Equipping Eve: The Promises of God: God’s Promised Seed

Is the church today doing everything it can to provide women a firm foundation of truth in Christ Jesus? Well, it's true there's no shortage of candy-coated Bible studies, potluck fellowships available to ladies.

But beyond Sunday morning, are Christian women being properly equipped to stand against the same deceptions that even enticed Eve in the garden? In an attempt to address the need for trustworthy, biblical resources for women, No Compromise Radio is happy to introduce Equipping Eve, a ladies-only radio show that seeks to equip women with fruits of truth in an age that's ripe with deception.

My name is Mike Ebendroth, and I'm pleased to introduce your host, Erin Benzinger, a friend of No Compromise Radio, and a woman who wants to see other women equipped with a love for and a knowledge of the truth of God's Word.

Introducing the Promised Seed as the Bible’s Big Story

Well, hello ladies, and welcome to Equipping Eve. I'm your host, Erin Benzinger. Hey, you can check us out online. I'm on Facebook, search for Equipping Eve. I'm on Twitter, at Equipping Eve, not too difficult to remember, so there you go.

Check out equippingeve .com or .org, both the same website, don't get excited, there are not two. But there you can find the podcast, you can find the blog, recommended resources, you can contact me, you can send me, you know, your mean, angry complaints, and I'll probably just hit delete.

If you send me legitimate criticism, then I would be happy to take it to heart and consider it. If you have ideas for the show, for the website, etc., etc., or just, you know, feel like writing an email, go ahead, send it to me, I'll read it, I'll respond, it'll be a good time.

You can send me a note on Facebook as well. People do that, and I don't always answer that as quickly, because I don't always understand Facebook. Anyway, I am showing my age. Anyhow, but those are all ways you can contact me, so there you go.

It's easier for you to find me than it is for me to find you, unless you contact me first. There you go. Okay. So, if you're on Twitter, then you know that sometimes we use the hashtag, justbeawesome.

If you ever see that, that is done sarcastically, because so many things in evangelicalism are all about you, and how awesome you should be, and God loves you because you're so fantastic, and you know, the thing is, you're a sinner.

And I say that as a sinner. So, you're not so awesome, except that you are in Christ, and Christ is awesome. So when we say justbeawesome, we're, you know, making a little fun. But, you know, I do have a little plaque, you know those little plaques that they sell everywhere?

Hobby Lobby, bookstores, everywhere. Are there any bookstores anymore? It says, Be Amazingly Awesome, and I keep that in my office, because I'm so awesome. Just kidding. I'm not awesome, but it is in my office, because it's hilarious.

So, there you go. Tchotchkes. Yeah, the wall plaques that everybody has in their house, because everybody shops at Hobby Lobby. You know, I'm gonna be real, and say, I don't want my house to look like a Hobby Lobby.

I didn't get that plaque at Hobby Lobby, by the way. But I don't want my house to look like Hobby Lobby, so I don't buy decorating things there. Uh-oh, it is thundering here where I am. But yeah, that's bright outside.

It's one of those summer thunderstorm off-and-on days. I like those days. Those are good. Anyway, what I thought we would do today, now that I've just alienated everybody who shops at Hobby Lobby, I like Hobby Lobby.

I do. I don't buy a lot there, though, except if you need a crafty thing. But I'm not crafty, so... As we all discovered in the episode about the Humility Apron, and if you didn't hear that episode, you need to go to equippingeve .com, search in the little search bar for Humility Apron, and listen, what happens at small group stays at small group.

And that is why. So there you go. Okay, I forgot all about that. There's a picture. Oh dear. This is what happens when scripture is misapplied. Okay. In small group. Anyhow, I am laughing, and I'm the only one.

Okay, so what I thought I would do today, kind of playing off of the last episode we did, if you're hearing this on its first replay, if you're hearing it on a rerun sometime down the road, then I can't guarantee anything.

But the last episode I taped was about salvation in the Old Testament. And so first time around, that'll run first. And we talked about how Christ is in the Old Testament, and how Old Testament believers looked forward to the promised Messiah, and their salvation was by faith.

It was still faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone, even though they didn't know His name or how God would fully accomplish His plan. But if we really took time to study the Old Testament scriptures, we'd see that it's so clear.

God lays out, little bit by little bit, how that Savior will be the Savior. And that the Old Testament sacrifices were really just pointing to Christ. And the law could not save anybody. Old Testament believers were not saved by works of the law.

They just weren't. The Bible tells us that. So there we go. And if you want to hear more about that, go listen to that episode. But in that episode, we talked about how I wanted to talk about a little bit of how Christ is woven here throughout the Old Testament and New Testament.

And what I want to do is talk about this seed of promise that God gave us. And I think we talked a few episodes ago about the promises of God. And I think we're going to take some time, take a few shows, to look at different promises of God.

But I thought I'd start with the big one instead of saving it for the finale. Because it's the best one. So it's kind of like if you have a really good dessert... Don't tell your kids I said this, but let's face it.

If you have a really good dessert and you're the only one around, aren't you going to eat that before you eat something good? Like, good for you? I am. If there's room, then I'll eat the salad. But if you have this amazing apple pie, and I say apple pie because apple pie is my favorite next to peach pie.

No. Peach pie is next to apple pie. That's how that goes. Anyway. Which is next to pumpkin pie. Oh my goodness. I love pie. Okay. But if you have this amazing dessert and you want there to be room for it, you might as well eat dessert first.

So here we've got this big finale. We're going to start with it. We're going to start with God's best promise, and that is the promised seed. And I happened to have the opportunity this past May to speak to the ladies of my church at our spring tea, and I decided to speak on what's entitled Scripture Seeds, Seeds of Promise.

And so I'm going to admit I'm reusing my material, because I loved studying through Scripture for this, and I loved preparing for this, and got some good feedback. And so I think the ladies of the church enjoyed it, and I hope that you will be able to take something away from this.

So what I want to talk about is this seed of promise. And what originally gave me the idea was it was spring when we were doing this, and you plant seeds in the spring, so that flowers grow. And so planting flowers, new life, that all has its origin in seeds.

So that's where we went with the theme of Scripture Seeds. But ladies, as we move forward today, I want us to consider that I don't want us to just focus on one little thing. I want us to look at the big story.

I want us to always come back to that. And I got this idea from Jen Wilkin's book, Women of the Word, and I know that Jen Wilkin has done some things that we aren't all fans of. I get that. I think she's a very gifted teacher.

I think a lot of her material that I've seen is good, is sound. So I recommend with caution. But this book, Women of the Word, was one that I benefited from and really appreciated. So I'm just putting that out there.

No one's perfect, and that's where we are. And she talks about this concept of the big story in her book, that the big story of the Bible is the reign and rule of God. The Bible's about God, right? It's not about us.

We get that. We talked about that in the last show. And so Jen Wilkin says, quote, The Bible purposes to tell us this big story and a thousand smaller stories from its first page to its last. She's absolutely right.

And she goes on, and she talks about, the book is really kind of talking about Bible study and how effective Bible study will keep this overarching message of Scripture in focus at all times. Whether you're studying the Old or the New Testament, you've got to look at this big story.

There I go with terrible grammar again. But you have to look at this big story. So even if you're doing a topical study, even if you're doing a word study, you need to be careful not to lose sight of that.

Okay? So that's something that we want to keep in mind as we're searching through the Scriptures for this particular subject. We have to keep in mind this big story. So when you think about the word seed, which is what we were talking about back in the spring, you can think of different places in the Bible.

There were different areas I thought about going with this initially. My first thought was the parable of the soils because it talks about the seed being the word of God. And then this word is used often in the Old Testament where there were all the rules for tending the land, especially in the Pentateuch.

We know that the New Testament, Jesus talked about the mustard seed, representative of faith and the kingdom of God. But our English word seed in the Bible, there's another use for it. And that definition is descendant.

And so the first place that that word seed appears with the definition of descendant is right there in Genesis 3 .15. Right? I'm sure most of you knew that. But turn in your Bibles to Genesis 3 .15, ladies.

And just a reminder that I use the new American Standard version when I read. So that's what we're using here today. There are other good translations out there. The ESV is a good one. I used to use that very faithfully.

Maybe I'll go back to it someday. I don't know. Never know. But right now, I'm loving the NAS. So those are probably the first two I'd recommend for the most faithful translations of Scripture. If you want to know more on that, send me an email.

And I'll direct you to some resources. So anyway, Genesis 3 .15. We know what's happened, right? Adam and Eve have sinned. God found out. But God knew already. And here we are. We've got the curse. And he's speaking to the serpent in Genesis 3 .15.

And he says, And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel. So this word that is used in the Old Testament is the Hebrew word Zerah.

And it can mean a sowing a seed or offspring. So obviously, the context here is offspring in Genesis 3 .15. And many of you might know this verse as the Proto-Evangelion, the first gospel. This is where we first see this promised seed of God, the Messiah.

And I found this great quote from Walter Kaiser from his book, The Messiah in the Old Testament. And he says, I love, love, love that quote. So in one sense, there's this generic reference and promise that there's going to be a redeemed humanity that will be at enmity with the offspring of Satan.

But more than that, the context of this verse shows us that this seed is referring to a very specific singular individual who is the seed of the woman, the offspring of the woman. And what's also interesting is that this is the only place in the Old Testament where it talks about the seed of a woman.

Now why would that be, ladies? Think about it. The seed is in man. But there was one man, and only one man, who was solely the seed of a woman. And that's Jesus Christ. This is Messiah in Genesis 3 .15.

So Israel believed that this promised Messiah was coming long before Christ came along. They were awaiting the promised Messiah who would crush the serpent's head. Someone else who understood this prophecy was Satan.

And we see throughout scripture how he's just kind of always trying to destroy the seed of the woman, right? He started right away in Genesis 4 with the murder of Abel by Cain. And so he knew exactly what God was saying when God cursed him.

God has promised that he will send a Savior. And so this is the start of that big story. And this is that promised seed. So if you turn to Genesis 12, ladies, there is another familiar promise of God.

Verses 1 -3 in Genesis 12 read, So I'm sure most of us are familiar with these verses. This is God's covenant, or his promise to Abraham. And what's really neat about the Abrahamic promise is that there's so many promises that it bestows on Abraham and his descendants.

There's a land promise, and that's very specific for Israel. And I think I'm projecting, but I think we're going to take a look at God's promises to Israel down the road. Episodes down the road once I prepare it.

So it's just written in my notebook right now as an idea. But there's this everlasting spiritual element of this covenant also. And what we see in those verses in Genesis 12 is that, So from the beginning, God has intended to provide a Savior for all men, right?

And he's laying out his predetermined and perfect plan. And we're starting to see the big story unfold. And if we were to keep reading, we'd see in Genesis 15 how this covenant was ratified. So there's all these promises God has given to Abraham.

And then how is this covenant ratified? Ladies, in Genesis 15, we won't go there for the sake of time, but you probably remember it, that God orders Abraham to gather and cut specific animals in two and lay them out on the ground.

And then normally, when a covenant was ratified in those times, the two people ratifying the covenant would walk through, pass through those animals. But what happened instead was that God put Abraham into a deep sleep, and God passed through the animals.

So that signified that this covenant, this promise he had made to Abraham, was one that would be solely dependent upon God and what he would do. Abraham had to do nothing. So it's this amazing promise, you know, through you, all the nations of the world will be blessed.

But there's a problem. Abraham's really old. And so is his wife. So how is this going to go down? Well, in Genesis 17, God says,. So we've got this same word here, this Zerah word in Genesis 17 that we had in Genesis 3.

And this is precisely where God promises that this is an eternal covenant he's making with Abraham. And as we already said, this is a divine irrevocable covenant. It's only dependent upon God. Abraham must do nothing.

God is saying, I will do this. And he says it again and again throughout the Old Testament. So through the people who would become Israel, God is intending to bring blessing to the nations. So ladies, if you would flip in your Bible to Galatians 3.

So we're going to do a quick turnover to Galatians 3 verses 8 and 9. Giving you a second to get there. And then we're going to flip back to the Old Testament. So get ready. Keep your Bible fingers moving.

That's me snapping my fingers. Can you hear that? Galatians 3, 8 and 9 reads, So this covenant with Abraham is, as John MacArthur has said, So we've got that down and we see it even in the New Testament.

That's why that's important for us to go to Galatians. It's brought up again in the New Testament. That covenant's not gone. So let's take a look. Flip back in your Old Testament to 2 Samuel 7. Flip back.

And I'm going to admit I'm cheating because I have all of these up on my computer. That's why you don't hear my pages turning. But I'm with you ladies. I've been there. But today I cheated. Anyway, 2 Samuel 7.

I want us to look at another promise made by God. And we fast-forwarded here to the time of David. And God is making this covenant with His chosen king of Israel. 2 Samuel 7 verses 8 -16. I will also appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may live in their own place, and not be disturbed again.

Nor will the wicked afflict them any more as formerly, even from the day that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. The Lord also declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you.

When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to me. When he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men, and the strokes of the sons of men. But my lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you.

Your house and your kingdom shall endure before me forever. Your throne shall be established forever. So in these verses, what are we seeing? We're seeing that God is promising David that through his son Solomon, his earthly kingdom will continue.

But what do we see in verse 16? We saw an eternally enduring kingdom, didn't we? And again, it's clear that this is an everlasting covenant, this is a divine covenant, this is God saying, I will. This is the continuation of the big story.

So the Davidic covenant reestablished the land promise made to Abraham, and further promised that the Messiah would come from the line of David, therefore from the line of Judah, and the Savior would establish an eternal kingdom.

So we're seeing this unfolding of this big story, promising in Genesis 3. Now we've got a little narrow dance coming from the line of David. So this covenant is dependent entirely on God and his faithfulness, not on man's obedience, not on man's works.

And this promise to David is repeated over and over again in the Old Testament, just like we see the Abrahamic covenant over and over again. So for one example, if you turn, ladies, to Psalm 89. Psalm 89 verses 3 and 4 say, I have made a covenant with my chosen.

I have sworn to David my servant. I will establish your seat forever and build up your throne to all generations. Selah. So what I want us to understand, ladies, is that Israel and the people of the Old Testament knew these promises.

They were waiting for the promised seat. They were not just hanging around, sacrificing bulls and goats, thinking it was going to get them saved. If they were, they weren't saved. They understood that God was promising a Messiah.

So now I want to turn to Jeremiah 31, because we're talking about promises, we're talking about covenants, and I think we have to ensure that we touch on Jeremiah 31. If we're going to even use the word covenant, we have to go there.

I would be remiss if I didn't do this. So Jeremiah 31 verses 31 through 33. Behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.

My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, declares the Lord. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days. I will put my law within them, and on their heart I will write it, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Ladies, this is the new covenant. We can't talk about covenants without talking about this, because our God is a covenant-keeping God. And so as we move, shifting, kind of talking about new covenant, I want us to understand that He is a covenant-keeping God.

And because He is, He has not and He will not abandon the covenant He made with Israel. And as I said, we're going to talk about that in a future show. There are promises specifically made to the Jewish nation that will never expire.

Their restoration as a nation, the promise of the land, the promise that the people will gather to that land again. Those don't expire, so I'm just saying. But undoubtedly the greatest of these is that the people of Israel will finally turn to Christ for salvation.

That's like the greatest promise to Israel. And you see that in Isaiah 53, you see that very clearly. But again, we'll get to that in a later show, so don't send me a letter. We'll get there. Be patient.

Patience is a virtue. That's not in the Bible, but it's true. It's a good thing. It's a good thing to think about. But even within the covenants we've looked at, the Abrahamic and the Davidic, there are promises to the nations outside of Israel.

So one commentator has said, Ultimately, the new covenant will find its complete fulfillment during the millennium when Israel is restored to her God. However, though the ultimate fulfillment of this covenant awaits the millennial reign of Christ, the Church today is participating in some of the benefits of that covenant.

So that's what I want us to see as we take this little sidetrack onto the new covenant. So what are these blessings and benefits that we enjoy as believers today? Well, there's this internalization that Jeremiah talks about of God's law.

And then there's this transformation that results from this inward change. Number two, there's the promise of full forgiveness of sin. And number three, there's universal knowledge of God for those who are participants in the new covenant.

So when we receive salvation from God, we are forgiven of our sin. We are adopted by God. We are daughters of the King. Now able to enjoy the blessings of this new covenant for eternity. And I want us to be really clear that we can be assured, as Gentile believers, if you will, of our participation in this new covenant because God made it really clear in his word that we do.

That the Church is part of this. In John 10 -16, Jesus said he had come to shepherd sheep, quote, not of this fold. So in other words, not of the house of Israel. And in Romans 11, I love Romans 11, Paul describes the Gentiles being grafted into the olive tree that is Israel.

So God's new covenant will be fulfilled fully for Israel. But he is good and gracious to share those covenant blessings with the Church. And again, this is another irrevocable, divine, unconditional covenant.

God is saying, I will, and he will. God saves Jews, he saves Gentiles, and he does so one way with the promised seed of Genesis 3 -15. Right? So in Jeremiah, we see this promise of the covenant of salvation.

This is the means by which God redeems the people who are recipients of the promise. This is the promised Messiah. Now, flip back to the New Testament. Right away, very first page of your New Testament, ladies, to Matthew 1.

So this is one of the genealogies of Christ that's in Scripture, right? And the other one is found in Luke 3. And I'm not going to even try to read this whole thing because the names will be massacred.

So I'm just going to touch on a few points. So the first two verses, read the record of the genealogy of Jesus, the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac, the father of Jacob, and Jacob, the father of Judah and his brothers.

So note that this genealogy starts with Abraham, who was the recipient of that great promise that we started with. Well, not that we started with, but that we already talked about. We saw how the line was traced through Judah, right?

Now we see this in Matthew. In verse 5, it reads, Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab. Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth. And Obed, the father of Jesse. Jesse was the father of David, the king. So here's David, who was also promised that through him would come an eternal king.

Now skip down to the end of that genealogy to verse 16. Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah. Jesus was born of Mary, the seed of a woman, just as God promised in Genesis 3 .15.

These genealogies clearly demonstrate that Jesus Christ is the promised one, the promised seed of the Old Testament. So here, this entire Old Testament, we didn't even scratch the surface, ladies, but the entire Old Testament lays out this promise of the seed of a woman who will crush the serpent's head.

And here, in the New Testament, that promised seed has arrived in Jesus Christ. That's the big story. And the best part is, it's not finished yet, right? It's not finished. When Jesus shows up, it's not finished.

When Jesus dies on the cross, it's not even finished. When Jesus rises from the dead, that big story is still going. John MacArthur has said, The Abrahamic covenant and its promises, the Davidic covenant and its promises, the new covenant and its promises and realities are fulfilled only in Christ.

Amen and amen. Now, turn again to Galatians 3, verse 15. Brethren, I speak in terms of human relations, even though it is only a man's covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it.

So Paul's saying, even when two men make a covenant, they don't change it. He goes on, he says, Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed, and he does not say to seeds, he's referring to many, but rather to one, to your seed, that is Christ.

What I am saying is this, Paul is just saying, listen, here's what I'm trying to say. The law, which came 430 years later, after it was promised to Abraham, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise.

God's promises to Israel stand. For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise, but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise. So that promise of a Redeemer, of a Savior, it stands.

Verse 29 of Galatians 3, If you belong to Christ, you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise. So what are we seeing? Again, we see the promises of the Old Testament, they all pointed to Christ, it's right there.

And Paul goes on, he's contrasting the law and the promise of salvation made to Abraham. So if you remember, Galatians was written in part to combat the heresy brought by the Judaizers that demanded that Christians add works to the covenant of promise, and Paul is saying, no, no, no.

No, the promise came before the law, remember? And remember that the Abrahamic covenant was ratified and depends only on God. He hasn't nullified his promise. And then in verse 29, we see that promise for the redeemed of all nations, that if we belong to Christ, we are Abraham's descendants.

And thus we partake in the spiritual elements of that promise, the blessing of salvation available to all men. This promise, ladies, can never be revoked. It will never be revoked. Through Israel, all the nations will be blessed, and indeed we are.

It is by the promised seed, Jesus Christ, that we have eternal life. So we've seen that Christ is the promised seed of Genesis 3 .15. We've seen the eternal covenants or the promises of the Old Testament find their fullest and richest fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

God made a promise to Abraham, ladies, and that promise is ultimately and fully fulfilled in Christ. God made a promise to David, and that promise is ultimately and fully fulfilled in Christ. God promised a new covenant, and that covenant is fulfilled in Christ, his perfect life, his atoning death, and his triumphant resurrection.

God made a promise. That's grace. That's our God. And that's his magnificent seed of promise. That's the God we serve. And if he's keeping that promise, don't you think he's keeping some of these quote-unquote smaller promises?

These lesser promises, if you will? That is the promised seed of Genesis 3 .15. It's Christ. He's all through the Old Testament. He's all through the whole Bible, because the Bible is about him. It's not about you.

It's not about how it makes you feel. It's about God and who he is. And we see who we are only in light of who he is. That's God's big promise. That promised seed. That's the big story. So I hope you see that, ladies.

I hope that helps. I hope that plays off of what we talked about in the last show. The promised seed. Isn't that awesome? I know. I hope you think about that next time you're planting seeds. I do now.

I don't know. Probably because I had to do all the study for it. But I think of that. That promised seed. Promised seed of Christ. God does not revoke his promises. Thank goodness he doesn't. Right? Where would we be if he did?

Hopeless. Completely hopeless. But we are not. We have hope in Christ alone. Right? Okay, ladies. That's all the time we have for today. So until the next show, get in your Bibles, get on your knees, and get equipped.

Thanks for listening.

Reintroducing Equipping Eve and the Need for Biblical Resources for Women

Is the church today doing everything it can to provide women a firm foundation of truth in Christ Jesus? Well, it's true. There's no shortage of candy-coated Bible studies, potluck fellowships available to ladies.

But beyond Sunday morning, are Christian women being properly equipped to stand against the same deceptions that even enticed Eve in the garden? In an attempt to address the need for trustworthy, biblical resources for women, No Compromise Radio is happy to introduce Equipping Eve, a ladies-only radio show that seeks to equip women with fruits of truth in an age that's ripe with deception.

My name is Mike Gabendroth, and I'm pleased to introduce your host, Aaron Benzinger, a friend of No Compromise Radio, and a woman who wants to see other women equipped with a love for and a knowledge of the truth of God's Word.