The Golden Thread - The Story of the Dragon's Attacks from Genesis to Revelation

Luke 24

27. Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things written about himself in all the scriptures.
    …
32. They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us while he was speaking with us on the road, while he opened the scriptures to us?”

Goal

To see how the Golden Thread runs through the whole story of the Bible,
and what it means for our lives now.

Revelation 12:4–5

4. …And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it.
5. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations…

The Golden Thread
from Genesis to Revelation

1. Creation to Exodus from Egypt
2. Attacks on the Line of David
3. Climax of the Dragon’s Attacks

Genesis 3: Promise to Eve re. Satan

15. “And I will put hostility between you and the woman
    and between your offspring and her offspring;
    her offspring will attack your head,
    and you will attack her offspring’s heel.”

Genesis 6

5. But the LORD saw that the wickedness of humankind had become great on the earth.
   Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil all the time.

Genesis 9: Renewal of Covenant Promise

12. And God said, “This is the guarantee of the covenant I am making with you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all subsequent generations:
13. I will place my rainbow in the clouds, and it will become a guarantee of the covenant between me and the earth.

Genesis 22:15–18 Covenant with Abraham

“I solemnly swear by my own name,’ decrees the LORD…

I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be as countless as the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the seashore.…

and through your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed”

Now Satan has a more precise target

• Noah
• Abraham’s descendents
  • Isaac
  • Jacob
• The nation in Egypt
• In the wilderness

John 3

14. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
15. that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

Psalm 41

5. My enemies say of me in malice, “When will he die, and his name perish?”
7. All who hate me whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me.
8. They say, “A deadly thing is poured out on him; he will not rise again from where he lies.”
9. Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.
10. But you, O LORD, be gracious to me, and raise me up…
11. …my enemy will not shout in triumph over me.
12. But you have… set me in your presence forever.

Athaliah: 2 Kings 11

1. When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family.
2. But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram and sister of Ahaziah, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the royal princes, who were about to be murdered. She put him and his nurse in a bedroom to hide him from Athaliah; so he was not killed.
3. He remained hidden with his nurse at the temple of the LORD for six years while Athaliah ruled the land.

Isaiah 53 —Amazing prophecies

5. He was wounded because of our rebellious deeds,
   crushed because of our sins;
   he endured punishment that made us well;
   because of his wounds we have been healed.
6. All of us had wandered off like sheep;
   each of us had strayed off on his own path,
   but the LORD caused the sin of all of us to attack him.
7. He was treated harshly and afflicted,
   but he did not even open his mouth.
   Like a lamb led to the slaughtering block,
   like a sheep silent before her shearers,
   he did not even open his mouth.
8. He was led away after an unjust trial —
   but who even cared?
   Indeed, he was cut off from the land of the living;
   because of the rebellion of his own people he was wounded.

1 Corinthians 15

54. “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
55. “Where, O death, is your victory?
    Where, O death, is your sting?”
56. The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
57. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!