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God has given wondrous promises- they include life, land, & kingdom Jesus Christ stated in Matthew 5v5- "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth"...this is the only hope of the believer We look in vain in the Scriptures for any other future inheritance. The pagan ideas of heaven-going must be totally rejected, for there is not one iota of evidence for them. Link to 'mortal' or go via 'Index'. The promises are "great and precious promises", & only "BY THESE (can we) be partakers of the divine nature", 2nd Peter 1v4. These pro- mises will not be fulfilled UNTIL the time when all faithful believers will receive them together- Hebrews 11v39,40. That time is very near. The Promise of Life– Genesis 3v15 We shall firstly give a summary of the four components of this verse, which may then be used as reference points for further discussions: "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman" - there would henceforth be antagonism between the serpent (representative of sin, for it was the cause of sin) and the woman (representative of truth, because she originally proclaimed it) -cp v1-5. THESE TWO PRINCIPLES ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE. By definition, there can be no compatibility between them..link to 'devil'. "and between thy seed and her seed" - it is obvious that here we have the antagonism & separation to be revealed between those who would follow sin, and those who would follow truth. There is no unity between "darkness"& "light"-1st John 1;Eph. 5v6-14;2nd Corinthians 6:14-18. "it shall bruise thy head"-when the head is "bruise(d)" or crushed,it is a fatal blow.Sin would thus be destroyed by a singular"seed"of the wo- man. This has been accomplished by the Sacrifice of Christ- see below, also Romans 8v3, Hebrews 2v14; 9v24-28. "and thou shalt bruise his heel" - here we have a wonderful contrast to the above,in that the serpent (i.e. sin) would only be able to inflict what would prove to be a comparatively temporary wound to the Christ. Whereas He was laid in the grave, it could not hold Him, because He did no sin- Acts 2v22-24; Hebrews 4v14,15 etc. The promise of life was given when sin and then death entered into the world. It involves the taking away of the fallen state which we all now experience. This would be accomplished by the sacrifice of a represent- ative of the woman's "seed", who would destroy sin at its source, i.e. the serpent-mind, which was now resident in fallen human nature. He would "bruise" the serpent's "head", i.e. destroy sin, though in the pro- cess receiving a temporary set-back to His walk– Luke 13v31-33. This was later fulfilled in the Sacrifice & Resurrection of Jesus Christ. We see also that Adam recognized the meaning outlined above, when he named his wife "Eve" (i.e. 'living')- "because she was the mother of all living"- Genesis 3v20. The two "seeds" of v15 are those of the serpent, who have since followed its evil example of opposing the Truth and the way of God; and those of the woman, who originally proclaimed the words of God to the serpent,v2,3. However, she was deceived, and thus in Scripture we see many false "women", i.e. religions. These may well have an outward show of goodness, but will only cause our destruction- cp Proverbs 7, Revelation 14v4;17v5. The ecclesia must be "sanctif(ied) and cleanse(d)..by the word" in order to be accepted as the Bride of Christ-Ephesians 5v26-32. We note that the true "woman" is related to wisdom, cp Proverbs 8, and this we must follow. If we become her seed, we can rejoice in the hope of life eternal when Jesus Christ returns. The aspect of sacrifice was shown also in Eden, when "Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them", Genesis 3v21. This was in contrast to the "fig leaves" with which they had covered themselves after disobeying God. Any similar attempt to provide a humanly-derived solution to sin and death will also fail. The mental, moral, & physical corruption can be reversed only in Christ. There is "enmity" between the two seeds, and this is illustrated in many scriptural references- e.g. Matthew 23v29-36, John 8v33-47, Revelation 12. The first two sons of Adam and Eve illustrate the principle. Cain murdered Abel, who was "righteous", Hebrews 11v4, 1st John 3v12. This same hatred has always been shown by the seed of the serpent to- wards the seed of the woman, cp John 15v17-21, Galatians 4v21-31. Follow these links to 'devil', 'sacrifice', & 'fellowship', or go via 'Index'. The two seeds continued through Cain and Seth, Genesis 4 and 5, but the divinely-ordained separation came mostly to an end in the days of Noah, when only a very few remained as the true faithful seed- Genesis 6. That ungodly generation perished through a universal flood, abundant evidence of which has since been found. Only Noah and his family were saved, who took land and winged creatures into an ark, built to Divine instructions. The dimensions of the ark have been shown by engineers to be optimal for survival during a world-wide flood- Genesis 6 to 8 incl. On the same date as the ark's "rest" on "the mountains of Ararat" two other significant events occurred later. The second was when Israel left Egypt and "walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea", Exodus 14v 19-31.The third was when Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, Matt- hew 28v1. (We are happy to provide proofs if the reader desires). Suffice it to say for now that these three events all involved the salvation of God, designed to give "rest" to His people. Cp Hebrews 4v9. THIS FOUNDATION PROMISE OF ETERNAL LIFE IS INVOLVED IN THE NEXT TWO PROMISES, THOSE OF LAND & KINGDOM. HOW OTHERWISE CAN WE GAIN AN ETERNAL INHERITANCE? |