The salvation of every
soul begins with God. As soon as Adam sinned in the
Garden of Eden we hear the Shepherd's voice calling
out for His lost sheep, "Adam, where are you?" It is
the Father searching for the prodigal (Genesis
3:8-13).
Genesis three is not a
place where we would expect grace. It is in the
context of judgment after the Fall that the LORD God
curses the serpent. Adam and Eve hear God speaking
to the "shining one." It is not a direct promise to
Adam and Eve, but a word of judgment to Satan (Rev.
12:9; 20:2). He says to the serpent, "And I will put
enmity between you and the woman, and between your
seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head,
and you shall bruise him on the heel" (Gen. 3:15).
God created enmity
There will be an undying
opposition between Satan and the generations to
follow. No doubt Adam and Even were so impressed
with the message of hope that they reinforced it in
the minds of their children and their children
passed it own from generation to generation. Then
came the day centuries later when Moses under the
guidance of the Holy Spirit penned this great
promise against the darkest day in human history.
The promise of salvation
was given before anyone died physically. Here is the
first word of grace in the Bible at a time when
least expected. It is also the first messianic
prophecy.
At the time of the giving
of this promise no child had been born to Adam and
Eve. Probably with the birth of every male child
there was the hope that he would be the one who
would overthrow the evil that had been unleashed on
the new world.
The promised one will
"bruise you on the head." There will be a head
wound. The idea is there will be a deathblow. Satan
would have this eternal dread hanging over him that
with the birth of every male child this could be the
very one who would be his end.
In the battle, Satan
would "bruise him on the heel." The promised seed
would suffer, but he would not suffer a destructive
blow.
It is true that we do not
have a great deal of information at the onset of
this promise in Genesis. Hindsight is great for the
sincere student! We have the advantage of looking
back over time and seeing the One person who
fulfilled this growing hope in the heart of sinful
man.
Christ crushed
Satan
Jesus Christ went to the
cross and died on our behalf to crush Satan (Hebrews
2:9-15).
Satan was crushed at
Calvary. He was defeated when Jesus rose from the
dead. The final blow will be the submission of Satan
to Jesus Christ when Jesus returns in glory
(Revelation 20:1-15).
The Apostle Paul saw this
great promise being fulfilled in the salvation and
sanctification of God's people. He alludes to this
promise in Romans 16:20, "And the God of peace will
soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of the
Lord Jesus be with you." The word for "crush" is
literally to rub together and so to shatter, to
crush, to trample underfoot, break in pieces by
crushing, "to grind," "to crush," "to smash," "to
break," "to destroy." Paul reminds believers to draw
daily strength from the blessed promise of final
victory over Satan. We are not on the loosing team!
The image of smashing Satan in Romans 16:20 (cf.
Gen. 3:15; Ps. 91:13) suggests both present victory
over the powers of darkness and the imminent
eschatological destruction of Satan.
God uses some strange
words when He pronounced the undying opposition
between Satan and the woman. He describes it as
"between your seed and her seed . . ." (Gen. 3:15).
The apostle Paul
observed, "When the fullness of the time came, God
sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the
Law" (Galatians 4:4).
It is impossible to see
the fulfillment of this promise without reflecting
on and seriously considering Isaiah 7:14 and Luke
1:30-35. It is completely impossible without a
miracle from God. Ever since the Fall of Adam and
Eve the sin nature has been transmitted from parent
to child from generation to generation. We are all
born in sin and this included Joseph and Mary. As
King David reflected on his sin nature he concluded,
we are all "shapen in iniquity" (Psalm 51:5). We sin
because we are sinners by nature. Mary was a sinner
born to sinful parents who came from sinful parents.
If Jesus had received a corrupt sinful nature from
either Joseph or Mary He could not have been our
sinless substitute dying for our sins. He would have
been in the need of a redeemer like all other sinful
men.
Jesus' sinless
nature
How did Jesus then have a
sinless nature? Mary's hymen was broken from within.
She was a virgin. Mary knew this when she
questioned, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?"
(Luke 1:34; cf. Matt. 1:23; Gal. 4:4; I Tim. 2:15).
The angel explained, "The Holy Spirit will come upon
you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow
you; and for that reason the holy offspring shall be
called the Son of God" (Luke 1:35). The Holy Spirit
overshadowed Mary. Luke uses the figure of a cloud,
the symbol of divine presence coming upon Mary. The
Holy Spirit came upon Mary and overshadowed her with
His power, through which she became pregnant. The
overshadowing presence of God causes Mary to become
pregnant. It was a miracle.
Jesus was born of God,
not by humans. The entire operation from the
creation in the fetus, the daily development in the
womb for nine normal months was the work of the Holy
Spirit.
Because He was the "seed
of the woman" Jesus was God Incarnate. He was
God-man. He was human just like you and me, but he
was not fallen sinful humanity. His humanity and
divinity were so woven together that you could not
have seen the difference except when His deity shown
forth at the Transfiguration. The Apostle Paul said,
great is the mystery of the incarnation. I Timothy
3:16.
The virgin birth points
back to the promise in the protoevangelium or the
first glimmer of the gospel of redemption.
The child of promise is
"the seed of the woman" who is the branch of David,
the Eternal Word made flesh.
For further study spend
some time reflecting on Christ as the fulfillment of
the promise of the "seed of the woman" in Matthew
1:18; Galatians 3:16, 19; 4:4; Genesis 12:7; II
Samuel 7:8, 12; Romans 1:1, 3; 16:20
The undying opposition is
further seen in the bruising or crushing of Satan's
head in Genesis 3:21; Luke 1:26-35; John 8:44;
Matthew 1:18; Isaiah 53; Galatians 3:16, 19; John
19:30; Revelation 20:10.
Christ was made a curse
for us. "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the
Law, having become a curse for us" for it is
written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"
(Galatians 3:13).
Death symbolized the
wounding of the heel by Satan and takes place before
the smashing of the head of Satan by the seed of the
woman. The wounding appears to be the death on the
cross, since Christ identified His executioners as
the seed of the serpent. Jesus said, "You are of
your father, the devil, and you want to do the
desires of your father. He was a murderer from the
beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because
there is no truth in him . . . " (Jn. 8:44).
This preceding death
makes mandatory the resurrection of the seed of the
woman to perform the smashing of the serpent's head.
This promise was no doubt
the cause of Abraham greeting the "day of Christ"
with glad assurance in John 8:54.
Genesis 3:15 is the first
shining light on the horizon of eternal life. It is
the root of Abraham's obedience to the Lord to offer
Isaac as a burnt offering. Why else would he make
such a sacrifice if he did not have the hope before
him that God would raise the son of the promise from
the dead? Abe probably believed the seed of the
woman was the promise of a seed through Isaac.
Hebrews 11:19, Abraham "considered that God is able
to raise men even from the dead; from which he also
received him back as a type." Jesus said, "Your
father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw
it, and was glad" (John 8:56).
Partakers of glory
Genesis is more than a
story. It is the record of God's work on behalf of
the redeemed. It is the history of God's redemptive
work.
Romans 16:20, "The God of
peace will soon crush Satan under your feet." That
crushing certainly includes all the labor of Jesus
the Messiah. The hope of the resurrection is as old
as sinful men and is mighty to support them in all
their pilgrimages to heaven.
Genesis 3:15 has become
the most important verse in the entire Bible because
the central message of the whole Bible are the death
and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The greatest commentary
on Genesis 3:15 is John 3:16. "For God so loved the
world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have
eternal life" (John 3:16).
Satan thought that he had
won in the battle over the Son of God at Calvary,
but the full weight of the crucifixion came down on
him three days later when Christ rose from the dead.
The all wise sovereign God fulfilled His eternal
purpose of redemption.
The resurrection faith is
at the center of God's provision of salvation for
sinners. In the crushing of the head of the serpent,
deliverance was promised. Moreover, to effect that
deliverance, the redeemer had to be able to conquer
death. Christ rose from the dead triumphantly. He is
alive! The "seed of the woman" took upon Himself the
consequences of the serpent's sting and rose from
the dead.
No doubt, the "seed of
the woman" is referring to the virgin birth of
Christ. The virgin born Son of God conquers death,
hell and the grave. Christ will give the deathblow
to Satan when He returns.
Title: Genesis 3:15 The
Seed of the Woman
Series:
Christ in the Old Testament