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." Gen 3:15 ESV
The preparation for
the coming of the Lord begins at the dawn of time, with the story of Adam and
Eve.
When Adam and Eve
tasted the forbidden fruit, God punished
them by casting them out of Eden. But
before he punished them, He punished the
Serpent, who was really Satan in disguise.
God's cursed serpent
by making him crawl on his belly and eat dust for the rest of his life. That is why serpents crawl along the
ground. Vestigial leg bones are still
found in modern serpents. But it wasn't
really the serpent who was being cursed, but the demonic spirit who had taken
residence in the serpent--Satan himself.
God placed an
"enmity"--that is a symbol of rejection or hostility--between people
and the serpent. But it isn't the dumb
animal we call a serpent who is the real target. Rather, God has caused
something to stand as a guard between Satan and the human race.
This enmity God
describes will be a person--the seed of the woman. This is not the usual way of talking about
offspring in the Bible. In other places, children are called the seed of the
man, not the woman. The only way a child
would be called the seed of a woman were if no man were involved in his
conception--in other words, a virgin birth!
So God promises that
a human child, a male person, would come from a woman alone and would stand
between Satan and all humanity. This
person would be bruised on the heel by the Satan, but would crush the head of
Satan--in other words, destroy him.
This verse is called by a special name protoevangelion--or First Gospel. From then
on, humanity came to hope for a promised time when this seed of woman would
reveal Himself and destroy the works of Satan. The suffering caused by Satan
would not endure forever, but would disappear when the seed of the woman would
be revealed.
In time, this seed
of the woman was given a name--the messiah, which
means the anointed one. He would be a
God's answer to the problems of the world.
This messiah would suffer--his heel would be bruised-- but through that
suffering He would win a great victory that would reverse the conditions that
were caused by sin and the Fall.
This prophecy was
fulfilled in Christ. He was born of a
virgin, and grew to become a great man on the earth. He was bruised in the heel
in his crucifixion; but with his resurrection, He crushed the head of Satan and gave us freedom
from his power.
The messiah's work
was complete, but its effects are not yet fully realized. Satan still bruises
us, through lies, temptations, and persecutions. But his power is waning. Christ's victory is
becoming clearer. Now, when we are
pressured by the evil one, we can find
relief and rest in Christ.
We were hopeless and
helpless in our sins--but not anymore. We are no longer imprisoned by Satan's
lies. Don't ever give up hope, because God will bring the victory in the end.
"Dear God, help
us to keep our hope, when times look hopeless. You have crushed the power of
the Evil One, and have set us free. Help us to live in that freedom through
Christ our Savior. Amen."
