Her Seed . . . Shall Bruise Your Head

“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).

Having created the heavens and the earth God made man, placed him in the garden of Eden with every provision, and gave him just one command: not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But man disobeyed God. His wife, having succumbed to the serpent’s temptation, gave him the fruit—and he ate it.

To be true to His character God must mete out justice and punishment—to the serpent, as Satan had used the serpent, the woman and the man. But God’s grace came with the first promise, was embodied in the first prophecy, and His mercy was signified in the first sacrifice—a picture or type of redemption wrought by our Lord Jesus Christ.

The promise of Genesis 3:15 regarding Satan would be fulfilled in three stages—at our Lord’s crucifixion, in the bottomless pit for 1,000 years, and in the lake of fire eternally. Paradoxically the first promise is the final radical solution—the total subjugation of the sin-originator, Satan.

It is remarkable that the Seed of the woman was promised and prophesied even before the birth of the seeds of man and woman and that the Seed would ultimately triumph through death.

The first animal sacrifice pointed to God’s way for man’s forgiveness—the blood of a substitute slain, and coats of skins picturing garments of imputed righteousness. “God’s way” was our Lord Jesus Christ, “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29), from the beginning to the end of time.

God did not destroy Satan immediately because His program for mankind must run its entire course according to His plan and purpose (see Ephesians 1:9–11; 3:11). That plan will climax with the Lamb reigning with His bride, the church, over redeemed Jews and Gentiles in His Millennial Kingdom and throughout eternity. For Satan and his followers, including those of mankind not redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, there will be the lake of fire forever.

Thus would the first promise be the final solution.

Adapted and modified excerpts from Day by Day: Bible Promises
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.