talking to this group. I pray that You'll send Your Holy Spirit as Your Word is preached and apply it to our hearts. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Well, we're in the book of Genesis. We've been studying the book of Genesis for most of 2007. I started this sermon series in April, the week after Easter. And now, two days before Christmas, we will be concluding this study of Genesis. And this morning, as a way of completing Genesis and also celebrating Christmas, celebrating the coming of Christ. I want to look at some Christmas promises that are found in the book of Genesis. This morning, we'll be talking about the first Christmas promises in the very first book of the Bible, Genesis. we find these clear prophecies that point to the coming of Jesus Christ. And this is going to be an exciting thing for us to look at this morning as we think about and celebrate Christmas this year. The coming of the Christ child was not something that just came out of nowhere. It was not something that God decided to do at the last minute, kind of on the spur of the moment. It was something that He had planned to do from before the foundation of the world and something He began revealing to His people from the earliest chapters of His revelation to His people. You know, when we think of Christmas and we think of the Bible, our minds first jump to Matthew and Luke Those Gospels in the New Testament, Matthew 1 and 2 records Jesus' genealogy and the story of His birth and the story of the wise men coming to worship Him. Luke 2 tells also of Jesus' birth and the shepherds and the angels and those stories are familiar to many of us. And what I want us to see this morning is that those events as Christ broke onto the scene of history These were the fulfillment of promises that God had made long, long beforehand. This is an opportunity for us to stand in awe of God's majestic plans and the way He has revealed His plans to His people. This whole book, this Bible, this entire book is about Jesus Christ. Not just the New Testament. but the entire book from Genesis to Revelation. And we'll be looking at both Genesis and Revelation this morning. The Old Testament anticipates the coming of Jesus Christ. And then the New Testament explains to us His life and His death and His resurrection and His ascension. And at the end of the New Testament, it also anticipates and prophesies of His second coming. So, this morning, let's go back now to the book of Genesis and to the beginning of Genesis and see how God began to reveal His plans to send His Son into the world. Some of these prophecies we've already looked at in the course of our study of Genesis, but the last one in chapter 49, we have not looked at yet. So we're going to start in Genesis 3, and then we're going to work our way through and then also look at Genesis 49 toward the end. The first Christmas promise is found in Genesis 3.15. So open up your Bible to the very, very beginning here. Chapters 3, verse 15 is where we find this First Gospel. It's known as the Proto-Evangelion. The First Gospel. This is the first Gospel message in the Bible. And it comes immediately after the fall into sin. You remember the story. The serpent tempted Eve. And she sinned against God by eating of that forbidden fruit. And then she gave the fruit to her husband and he ate as well. Then in verses 14-19 of Genesis 3, God pronounces His curses. First on the serpent, and then on the woman, and then on Adam. And this is such a display of God's grace as we look at it because in the midst of this judgment, in the midst of these curses that God is pronouncing because of sin, in the midst of this, we see grace. Look at v. 15. This is as God is cursing the serpent. And He says to the serpent in v. 15, 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. Now, on one level, this enmity, this hostility, between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent is representative of two groups of people. It refers to two groups of people. The serpent's offspring are the reprobate, the unsaved, those who oppose God. And then the woman's offspring are the redeemed, those who are saved, those who have been reconciled to God. In chapter 4, we already see this hostility between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent playing out in the hostility between the brothers Cain and Abel. And then throughout the book of Genesis and throughout biblical revelation and throughout the history of the world, we see this clash, this hostility, this enmity between these two peoples, the redeemed and the reprobate, the city of God and the city of man. So on one level, that's what this prophecy of Genesis 3.15 is referring to. But on another level, these words point to something more specific. The offspring of the woman ultimately refers to a single individual. The Messiah, Jesus Christ. He is the head of this redeemed community called the church. This verse in Genesis 3.15 is saying that Christ, the offspring of the woman, the seed of the woman, will crush Satan's head. Will bruise his head. And Satan will bruise Christ's heel. This is the Gospel message. That Christ was put to death in order to triumph over death. Christ's victory was not easy. He was tortured. He was crucified. And in those events, Satan thought that he was getting the upper hand. Satan thought that he was winning the battle. But in fact, in those very events, those events did not signal Christ's defeat, but in those very events, Christ was accomplishing His victory. Satan may have bruised Christ's heel, but Christ bruised Satan's head. Christ came into the world as the seed of the woman, the offspring of the woman. And when Mary gave birth to baby Jesus in that stable in Bethlehem, it was the beginning of the fulfillment of this prophecy. This baby would grow up to crush the head of Satan. Galatians 4.4 says, In other words, the fulfillment of these prophecies was here. When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law to redeem those who are under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons." So as the fulfillment of the promises of God, God sent His own Son, Jesus Christ, the ultimate fulfillment of this prophecy, the ultimate offspring of the woman, born of woman. He came as one of us. And He came into the world and lived a perfect life of obedience to the Father. And then He died on the cross and came back to life on the third day. And in this way, He crushed the head of the serpent. And it's because of this good news that we can sing what we just sang, joy to the world. The Lord is come. Let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare Him room, and heaven and nature sing." And then the third verse of that hymn by Isaac Watts, "'No more let sin and sorrow grow, nor thorns infest the ground.' He comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found." Far as the curse is found. In the opening chapters of Genesis, following the account of creation, we read about humanity's fall into sin and the curse that resulted from that sin. But in the midst of the curse is found this first Christmas promise, the first Gospel, the first indication that God would send someone to rescue us from sin and to send someone to defeat the devil. The curse of sin is universal. as we know, but Christ came to make His blessings flow as far as this curse is found. Well, that's Genesis 3.15. The next Christmas promise that we see is found in the promises that God made to Abraham. We first see this in chapter 12, verse 3. As God promises to Abraham, He says, in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. What an amazing promise God made to Abraham. God chose this man and called him to Himself and made these breathtaking promises to him. So in chapter 12, verse 3, in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Again, in chapter 18, verse 18, the Lord affirms that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him. And then again, in chapter 22, after Abraham's obedience, when he demonstrated his faith in God's promises by his willingness to sacrifice his own son Isaac, But then the angel stopped him. And then the Lord said, I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of His enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice. In each of these promises about Abraham's offspring, the ultimate fulfillment, again, is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is this offspring of Abraham who is going to bless all the nations of the earth. Paul clarifies this for us in case we aren't sure about it. He says in Galatians 3.16, Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring It does not say, and to offsprings, referring to many, but referring to one. And to your offspring who is Christ. Christ is this offspring of Abraham who is going to bring these blessings to every people group of the world. The promise to Abraham is cited again by Peter in Acts 3. Peter is addressing the men of Israel. And he says, you are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, and in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. There's the quote. And then he continues, God having raised up His servant, sent Him to you first to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness. So Jesus came and He came as a Jew and He came first to the Jews but His blessings are spreading far beyond the Jewish people. To all the Gentiles, to all the nations, all the peoples of the world, as we know from Revelation 5-9, Jesus ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And as Jesus Himself said in Matthew 24-14, this Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, all the ethne, all the people groups. And then the end will come. So Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the promises that God made to Abraham so long ago. Even in the stories of Jesus' early life, we see this playing out. We see the fulfillment and the scope of His blessings. Even in His early childhood when the wise men came from the east to worship Him. Jesus was probably one or two years old when the wise men came to visit Him as it's recorded in the beginning of Matthew. So, even as a toddler, Even as such a young child, Jesus was drawing Gentiles to worship Him. Isn't that amazing? Well, those are the promises made to Abraham, and we see the fulfillment again in Christ. Finally now, we come to the Messianic promise of Genesis 49. The last passage I want to make sure we cover before coming to the end of this study of Genesis. The last couple of weeks we've been looking at the story of Joseph's life and have covered the major events of his life from chapter 37-50. And you remember the main points of the story. Joseph was envied by his brothers. His brothers were jealous of him and hated him. He was taken to Egypt because his brothers sold him into slavery. He was taken to Egypt. He served in Potiphar's house there. He was living a righteous life, and yet it seemed like bad things kept happening to him. In Potiphar's house, he was thrown into prison accused of something he didn't do. He was then forgotten in prison. by Pharaoh's cupbearer. But then, eventually, Pharaoh had these two dreams. And nobody could interpret these dreams. And it was then, finally, that the cupbearer remembered Joseph. And Joseph was brought before Pharaoh, and Pharaoh was so impressed with this young man's wisdom that he made Joseph second in command over the entire land. Then the famine struck, as Joseph had told as he interpreted the dreams, as God granted him the interpretation of those dreams. And when the famine struck the entire region, Joseph's brothers All under God's providence, Joseph's brothers then came to Egypt to get food, and it was then that Joseph and his brothers, through such a unique series of events, were reunited, and Joseph forgave his brothers, and he was able to forgive them. As we looked at last week, he was able to forgive them because he understood God's sovereign plan over all of this. He acknowledged that his brothers had done evil against him. We looked at these amazing statements of Joseph in chapter 45 and in chapter 50 where he understands that his brothers had done evil against him, but he also understands that it was all according to God's plan. It was all under God's perfect and good plan. In chapter 45, he says to his brothers, it was not you who sent me here, but God. God's the one who sent me here. And then in chapter 50, verse 20, you meant evil against me, he says to his brothers. Yeah, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. God meant it for good. And I think those verses in chapter 45 and in 50 really capture the major theme of this entire section of Scripture. This entire story of Joseph's life. The life of Joseph is about God's sovereignty over sin and evil. God has a good plan in and through these evil things. Joseph's life is like an extended biblical illustration of the truth that we find in Romans 8.28, which is the same as the truth we find in Genesis 50.20. when Joseph said, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. Paul says the same thing in Romans 8.28, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. All things. Even the evil things. Even the things that others intend for evil against us. All things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose. That's the New Testament verse that you should think of when you think of Joseph's life. Romans 8.28. What mankind intends for evil, God intends for good. But there's another very significant passage in this section of Genesis that we're going to look at now. And it's in chapter 49. And at this point in the story, the entire family has now moved to Egypt and they're living in the land of Doshan. And Jacob, the father, God changed His name to Israel, but He's still referred to as Jacob in some places. And Jacob is on his deathbed and he calls his sons to gather around him so that he can prophesy about their future, so that he can bless them. And as it says in verse 1, that I may tell you what shall happen to you in days to come. And as he does this, he begins with the oldest son. Seems appropriate. He's going to start with the oldest and work his way down to the youngest. And so he starts with Reuben, the oldest. And then he addresses Simeon and Levi. And for all three of these oldest sons, their quote-unquote blessings are really indictments. They're really accusations against them for the grievous sins that they have committed. In v. 4, Jacob says to Reuben, you shall not have preeminence. The oldest should have preeminence. If there weren't any other circumstances involved, the oldest would be the preeminent son. But he says, you shall not have preeminence because you went up to your father's bed. Then you defiled it. He went up to my couch. And Jacob here is referring to the fact that Reuben The oldest son slept with Bilhah, his father's concubine. That's recorded in chapter 35, verse 22. And in so doing, Reuben disqualified himself as the firstborn. And then with Simeon and Levi, their sin was the rash way in which they responded when their sister Dinah was raped. That story is in chapter 34. We're reminded here of just the tragic and despicable sins that are committed throughout the Bible. And we see that in these narratives and in these events of Reuben and Simeon and Levi. So, all three of these sons disqualified themselves. in verses 8-12, Jacob then moves on to Judah, the fourth son. And Judah, as we know, he's not sinless at all. He's committed his fair share of horrendous sins. But surprisingly, here, we find this prophecy of the coming Messiah. Let's look at Genesis 49, verses 8-12. Judah, your brothers shall praise you. Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's sons shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion's cub. From the prey, my son, you have gone up." He stooped down. He crouched as a lion. And as a lioness, who dares rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah. nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until tribute comes to him. And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey's colt to the choice vine, he has washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes. His eyes are darker than wine and his teeth whiter than milk." I'm not going to cover all the details of all these verses, Look at verse 8 again. Jacob says to Judah, your father's sons shall bow down before you. Now that's surprising because we remember the dreams that Joseph had about his brothers bowing down to him. And those dreams were fulfilled. The brothers did bow down to Joseph. But in the bigger picture, As we see in Jacob's prophecy here, in the bigger picture, it was going to be a descendant of Judah who would be exalted and who everyone would bow down to eventually. A partial fulfillment of this is seen in King David, who was in the line of Judah. King David was a descendant of Judah. And David was the great king of Israel. And he was praised and honored by his people. And his life continues the Old Testament foreshadowing Jesus Christ, because Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of Jacob's prophecy. Jesus is the greatest descendant of Judah and the one who receives all praise and honor. He is the strong and dominant leader and the one who will rule forever. The one who will hold that scepter and that ruler's staff forever and ever. Verse 9, has the image of a lion. And then verse 10, there's this kingly imagery of the scepter and the ruler's staff. And to Him shall be the obedience of the peoples. In the middle of verse 10, the text says, until tribute comes to Him. And I'm not going to explain all the difficulties of this because I don't understand them all completely, but I do want to comment on this because this is a difficult phrase and you may see in your Bible a text note that offers other ways that it may be translated. The Hebrew word is Shiloh. And if that word was left untranslated, it could read, until Shiloh comes. And some people see that as a messianic term. And so they see this as a very explicit messianic prophecy. It's a very difficult phrase to understand though, and commentators all have different views of this. What is clear though, is the fact that Jacob's prophecy concerning Judah is a promise of the coming Messiah. This coming Messiah who holds the scepter. and the ruler's staff and receives the obedience of the peoples. The Messiah would come from the line of Judah. And we see that when we come to the New Testament and we read the genealogies of Jesus in Matthew 1 and in Luke 3. The genealogy in Matthew 1 starts with Abraham. And it says, Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar. And Perez the father of Hezron and Hezron the father of Ram, etc., etc., etc. Do you remember the scandalous story of Judah and Tamar? We looked at that two weeks ago and it's a shocking thing to be reminded of as you're reading the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Tomorrow evening in our Christmas Eve service, look some more at that genealogy in Matthew and look at some of the other shocking things that are mentioned there, like Tamar and also Rahab and Ruth, and it says the wife of Uriah. So we're going to look at that some more tomorrow evening. So anyway, the genealogy then moves on to David and then eventually to Joseph, as it says, Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. So Jesus Christ was indeed a descendant of Judah, according to just as Jacob had prophesied back here in Genesis 49. At the end of the Bible, in the book of Revelation, I said we're going to cover both Genesis and Revelation, and now we come to Revelation 5, and we find a connection here all the way back to the prophecy of Genesis 49. In Revelation 5, John is weeping because no one can open the scroll. Revelation 5, verse 5, And one of the rulers said to me, Weep no more. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals. The Lion of the tribe of Judah. And then just a few verses later, it talks about the Lamb. The Lamb who was slain. And in verse 9, which I already quoted earlier, a song of praise is recorded to this Lamb. It's a song that is sung to the Lamb. And this is what they sang, Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain. and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation." What's so amazing about these verses is that we see that the Lion, the Lion of the tribe of Judah is also the Lamb. The Lion is also the Lamb. The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the fulfillment of those prophecies in Genesis 49 is also the sacrificial Lamb. So the One who holds the scepter, the One who holds the ruler's staff and rules over all the universe is also the Lamb who sacrificed Himself for His people. He bled and died on that cross. He gave up His life to save sinners like us. Now, if you're a believer here this morning, and I hope you are, if you're a believer, if you're in Christ, these promises and the fulfillment of these promises should inspire worship in your heart today. See Jesus afresh this morning as the One who crushes Satan's head, as the One whose blessings are spreading to all the nations of the world, and as the one who is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and also the Sacrificial Lamb. Let's worship Him for these things, for these attributes of His. If you are not a believer, I encourage you to consider this Man, Jesus Christ. There is no one else like Him. He is entirely unique and He is infinitely glorious and powerful and gracious and good and loving. He is the only one worthy of your complete devotion in life. And He is your only hope of salvation. Jesus, as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, He demands your obedience. He demands obedience. from all humanity, and He will punish disobedience. That leaves all of us in a very scary predicament because we're all sinners. We must obey, but we do not obey, and we deserve God's righteous punishment for our disobedience. The good news though, the Gospel, is that Jesus Christ lived a perfect life of obedience. He obeyed. And He credits that obedience to us. Those who trust in Him. And He also died on the cross so that our sin is counted as His. You see this amazing transaction that happens? Christ lived a perfect life of obedience and counts that as ours. We are considered righteous and obedient if we are in Christ by faith. And then our sin is credited to Him on the cross as He bled and died and received that wrath of God for sin. He paid that penalty. So in this way, Jesus Christ graciously supplies the obedience that He requires, and He suffers the just punishment for disobedience. If you're not a believer here this morning, give your life to Jesus Christ. Give yourself to Him and receive this amazing gift. Turn away from your sin and embrace this glorious Savior, Jesus Christ. To conclude this sermon, and to conclude this series of sermons on the book of Genesis, I want to look at the final verses of the book. So turn over a couple more pages to the end of Genesis 50, and I'm going to read verses 22-26. Genesis 50, verse 22. So Joseph remained in Egypt, he and his father's house, Joseph lived 110 years. And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation. The children also of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were counted as Joseph's own. And Joseph said to his brothers, I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, God will surely visit you and you shall carry up my bones from here. So Joseph died being 110 years old. And then look at the last sentence of the book of Genesis. They embalmed him and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. What an odd way to end the book of Genesis. It seems so abrupt and so morbid. It ends with death and the very last word is Egypt. Egypt! They're not supposed to be in Egypt. Right? They're supposed to be in the Promised Land. What's going on here? Why are they in Egypt? The book of Genesis, it's so interesting, it begins with God's creation. He creates all the universe. And then the book ends here with this dead guy in a coffin in Egypt. What's the point of all of this? Well, I think the point is simply that the story's not over. The story's not over. We're at the end of a book here, but we're not at the end of the story. We're just at the end of the first chapter of the story. At the end of Genesis here, Genesis is filled with these promises. And we come to the end of the book and the promises are still yet unfulfilled. It's still a matter of hope and anticipation for the fulfillment of these promises. The story continues though. And these concluding words ought to pique our interest to turn on to the next chapter of the story, which is the book of Exodus. And don't worry, that's not the next book I'm going to preach through. We're going to go to the New Testament. But at some point, we'll come back and we'll study through Exodus. But as we come to the end of Genesis, it ought to intrigue us to, well, what happens next? And to want to know the details of the continuing story. Genesis ends, as I said, with God's people in Egypt, not in the Promised Land. And this accords with the prophecy back in Genesis 15 where God told Abraham, know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there and they will be afflicted for 400 years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. Now, God didn't tell Abraham back in Genesis 15. He didn't tell them where they were going to be sojourners. But now here at the end of the book, we see it's Egypt. They're going to be in Egypt, and they're going to be there for 400 years. But then, God will deliver them. Just as God foretold, the people of Israel spent 400 years there in Egypt, and then He did deliver them. Joseph, here in the verses I just read, foretold of this deliverance. What he said came true. God did bring them out of Egypt. And the people of Israel did remember what Joseph instructed. Moses did take Joseph's bones as they left Egypt. And then later, as the people of Israel entered the Promised Land, they buried his bones in the Promised Land. But that's all part of the next chapter of God's great story. It is an amazing story. An amazing history of God's salvation. God has His plans which He made before the foundation of the world. He progressively reveals those plans to His people throughout the Bible. And He accomplishes all of His plans. This is a God who is worthy of our trust and our adoration. This Christmas, let's meditate on these ancient messianic promises found even in the earliest chapters of the first book of the Bible. This morning we have seen these first Christmas promises, these promises in Genesis that God made to His people. The long history of God's redemption is something that should grip our hearts as we celebrate the coming of Jesus Christ into the world. He is the fulfillment of all the promises. Let's pray. Jesus, we worship You this morning as the fulfillment of the promises. All the promises are yes in Christ. We praise You, Jesus. for who you are. Father, we thank You for sending Your beloved Son, sending Him into the world to live a perfect life of obedience to You, and to die a sacrificial death on the cross, and to rise again on the third day, triumphing over sin and death. We thank You that the Lion of the tribe of Judah is also the sacrificial lamb It's in His name we pray. Amen.