In His eternal plan, God planned to create all things and to have man to fulfill His eternal purpose. Furthermore, according to His foreknowledge and foresight, that is, according to His foreknowledge of man’s fall, He planned to redeem man after the fall. God’s redemption was neither an addition to His original plan, nor an afterthought to remedy the problem, but was planned and prepared from the beginning. In God’s eternal plan, He foreordained that after man’s fall, Christ would accomplish redemption. Therefore in God’s view, Christ was slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8).
Redemption was planned beforehand and foreordained by God. Hence, before redemption came, in the Old Testament God promised it many times, clearly foretelling the different aspects of His redemption.
After man sinned and fell, God came in immediately to promise man that the seed of the woman would come. When He would come, He would bruise Satan’s head (Gen. 3:15). To bruise his head is to cause his death.
The seed of the woman is the Lord Jesus. Among the entire human race, only He was come of a woman (Gal. 4:4). He came to earth to undo the works of the Devil (1 John 3:8), that through death He might destroy the Devil (Heb. 2:14).
Therefore, at the time of man’s fall, God promised that Christ would come of a woman to destroy Satan, the one who deceived and damaged man.
Christ is not only the seed of the woman, but also the seed of Abraham (Gen. 13:15; 17:8; Gal. 3:16), as typified by Isaac. First, He brings blessings to the nations. Whether Jews or Gentiles, all will be blessed in Him (Gen. 22:18a). The blessing is the Spirit. Through faith in Christ, we have received the Spirit (Gal. 3:14). Second, He was offered to God, put to death, and resurrected (cf. Gen. 22:1-12; Heb. 11:17, 19). Third, He will gain the bride (cf. Gen. 24:67). This portrays Christ, as the One promised by God, bringing blessings to the nations, being offered even unto death, and being resurrected. After resurrection, He gains those whom He redeemed to be His bride (John 3:29; Rev. 19:7).
In Genesis 49:8 and 9, God promised that the coming Christ would be the victorious lion. “Judah is a young lion: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up” (Heb.). This is a picture portraying Christ (Rev. 5:5). When Christ was crucified on the cross, He was a young lion seizing the prey. The prey He seized on the cross includes the entire world, all the sinners, and even Satan. After taking His prey, He went up to the mountain, that is, He ascended to the third heaven. Ephesians 4:8 says, “Having ascended to the height, He led captive those taken captive.”
“He couches, He lies down as a lion” (Gen. 49:9b, Heb.). This indicates that Christ is also a couching lion who, after enjoying his prey, is satisfied and lies down. This portrays Christ in the heavens, enjoying what He has accomplished. The same verse also likens Christ to a lioness. He has brought us forth as His many cubs.
Second Samuel 7:12 and 13 say, “I will set up thy [David’s] seed after thee....He shall build a house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.” The promise includes three points. First, Christ as the seed of David (Rom. 1:3) will inherit the kingdom, and reign forever and ever (Rev. 11:15). Second, Christ is the greater Solomon who speaks the word of wisdom (Matt. 12:42); no one else can speak as wisely as Christ. Third, Solomon, the son of David, built the temple of God; Christ, as the seed of David, builds the temple of God—the church.