“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel’. Genesis 3:15
The circumstances of the first announcement of the birth of Christ are far removed from the scenes of Christmas trees and lights, chestnuts roasting on an open fire, children writing letters to Santa Claus, and snow falling.
The first three people to hear about God sending His Son into the world to be a Saviour were Satan, Adam and Eve! They were standing in an earthly paradise that had so soon been marred by sin and disobedience. The Bible would later comment on this scene: ‘Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned’ Romans 5:12.
The principles of sin and death were introduced into our world on that day and they have never been removed. Covid lockdowns have revealed that despite all our sophistication and technological achievements, the human race has found no answers to these problems.
Genesis 3:15 is often called the ‘proto-evangelium’. It is a compound of two Greek words, protos meaning “first” and evangelion meaning “good news” or “gospel”. The first gospel message was addressed to Satan in the guise of a serpent. This world’s history is really a controversy between God and Satan. Satan came into the garden of Eden with the intention of harming mankind and destroying any hope of a relationship between fallen and sinful men and their creator God.
God directly addressed Satan and told him of the seed of the woman that would come into the world and bruise his head. The verse, therefore, promises the defeat of Satan and everything he would do in the world. His defeat would come through ‘the seed of the woman.’ Who is the seed of the woman? How can a child be born only of a woman without an earthly father? The answer is unfolded in the Bible over the years:
‘Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and thou shall call his name Immanuael’ Isaiah 7: 14
‘For unto us a child is born; unto us, a Son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.’ Isaiah 9: 7
‘Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins’. Matthew 1: 20,21
‘And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins: and in him is no sin’ 1 John 3:5
‘He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil’. 1 John 3: 8
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was born of a virgin and became a true man. Yet because had no connection with Adam or his sinful nature, He was himself holy and sinless. Only a sinless man could die to take away our sins; only the Son of God could bruise the head of Satan and destroy his work.
“Because the sinless Savior died,
My sinful soul is counted free;
For God, the Just, is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.”
Hymn by C.L. Bancroft