Is It Foolishness or Faith? Part 3: The Seed

My “plan” for the order of presentation of the faith journey of Abraham and Sarah has been interrupted. This “parenthesis” is to step aside and enlarge on the study of one vital word occurring many times in the lives of these two faithful ancestors. That indispensable word is seed. It’s not seed as in that from which we grow our fruits and vegetables. It is, instead, the physical and spiritual seed that is Jesus Christ. It is this SEED which greatly affected the womb of Abraham’s wife Sarah.

Two things are missed IF a contextual and Biblical understanding of this seed is misunderstood:

Life’s drama begins in a garden of perfection … and Jesus “shows” up!

It is this same seed, Jesus Christ, whom the serpent, at the beginning of recorded history, made his initial effort to destroy. He attempted this through his tempting of our original parents in the garden of Eden; but, he failed. However… that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world … (Revelation 12:9), continued throughout thousands of years of Biblical history to try to destroy God’s plan. This was the lineage through which Jesus would be born; that is, through the womb of a virgin, enabling Him to step upon the world’s stage as man and deity. It was from here that Jesus completed His earthly journey by voluntarily dying on the cross, conquering death, and resurrecting from the grave to offer each of us eternal life. It was then that the prophecy given in Genesis 3:15 was fulfilled just as God stated it would be and as recorded in that verse.

When Adam and Eve sinned against God, each made quite different “confessions.” Adam blamed the woman: And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. (Genesis 3:12) The woman, however, confessed: … And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. (Genesis 3:13)

And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. (I Timothy 2:14)

God responded: And I [God] will put enmity [dislike, hatred, alienation] between thee [Satan/serpent] and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed [Jesus Christ]; it [Jesus] shall bruise thy head [Satan], and thou shalt bruise his [Jesus’] heel. (Genesis 3:15)

… For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8) On the cross, the heel of Jesus was bruised; however, Satan’s head was bruised (crushed). … But he [Jesus] was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities … (Isaiah 53:5)

The PROMISE was that the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent.

This “promise” was made to Eve, not to Adam and Eve. The seed was Jesus. The concept of the seed was at least in part understood by Eve. When she gave birth to her and Adam’s first child, Cain, she stated: … I have gotten a man from the LORD. (Genesis 4:1) However, Cain was not the child of promise; he was a murderer. He killed his younger brother Abel. Many years later, when Adam was 130 … Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. (Genesis 4:25)

After many more years, man became so wicked that the only “just” person on the earth was Noah. God then destroyed the earth and all the people and animals living thereon except for Noah and his family through a worldwide flood. God directed Noah to build an ark and to take with him on the ark his family and a sampling of animals, the purpose for which is recorded in Genesis 7:3: … to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.  See our video: “Why A Worldwide flood”: https://www.restorationofthefamily.org/why-a-world-wide-flood/

Biblical generations include important facts.

It’s GENERATIONS not GENEALOGIES.

Our journey with Abram and Sarai starts as part of the listing of the generations of Shem and that of Terah, the latter which includes Abram and Sarai. (See Genesis 11:10-29.) These several listings of generations throughout the Bible may be portions of Biblical text you often skip over. I surely have been guilty of doing that many times. However, the LORD tells us in Matthew 4:4 that … Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God … and in Psalm 12:6-7 that The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.

Jesus consolidates these words even further to something as small as a jot or tittle, the smallest Hebrew alphabetic letter (jot/yod) and the slightest stroke or curvature of a letter (tittle): … For verily I [Jesus] say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. (Matthew 5:18)

Most Bibles, other than the King James, change these important words of Jesus which create a vital bridge between the Old and New Testaments. An in-depth study of this is given in our book, “Finding Loopholes In the Bible on Divorce and ‘Re-marriage’ is like … Riding a Bike to Jamaica” available through our website.

It was through Seth’s lineage that Shem (a son of Noah) and Abram and Sarai were born; and ultimately through which Jesus would be conceived. The birth and marriage of Abram and Sarai are listed in the generations of Terah. (See Genesis 11:26-29.) The promised SEED, Jesus, continued to be threatened by evil men and women, even after His human appearance as God manifest in the flesh. (See Matthew 1:23, 25.) For example, after the birth of Jesus, Herod murdered all children two years and younger to try to again destroy the SEED; and religious leaders continually tried to trap and kill Jesus. He, however, prevailed and voluntarily gave His life on the cross at Calvary.

Acceptance of the SEED is the most important decision every person should make.

It is this Seed that God included in His promise to Abraham. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. (Genesis 22:18) This is a matter of bowing one’s knee to the LORDship of Jesus Christ. It is a matter of choice and circumcision of the heart. This is not a physical or inherited circumcision. Neither is it a religious practice or observance.

It is as it was with Abraham as recorded in Genesis 22:18: … because thou hast obeyed my voice:  Belief and obedience cannot be separated; if we truly believe, we will obey.

Both the Old Testament and the New Testament are of equal importance.

In previous teachings in this series, the statements were made: “The New Testament is concealed in the Old Testament. The Old Testament is revealed in the New Testament.” The immutable linkage between the Old and New Testaments becomes even clearer as the seed is studied from both Testaments. For example, this Seed, Jesus, is listed in the lineage of (generation of) Abraham as recorded in the first chapter of Matthew:

The book of generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac … Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. (Matthew 1:1, 2, 16)

It was this same Jesus that had a calling on the life of Abraham. However, Abraham and his wife Sarah, like most of us, had no idea that their lives would be totally changed by God’s supernatural intervention.

God’s plans for us are always for our good.

God foresees the future and knows what is best of for us. That’s why He has recorded and preserved for us (in our Bible) commands and guidelines to help us live a life that is pleasing to Him. Some of God’s instructions do not make sense, especially when we get in a jam or when we want something that doesn’t happen within our timetable:

• We cannot find a job;
• We are not healed from a serious illness;
• Our child or spouse dies;
• Our child or other family member gets hooked on alcohol and/or drugs;
• Our spouse leaves our home, divorces us, and under civil law marries someone else.

Because we aren’t born with the kind of faith it takes to resist our human “wisdom” (our flesh), we too often reject what is written in the Bible and, in rebellion, choose what our flesh tells us is best. The latter is called following the flesh instead of the Spirit. Any time we do not wait upon the LORD for our Biblical resolution and/or do anything that is against what is recorded in the Bible, we, too, are foolish. That holds true whether God’s directives are for us, as recorded in our Bible today, or when it was spoken verbally from the LORD to Abraham and Sarah.

There is an invisible war raging inside of us.

This is a war between the flesh and the spirit (the Word of God). We, however, are the ones who will decide which will win, our flesh or the Spirit of God:

For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. (Galatians 5:17, 16) Now the works of the flesh are manifest … adultery, fornication … Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred … heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness … that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5:19-21)

God has a “calling” on each of our lives, but He doesn’t write a letter to tell us what that is.

We learn God’s calling through the study of the Bible, prayer, and our obedience to His Word. That is, we learn to walk by faith (obey the Bible) and not by the flesh (what we feel overrides God’s Word). There are many who have for years rejected God’s commands; thus, the work that could have been done through them is given to someone else as they “fall by the way side.” (See Luke 8:5-8.)

However, some who rebel against God become successful, in the eyes of man—some even in ministry leadership. Sadly, they do not recognize they have been rejected by God because of sin in their lives which blinds them to Biblical Truths.  But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him. (1 Samuel 16:14) Conversely, others, chosen by God for great works, have no idea they have been so chosen; but they are faithful to walk by faith, and God works His purpose through them.

Esther was a woman of faith.

Esther, unknowingly to her, was chosen by God for a great call of ministry on her life. She was a righteous Jewish woman of the Old Testament. It was at a time when the Jews were going to be exterminated by King Ahasuerus that the purpose for Esther’s call began to emerge.

Even though Esther didn’t realize it, it was through the hand of God that she was chosen from among many concubines to become Ahasuerus’ queen. Esther’s adoptive parent, Mordecai, told her that she must intercede for the Jews by pleading for them before Ahasuerus. However, Queen Esther reminded Mordecai there was a law … that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called … would be put to death—unless the king would hold out his golden scepter. (See Esther 4:11.)

Even so, Mordecai, a godly man, told Esther that if she did not intercede with the King … thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed … and the LORD would deliver the Jews through someone else’s hand. Mordecai, a man filled with godly wisdom, wisely advised Esther: … and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? (Esther 4:14)

Esther prayed and fasted three days and three nights along with her maidens and all the Jews that were in Shushan. God heard these powerful intercessions. Esther was received by the king, and the Jews were miraculously saved from being executed. The Jews celebrate this event even today. Purim, as it’s called, is the Jewish holiday which commemorates the saving of the Jewish people from a mass slaughter.

God has a plan that cannot be changed by man.

Some might wonder how God gets His plan achieved when we don’t know what His plan is. This is something that could be said of Esther as well as of Abram and Sarai. Recall, Abram and Sarai were reared in a pagan environment and worshipped other gods: … Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham … and they served other gods. (Joshua 24:2) Yet, God chose Abraham out of this pagan environment and through Abraham God would build a nation to glorify Himself.

One specific reason the LORD gives for choosing Abraham is recorded in Genesis 18:19:

For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

There’s power in the SEED—not in substitutes: This is MAJOR.

Isaac was the child (seed) of promise eventually born to Abraham and Sarah under unique circumstances controlled by God. These circumstances have provided a model for the building of our faith in Jesus Christ and to include … all families of the earth … (Genesis 12:3) The SEED, so specifically embedded within the conception of Isaac, is contextually defined in the New Testament: Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. (Galatians 3:16)

It’s through the study of the life of Abraham and Sarah that the promise of the seed (singular) is emphasized in many repetitious statements. The word seed is recorded 23 times in Chapters 12 through 22 of Genesis: Gen. 12:7, Gen. 13:15, Gen. 13:16, Gen. 15:3, Gen. 15:5, Gen. 15:13, Gen. 16:10, Gen. 17:7, Gen. 17:8, Gen. 17:9, Gen. 17:10, Gen. 17:12, Gen. 17:19, Gen. 19:32, Gen. 19:34, Gen. 21:12, Gen. 21:13, Gen. 22:17, Gen. 22:18.

Is it true as it’s written in Ecclesiastes 1:9: … there is no new thing under the sun?

This is a true statement; yet, now that Jesus came in the flesh, there is a very crafty and subtle way man today is attempting to destroy the written record of the Seed. This is through the divisive rewriting of the Word of God. Man is doing in excess today through the power of the pen what “the father of lies,” Satan, the serpent initiated verbally in the garden of Eden—to question and change not only the verbal Word but Its written form, the Bible.

Why God emphasizes every word of God is pure ...

One of the thousands of changes the authors of the new versions of the Bible have chosen to make is to eliminate most of the vital doctrinal seed references. They do so by substituting words such as generations or offspring for the word seed. They do this even though the word seed is in their underlying Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament) text from which their translations are made. There are entirely different Hebrew and Greek words for seed versus those for words such as generations and offspring.

These writers have removed, in their authorships of their Bibles, “our inheritance,” the seed Who is Jesus Christ. Not only this, but the substitutes crafted by the new version authors are plural instead of singular, or a generic term which can be singular or plural such as offspring, generations, or descendants even though their underlying textual reference from which they translate does not contain these “trespassers.”

Beware … for thou [the LORD] hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
(Psalm 138:2.)

New Testament scriptures clearly teach that the word seed is to be singular: seed NOT plural, seeds.

Do we not see why God repeatedly warns not to change even a jot or a tittle?

Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. (Ephesians 5:6-7)

We must understand that it is to Abraham that the promise was made and to his seed. It’s through the seed (Jesus), not the man Abraham, in which nations will be blessed. It’s Abraham’s faith that matured to the point that he would trust and obey God. However, it’s through Jesus that we receive our blessings when we, too, let our faith be developed to the point that we trust the LORD rather than our flesh in our decision making and the lifestyles we choose to live.

We hope you will join us for “Is It Foolishness or Faith: Part 4” as we continue our journey to glean more understanding from the events surrounding the life of this man Abraham who had his beginnings in a gentile, pagan family but through the hand of the LORD became the first Hebrew and the father of many nations. Through these studies, we learn that faith is intangible and something one cannot “see” unless it’s illustrated. Study the book of James to glean a better understanding of the last statement.

If you haven’t seen our previous teachings in this series, we urge you to review them. Please go to our website: www.RestorationOfTheFamily.org. Click on the link for “Teachings,” then drop down to “Home Bible Study” and “Media:YouTube.” Under “Media:YouTube,” look for our series: “Is It Foolishness or Faith? Parts 1 and 2.”

Under Home Bible Study, look for:

• “Bible Study #2 Abraham,”
• “Almighty God Transforms Abram,”
• “SOWING Good SEED.”

If you aren’t on our distribution list for our regular teachings and our Bible Study Series and would like to be added, send us an email. Our Bible Study Series are interactive studies that give additional information about the upcoming teaching. The Bible study to accompany this teaching is called SOWING Good SEED. Click here to go to that teaching.

If you have questions or need prayer, please contact us. We are blessed when we hear from you.