WEBVTT 00:00:02.720 --> 00:00:03.279 Hello. 00:00:03.439 --> 00:00:03.919 I love you. 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:05.280 It's a gift to be with you. 00:00:05.599 --> 00:00:08.160 Well, happy week before Easter. 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:17.760 Um, I don't know if you've ever felt this, but sometimes I have felt guilty because I feel like Christmas is awesome and Easter is lame. 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:21.359 Christmas is the best and Easter's just okay. 00:00:21.519 --> 00:00:24.239 The ham is fine and the candy is fine. 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:25.120 It's just fine. 00:00:25.199 --> 00:00:26.320 It's no Christmas. 00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:31.039 Um and I feel a little bad about that because really Easter is supposed to be our main thing. 00:00:31.199 --> 00:00:32.399 It's our biggest thing. 00:00:32.560 --> 00:00:38.719 Um, and so I don't know about you, but if you're like me, part of the problem is that Easter is celebrating the resurrection. 00:00:39.119 --> 00:00:42.240 And I don't fully get the resurrection. 00:00:42.479 --> 00:00:44.399 Christmas is clearer. 00:00:44.719 --> 00:00:47.119 Jesus dying on the cross is also clearer. 00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:51.359 I feel like I could explain the meaning of that to somebody better. 00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:54.479 But him coming back to life, it's cool. 00:00:54.640 --> 00:00:55.600 I can't do it. 00:00:55.759 --> 00:00:58.560 But if I'm being honest, so what? 00:00:58.960 --> 00:01:00.880 What am I supposed to learn from this? 00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:02.560 There's no takeaway from this. 00:01:02.640 --> 00:01:04.000 Um and so I felt bad about that. 00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:08.239 So years ago, I asked the Lord and I said, I do not get this. 00:01:08.640 --> 00:01:10.799 Please help me to understand this. 00:01:11.040 --> 00:01:16.000 And he is certainly not done teaching me, like, oh, the resurrection, I get it. 00:01:16.159 --> 00:01:18.719 Um, but I do feel like he's been faithful. 00:01:18.879 --> 00:01:22.319 And I think he has helped me to see some beauty and meaning. 00:01:22.560 --> 00:01:36.560 And so since next week is Easter, if anyone has felt like I do and maybe wishes that they understood the resurrection more fully, um I'd like to try to speak to that a little bit today, because Easter is indeed our best thing. 00:01:37.200 --> 00:01:39.040 So this message today is a little bit different. 00:01:39.120 --> 00:01:41.760 If I'm being honest, I have never struggled with a message more. 00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:44.560 I have never come up here feeling f worse. 00:01:44.799 --> 00:01:50.879 Um I have wrestled with this guy and prayed and written and edited and prayed and written and edited, and now it's Sunday. 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:58.079 So you and me, little guy, may the Lord, like David, may the Lord do what he wants to do with the rock that I've got. 00:01:58.319 --> 00:01:59.840 This is the rock I have. 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:08.000 So um it's a little bit different, but I hope this will be even partly as exciting to you as it has been to me. 00:02:08.159 --> 00:02:15.360 Um, so to begin, I think we need to recognize that the Bible is a book like any book. 00:02:15.759 --> 00:02:17.919 I think we often don't treat it like a book. 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:23.039 I think we treat it like little stories that are individually supposed to inspire us. 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:28.240 So David fought Goliath, he was brave, brave is good, you should be brave too. 00:02:28.560 --> 00:02:30.240 That is not what it is. 00:02:30.800 --> 00:02:39.280 The Bible is a book, and like any book, it has a setup, a conflict, and the rest of the story is resolving the conflict. 00:02:39.599 --> 00:02:47.039 So if you love Twilight, like I do, the setup is they are in love. 00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:49.599 The conflict is he is a vampire. 00:02:49.840 --> 00:02:56.000 And so the rest of the story has to answer the problem, how can they be together even though he's a vampire? 00:02:56.240 --> 00:03:00.400 Now, our Bible is not like Twilight, but it does work the same. 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:06.159 We have a setup, a problem, and the rest of the story has to resolve the problem. 00:03:06.319 --> 00:03:08.080 So, what's our story? 00:03:08.560 --> 00:03:15.360 Well, to know a story, first you have to know the main character, which by the way, is him, not you or me. 00:03:15.919 --> 00:03:24.080 And biblically, God is not just someone in heaven hoping you tell the truth and feeling fussy when you don't. 00:03:24.400 --> 00:03:28.560 For he operates much more like our sun. 00:03:29.599 --> 00:03:32.479 For us, the sun is our source. 00:03:32.639 --> 00:03:37.439 It is the location point from which we get our light and our heat. 00:03:37.599 --> 00:03:42.719 So, and Colin, you can put that up there if you don't mind, the closer I am to the sun, the hotter it gets. 00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:45.039 The farther I am from the sun, the colder it gets. 00:03:45.199 --> 00:03:56.479 So, guy one is a lot warmer than guy two, not because the sun is mad at guy two, but he is far away from the source of the heat. 00:03:56.960 --> 00:03:58.800 And God is the same. 00:03:59.360 --> 00:04:03.919 Next, he is the source point of everything that's wonderful. 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:09.759 Kindness and warmth and loveliness and music and color and humor. 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:18.000 He is this bubbling fountain of all the universe's light and beauty and goodness. 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:23.199 So the closer we are to him, the better it gets, the further we are, the worse it gets. 00:04:23.439 --> 00:04:26.959 Guy one is having a much more wonderful time than guy two. 00:04:27.439 --> 00:04:30.000 Not because God is mad at guy two. 00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:39.600 But if there is the bubbling source point of life and health, then over there has to be death and pain. 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:49.600 Not because he's zapping guy two with pain, but because there is distance between yourself and the location of the wonderfulness. 00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:51.360 So we want to be there. 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:57.839 Um, but one of his qualities, arguably his strongest quality, is that he is holy. 00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:03.680 It should go without saying, but often it doesn't, that the Bible was not written in English. 00:05:03.759 --> 00:05:09.600 Um, but in in Hebrew, if you want to emphasize a word, you double the word. 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:14.319 Now in English, if I want to emphasize a word, I change the word and I lower my pitch. 00:05:14.480 --> 00:05:18.480 So I might say, you are pretty, but you are gorgeous. 00:05:18.720 --> 00:05:22.240 I change the word, I drop my pitch, and you know the second girl's prettier. 00:05:22.720 --> 00:05:24.959 That's how I create emphasis. 00:05:25.439 --> 00:05:28.879 But in Hebrew, to strengthen the idea, you double the word. 00:05:29.040 --> 00:05:32.240 So I would say, you are pretty, but you are pretty pretty. 00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:35.040 You are cute, but you're just cute, cute. 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:40.879 In Genesis, it says there's a really great pit, but in Hebrew it says there's a pit pit. 00:05:41.439 --> 00:05:50.399 Or in the in scripture, when God is really serious, in English it tells people to listen closely or pay attention, but in Hebrew, he asks them to listen, listen. 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:52.240 Doubling makes it stronger. 00:05:52.399 --> 00:05:54.560 Doubling in Hebrew makes it more emotional. 00:05:54.720 --> 00:06:02.240 Well, there is one quality of God's that is emphasized with this repeating, and it's not doubled, it's tripled. 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:07.839 Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. 00:06:08.319 --> 00:06:11.759 The doubling is really common, the tripling is very rare. 00:06:12.959 --> 00:06:18.240 Holiness doesn't, it does mean that he's perfect, but it's stronger than that. 00:06:18.399 --> 00:06:23.600 It's a total purity, a total perfection. 00:06:24.240 --> 00:06:32.000 The word holy actually comes from the word to separate, and so it means that there is absolutely no evil. 00:06:32.160 --> 00:06:36.000 There is nothing wrong with him or near him. 00:06:36.399 --> 00:06:38.800 Holy, holy, holy. 00:06:40.399 --> 00:06:42.240 So here is our hero. 00:06:43.040 --> 00:06:44.720 What is his story? 00:06:45.600 --> 00:06:49.680 So what we see in the opening of Genesis famously is the creation of the world. 00:06:49.920 --> 00:06:53.600 But what we're really seeing is the construction of a temple. 00:06:53.920 --> 00:07:01.360 If we compare the opening chapters of Genesis to other ancient accounts, it's clear that what we're seeing is the building of a temple to a deity. 00:07:01.680 --> 00:07:04.800 He is constructing a temple to himself. 00:07:05.279 --> 00:07:19.199 In the ancient world, if you're building a temple to Zeus or Athena or whoever, you build the space, you put up an image of the deity in the space, like a tapestry or a statue, and then you request that the presence of the deity come and fill the space. 00:07:19.360 --> 00:07:24.959 That is how you build a temple to a deity in the ancient world, and this is told in exactly that same style. 00:07:25.199 --> 00:07:31.600 When he builds the earth, he is building a temple to himself for his own worship. 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:35.839 And then he puts his image of himself in the space. 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:37.759 That's us, the image of God. 00:07:38.240 --> 00:07:51.519 And then he floods the space with his own presence, and we've got ourselves a happy, healthy, holy temple space filled with puppies and waterfalls and God's own beauty. 00:07:51.839 --> 00:07:55.360 That is how we were supposed to live. 00:07:55.759 --> 00:07:57.279 There's no evil in it. 00:07:57.439 --> 00:08:00.000 His holiness is hedging out any evil. 00:08:00.240 --> 00:08:04.959 His presence is fully in our space with us, bubbling loveliness onto everything. 00:08:05.199 --> 00:08:06.399 We were guy one. 00:08:08.959 --> 00:08:13.519 But he has to dignify us with a choice. 00:08:14.399 --> 00:08:16.959 He actually loves us. 00:08:17.439 --> 00:08:19.680 And so he doesn't want slaves. 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:22.399 He wants friends and partners. 00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:25.839 And if you aren't allowed to leave, you're a prisoner. 00:08:26.399 --> 00:08:32.159 We can say that we love each other, but if I have you locked in a bedroom, we don't know if we love each other. 00:08:32.639 --> 00:08:38.159 I don't know if you love me until I let you leave and you choose to stay. 00:08:38.480 --> 00:08:42.879 To love and be loved, he has to give us a choice. 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:44.480 So he does. 00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:53.440 And he shows us our choice with two trees: the tree of life versus the tree of knowing evil. 00:08:54.960 --> 00:09:01.120 And he says, look, have I hurt you? 00:09:02.399 --> 00:09:05.600 Haven't I been a good king? 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:15.840 Look, without your feedback, I made you this glorious place full of mangoes and turtles and sunsets. 00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:19.120 I am very good at what I do. 00:09:19.360 --> 00:09:25.360 Please trust me, make the choice I am telling you is life. 00:09:27.519 --> 00:09:32.159 Or you can eat from the tree of knowing evil. 00:09:32.480 --> 00:09:38.000 He is talking to them the way, God forbid, I would talk to Teddy about heroin. 00:09:40.159 --> 00:09:49.279 Haven't I loved you well and gotten you a puppy and a good school and the bananas that were just the right shade of yellow? 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:54.399 So please believe me about this. 00:09:55.120 --> 00:09:57.200 And don't touch it. 00:09:58.720 --> 00:10:01.919 He's saying, look, I know you don't know. 00:10:02.399 --> 00:10:04.639 I'm glad you don't know. 00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:09.360 But there is an evil and it hates you. 00:10:10.480 --> 00:10:13.039 And I've got the holy, holy, holiness. 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:17.679 It can't infect me, so I'm creating a hedge around you. 00:10:17.840 --> 00:10:21.360 I can keep it out, but you cannot. 00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:27.279 If you eat this, if you reject me as your king, I care about consent. 00:10:27.440 --> 00:10:28.399 I'll go. 00:10:29.279 --> 00:10:31.840 And you will know evil. 00:10:32.960 --> 00:10:38.720 And you will certainly, next, you will certainly die. 00:10:40.960 --> 00:10:42.799 Please don't do this. 00:10:44.720 --> 00:10:47.200 Our choice was never about fruit. 00:10:47.600 --> 00:10:51.600 It was about accepting your spot and my spot. 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:53.279 You are the king. 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:57.600 And if you say this tree is good and this tree is not, I believe you. 00:10:57.840 --> 00:11:00.559 You know better than I do which trees are good. 00:11:00.879 --> 00:11:05.919 So if you say this choice means life and this choice means suffering, I'm sure you're right. 00:11:06.399 --> 00:11:08.399 I don't know better. 00:11:08.639 --> 00:11:11.519 If you and I disagree, you're right. 00:11:13.519 --> 00:11:17.360 But then in comes the enemy to see how we really feel. 00:11:17.759 --> 00:11:24.000 And he says to them what he always says, oh come on. 00:11:25.360 --> 00:11:27.360 You will not certainly die. 00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:31.840 This restriction isn't for you. 00:11:33.120 --> 00:11:37.519 Do you really think disobedience will poison you? 00:11:38.960 --> 00:11:40.559 And we don't. 00:11:40.879 --> 00:11:44.320 When the chips are down, we do not trust him. 00:11:45.600 --> 00:11:51.919 So they eat the fruit, they disobey, they reject him as their king, and immediately the poison starts. 00:11:52.080 --> 00:11:56.159 They look at each other, and first thing, they're embarrassed. 00:11:56.720 --> 00:12:06.080 It's interesting that our first sin was thinking we were God ourselves, and the immediate impact was actually hating ourselves. 00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:15.440 And then they hear him. 00:12:16.559 --> 00:12:19.440 And for the first time, they hide from him. 00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:22.320 And it's breaking. 00:12:22.720 --> 00:12:26.799 It says he came down in the cool of the day. 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:32.320 It looks like maybe they used to take sunset walks and talk about their days. 00:12:33.200 --> 00:12:37.440 And he comes down for their sunset walk and they hide. 00:12:38.080 --> 00:12:40.320 I really can't believe Hollywood is sleeping on this. 00:12:40.399 --> 00:12:42.639 This is actually a very sad scene. 00:12:43.840 --> 00:12:52.559 And he has every right to roar in and scream at them and burn them, and he doesn't. 00:12:53.120 --> 00:12:56.000 He's gentler than he needs to be. 00:12:56.559 --> 00:12:58.799 All he does is ask them what happened. 00:13:00.399 --> 00:13:06.000 Imagine Eve's pain when he asks what happened, and Adam goes, She did it. 00:13:07.919 --> 00:13:09.519 And it's breaking. 00:13:10.879 --> 00:13:16.240 And so he starts to describe the new situation that they've chosen. 00:13:16.559 --> 00:13:24.639 He speaks to her and he says, with painful labor, you will give birth to children. 00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:26.080 Oh, yeah, here we go. 00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:27.840 This is pretty misunderstood. 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:31.759 This does not just mean that having a baby will hurt, although that's true. 00:13:32.080 --> 00:13:38.000 The word here is that the whole human journey of having children will be painful. 00:13:38.320 --> 00:13:46.320 This includes sexual abuse, infertility, pornography, human trafficking, rejection. 00:13:48.879 --> 00:13:54.639 I meant your sexual life to only be a joy. 00:13:55.600 --> 00:13:59.200 I'm never meant for you to miscarry a baby. 00:13:59.759 --> 00:14:04.399 I never meant for someone to force themselves on you. 00:14:06.080 --> 00:14:11.200 But now, in pain, you will bring forth children. 00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:19.279 And, number two, your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you. 00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:22.320 The word desire here is a specific word. 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:23.679 It does not mean love. 00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:29.120 It means a lion's desire to shred the flesh of its prey. 00:14:29.679 --> 00:14:33.360 Now, your reaction to your husband will be to rip. 00:14:34.559 --> 00:14:36.480 And he will be no better. 00:14:36.639 --> 00:14:39.440 His response to you will be to crush. 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:44.320 Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you. 00:14:46.080 --> 00:14:51.840 Your home was supposed to be tender and joyful and safe. 00:14:52.080 --> 00:14:54.720 A little Eden inside of Eden. 00:14:55.440 --> 00:14:59.279 I never meant for your parents to get divorced. 00:14:59.840 --> 00:15:05.440 I never meant for your spouse to scream or drink or leave. 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:11.120 But now death has come into your home. 00:15:12.639 --> 00:15:20.000 And you, sir, he speaks to Adam, says, now in suffering you will eat your food. 00:15:21.039 --> 00:15:25.440 I'm meant for you and the earth to delight in each other. 00:15:26.159 --> 00:15:30.879 And now you will work and you'll sweat and you'll just get thorns. 00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:34.639 Death has come into your work. 00:15:36.159 --> 00:15:39.440 I didn't mean you to be answering emails at 3 a.m. 00:15:40.639 --> 00:15:45.200 I didn't mean for you to get laid off or feel like a failure. 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:48.799 But we have chosen death. 00:15:51.039 --> 00:15:54.080 So in our story, now the world is poisoned. 00:15:54.399 --> 00:15:59.840 When we hurt and we suffer and we lose what we love, we often say, why did God do this? 00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:01.919 But no, we did this. 00:16:03.039 --> 00:16:06.080 I'm not saying we shouldn't weep and weep with those who weep. 00:16:06.240 --> 00:16:07.440 We should weep and lament. 00:16:07.519 --> 00:16:10.559 We should, but we chose death. 00:16:12.320 --> 00:16:15.120 So now in our story, we've got a threefold problem. 00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:17.679 Number one, the temple is poisoned. 00:16:17.919 --> 00:16:21.200 That evil we just had to know came in. 00:16:21.759 --> 00:16:23.919 We and the earth are at odds. 00:16:24.159 --> 00:16:32.399 Sometimes we get cancer, sometimes your house burns down, and it isn't sin, it isn't anyone's fault, it's just a cracked world. 00:16:33.200 --> 00:16:37.840 But also, next, number two, the image bearers are broken. 00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:40.879 That evil also came into us. 00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:43.759 We're not just victims. 00:16:44.159 --> 00:16:48.000 We are racist and greedy and violent. 00:16:48.320 --> 00:16:49.919 We are poisoned. 00:16:51.039 --> 00:16:54.320 In theology, this is called the stain of sin. 00:16:54.799 --> 00:16:56.639 We are stained now. 00:16:58.559 --> 00:17:02.320 When we use the word sin, we mean that we did something bad. 00:17:02.639 --> 00:17:05.839 But biblically, in Hebrew, the word sin is the word kata. 00:17:06.880 --> 00:17:12.000 And katah is actually just a general word that means to aim at something and miss. 00:17:12.799 --> 00:17:17.680 And so if you're shooting a gun, you can hit your target or you can chata, miss. 00:17:18.160 --> 00:17:23.440 And so when the Bible says that we sin, it doesn't just mean that we did something bad. 00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:29.119 It's saying that we are designed to demonstrate God's own goodness to each other. 00:17:29.200 --> 00:17:36.319 And when we're greedy or dishonest or exclusive, we chata, we miss what we were actually supposed to be. 00:17:37.279 --> 00:17:48.319 And number three, because he has the holy, holy, holiness, and now we are stained, his presence is lethal to us now. 00:17:49.359 --> 00:17:52.000 We can't be guy one anymore. 00:17:52.799 --> 00:17:55.839 We see this a lot, but we see it with Moses in Exodus 33. 00:17:56.000 --> 00:18:00.000 God says to Moses, I am so pleased with you. 00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:02.480 And Moses goes, Great. 00:18:02.720 --> 00:18:06.400 If you're really pleased with me, I want to see you. 00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:10.079 No more with the smoke and the fire and the thunderstorms. 00:18:10.319 --> 00:18:11.920 I want to see you. 00:18:13.920 --> 00:18:17.759 And God says to him, Oh my boy. 00:18:19.519 --> 00:18:22.559 I want to be with you more than you want to be with me. 00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:25.920 I miss you more than you miss me. 00:18:27.599 --> 00:18:30.400 But now no one can see me and live. 00:18:31.519 --> 00:18:34.319 I can't be with you like that anymore. 00:18:35.039 --> 00:18:40.400 So yes, God is everywhere, but we now have a very weak version. 00:18:40.880 --> 00:18:47.440 He is not densely in our space with us, splashing loveliness onto everything anymore. 00:18:47.599 --> 00:18:49.440 Now we are guy too. 00:18:51.680 --> 00:18:53.440 So here's our book. 00:18:53.920 --> 00:18:55.839 We have our setting, Eden. 00:18:56.079 --> 00:18:58.240 We have our conflict, we broke it. 00:18:58.480 --> 00:19:04.720 So, like any book, the rest of the story has to answer how do we get back to Eden? 00:19:06.079 --> 00:19:07.599 Please hear me. 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:14.400 The story of the Bible is not that this world is dirty and bad, but the Bible could show you how to act better. 00:19:14.559 --> 00:19:19.119 And if you do, then when you die, you will go to a nicer place somewhere else called heaven. 00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:19.759 No. 00:19:20.400 --> 00:19:24.319 Our story is how can God's presence come back? 00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:31.519 How can his image bearers be cleaned and the temple that he built be healed? 00:19:32.799 --> 00:19:40.720 And I think deep down we know we are homesick for Eden. 00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:54.079 If you lose someone to cancer, or your spouse cheats on you, or you miscarry, it is sad, but it's not just sad. 00:19:54.880 --> 00:19:58.559 We know this is incorrect. 00:19:59.519 --> 00:20:02.240 This shouldn't have happened. 00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:06.799 It's not just painful, it's wrong. 00:20:07.839 --> 00:20:09.119 And we're right. 00:20:09.519 --> 00:20:11.119 We're homesick. 00:20:12.480 --> 00:20:14.799 So we've got ourselves a story. 00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:29.039 A poisoned world where our dogs die and our husbands die and we get dumped and we get dementia, stained image barriers who are not a photograph of God's own goodness the way that we should be. 00:20:29.599 --> 00:20:35.599 And the good presence far away, not here splashing health and beauty onto everything. 00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:41.359 So ours is a story of how does he and how do we get home. 00:20:42.960 --> 00:20:50.319 So as we read, and we should be, as a reader, we should be watching for promises and prophecies towards that final healing. 00:20:50.400 --> 00:20:55.519 Um and in Genesis 3, we get our first one, our first ping-ping, ping-ping of hope. 00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:59.920 God is describing this new state of suffering, this death that they've chosen. 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:01.119 It's a very sad scene. 00:21:01.200 --> 00:21:03.759 Um, but he also speaks to the serpent. 00:21:04.319 --> 00:21:06.079 And he says something cryptic. 00:21:06.160 --> 00:21:12.000 We could easily blow right by it and miss it, um, but he says to the serpent, here's what's up. 00:21:13.839 --> 00:21:27.759 I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers, and he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel. 00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:31.359 Enmity, it's the same root word as the word enemies. 00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:37.920 I'm going to send an offspring of the woman who is an enemy of evil. 00:21:38.640 --> 00:21:47.119 And when he comes, he will crush your little skull, but you will be allowed to hurt him before he kills you. 00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:58.640 So now, as a reader, we know in our story we are waiting for an offspring of the woman who's an enemy of evil who will kill the serpent and be wounded in the battle. 00:21:58.799 --> 00:21:59.599 That's what we have to. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:00.720 Have. 00:22:01.519 --> 00:22:03.680 Biblically, you might be familiar with this word. 00:22:03.839 --> 00:22:06.880 This is our very first promise of the Messiah. 00:22:07.680 --> 00:22:08.480 So this is it. 00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:11.920 Our setup, our conf, our setup, our conflict, our promise. 00:22:12.160 --> 00:22:15.279 The rest of scripture is resolving this situation. 00:22:15.440 --> 00:22:21.759 So we move out of Genesis 3 into Genesis 4, and for seven chapters, we just watch the poison spread. 00:22:22.160 --> 00:22:25.839 Genesis 4 through 11, we get Cain and Abel, the first murder. 00:22:26.079 --> 00:22:30.160 We get Lamech and his wives, people abusing each other and chaining folks up. 00:22:30.319 --> 00:22:33.039 We get the Tower of Babel, we get Noah and the Ark. 00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:38.079 We just watch the poison spread and we wait on our hero. 00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:46.720 And then we come to our next big hinge of our story, our next big ping-ping of hope, which is God's agreement with Abraham. 00:22:47.759 --> 00:22:55.680 God says to Abraham, next, God says to Abraham, you need to leave your tribe. 00:22:57.039 --> 00:23:05.599 Now for Abraham, his tribe is where he gets all of his identity, all the protection for his family, all of his wealth. 00:23:05.759 --> 00:23:08.559 None of those are individual, those are all tribal things. 00:23:08.799 --> 00:23:10.640 And God says, leave them. 00:23:11.680 --> 00:23:22.240 And if you'll do this, if you will leave your tribe and relocate your future and your identity to me, I will do four things. 00:23:22.480 --> 00:23:27.440 I will give you a miracle, baby, I'll give you the land where you're going. 00:23:45.839 --> 00:23:48.559 So now, as a reader, we know two massive things. 00:23:48.720 --> 00:23:56.400 Number one, we know that the state of blessing has to be restored to the nations through an offspring of Abraham. 00:23:56.799 --> 00:24:06.640 We were in a state of blessing, we're now in a state of curse, the state of blessing will be restored to all nations, and it has to come through an offspring of Abraham. 00:24:07.440 --> 00:24:12.960 And number two, I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. 00:24:13.119 --> 00:24:20.240 Now, to be in a good relationship with God is linked to how you respond to Abraham's offspring. 00:24:20.559 --> 00:24:28.400 Biblically, there is now no way for me to say, God and I are good, but I reject the offspring of Abraham. 00:24:28.720 --> 00:24:32.319 I'm not coming to God that way, but God and I are fine. 00:24:32.480 --> 00:24:34.480 No, look, that is not possible now. 00:24:34.880 --> 00:24:44.160 God is in a relationship of blessing or curse with you based on whether or not you receive or reject the offspring of Abraham. 00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:56.720 So now as a reader, we know we're homesick for Eden, we're suffering, God has promised to restore it back, and the healing has to come through an offspring of the woman and an offspring of Abraham. 00:24:56.880 --> 00:24:57.759 So we're watching. 00:24:57.839 --> 00:24:58.640 Who is this? 00:24:58.880 --> 00:25:02.960 Now we might be tempted to think maybe it's Abraham. 00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:05.759 He left his tribe, that's pretty obedient. 00:25:06.400 --> 00:25:08.240 Could he be the guy? 00:25:08.960 --> 00:25:11.680 But then no, he's a very weak husband. 00:25:11.839 --> 00:25:18.799 He gives his wife into sex slavery, buys another woman, forcibly impregnates her, then leaves her in the desert to die of exposure, and so no. 00:25:20.720 --> 00:25:22.240 He is stained. 00:25:22.960 --> 00:25:33.039 And because Colton said that I was not allowed to deliver the two-hour version of this that I originally wrote, I'll just say that we see this pattern repeat and repeat. 00:25:33.920 --> 00:25:36.559 This person, Eve thinks it's Cain. 00:25:36.720 --> 00:25:37.920 Is it Cain? 00:25:38.319 --> 00:25:38.640 No. 00:25:39.359 --> 00:25:40.720 Maybe it's Noah? 00:25:41.039 --> 00:25:41.359 No. 00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:42.799 Maybe it's Moses? 00:25:43.279 --> 00:25:43.599 No. 00:25:43.839 --> 00:25:54.240 They're God's people, but they're dishonest and violent and forgetful and braggy, and they have a horrible habit of buying and selling other folks. 00:25:54.559 --> 00:25:55.839 All stained. 00:25:56.720 --> 00:26:00.880 Finally, some shenanigans go down that relocates the whole family down to Egypt. 00:26:01.039 --> 00:26:02.000 They get enslaved. 00:26:02.160 --> 00:26:06.559 God sends Moses to lead them back out and go back to that land that he gave to Abraham. 00:26:07.359 --> 00:26:16.240 But before they can have it, God takes them into the desert where they park it for a year at Mount Sinai, and God gives them the law. 00:26:17.200 --> 00:26:28.799 613 laws that, if they had kept them, would have shaped and formed their new country into Tiny Little Eden. 00:26:29.759 --> 00:26:52.720 Israel would have been a community so lovely, with no generational poverty, with such good farming and such a good justice system and such healthy families that the neighboring countries would have looked into Israel and said, My gosh, your country is so wonderful. 00:26:53.119 --> 00:26:55.440 You even treat the refugees well. 00:26:55.599 --> 00:26:57.759 You even treat the women well. 00:26:57.920 --> 00:27:00.720 You even treat the animals well. 00:27:01.440 --> 00:27:07.519 We're jealous of your country, which to an ancient mind meant we're jealous of your king. 00:27:07.839 --> 00:27:11.519 Your country is better than ours, means that your king is better than ours. 00:27:11.839 --> 00:27:14.079 We want your king. 00:27:14.400 --> 00:27:15.920 Who's your king? 00:27:16.240 --> 00:27:20.160 And of course, their answer would be, God is our king. 00:27:20.640 --> 00:27:22.480 And you should be jealous. 00:27:23.039 --> 00:27:26.640 He's always telling us the way to life. 00:27:27.599 --> 00:27:40.640 Had they obeyed them, these 613 laws would have shaped Israel into a tiny little pocket of Eden, declaring with their collective life the goodness and the wisdom of God. 00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:43.599 Had they obeyed them. 00:27:44.240 --> 00:27:45.440 But they don't. 00:27:45.839 --> 00:27:47.519 Because they're stained. 00:27:48.079 --> 00:27:53.839 So, as a reader, now we know we need someone who keeps the law. 00:27:55.119 --> 00:27:58.559 Then we think again, maybe it could be David. 00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:02.880 God speaks really highly of him, he is famously full of faith. 00:28:04.079 --> 00:28:10.160 But then he gets entitled, he sleeps on the job during wartime, he impregnates his neighbor, and then contract kills her husband. 00:28:10.319 --> 00:28:11.359 So no. 00:28:12.720 --> 00:28:13.680 Stained. 00:28:14.960 --> 00:28:30.319 But David really does love God, and he's got enough sense to say, it isn't cool that your house is dusty and fabric and small, and my house is big and gorgeous and golden. 00:28:31.119 --> 00:28:33.279 Let me build you a temple. 00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:35.839 And God says, Um, thank you. 00:28:35.920 --> 00:28:45.920 No, you are a man of war, you can't build me a house, but ping ping, ping ping of hope, I'm gonna build you a house. 00:28:46.480 --> 00:28:55.680 I'm gonna send somebody, an offspring of David, and I will put him on the throne of my kingdom, and he will never come off. 00:28:56.799 --> 00:29:14.319 So as a reader, now we know for the world to be healed, for God to be back ruling in his rightful temple, we have to have an offspring of Eve, an offspring of Abraham, an offspring of David, an Israelite who fully keeps the law. 00:29:16.799 --> 00:29:24.319 So it might mean more to us then when we read the first words out of the New Testament's mouth. 00:29:24.640 --> 00:29:28.799 Book one, chapter one, verse one, Matthew 1, 1. 00:29:30.640 --> 00:29:39.759 This is a genealogy of Jesus, the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 00:29:40.720 --> 00:29:43.839 And here is the term paper I wrote proving it to you. 00:29:45.599 --> 00:29:49.359 The New Testament opens very aggressively. 00:29:49.599 --> 00:29:52.000 This is a bold open. 00:29:53.759 --> 00:29:54.880 He's here. 00:29:57.039 --> 00:30:03.119 And as we watch his life, around him is like this glowing diameter of Eden. 00:30:03.759 --> 00:30:08.880 You get close to him, and demons pop out, and incurable diseases get cured. 00:30:09.359 --> 00:30:14.240 And he lives here 33 years, and he perfectly keeps the law. 00:30:14.880 --> 00:30:18.000 Finally, someone who's not stained. 00:30:18.720 --> 00:30:20.799 When people are cruel, he isn't. 00:30:21.039 --> 00:30:22.799 When people are worried, he isn't. 00:30:23.039 --> 00:30:25.200 When people are racist, he isn't. 00:30:25.519 --> 00:30:30.079 He's honest and patient and feisty and good. 00:30:31.680 --> 00:30:34.559 That is what we were supposed to be. 00:30:37.200 --> 00:30:40.880 But you and I know as a reader, he's got work to do. 00:30:41.200 --> 00:30:42.880 He has to do the work. 00:30:43.599 --> 00:30:48.559 He has to get wounded, and he has to clean the image bearers. 00:30:49.839 --> 00:30:52.720 And so up onto the cross he goes. 00:30:53.839 --> 00:31:04.880 And if he is your savior, what he does is that he lifts that stain of sin off of you and he carries it up onto the cross with him. 00:31:05.680 --> 00:31:14.799 And he hangs on the cross, dripping in the stains of everyone who will ever believe in him and ask for mercy. 00:31:15.599 --> 00:31:23.839 And God the Father looks at him hanging there, dripping in our stains, and God says to him, No. 00:31:25.200 --> 00:31:26.160 Gross. 00:31:27.200 --> 00:31:28.640 I don't want you. 00:31:28.799 --> 00:31:30.160 I can't look at you. 00:31:30.640 --> 00:31:32.799 I turn away from that. 00:31:35.039 --> 00:31:43.920 In the whole crucifixion process, which was horrible and took all day, that's the only time we see Jesus scream. 00:31:45.440 --> 00:31:51.440 The rejection that our sin is going to receive, he takes that rejection. 00:31:52.880 --> 00:32:00.880 I was talking to a precious student about this one time at school, and she burst into tears about Jesus getting punished for her. 00:32:01.119 --> 00:32:07.680 And with these big eyes full of tears, she said, did it hurt? 00:32:09.519 --> 00:32:10.160 Yes. 00:32:11.680 --> 00:32:17.039 And bless her, her heart was tender enough to respond rightly. 00:32:17.279 --> 00:32:20.240 She was wise enough to burst into tears. 00:32:20.559 --> 00:32:22.799 May the Spirit make us that wise. 00:32:24.079 --> 00:32:32.319 So if you are in Christ, now when God the Father looks at you, he sees no stain because it got lifted off. 00:32:32.640 --> 00:32:34.160 There's no punishment needed. 00:32:34.240 --> 00:32:35.920 I already punished that sin. 00:32:36.960 --> 00:32:42.400 All I see now is you clean and having credit for 33 years of lawkeeping. 00:32:42.720 --> 00:32:43.839 But we didn't keep them. 00:32:44.000 --> 00:32:45.279 Jesus kept them. 00:32:45.839 --> 00:32:48.720 And he is offering us a trade. 00:32:49.599 --> 00:32:55.039 I'll give you credit for my goodness, you give me your stain. 00:32:56.160 --> 00:32:58.240 And we need that trade. 00:32:58.799 --> 00:33:01.039 We have not done well. 00:33:01.599 --> 00:33:06.799 If we think I did pretty good better than some people, no, we didn't do pretty good better than some people. 00:33:07.200 --> 00:33:09.119 You are stained. 00:33:10.799 --> 00:33:12.559 But you don't have to be. 00:33:13.200 --> 00:33:16.160 He will trade you dirty for clean. 00:33:17.680 --> 00:33:26.480 And then he takes all that sin and all that death with him into the tomb, once and for all, to find out who's boss. 00:33:28.240 --> 00:33:31.440