Did you know the Gospel was first preached by God? He proclaimed the good news to the first man and woman right after they sinned (Read Genesis 3:1-15)?
Most people understand the big idea in Genesis 3. There, we have Adam and Eve sinning against their Creator. Due to the temptation of Satan, the prohibition not to eat from the forbidden tree was violated. Consequently, man’s relationship with God, himself, and the world in which we live has been corrupted. But, as is customary of our Lord, God did not leave the man and woman in their sin. Rather, He gave them good news. He promised a deliverer.
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).
By his deception, the Devil was not only capable of bringing sin into the world, but he was even able to cause man to obey him and not the Lord—causing enmity between God and man. It would appear that Satan had succeeded in turning God’s image bearers against Him. Ever since he was cast out of Heaven, this has been Satan’s goal—to ruin the Kingdom and frustrate the will of God. Now, he has the first man and woman serving him and defying the Lord.
So, has he won? Not at all, because God pronounces judgment upon Satan. The Lord judged him when He threw him out of Heaven with a 1/3 of the angels and He is judging him now in Genesis 3:15.
How does he do it? How does he judge him? He reverses the enmity. Look back at verse 15. The Lord says to Satan, “I will put enmity between your offspring and the woman’s offspring.” The Lord is promising, despite Satan’s deceptive work in turning man against God, that He will reverse the enmity the Devil caused and make the woman’s offspring at enmity with Satan’s offspring.
What is God saying? He’s saying there are going to be two types of people in the world. There will be people in this world who are have been so transformed that they will not only love God, but they will hate the Devil. That’s what enmity means—deep animosity, and that’s what Christianity is, isn’t it? Aren’t we the people who love God and hate Satan? That was promised back in Genesis 3. These transformed people will be delivered from Satan’s deception. They won’t, like Eve, distrust God’s word. They will love God’s word and obey it. And the hostility caused by man’s first act of disobedience will be put away. On the other hand, there will also be people who hate God and love the Devil. Who’s that? That’s the world. That’s everyone who doesn’t submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. They are the offspring of Satan.
So, the history of the world then, can be summarized as a conflict between the offspring of the woman (the redeemed) and the offspring of Satan (the world). If you want an example of this, turn over to chapter 4 where you will see Cain (offspring of Satan) kill his brother, Abel (offspring of the woman). The history of the Jewish nation can be characterized as God’s people vs. Satan. Why do you think when Jesus was born Herod killed all the little boys two years old and younger? Satan has been trying to blot out the promised Messiah ever since He was predicted. The same can be seen today with all the hostility towards Christianity.
But, it isn’t the whole of the woman’s offspring that would defeat Satan. It’s just one offspring. Look back at the text. V.15— “he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” So we’ve just went from the offspring (plural) to “he (singular) shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heal.” So there will be enmity between the woman’s offspring and the serpent’s offspring, but there will be one man who will deal the decisive blow to Satan. We know, as we trace this promised offspring through the OT, it is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ.
The seed of the woman will defeat Satan. John MacArthur notes, “This is the only place in the Bible where it talks about a seed of a woman. It talks a lot about seed of men, because the seed is in the man; it’s not in the woman. But there was One born without a human father, and the seed was in the woman. And that is the virgin-born Christ, the Son of God. He is the only human who was not produced by the seed of a man. The only time a woman had the seed of her own. He is virgin-born.”
Satan’s decisive blow came when the eternal son of God took on flesh and sacrificed Himself upon the cross. “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14). Christ took on flesh so that He might die a sacrificial death and thereby destroy the Satan.
How did His death destroy the Devil? Christ’s death took away from him the only power he had against believers and that was their sin. Colossians 2 says, He cancelled “the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This (the record of death) he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.” God triumphed over Satan through the death of Christ. Satan used to be able to stand before God, hold up the list of your sins and say they’re mine. They deserve to go to Hell with me. He knew that God’s justice demanded that sin be paid for. But Christ has taken our debt out of Satan’s hands. So, Satan’s deception in Genesis 3 has been conquered by the cross of Christ.
The whole of human history since the fall of the first man and woman has been moving towards a climactic event when God would save His people from their sins through the offspring promised in the beginning. Now, on this side of the cross, we are moving toward another appointed end, whereby the offspring of the woman will return and He will bring with Him the sword of final judgment upon the offspring of Satan. By doing so He will save the offspring of the woman forever and restore God’s creation back to its original, undefiled state where Jesus Christ will reign as King and Lord.
This week’s devotional was written by Brandon Sutton. He is married to Sherrie and they have a baby daughter, Emma. He is also the lead pastor at Blue Ridge Christian Union Church outside of Shelbyville, Indiana and executive director of The Grace House, a men’s recovery home. He is currently pursuing his Master of Divinity degree at Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.
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