Puah and Shiphrah [Part 2]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. Anyone who believes in him would be reckoned to be the righteousness of Christ and would live forever and ever with God. And God, most high, was glorified in a most unlikely way.

The Son of God killed and yet the world saved. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series titled, God Used Who?

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Here is Alan Wright. And when you see something that's that brazen in its nature of evil, you might think, well, that's a worse evil. But it's no worse than what Pharaoh had in his heart in the beginning, it's just more visible. When you see darkness that is darker than you've seen before, and you pick up the paper, and you read things, and you say, well, this is worse than it's ever been. It's not worse, it's just more visible.

It's more tolerated. But evil's evil, and darkness is dark. Well, all of this, to me, is a picture of this Pharaoh, a tyrant, who is so afraid of these baby boys that are being born, that he's just got to kill them. All of this is a picture of the spiritual battle that has always been. If you want to understand if you want to understand spiritual warfare, then you look in Genesis chapter 3, where it really all begins.

In Genesis chapter 3, we have the beginning of the battle, because after Adam and Eve sinned, and the Lord came, and he spoke the consequences, and the Lord spoke. This is Genesis 3 verse 14. And the Lord spoke to the serpent, that picture, metaphor of Satan. And the Lord God said to the serpent, because you've done this, cursed are you above all livestock, and above all beasts of the field.

On your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. Now, that's the English standard version, but I want to suggest to you that a more literal translation would be much more helpful, because what really the text says is I'll put enmity between the seed of the woman, and the seed of the serpent. And then what the text literally says is he shall crush your head, and you shall strike at his heel. Now the reason that's important is because it is consistent with the image of a serpent with fangs that strikes towards the heel.

Can't get up to the head, but strikes in the vicinity of the heel, and that it's not a mere bruising, but it is more of a devastating blow to the serpent that is prophesied here. So please notice this about the spiritual battle that God is speaking of here, and that is that the battle is not really between this woman and the serpent, but between the seed of the woman. That there is one who will come, the seed of the woman, not just referring to any offspring, but ultimately to the ultimate seed of the woman, which is Christ himself. For there would one day be a new Adam.

There would be one who would come and would live a sinless life, and he would represent us as a human being, and he would take the punishment for us. This seed of the woman, the messiah himself, and everybody who is joined in with that messiah, and everyone who has accepted him, who's in Christ is also part of the seed. But that seed, there's going to be enmity. And God just forecasted, and he said, this is what's now happened, is that there is going to be a seething hatred from this serpent and the seed of that woman. And there's a great fear from the serpent, and that the seed of the woman is going to crush his head. And so it is that the serpent is cursed. Notice please this.

Please notice this. This serpent doesn't speak or negotiate with God. Yes, the devil is real. Yes, the darkness is a real power, and yet it is like darkness and light. There is no comparison between darkness and light. Wherever there's light, darkness flees. There is no such thing as turning on the darkness and making the light flee. You can go into an absolutely dark room, light one candle, and you'll dispel the darkness. But you can't shine a beam of darkness into a bright room and make it darker. In fact, darkness is just the, it's just the absence of light. The serpent doesn't speak back to God and say, well, I don't like this plan, and that's not the way it's going to be, and I'm not going to go on my belly.

And you know why? Because God is the creator of the ends of the earth, and the serpent was a creature. Creatures have to do what the creator says. The creator can create out of nothing. He can speak and bring forth something into existence.

He's the author of life. So if you understand this, about whatever the nature of this invisible spiritual battle, where there's not like there are two gods that are battling each other. There's one God, and He is Lord over all, and He is providential, and what He says goes, and this God in whom you have found life in Jesus Christ, this God will not be thwarted, and His word will not fall empty to the ground.

You can count on it. There's no comparison between the devil and God any more than there is between darkness and light. And so this battle that is forecast, it begins, and I think it worked like this. Simply put, the devil didn't know when the Messiah would be born. It's not omniscient.

It didn't know. The angels themselves in heaven didn't know all the timing. It was in God Himself, and so it was that there was a great enmity, and you could see it throughout the scripture, all of hell conspiring to try to kill the sons of the people of God. So right from the beginning, Abel offered up some offerings to the Lord. The Lord blessed and approved those offerings, and Cain grew jealous.

Maybe it was because there was a dark whisper to his heart that said, look at you. You're not blessed, and planted the thought of fear that resulted in hatred and anger and a murderous spirit, and he killed his brother. Maybe the devil thought that Abel was the seed of the woman, but he was not. When Jacob stole Esau's blessing, maybe the same accuser whispered in Esau's ear and said, look at you.

You have been robbed of your blessing, and now you won't be blessed, and he's the one that did it to you. Because maybe the devil thought that Jacob was the seed of the woman, and Esau sought to kill Jacob. Joseph's brothers wanted to murder Joseph. Perhaps hell thought Joseph was the one, and when there was a youth named David in the fields of Bethlehem who was anointed by the flask of oil of the prophet Samuel, I think hell conspired and said this must be the one, and so it was that there was demonic oppression of King Saul who wanted to kill David, and David had to go on the run. Over and over you see it, such that this story of Puah and Shiphrah, this story in the context of a Pharaoh who wanted to kill the sons of the Hebrew people was born of that same seething hatred that the serpent had for the seed of the woman that perhaps out of one of these Jewish boys was going to come the Messiah, the seed of the woman, and the devil didn't know, and so it was that in this irrational fear and this great hatred Pharaoh wanted to just kill all of the boys, but these two women would not participate.

They would not be the pawns of Pharaoh. They would not give in to the taunts of fear, and they would not fall prey to these lies, so who were these two midwives? They were just two women who decided to resist the devil and found out when you do he will flee from you. These are two women that stand strong in the spirit of the Lord and according to the word of the Lord, and I don't know how much they knew about it, but the battle belongs to the Lord.

He's on his throne, and you can never go wrong by doing what is right, and you can never ever lose a battle that has already been won on your behalf in the name of Jesus. It is a battle that is for the mind. It is a battle about deception.

Is it a battle about discouragement? It is a battle that is ultimately meant to bring harm against the ultimate seed of the woman who have been engrafted into Christ, and so when Jesus came, now finally hell knew that this is the Messiah. After all, as soon as Jesus was born, angels broke open the heavens, and they trumpeted the news to shepherds. Unto you this day in the city of David is born a Savior. He's the Messiah, the Lord.

That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. God's love. You've heard about it with your ears.

You've believed it in your mind. Now experience it in your heart with Alan Wright's beloved book, Lover of My Soul. The Bible is a love story from beginning to end. You are the spiritual bride of Christ, the perfect bridegroom. The Bible tells about a God who has gone to unimaginable lengths to woo you, to win you, and to walk with you hand in hand. For any man who has fallen in love with a woman, you've tasted the sweetness of what God's love for you is like. For any woman who has searched for true love, what you long for can only be found fully in God. Gary Chapman, renowned author of the five love languages, says the incredible reality that God pursues us in love comes to life in Lover of My Soul. Ancient biblical accounts explode in the heart. Accept Christ's proposal, enjoy His embrace, revel in His love.

After all, it's a match made in heaven. It's Lover of My Soul by Alan Wright. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org.

Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. What happened was there was a ruler named Herod, and he had the exact same instinct that Pharaoh had. And that same dark whisperer came into his sin-laden heart that said to him, this is a threat. Look, you call yourself the king of the Jews, but now they say he's the new king.

You better do something about this. And so it was, he told the wise men, he said, you tell me where this new Christ child is, and I'll come worship him too. And yet he had intended to murder him. And the wise men, these magi, were given a word of the Lord to not go back to Herod, and a dream came to Joseph in which an angel told him, take the child and go to Egypt. And so they fled to get away from Herod. And so what did Herod do?

Herod, just like this Pharaoh, he ordered the massacre of every Hebrew boy in the city of Bethlehem. Jesus was in Egypt, and he was safe, and God was on his throne, and no Pharaoh, and no Herod, and no devil could have stopped the Son of God from coming into the earth, because he's God, I tell you. He's the creator of the ends of the earth, I tell you. He is without equal.

He is without rival. He is God, and no one can stop him. If you want to get a good picture of this, you can see this in Revelation that John had on the isle of Patmos. In Revelation chapter 12, John has as part of his vision this at Revelation 12 one, a great sign appeared in heaven, and a woman clothed with the sun with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars, and she was pregnant, was crying out in birth pains in the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in the heavens, and behold a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns.

On his head seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars ahead and cast them to the earth, and a dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth so that when she bore her child he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared for God in which she is to be nourished 1260 days. It's a there's much speculation about exactly what image this is, but here's what I most certainly see here is that there is a fulfillment of exactly what happened when Mary gave birth to a son, and Satan was waiting to try to kill that son through Herod, and yet by the providence of God Jesus is kept safe, and he goes off to Egypt where he is safe until Herod dies. And verse seven, war rose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. This seems to be a picture of what happened is there was a revolt, an angelic revolt, and the great dragon verse nine was thrown down that ancient serpent who's called the devil and Satan the deceiver of the whole world. He's a deceiver, and he was thrown down to the earth. His angels were thrown down with him, and I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, now salvation and power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of Christ have come for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down.

He accuses them day and night before our God, and they have conquered him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. And then as you continue to read on, when at verse 13 this dragon saw that he'd been thrown down to earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. Jesus came and was born out of the people of God, and he's born out of the church of God, and so he's given himself over to pursuing the woman, the church, the people of God, but the woman was given two wings of the great eagle and sees that she's able to be kept safe. And you see at verse 17, when the dragon, then the dragon became furious with the woman went off to make war on the rest of her offspring on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. Therein you have the picture of the genesis and the nature of the spiritual battle that we are in.

It is just really that simple. When there is great fear, there is great hatred, and there's anger. And if you could just imagine that whenever you've experienced, even in a moment in your life where you've had just stupid blind anger about something, maybe it was born out of fear or something like that, and you feel it, but then you quickly see that it dissipates.

It's because even people who don't know Christ, everybody on the face of the earth is a recipient of the common grace of God. God's grace is abundant to all of us, but where there is no grace, where there is nothing of the presence of God, you would have, and this is what you have in hell itself, just nothing but hatred, just nothing but darkness, and it is vile, and it is seething, and it is hateful, and you must understand that you do have an enemy of your soul who in his frustration over the fact that he has been defeated has turned his attention to the people of God, the other offspring of the seed of the woman, and that's why we're in a spiritual battle. And so Puah and Shiphrah, without realizing it, were part of the great spiritual battle of a Pharaoh who wanted to kill all the sons and wanted them to be a part of the hatred, and they said, no, we're not. We're going to be people who bring life into the world no matter what, and so it is that they become a picture for us of this amazing power that comes when you simply stand on the truth.

So here's what happened. God said in Genesis chapter 3, he said, I'll put enmity, there'll be enmity between the seed of the woman and between this serpent seed, but he will crush your head and you'll strike it as heel. And in the moment that all of hell fought it opportune to finally get what hell had wanted to kill the seed of the woman, Jesus was put upon the cross, but what the devil didn't know is that no one took Jesus's life from him. He laid down his life of his own accord. He could have at any moment called upon a legion of angels to come and strike down those who had nailed him to the cross. Jesus laid down his life, no devil took it from him. He came because he loves you.

He came because he willfully wanted to take your place. He came because he wanted to deliver the crushing blow to the headship of evil, and Jesus spread his arms out and was suffocated and bleeding and dying on the cross and bearing in that moment the sin of the world. For at the very moment that Jesus was on the cross, the serpent struck at his heel and the venom of the sin of the world went into Jesus. The Bible says though it beggars our belief that he who knew no sin became our sin. He didn't just take the penalty for your sin, he became your sin. This is the Jesus who in Gethsemane clawed the ground amongst the gnarled olive trees and said oh that this cup might pass from me for his soul was sorrowful unto death and yet he said not my will but yours be done oh God and he took the cup of the poison of the serpent. He took the sin of the world and he drank it to the dregs. It wasn't the physical suffering on the cross that was so devastating. It was the weight of the sin of the world. It was every unclean thing. It was all of my sin.

It was all of your sin. He willingly let the serpent strike at his heel because as the serpent struck at his heel and injected him with the sin of the world as Jesus became our sin he crushed the head of the devil because in so doing anyone who believes in him would be reckoned to be the righteousness of Christ and would live forever and ever with God and God most high was glorified in a most unlikely way the son of God killed and yet the world saved. And so what it means for us is that we have confidence in the spiritual battle.

That's why I would just say what you need every day is not to get up in the morning and say oh I'm gonna try harder I'm gonna fight off all those temptations today I'm gonna try harder it's not gonna work. What's gonna work is you get up in the morning and you say the serpent struck the heel of my savior and he became my sin and in so doing he has crushed the headship of evil and so I'm guaranteed victory and I am no longer a slave to sin. I'm no longer a slave to fear and I'm under no condemnation and so when the accuser raises his accusation against you you are able in that day to say but I am saved but I am the Lord's and I am not only forgiven but I have been made holy in him and that's how you win the spiritual battle and that's the gospel. Allen Wright and that is the good news of the gospel. It's from the teaching Puah and Shiphrah in the greater series God Used Who and Allen is back here in the studio to unpack this additional insight for your life in a final word coming up. God's love you've heard about it with your ears you've believed it in your mind now experience it in your heart with Allen Wright's beloved book Lover of My Soul. The Bible is a love story from beginning to end. You are the spiritual bride of Christ the perfect bridegroom. The Bible tells about a God who has gone to unimaginable lengths to woo you to win you and to walk with you hand in hand for any man who has fallen in love with a woman you've tasted the sweetness of what God's love for you is like for any woman who has searched for true love which you long for can only be found fully in God. Gary Chapman renowned author of the five love languages says the incredible reality that God pursues us in love comes to life in Lover of My Soul. Ancient biblical accounts explode in the heart accept Christ's proposal enjoy his embrace revel in his love after all it's a match made in heaven. It's Lover of My Soul by Allen Wright. The gospel is shared when you give to Allen Wright Ministries this broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support when you give today we will send you today's special offer we are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Allen Wright Ministries call us at 877-544-4860 that's 877-544-4860 or come to our website pastorallen.org. Allen we realize today how much the mind can really play tricks on us and also how helpful it is to start each day fresh reminding ourselves the good news of the gospel that Jesus paid it all is that your message today from this is that it really is it can be a mindset can be a mindset that every day and in the spiritual battle which we're talking about today it is essential to live in the revelation of the finished work of Jesus it has been as we've been learning today it has been a cosmic battle the powers of darkness always wanting to figure out who is the seed of the woman so that he could be destroyed and we've seen it over and over and over throughout the history of this biblically the destruction of male children almost as if the devil's trying to guess who is the messiah but in the moment that the devil thinks and all of hell thinks that the victory has been won and christ is being crucified right right serpent has struck at the heel but we in christ and those moments are given christ's ultimate victory and that is our complete forgiveness of sins and our our promise of heaven and with that uh we are able to be assured and i think that's what we want to wake up with every day that's how you live the victorious christian life live in the assurance of the amazing finished work of jesus today's good news message is a listener-supported production of Alan Wright Ministries