WEEK OF PROPHECY: RAFIKI SDA CHURCH

LESSON #2 - THE PROTO-EVANGELIUM

The larger chiasm
• Genesis 1-2: Perfect heaven and earth
• Rev. 21-22: Perfect heaven and earth restored
• Gen. 3: Conflict commences
• Rev. 20: Conflict concluded
Gen. 3 – Rev. 19: God’s love manoeuvring through anti-love forces to restore humanity, and the whole universe,
back to perfection
Genesis 1-3: The seminal narrative to the whole Bible
The first three chapters contain all the subjects pertinent to the doctrines of the Bible, albeit in seed form.
Consider the 28 fundamental beliefs:
Holy Scriptures: “And God said…”
Godhead: 1:26 (plurality of persons hinted at, not explained)
Father: 1:1
Son: 1:1-3 (cf. John 1:1-3), 1:26
Holy Spirit: 1:2
Creation: 1-2
Nature of man: 1:26-27; 2:7
Great Controversy: 3
Life, death and resurrection of Jesus: 3:15
Experience of salvation: 3:15, 21
Growth in Christ: 3:15
Church: 3:15; seed will then be traced through Sethites, Noah’s seed, Abraham’s seed, Isaac’s seed, Jacob’s seed,
Judah’s seed. The seed that stays at home is always chosen.
Remnant: 3:15 (cf. Rev. 12:17 – the full development of the conflict, especially the second conflict), 1:26, 28 –
mission is dominion through reflection of God’s glory
Unity in the Body of Christ: 3:9 (the loss of the unity in the communion of brethren), 15-16 (introduction of the
right disunity for the restoration of the right unity; 3 (horizontal unity is dependent on vertical unity); 1:26 (the
relationship of the Father and Son as a model of unity in church between man and woman and between Christ
and church)
Baptism: 1:1-3 (from darkness through the waters by the action of the Spirit – Job 33:4; Psa. 104:30; John 20:22 –
comes life and light)
The Lord’s Supper: ____
Spiritual gifts: 1:1-3 (the Spirit as giver of life and all gifts)
Gift of Prophecy: Moses (Hos. 12:13)
The Law: 2:16-17
Sabbath: 2:1-3
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Stewardship: 1:26-28; 2:15
Christian Behaviour: Health (1:29-30); dress (3:21); holiness/separation from evil (3:15); relationships (1:26; 2:25)
Marriage and family: 1:27; 2:18-25
Christ’s Ministry in the Heavenly Sanctuary: Investigative judgement (3:9), sacrifices in 3:21
Second Coming: 3:15 (cf. Rev. 19)
Death and Resurrection: 2:16-17 (assurance of death as a consequence to sin); 3:4-5 (false concept of death), 15
(prophecy of a wounded redeemer)
Millennium and end of sin: typified by the 7 days of creation
New earth: 1-2
Seeds of prophecy in Genesis (From Pst. Stephen Bohr’s, Cracking the Genesis Code)
• Genesis 3:15 meets its fulfillment in Revelation 12.
• The Garden of Eden in Genesis 2 is restored in Revelation 21-22
• Gen 1:1-2 describes the earth as it will be again during the millennium (Rev 20:1-3; Jer 4:23-27; Is 24:19-23)
• The conflict between Cain and Abel is a miniature illustration of the final battle of Armageddon in which
the whole world will manifest the character of one or the other.
• The story of the flood (Gen 6-9) is a prophecy about events which will transpire at the end of the world
(Matt 24:37-39).
• God’s call for Abraham to leave Ur of the Chaldees in Genesis 12:1-3 (where ancient Babylon was located),
is an illustration of God’s final call for His people to come out of spiritual Babylon (Revelation 18:1-5)
• The story of the fall of the Tower of Babel typifies the final fall of spiritual worldwide Babylon (Rev. 14:8)
• The three angels who visited Abraham before Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire and brimstone
(Genesis 18:1-2; 19:24, 28), illustrate the three angels which will warn the world before it is destroyed by fire
and brimstone (Revelation 14:6-12; Luke 17:28-30).
• The story of Isaac and Ishmael (Gen 16-17) teaches profound spiritual lessons about two kinds of people in
the world: Those who live according to the spirit and those who live according to the flesh (Gal 4:21-31).
• The story of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac, his beloved son, (Genesis 22) finds its counterpart in
God the Father who was willing to give His only Begotten Son (John 3:16). The substitute offered in place
of Isaac represents Christ who was offered up for our sins.
• The experience of Jacob’s ladder (Genesis 28:12-15) finds its fulfillment in Jesus (John 1:51).
• The story of Jacob and Esau (Genesis 27-32) is fulfilled when God’s people will go through a time of trouble
such as Jacob did (Daniel 12:1; Jeremiah 30:6-9)
• The story of Joseph is a beautiful illustration of the life of Christ. Joseph came to his own brothers and they
did not receive him. They sold him for twenty pieces of silver. Jesus came to His own and they did not
receive Him. He was sold for thirty pieces of silver. And there are many other parallels between Joseph and
Jesus in this story.
• The character of the twelve sons of Jacob (Genesis 49) are illustrative of the characters of those who will
belong to the 144,000.
The Secret Conversation
The Nazi forces were decimating the Allies at an unredeemable pace and Great Britain was hanging by a thread
– a thread whose strands were snapping by the day. FDR had promised the Americans that he will not interfere
with the war, but that promise would not last for long. Between 1940-1944, Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and
Winston Churchill had about four secret meetings. Churchill and Roosevelt met. It is in one of these secret
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LESSON #2 - THE PROTO-EVANGELIUM
meetings, one held on August 9 and 10, 1941 aboard the U.S.S. Augusta in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, to
discuss their respective war aims for the Second World War and to outline a postwar international system, that
a treaty – the Atlantic Charter of 1941 – was signed that changed the course of World War II, and of history,
forever. Not only did the US enter the war and tilt the balances in the Allies’ favour, the third point in the treaty
mentioning the rights of all peoples to choose their own government eventually served as an inspiration for
colonial subjects throughout the Third World, from Algeria to Vietnam, as they fought for independence. Private
conversations between powerful individuals in high places affect our daily lives.
Yet all these private conversations combined cannot compare to one great private conversation held in a garden
6,000 years ago that God, through Moses, allows us to listen in.
Genesis 1-3: Creation → (Internal) conflict/compromise → (External) conflict/consequence → Covenant
Genesis 3 details this first conflict: three-fold temptation (God is restrictive, deceptive and self-serving) →
three-fold fall (doubt, denial/rebellion and self-serving/self-exaltation) → three-fold consequence (guilt/self-
consciousness, ashamed and afraid) → investigative judgement → self-justification → proclamation of curses
and consequences
The height of this is in Genesis 3:15-16, particularly v. 15, where a series of conflicts culminating with a wounded
redeemer are prophesied, yet in seminal form. This verse has rightly been called the protoevangelium (proto-
means first, evangelium meaning the gospel). The first prophecy was also the first proclamation of the gospel.
What are its components?
Genesis 3:15
A. Seed of the serpent [“seed”, Heb. Zerah, can be both collective or individual]:
• Matt. 3:7; 12:34; 23:33: Pharisees and Sadducees termed brood of vipers
• Matt. 13:38: wheat – good seed, i.e., the people of the kingdom; tares – bad seed planted by the enemy
• John 8:44: Satan’s seed do as he does – paternity defines conduct
• Acts 13:10: a child of the devil is an enemy of righteousness
• 1 John 3:8-10: sinners belong to the devil and the righteous to God because His seed remains in them
B. Seed of the woman
1. Referral to the woman independent of the man hints at a unique birth.
2. That the seed will bruise the serpent – who is a supernatural being, even the prince of the power of the
air (Eph. 2:2) – hints at the seed being a supernatural being.
3. That it is the seed of the human hints at a human deliverer.
4. Combining (2) and (3) above, we see hints of a human-divine deliverer
This lays ground for a series of prophecies pointing forward to a deliverer for God’s people; but after a series of
promising potentials and disappointing failures.
Cain’s heart is not for Yahweh
Abel will not be the head crusher, for his own head is crushed by his brother.
Seth, Eve’s third son, also dies.
Enoch is a bright spot, for he “walked faithfully with God” (Gen 5:22 NIV), but again disappointment mounts
when readers learn that “God took him away” (Gen 5:24 NIV).
Noah exits the boat, plants a vineyard, and gets blackout drunk.
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Though Abraham demonstrates great faith in the near-sacrifice of Isaac (see Gen 22), he also commits his own
share of missteps, such as attempting to hurry along God’s plan of redemption (see the account of his
relationship with Hager in Gen 16; 21:8–21) and lying (twice!) about his relationship with Sarah to protect
his own life (see Gen 12:10–17; 20:1–18).
Isaac holds promising potential, particularly given that the biblical text makes no indication that he protested
his father’s plan to sacrifice him to Yahweh and Yahweh later appears to Isaac twice (Gen 26:1–6, 23–25). Yet
readers are again disappointed as Isaac follows in Abraham’s deception.
Jacob’s story seems doomed from the start, as his name indicates something about his character that is borne
out in the following narrative of his life. This man clearly does not possess the qualities of one who would
conquer sin and death. Rather, his story highlights the wonders of God’s grace in choosing sinners to live
in relationship with him. Jacob first convinces his brother Esau to sell his birthright for a bowl of stew.
Jacob himself is partly to blame, for he knowingly took advantage of Esau’s weakness in an effort to elevate
his own position in the family’s power structure. Not only that, but Jacob later followed Rebekah’s lead in
intentionally deceiving his father Isaac into bestowing Esau’s blessing onto him. As Jacob grows older he
continues to demonstrate lack of character: he favors Rachel over Leah (Gen 29–30), and favors Joseph and
then Benjamin over his other sons with disastrous results. In the midst of all this, Yahweh appears to Jacob
not once but three times—twice at Bethel and once at Peniel, where Jacob wrestled God into the early hours
of the morning. Jacob certainly seems to be the least likely candidate to restore right relationship with God,
and yet God repeatedly seeks him out for a covenant relationship. What is therefore most clear from our
journey with Jacob is that God “will have mercy on whomever [he] will have mercy, and [he] will have
compassion on whomever [he] will have compassion” (Rom 9:15).
Joseph rescues Abraham’s seed from certain starvation, but even he dies, though not before affirming his
trust in God’s promise to his fathers (Gen 50:24–25). And so the patriarchal narratives conclude. God’s people
are far from the land he promised to Abraham, and each person in the narrative has proven not to be the head
crusher that Genesis 3:15 promised. Nevertheless, readers have learned a valuable lesson about God’s grace
and humanity’s utter dependence on it. If Genesis 3:15 is to be fulfilled, it will only be by his great grace and
mercy.
The book of Exodus opens with God’s people in slavery in Egypt. Moses murders an Egyptian and flees the
country then strikes a rock when Yahweh commanded him to speak to it (Num 20).
Joshua is the first significant figure in the Old Testament not to have committed sins such lying, murder, theft,
and idolatry. Yet his story likewise ends on a somber note. Great leader that he was, Joshua was yet unable
to sever the people’s bondage to sin, and he himself remained subject to death.
Upon Joshua’s death the national leadership transitions to a model of successive judges whom God raises up
to deliver his people after a period of rebellion and then divine punishment. God’s people devolve to the
point that by the end of the book of Judges, Israelites are raping and murdering one another—the natural
outworking of everyone doing “as they saw fit” (Judg 21:25 NIV).
Yahweh’s last appointed judge transitions the nation from a strict theocracy into a monarchy. It doesn’t take
long to realize that Saul will not crush the serpent’s head, and Yahweh ultimately deposes Saul after a series
of sins that demonstrated Saul’s unfaithfulness to Yahweh (see 1 Sam 13–15).
David murders Uriah, uses his power to bed Bathsheba, and refuses to execute justice when his son rapes
his daughter, but he is a key figure in the unfolding of God’s plan to save humanity. While God promises to
judge those Davidic rulers who sin against him, he also promises that “My mercy shall not depart from him.”
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LESSON #2 - THE PROTO-EVANGELIUM
The term that NKJV translates as “mercy” is hesed, the Hebrew term for covenant loyalty. Thus, Yahweh is
promising to remain in covenant relationship with the Davidic line for all time.
Solomon comes to power upon David’s death, is granted supreme wisdom, builds the temple, and promptly
violates the Deuteronomic ideals of kingship (compare Deut 17:14–20 with 2 Chr 1:14–17). He is not the
head crusher. With the death of Solomon and fragmentation of his kingdom upon his son’s ill-advised
decision to reject the people’s request that he treat them better than his father Solomon had, the reader is
thrust again into the Old Testament’s messianic tension. Who will crush the serpent’s head? It wasn’t David,
and it wasn’t Solomon, and certainly it won’t be Rehoboam or any of the kings of the renegade northern
kingdom of Israel. And while we catch glimpses of hope in a few of the kings of Judah—Josiah, Hezekiah,
Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jotham—none of these conquer sin and restore humanity’s right relationship with God.
As in the book of Judges, the narratives of God’s people during the divided monarchy (the period during
which Israel and Judah were separate) record a downward spiral into sin, with a few moments of obedience
here and there. This spiral culminates first in Israel’s exile and then in Judah’s exile.
Before, during, and after the divided monarchies of Israel and Judah, prophetic voices continually called
God’s people to covenant faithfulness to him. They spoke boldly about the importance of keeping Torah and
walking in right relationship with Yahweh, along with the covenant curses that Yahweh would bring for
the people’s failure to heed their voices. They also spoke of a time when a Davidic ruler would come and
reign in justice and righteousness. These prophecies described and pointed forward to the head crusher, the
one in David’s line who would finally fulfil the promise of Gen 3:15.
Prophetic witness
After Adam Bible narrows down to Noah (5:26), Shem (9:26, 27), Abraham (12:3), Isaac (17:19; 26:3), Jacob (28:14;
35:11-12), Judah (49:10), David (2 Sam. 7:12-16) and Zerubbalel (Hag. 2:23) as the bearers of the Redeemer’s seed.
Then prophetic witness begins to populate the identifying marks.
He’ll be born in Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2) of a virgin (Is. 7:14), run to Egypt (Hos. 11:1), teaches in parables (Psa. 78:1-
2) but which shall fall on hard ears (Is. 6:9-10). He begins His ministry in Galilee (Is. 9:1-2) where He shall not
bruise a broken reed (Is. 42:3) rather shall set the captives free (Is. 60:1-3). He will have a miraculous ministry
(Is. 35:5-6) of bearing men’s oft infirmities (53:4). He will draw Gentiles to Himself (Is. 11:10; 42:1-4: Psa. 2:9-10).
He’ll enter Jerusalem on a colt (Zech. 9:9), be betrayed with 30 pieces of silver (11:12-13) by a friend (Psa. 41:9).
He will be smitten and friends will scatter (Zech. 13:7). He will be spat upon (Is. 50:6), elders and priests will
take counsel against him (Psa. 2:2) and He will cry on the cross (Psa. 31:5). In fact, Psa. 22-24 is all about the
experience of Gethsemane, Calvary, the tomb and resurrection. And the clearest Messianic prophecy of all,
Isaiah 53. All these are fulfilled in Christ.
• Matt. 1:23, 25: A virgin conceives.
• Luk. 1:31-35: the “holy thing” is of the Holy Spirit (that’s 1 John 3:9 quite literally experienced)
• Gal. 4:4: the Messiah born of a woman in the fulness of time
• Rev. 12:4-5: a prophetic build up on Gen. 3:15
C. Bruising of Satan
• Rev. 12: The bruising began in heaven, and shall continue to the end
• Col. 2:15: Christ has spoiled principalities and powers
• Heb. 2:14: He became man that He may destroy the devil – literally, in His weakness was His strength
revealed, the strength not of might but of love (1 John 3:8)
• Rem. 8:37-39: The greatest victory occurs when we shall be so tightly bound to the love of God that we
shall not be separated from Him
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• Rom. 16:20: The devil will ultimately be bruised under our feet (Matt. 28:18-20; 16:18; Rev. 20:4; 3:21: 19)
• 1 John 5:5: we overcome by believing that Jesus is the Son of God (it’s all about Him, not us)
• Rev. 20:1-3, 10: The ultimate bruising will begin in the millennium and end in hellfire
• Ez. 28:18: Christ does not bruise in hateful vengeance, but by leaving beings to the consequences of their
choices
D. Bruising of the Seed (the wounded Redeemer)
• Isaiah 53:3, 4, 5, 10, 12
• Matt. 4:1-10: the temptations of Christ
• Luk. 22:39-44: the final temptation of Christ (at Gethsemane)
• Luk. 22:53: Christ is submitted to the power of darkness
Yet,
• Jn. 14:30, 31: the prince of this world has nothing on Christ because Christ kept His Father’s
commandments (Heb. 4:14-16)
• Heb. 5:7: His prayers were heard in that He feared
• Heb. 2:18: Being tempted, He can strengthen us
• Jn. 12:31-33: Christ triumphs over death, through death
• Rev. 12:9-13: Jesus triumphs, the devil comes after the church but they overcome by the blood of the
Lamb and the power of their testimony of Him
• Rev. 13:7: the beast makes war with the saints
• Rev. 15:1-4: the victory of the saints (i.e., the 144,000)
Gen. 3:21: Eve called “the mother of all living”. God predestined all men to be on His team.
Summary: the progression from conflict to conquest
1. The cause of the fall is a friendship/union between God’s team and the devil’s team
2. Deliverance must commence with the engendering of enmity
3. Man cannot break off the enmity by any effort of wish of their own
4. God is the Source of that enmity. Christ is two-fold a Mediator: bringing friendship where there was
enmity, and enmity where there was friendship
5. The real business at hand for the Christian is not heaven, but holiness. Wherever we see the serpent, we
must strike. The Hebrew tense does not simply imply, “I will put enmity,” rather, “I am putting and will
put enmity”.
While there are three levels of conflict: (1) woman and Satan, (2) woman’s seed and Satan’s seed, and (3) woman’s
seed and Satan, we do not see victory in the first two, but in the third.
The first two conflicts are experienced “from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between
the altar and the house of God” (Luk. 11:51), and from the days of the first martyr, Stephen, down to the present
time, when in heathen lands converts still must seal, at times, their testimony with their blood, and when in
Christian lands, “those that live godly lives in Christ Jesus must suffer” certain kinds of persecution (2 Tim. 3:12)
and keep up a constant conflict with the powers of evil. The conflict will go on and will not cease until the last
of Satan’s captives who wills to be saved has been saved.
Conflict 3: Christ as the Captain of our Salvation stood in the front and thickest of the battle, and by His strong
agony gained the victory for them of His time, and for us. But while victory is secured for us, it must be
accomplished in us.
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LESSON #2 - THE PROTO-EVANGELIUM
Key concepts
1. Existence of an unholy union necessitating an enmity.
2. God’s interposition by the introduction of an enmity.
3. Enmity is equal to conflict
4. Existence of two warring parties in humanity
5. The redeemer coming into the conflict and gaining victory for the woman’s seed.
Amplification of the bi-partite conflict
1. Cain and Abel, and Lamech (Gen. 4:10; Rev. 6:10)
2. Cainites and Sethites, and global apostasy due to compromise and ecumenism
3. Noah and his generation, and the ark through the waters of destruction
4. Nimrod’s tower vs Abram’s tent, and the institutionalization of the warring elements into Babylon (a
principle of self-serving, self-dependent and self-elevating existence) and the church (a principle of total
surrender to, and dependence on, God’s chesed)
5. Isaac and Ishmael, and the child of promise (Gal. 4)
6. Jacob and Esau, and the ladder and the night of wrestling
7. Joseph and his brothers, and total trust in God who works all things for the good
Prophecies of Daniel
Element 2 7 8 11
Two warring parties1 statue vs beasts and horns vs beasts and horns vs Nations/kings vs
stone judge, advocate and High Priest and Michael, the prince of the
saints saints covenant and the saints
An unholy iron and Horn with eyes and Horn’s vertical Intelligence with them
alliance/compromise clay beast conquest (intimated) that forsake the covenant
leading to apostasy
Conflict between The The ferocity of beasts, The waxing great of Some of them of
seeds strength the persecution by the the powers, the understanding shall fall
of iron horn conquest of the horn
Attack on Jesus The iron The fourth beast is Horn magnified The prince of the
bruises exceedingly dreadful, himself even to the covenant shall be broken,
(Is. 53) little horn blasphemes prince of the host, they shall pollute the
the place of the sanctuary of strength
sanctuary cast down
Victory through an A stone A heavenly judgment Cleansing of the Michael stands up
external cut from a heavenly sanctuary4
intervention2 mountain3

Conclusion: The Purpose of the Prophecies

Revealing God ever keeping before His children’s eyes His relational faithfulness to His covenants of love
despite humanity’s perpetual unfaithfulness

1 Jesus is always a party to the controversy

2 This is the keynote of all of the prophecies, and of all the gospel
3 The serpent eats dust, by becoming dust (Mic. 7:16-17)
4 The cleansing of the sanctuary is a legal, theological and experiential act