Genesis 3:15

Verse of the Day Devotion Genesis 3:15 

“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.” –  Genesis 3:15

Up to Christmas day, I will be looking at the different prophesies to foresee the coming of the promised Messiah, Jesus the Christ.  He came here in order to offer the means of salvation for all.  An important idea to remember is that God knows everything and forgets nothing.  “Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,” Isaiah 46:9-10.

Our focus verse today regards the fall of man.  In Chapters 1 and 2, God’s work of creation is recorded, of which it says, “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.” Genesis 1:31. Chapter two is a more detailed account of man’s creation which is included in the declaration of ‘and behold, it was very good’.

Now, in chapter three we see that story of man’s fall.  “And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. But the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:2-5.  The serpent here is very cunning and is able to deceive Eve, and eventually Adam, by stating God was keeping information from them.  “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.”  Genesis 3:6. And at this point, mankind sinned by dis-obeying God.

However, God knew this would happen and already had a means to address this issue.  And we see this in our focus verse.  “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.” Genesis 3:15. Here begins the judgement. 

Sentence is pronounced upon the serpent in the presence, no doubt, of Adam and Eve. The serpent is not examined, first, because it is a dumb unreasoning animal in itself, and therefore incapable of judicial examination, and it was the serpent only that was palpable to the senses of our first parents in the temptation; and, secondly, because the true tempter was not a new, but an old offender.  Yes, the serpent itself was punished. “The LORD God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.” Genesis 3:14. But then God moves on to pass sentence on Satan as well in our focus verse. Again, “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.” Genesis 3:15.

The idea of ‘seed’ refers to descendants or offspring.  This hostility is not just between the snake and the woman in the garden but applies to all demons/evil offspring and the specific future offspring from a woman.  Notice there is no reference to a man here, therefore this no doubt refers to a woman who has a child apart from a man, which could only be Jesus, the Messiah.  No doubt this is a prophecy of Jesus’ ultimate defeat of Satan. God announced that Satan would wound the Messiah “you shall bruise His heel”, but the Messiah would crush Satan with a mortal wound “He shall bruise your head”.  

It is the birth of the one, the only one, who could address our sins.  Jesus would live a perfect and sinless life so that He “could” pay the penalty for our sins.  The only one who can pay for another’s sins is one who has no sins to pay for.  Remember what Paul wrote to the Church in Rome.  “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.” Romans 3:21-25.  This is the reason for Christmas; for the Son of God to be born to a woman, be sinless, and then die for our sins.  And this is why we should be excited for Christmas, not necessarily for the gifts under the tree, but for the gift of God, Jesus, who would make it possible us to also become Children of the Father.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries.