“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:15)

It is the first promise in Scripture which would lead us to the coming of a Messiah, to the coming of Christ. God addresses the serpent who had deceived Eve. Here the promise is made that a descendant of Eve will crush the serpent’s head. A crushed head is a fatal blow. The strike of a poisonous snake is also a fatal blow when he strikes the heel. Here is a picture of the cross, Jesus would die for our sins and at the same time defeat the deception of the serpent.

The deception of the serpent was to tell Eve that God had not told them the truth. God had said, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” (Genesis 2:16-17) The serpent would then tell Eve, “You will not certainly die,” . . .. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4,5) Eve’s eyes were opened and she now understood evil for the first time as she had acted on the lie of the serpent. Now she felt shame for the first time. Before their sin they had not known shame. “Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.” (Genesis 2:25) Now they realized their nakedness and began to cover up and hide when they heard God in the Garden. This was the beginning of the wages of sin. “For the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23a)

Now one born of woman comes to crush the serpent head. And not just any woman, but a woman who was a virgin. Luke tells us of the encounter of God with Mary as she will be the virgin to give birth to the promise God made in the garden. “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. . .. For no word from God will ever fail.” (Luke 1:35,37) The promise is fulfilled as the Son of God who is born of a woman. Therefore, also, the Son of Man has come to die from the fatal blow of sin. He then overcame death by His resurrection from the dead. This is why Jesus came: to win the victory over death. He will take the wages of sin and overcome them by rising from the dead. Through this victory He is able to offer life to all who come to Him by faith. This is God’s gift offered to all who come. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

It all started because of a lie from the serpent. Jesus would say concerning the devil, “He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44) We are also reminded, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12) Jesus has come to give us life in Him. Then He will give us the Holy Spirit, who will reveal to us what is true. “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. (John 16:13a)

The struggles today are just like they were in the garden. The serpent offers his lies, which sound good, yet they lead to death. God offers us truth which will provide for us life and show us what is good. Now we know there is good and evil. We also know that God keeps His promises as He personally became one of us, to show us the way back to an abiding and eternal relationship with Him. This is why Jesus the Christ came to us, born of woman and the Son of God.

In the Love of Jesus,

Michael Block