Monday, January 11, 2010

The first Messianic prophecy


The Seed Of The Woman

Q. I know Genesis 3:15 is the first reference to a coming redeemer, but my question relates to the comment in that verse where I understand God is speaking to Satan and says “And I will put enmity…between your seed and her seed”. I know what “her seed” is, in reference to many generations to follow. But what does it mean when God says of “your seed” (Satan’s)?


A. Actually the term “her seed” applies to only one, and being a biological impossibility it’s the Bible’s first reference to a virgin birth. The Hebrew word translated “seed” is in the masculine gender and seed comes from a man. But in the case of the Messiah, to whom the phrase refers, no man was involved, only a woman. The Seed of the Woman is the Bible’s earliest messianic term.

It’s the same in the case of Satan’s seed where one person is identified, the anti-Christ. God vowed to put enmity between the two. The anti-Christ will not hate all of Eve’s descendants, but he’ll have an irrational hatred toward one of them, the Messiah, whom he’ll see as his arch enemy.







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