Genesis - 10
The First Gospel Promise
Last time we discovered what Genesis, the book of beginnings, has to say about the very first temptation to sin. We saw that Satan, the great enemy of our souls, in some mysterious way used the serpent to tempt the first woman to disobey God. She involved Adam in her disobedience and so through the man sin came into the world and death as a consequence became the lot of all mankind. That death was both physical and spiritual. Spiritual because the communion with his Maker that he had enjoyed from the beginning was broken. Man’s sin had come between him and God and separated him from the source of life.
This time I am going to direct your attention to a little-known verse in Genesis. I do so because it is the first of many prophecies in the Old Testament of the Bible which point towards our Lord Jesus Christ long before He appeared, born as a baby in Bethlehem. You will find this prophecy in Genesis chapter 3 verse 15. God is speaking to the serpent, and so to Satan who used that creature: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” God was saying that a prolonged warfare would exist between the devil’s offspring and the offspring of the woman, but that a time would come when Satan would be fatally wounded, albeit at the cost of injury to the descendant of the woman. The whole sweep of Scripture points us to the fact that this “seed of the woman” was none other than the Lord Jesus Christ.
This prediction and promise was mercifully given immediately after the abysmal failure and rebellion of our first parents, Adam and Eve. God’s promise was this: From the human race, someone born of a woman would arise who had would have the character and power to overthrow Satan, to defeat him utterly, and so liberate sinful man from his grasp. In revealing this remedy at the very dawn of man’s sinfulness we see that it is God who takes the initiative for our salvation. It is only God Himself who can provide the remedy for man’s sin.
In spite of this, the descendants of Adam and Eve keep on thinking that they can do something themselves to make things right again. All over the world men and women work hard at trying to improve themselves. They follow some code or religion that they hope will please God and give them happiness beyond this life. But it is all in vain, for only God’s way to forgiveness and salvation, prepared from the beginning, will do.
It is plain that God revealed the remedy to the hopeless couple. He was the one who would restore what they had lost by their disobedience. As you read Genesis chapter 3 you will see that, although punishment for their sin is declared by God, his wonderful promise of hope is given first. He shows them mercy before their banishment from the Garden of Eden. There was to be a way back into God’s presence. It would be a way of God’s ordaining and God’s provision.
God’s method of deliverance from sin and Satan was being revealed in the expression “the seed (or offspring) of the woman.” It pointed ahead to the one who would come as a human being to bring salvation. But why not say “the seed of the man, or Adam”? There is an important reason for this. It was by the disobedience of the man, Adam, that sin entered into human nature and is inherited by us all, men and women. In God’s wonderful purpose, the promised Saviour was to be one of us, but without a fallen, sinful nature. So the Lord Jesus Christ was born of a woman, the virgin Mary, but He was conceived in her by God The Holy Spirit. He had no earthly father so was not the inheritor of sin from Adam, the head of the race. This was essential so that He could offer up a perfect life in sacrifice for our sins.
In Luke’s Gospel chapter 2 we read that the child to be born to Mary would be called “The Holy One, the Son of God.” This birth of the one who would be both God and man, divine and human, was also prophesied in Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14: “Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” Immanuel means, “God with us”.
This earliest Gospel promise in Genesis speaks not only of the Saviour coming into the world as a human baby, but it also says something about his sufferings. God said to Satan, concerning the “seed of the woman”, “You will strike, or bruise, his heel.”
In other words, in his humanity the Deliverer would experience terrible injury. There were many attacks made by Satan on our Lord Jesus during his earthly life. He was tempted in all ways, just as we are. He was betrayed and denied and rejected. He was given a mock trial, insulted and beaten before finally being taken outside of Jerusalem and crucified like a common criminal.
All of this was the work of “the serpent”, or Satan, attacking the seed of the woman, our Lord Jesus, the promised Saviour. But all these attempts by the devil, using wicked men, to destroy God’s Son were of no avail. We read this concerning the Lord Jesus in Acts chapter 2 verses 23 and 24: “This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to a cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.”
This prophecy in Genesis chapter 3 not only speaks of the Saviour’s incarnation and sufferings, but also of his triumph. Although the serpent would crush his heel, we read that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head. That blow was far more deadly for at the cross the power of Satan was broken for ever. This is why, in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 14 we read concerning the Saviour: “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death - that is the devil - and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”
However, I need to remind you that when a snake receives a mortal blow to the head it continues to thrash around in its death agonies and is capable of inflicting a dangerous bite. That is how it is with Satan as he continues to bruise or strike at the heel of the seed of the woman. In the broader sense this includes all who belong to Christ for his sufferings are continued in his people, even today. If you are being persecuted for your faith as a Christian believer, remember it is part of the desperate thrashings of a dying serpent whose end approaches.
Perhaps you are someone who is only too conscious of Satan’s evil power in your own life. If so, then turn from your sin and trust in Christ as your only Saviour and Lord. He is “The seed of the woman”. He is the One who came among us as a child, sharing our humanity so that He could offer up his perfect life on the cross for our sins. He is a merciful Saviour to whom you can go with complete confidence for He has said. “He that comes to me, I will in no wise turn away.” Come to Him today.