The Beginning of a Promise

The Beginning of a Promise

And 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. Genesis 3:15

Within the curse upon sin is the first promise of the Redeemer, Christ, in Genesis 3:15. Consider what is revealed about Him here.

First, He would be the Seed of the woman. This is significant language, because normally offspring are spoken of as the seed of their fathers. This seems to be a subtle reference to Christ’s virgin birth.

Second, there would be enmity between Him and the serpent. This signifies the continuous conflict between Satan and Christ. Satan, the destroyer of men’s souls, opposes Christ, the Savior of the world.

The evil one hates the Holy One and has therefore set himself and “his seed”—all those who belong to his kingdom (both demons and humans)—against the Seed of the woman.

Third, the Seed of the woman would suffer. Satan would bruise His heel. This speaks of Christ’s suffering on the cross (see Isaiah 53:5).

Fourth, the Savior would triumph. He would end the enmity forever by crushing the serpent’s head. Satan, the serpent, did his best to destroy Christ, but in the end it left only a bruise that would heal.

Christ rose from the dead in triumph, gaining redemption for Adam’s fallen race, while destroying the works of the devil. And in that act he sealed Satan’s final defeat, crushing the serpent’s head as promised.

Remember, the first glimmer of hope that all this would occur shone forth, of all places, in the curse God pronounced after Adam sinned! And the rest of Scripture, from this point on, merely fills in the gaps in the drama of redemption.

How does it change your outlook to know that God promised a Redeemer from the beginning?