Sermon Central
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Da Vinci: The Di Vinity Code
Contributed by Johann Neethling on Jun 8, 2006 (message contributor)
Summary: Eight significant hints God has included within the pages of Holy Scripture, from Genesis to the New Testament, that point to Jesus being the Promised One who would crush the serpent’s head.
THE DI VINITY CODE
1. The Da Vinci Code written by Dan Brown, has as one of it’s claims that Jesus was really just a regular mortal, who got married to Mary Magdalene and had a child named Sophia with her, but that the Catholic Church and eventually Constantine and the Council of Nicea destroyed the abundance of writings that emphasized Jesus’ humanity and only promoted those few that stressed His divinity.
2. Well, some of us have been spending enough time on Wednesday evenings and Thursday mornings and in Sunday School examining his claims against the Biblical and historical and archeological evidence and so I am not going to take more time with that this morning.
3. Instead, I want to share with you what I have chosen to call THE DIVINITY CODE and show you the hints and clues that God has left us throughout the Bible – from Genesis all the way through to the New Testament.
• I have provided you with a list of 8 Major Hints and a few sub clues so you can later mark these in your Bibles at home.
• The way I have it marked in my Bible is to highlight Hint I and then make a marginal note for myself to go next to Hint II and then write the reference there. That way I only have to remember the first one.
4. What sparked this discovery for me is the Resurrection account in Luke 24:13-35 and especially verse 27 where Luke writes “And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.”
• The entire Bible – from Genesis to Revelation – in 66 books and written in three major languages over 1600 years by around 40 authors from diverse backgrounds and on 3 continents – is all about one person, the GOD-MAN, the Lord Jesus Christ.
• And that really is what HIStory is all about – it is HIS STORY – the story of God’s action in all the life and affairs of this planet.
5. Well, let’s get started with HINT I. Turn in your Bibles to Genesis 3:15
• We have here what has been called the “Proto-evangel” or “the earliest mention of the Gospel”
• Here is God pronouncing judgment on the Serpent for his part in the Fall into sin by Adam and Eve.
• Note what He says: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
• A couple of things here: First, this is the only reference in all of Scripture to “the seed of a woman” – all the other references are to the “seed of the man”. That is significant in hindsight as we recall the New Testament witness that Jesus was born of the seed of a woman – Mary – and not from the seed of any man. Joseph was not Jesus’ biological father. Second, what God is saying here is that He is going to do something about this rebellion. One will come, born of the seed of a woman, who will one day crush the Serpent’s head and in the process will be wounded in the heel.
6. Next HINT II, go to Genesis 12: 1-3
• Here we see that God is preparing a way to bring His blessing to all the families on the earth.
• He has chosen to do so through a descendent of a man named Abram (name means “exalted father”) from Ur in Chaldea – the region of modern day Iraq. Later, in chapter 17, God changes his name to Abraham, which means “father of a great multitude”.
• Now let me share with you two sub points to show how God affirmed His covenant commitment to the descendants of Abraham. FIRST, turn to Genesis 26:3-5 where God repeats the promise to Abraham’s son, Isaac. THEN, turn to Genesis 28:13-15 where he repeats it to Isaac’s son, Jacob.
7. Next comes HINT III. Turn to Genesis 49:10
• In this chapter, the aged Jacob calls his 12 sons together, each of whom would become the heads of one of the future twelve tribes of Israel, and before his death he pronounces a fatherly prophetic blessing on each one of them, stating what will come to pass through each of them.
• Note verse 10 where he pronounces the blessing on Judah: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.”
• Here we have the first indication that the one to come will be a king and will come from the tribe of Judah
