The Bible Notebook

In the books of Genesis and Exodus there are, no doubt, more prophecies than the four that I mention here. These four are highlighted because I wrote on them as part of an assignment for an Old Testament course I am currently taking. So, I’m not trying to suggest these are the only four prophecies in these books, or even that they are necessarily the most important, but rather I am merely writing on the context and significance of them because I was asked to do so.

Genesis 3:15 – The Curse on the Serpent
After Adam and Eve had rebelled against God’s command and ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God eventually met them and imposed His just punishments on them and also on the tempter (the serpent). The prophecy God makes here describes a continual battle between God’s people and Satan’s agents. Throughout the generations, God’s holy people have struggled against the temptations thrown against them by Satan. When Jesus came in the flesh to earth He also experienced temptation by Satan (Matthew 4:1-11), but unlike anyone before Him, Jesus was able to resist and even defeat Satan and “render him powerless” to those of His own (Hebrews 2:14-15). Indeed it was part of Jesus’ mission to come and destroy the works of Satan who was evil from the very beginning (1 John 3:8). When Jesus returns in power and glory, He will finally destroy Satan and his influence once-and-for-all by throwing him in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:1-3,10).

Genesis 14:17-20 – Melchizedek
After Abram defeated a king, he returned and met Melchizedek who blessed him. Following this blessing Abram gave him a tenth of everything he had (presumably what he gained from battle). Not too much is said in the Bible regarding Melchizedek other than the fact that Jesus is the great High Priest in the “order” of Melchizedek (Psalm 110:4). His name means “king of righteousness” and his title means “king of peace” (Hebrews 7:2). Those two attributes are certainly shared in a greater extent by Jesus. By being in the order of Melchizedek, Jesus brought in the new covenant, which is described as being “a better hope…by which we draw near to God” (Hebrews 7:18-19). Just as no “beginning of days or end of life” is given for Melchizedek (Hebrews 7:3), Jesus, being the eternal God, has no beginning or end; therefore, He “has a permanent priesthood” and “is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because he always lives to intercede for them” (Hebrews 7:24-25).

Exodus 3:14-15 – “I AM”
After tending sheep in the desert for around 40 years, Moses encounters God in the form of a burning bush that does not burn up. As he draws nearer God instructs him to take off his sandals for the area he is walking on is holy ground. God proceeds to give Moses his assignment – to go back to Egypt so his people, the Israelites, would be freed from their bondage of slavery by the mighty hand of God. Moses wonders how the people will believe that God is sending him, and God instructs him to tell the Israelites that “I AM,” the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, is the one sending Moses to the Israelites (Exodus 3:1-15). God’s reference to His own covenant to these three patriarchs is significant. It will cause the Israelites to remember God’s sacred covenant to them, for they are a people of history, and they believe Moses (Exodus 4:29-31).

At one point in His earthly ministry, Jesus directly affirms Himself as being the I AM of the Old Testament when He declared to some Jews, “before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:58) He also uses numerous other “I am” phrases throughout His ministry (i.e. “I am the light of the world,” “I am the door,”). During the end times, four living creatures will not cease from declaring the eternality of God (Revelation 4:8).

Exodus 12:1-13 – The Passover Lamb
The final plague against Egypt was the death of the first born. In order for the Israelites to avoid being a part of this punishment, they were to take blood from a lamb without defect and place it upon their door posts. Then when the Lord came through, He would pass over their houses because the blood of the lamb was present. The Israelites were also instructed to be ready for moving and to have bitter herbs and bread made without yeast. This whole circumstance was instituted not only as a plague against Egypt, but also as a monumental event for the Israelites to remember the deliverance of the Lord.

There are many connections between Jesus and the Passover. Jesus is the perfect lamb or the only suitable sacrifice that God justly accepted, and in so doing He has “passed over” the sins of those who believe in Jesus (Hebrews 9:11-12). During the Last Supper, Jesus also identified Himself with the Passover by declaring the bread to be symbolic of His body and the drink to be symbolic of His blood (Matthew 26:26-28). One key distinction between the Passover and Jesus is the bitter herbs. With the original Passover they were required by God, but in relation to Jesus they are never mentioned. Jesus seems to have taken away the necessity of the bitter herbs because He has fully set His people free from the bondage of sin (Hebrews 9:28).