Bible Question: Does the book of Genesis predict the coming of Jesus (Specifically when God is speaking to Satan?) |
Bible Answer: The answer to your question depends on how you define the word "predict". Without doubt the book of Genesis foreshadows the coming of Christ, giving us numerous "types" of Christ, the Saviour to come. I'm not sure who actually coined this phrase but it is an excellent one for this discussion. "What was in the Old Testament concealed, is in the New Testament revealed". Now along the lines of foreshadowings and types of Jesus to come, first there is the mention of the women's seed who would bruise the head of the serpent in Genesis 3, then there is the typology within the story of Noah and the flood, where on account of Noah, who Peter calls, a preacher of righteousness, God rescues his people, bringing them through the waters (Gen 9). There is the high priest Melchezidek, a type of Christ our high priest to come. There is the promise of a seed to Abraham, and the protection of that seed in the stories of Isaac and Jacob (see the story of Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac). There is possibly a type of Christ in the Angel of the Lord, who rescues Lot and his daughters from destruction in Sodom, and the Angel of the Lord who wrestles with Jacob in the brooke of Jabok, upon his return to Canaan. Some might make a case for Jacob's ladder on which the Angels descended to man, as a foreshadow of Christ's condescension to man. I myself believe there are others in Genesis, but again this depends on your definition of "predict". Now if we use a very strict definition of the word predict, then Genesis 3, and the Seed of the Women, along with the Seed of Abraham, I guess would qualify as 2 "predictions". But I must add, it is essential for us to remember that the Book of Genesis, like the rest of the Old Testament, points to Christ in its very essence. In fact, Christ is the fulfillment of all that comes before, and is promised, in the Old Testament. As R.T. France puts it in his commentary on Matthew, "in Christ's coming, the age of preparation (Old Testament), gives way to the age of fulfillment" (the New Testament). France also adds that the essential key to the theology of Matthew's Gospel, is that in Jesus, all of God's purposes have come to fulfillment(as outlined in the OT). This is eay to see by looking at Matthew's genealogy of Christ, and noticing how the history of Israel is in fact built around that line of descent, all of which points to the birth of Christ. I hope this helps. --JCP |