Jon: There's this crazy story at the beginning of the Bible we have Adam and Eve
and they in there in the Garden of Eden.
Tim: And everything in the garden is great exactly is it should be except
there's this one tree that they're told by God not to eat from because it's
dangerous and it will kill them.
Jon: So that's it, just avoid this fruit tree and we are fine?
Tim: Right, it seems pretty simple. But in this garden there's a snake
and it starts telling a different story. It says that if you eat of this tree it is not
going to kill you
in fact it's going to make you become like God.
Jon: And Adam and Eve, they believe the snake and the the fruit.
Tim: And because it is this the goodness of the garden is tragically lost and the evil and death
enters into God's good world.
Jon: Now, why is there a talking snake in the garden? I mean this thing is a problem.
Tim: Yeah, it is very strange, and even more strange is the fact that the Bible doesn't say why
or how this thing even got there. It simply presents the snake as this
creature who's in rebellion against God and wants to get
other people to doubt God's goodness and lead them on a path toward death.
And so whatever this snake is,
it's the source of evil that pervades our world and our lives even still today
Jon: But there is some hope because right here in the story God makes this really
interesting promise to Adam and Eve.
Tim: That someone is going to come in the future, a son of Eve,
and this guys gonna common is gonna crash the Serpent's head and destroy evil
at its source. However during this battle
t he serpent is going to bite this guy's heal.
Jon: So it's like I'm mutual destruction
Tim: Yes. It is a strange and beautiful promise and just hanging there until the next key moment in the story...
...when God singled out this guy named Abraham
and says that through his family goodness and blessing is going to be
restored back to all of the nations in the world
and as we follow this family we get to one of Abraham's great-grandsons, this guy named Judah.
and he receives this promise that a king is going to come from his line
and that the whole world is going to follow this king, and he's going to bring
peace and harmony and there will be lots of
food and wine and milk in vineyard and it's going to be awesome.
Jon: The first king that we meet from the line of Judah is a guy named King David
and he's a hero maybe he is the Snake Crusher
Tim: But it turns out that David is infected with the same evil
as the rest of humanity. He never crushes the snake
just the opposite. However God makes a promise to David that this king
is going to eventually come from his line. But as you go on in the story
one by one each generation of his sons they're just total
chumps they give in to the snake, they choose evil
they go after money and sex and power and following other gods.
Jon: Things get so bad that they run the nation of Israel
right into the ground and the big bad Empire of Babylon just takes them out.
Tim: So now there are no more Kings to even fulfill this promise.
Jon: So seems like the whole plan is lost.
Tim: But during these dark days there's these crazy group of guys called Prophets
and they kept talking about this coming King and reminding us of the
promise that he'll come he will defeat evil
and restore the garden. Now one specific profit Isaiah -
he tells us more about why this King is bitten
Isaiah says that the promised King receives this wound
because of humanity's evil, and that it kills him.
But then all of a sudden he comes back and Isaiah says that is because he suffered this wound
that he can now become a source of healing to other people.
Jon: But the Old Testament ends and the snake crushing King that everyone's been
talking about never shows up.
Tim: And that is why when the New Testament begins it introduces us to
Jesus of Nazareth
not as some random guy but as someone who comes to fulfill these specific ancient promises.
Jon: Yeah, we learn that he's from the line of David, Judah, and Abraham.
Tim: And he goes around Israel announcing
that the goodness of God's kingdom is here now and he begins
confronting the affects of evil on people by healing them by forgiving them of their sins and evil
Jon: Many people are now believing that this is in fact the promised King
Tim: Bit Jesus began telling his closest followers
that he was going to become king and bring peace
by taking the full effect if humanity's evil into himself.
Jon: That fatal snake bite wound.
Tim: And so it seems like the serpent wins
and this story actually would be a tragedy except for what happens next.
Jesus rises from the dead.
Jon: A nd now Jesus has the power over evil and death for himself.
Tim: So the rest at the New Testament is then making this claim
the Jesus' power over evil and death has now become available
to us to begin confronting the effects evil in our own lives.
Jon: But even still, death and evil are a real problem in our world all around us.
Tim: And so the story of the Bible ends
by describing this future day when Jesus comes back
and he finishes the job. He destroys the snake once and for all, and he restores
the goodness at the garden here on earth