Lesson 2.4
The Creator made man upright (Ecclesiastes 7:29). However Satan, when cast to this earth, was successful in his deception. Through the mediumship of the beautiful serpent in Eden the devil led Adam and Eve to disbelieve God’s Word and then into disobedience of God’s commandments. Man was thus brought into bondage to the devil. (2 Peter 2:19) “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Romans 5:12.
In Adams’s darkest hour, when he realized what he had lost, what statement did God make to the serpent that would encourage Adam?
“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
Read 1 Peter 1:18-20
Of whose seed was man’s deliverer to come?
The seed of woman was to bruise the serpents head (Genesis 3:15). Christ had to be of the seed of the woman in order to meet the serpent on his own ground at the point where sin entered the human race.
Was Christ made of a woman?
“But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”
“Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.”
When Christ was born of Mary did He partake of Mary’s nature?
“Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.”
What is Christ’s relationship to both God and man?
“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
What was Christ made?
He was made flesh (John 1:14). He was “made under the law” (Galatians 3:13). Christ “was made a curse” (Galatians 3:13). The iniquity of all was laid on Him (Isaiah 53:6). He was made to be sin (2 Corinthians 5:21).
What prompted Christ’s entrance into the human family?
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16.
What assurance is there that Christ can help me to meet temptations successfully?
“Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.”
Christ came to seek after and then to save lost men and woman (Luke 19:10). He is represented as the shepherd seeking the one lost sheep. He came to restore in man the image of God. He put Himself among the lost. He was made to be sin. Read Isaiah 1:18. God’s plan is to make man perfect. Read Mathew 5:48 and 2 Peter 1:2-8
Next Lesson [[3. Salvation]]