I AM Bible Studies and Resources

The Good News in the Old Testament

I am sure that we all know the story of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden, how they disobeyed God by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the resulting curse.
What I want to show is that God, right from the beginning had already made known the good news of salvation. That this salvation never was and never will be based upon works--that God never gave salvation as a reward for doing good deeds or trying to earn it: That salvation always was and always will be a gift of God to those that will humble themselves before Him.

6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit of it, and ate; and she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate.
7 Both of their eyes were opened, and they knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
8 They heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
9 the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?"
10 The man said, "I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself."
11 God said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?"
12 The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate."
13 the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?"
The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."
14 the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all cattle, and above every animal of the field. On your belly shall you go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel."
16 To the woman he said, "I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. In pain you will bring forth children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you."
17 To Adam he said, "Because you have listened to your wife's voice, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
18 Thorns also and thistles will it bring forth to you; and you will eat the herb of the field.
19 By the sweat of your face will you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return."
20 The man called his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
21 the LORD God made coats of skins for Adam and for his wife, and clothed them.
Beresheet / Genesis 3:6-21

God had created Adam and Eve perfect, perfect but not robots! They had within them the ability to choose. They chose to listen to the lies of the serpent and to disobey God. As a result they could no longer dwell in the presence of God and were banished from the garden. However God did not leave them forsaken. He provided salvation for them and they humbled themselves before Him, accepting God's forgiveness and salvation.
We can see all of this by looking in detail at some of the verses in the above passage:
Verses 6 and 7 show that as soon as Adam and Eve ate the fruit they were ashamed of their nakedness and that they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.
Verses 8 through 11 tell of God's patience with Adam as He attempts to get Adam to tell Him what happened--don't for one moment think that God did not know all that took place, there is nothing hidden from God. God was being like a father to a naughty boy that has been caught with chocolate all over his face and the question is asked: 'Have you been eating the chocolate cake that I told you not to eat?' And we've all heard (or given) the excuse: 'It was my brother, he gave it to me.'
This was Adam's response also: 'It was the woman that you gave me...' v.12; and what was Eve's response? The same as Adam's: 'The serpent deceived me...' v.13. Why is it so difficult to admit to our sin; why do we always try to make excuses for our wrong doing?
In the midst of the pronouncement of the curse on creation, God in His foreknowledge and mercy gave the first prophecy concerning the coming Messiah:

"...I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel."
Beresheet / Genesis 3:15

We have to understand that there are two levels to this prophecy: The first is that there would always be a continued struggle between those born of the woman, more correctly those of the woman that would follow after God, and those that are after the devil; the second is the struggle between the Messiah and Satan where the devil thinks that he has won when Yeshua dies on the cross, only to discover that in actual fact Yeshua has the ultimate victory through His death and resurrection.
We can see the effect of the first in the account of Cain and Abel:

1 The man knew Eve his wife. She conceived, and gave birth to Cain, and said, "I have gotten a man with the LORD's help."
2 Again she gave birth, to Cain's brother Abel. Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
3 As time passed, it happened that Cain brought an offering to the LORD from the fruit of the ground.
4 Abel also brought some of the firstborn of his flock and of the fat of it. the LORD respected Abel and his offering,
5 but he didn't respect Cain and his offering. Cain was very angry, and the expression on his face fell.
6 the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why has the expression of your face fallen?
7 If you do well, will it not be lifted up? If you don't do well, sin crouches at the door. Its desire is for you, but you are to rule over it."
8 Cain said to Abel, his brother, "Let's go into the field." It happened, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him.
Beresheet / Genesis 4:1-8

Abel, we are told, brought a lamb which God accepted; Cain however brought some of the fruit of the land which God did not accept. Cain gets angry and God gently warns him that sin is waiting to gain control over him. This simple short story tells us much about the struggle between the children of God (those that live by faith) and the children of the devil (those that reject God and His ways).
Able brought his offering in faith,

By faith, Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had testimony given to him that he was righteous, God bearing witness with respect to his gifts; and through it he, being dead, still speaks.
Heb. 11:4

whereas Cain brought his in pride; his offering was the work of his own hands.
Able brought blood as a recognition of the need of atonement, however Cain came as if God would accept him as he was--that he was good enough to be able to enter His presence.
God had said to Cain "...If you do well, will it not be lifted up? If you don't do well, sin crouches at the door. Its desire is for you, but you are to rule over it." (v.7). God had given Cain the opportunity to humble himself but he was not willing to do so and as a result sin ruled over him instead of him ruling over sin. We are then told that Cain murdered his brother Abel and that when God confronted him he was not repentant in the least, even implying that his punishment was too severe.
Although everyone born is tainted by sin, those that choose to humble themselves before God can, by the grace of God, overcome the sinful nature; those that choose not to are in effect in the control of sin and opposed to God and all that are His.
The death and resurrection of Yeshua the Messiah provided salvation for all of mankind; but only those who humbly confess their need of forgiveness and receive Yeshua as their Lord and Savior can enter into eternal life and the presence of God.
Adam and Eve were saved by grace because they believed God and His promise of the coming Savior. The evidence for this is found in verse 21:

the LORD God made coats of skins for Adam and for his wife, and clothed them.
Beresheet / Genesis 3:21

This verse contains the essence of the Good News. It says clearly that God made the tunics of skin -- an animal had to die, it's blood shed: God made the tunics and God clothed Adam and Eve, much in the same way that a parent would dress a toddler that is not able to do it for himself, and by doing so God symbolically covers them with His salvation. There is a similar verse in Yesha`yahu / Isaiah:

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
Yesha`yahu / Isaiah 61:10(a)

Adam and Eve did nothing except to receive from God His provision for them. This is important: God did not tell them to kill an animal and to make the tunics themselves--not even to dress themselves; God did everything! This is the Good News. We are not capable of saving ourselves; there is nothing that we can do to earn our salvation, our own efforts are not good enough.
Adam and Eve tried by themselves, by sewing together fig leaves; God's response was that it was not good enough and so God provided everything that they needed to be able to come back into fellowship with Him.
Sin is a barrier between man and God and has to be removed before there can be any fellowship. God removed the barrier by first giving them hope in a Savior to come, then after they believed God He was able to cover their sin with the shed blood of an animal (Heb. 9:22) and to provide for their shame of being naked which was a constant reminder of their disobedience.
The simple faith and trust that Adam and Eve had was passed on to their children, they had to receive it for themselves though; Abel did and Cain did not. Abel brought his offering in faith, a gift that recognized that it is by the grace and providence of God that we are able to do anything, or give anything back to God. Cain came in self proficiency and pride, claiming that he did not need God's provision, that he could do things by himself without God's help and worse, that he wanted God's approval.
The Bible tells us that there are none righteous:

Don't enter into judgment with your servant,
For in your sight no man living is righteous.
Tehillim / Psalm 143:2

Surely there is not a righteous man on earth, who does good, and doesn't sin.
Kohelet / Ecclesiastes 7:20

Only those that have trusted in Yeshua are justified in the sight of God:

20 Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. For through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
21 But now apart from the law, a righteousness of God has been revealed, being testified by the law and the prophets;
22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Yeshua the Messiah to all and on all those who believe. For there is no distinction,
Rom. 3:20-23

You might be asking yourself: 'If there is justification only in Yeshua, then how could Adam and Eve (and everyone else before the time of Yeshua) be saved?'
As we have already seen, God had promised a coming Savior (Yeshua the Messiah), although they did not know much about Him they didn't need to; for God it was enough that they believed what He had told them and it was this trust that produced faith which in turn produced salvation. The same was true for all the Old Testament saints -- they put their trust, by faith, in what God had told them. Concerning Abraham:

He believed in the LORD; and he reckoned it to him for righteousness.
Beresheet / Genesis 15:6

As time progressed, God revealed more about Himself, the coming Savior and the plan of salvation. Although not much was revealed to Adam and Eve, it was enough.
God had revealed the coming of the Savior right from the beginning, and the way of salvation was also made clear such that Adam, Eve and also Abel were able to walk in faith. Since that time many others have also followed in their footsteps in accepting the Good News of salvation long before Yeshua had shed His blood for us: They were looking forward in anticipation, not fully understanding everything, but understanding that God had promised a Savior and that through this Savior all who put their trust in God and His promise would receive forgiveness and eternal life.

25 But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives.
In the end, he will stand upon the earth.
26 After my skin is destroyed,
Then in my flesh shall I see God,
27 Whom I, even I, shall see on my side.
My eyes shall see, and not as a stranger.
My heart is consumed within me.
Iyov / Job 19:25-27

We have seen that the Old Testament reveals the same Gospel (Good News) as the New Testament:

8 for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, that no one would boast.
Eph. 2:8-9

The only difference is that we have the complete revelation of Yeshua the Messiah as revealed to us in the New Testament; the Old Testament saints could only see a part, but they also had the grace of God which enabled them to believe by faith in the then yet unseen Savior of the world as first promised to Adam and Eve, right at the very begining of human history.

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