1. God promised there would be unseen warfare with the redeemer (3:15a—And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed…)
2. God promised there would be ultimate victory by the redeemer (3:15b—…it shall bruise thy head…)
3. God promised there would be undeserved suffering for the redeemer (3:15c—…and thou shalt bruise his heel.)
GENESIS 3:15
This verse picks up right in the middle of God’s curse on creation. Let’s set the stage for what led up to this point. In six days, God created everything. He spoke everything into existence from nothing. On the sixth day, as the capstone of His creation, God created man. Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” Over in chapter two it breaks that verse into a little more detail. God created Adam first and then performed the first surgery. The Bible says He fashioned Eve from Adam’s rib—literally, a piece of his side. God gave Eve to Adam as a helpmeet—a partner in all things. But He also gave him responsibility for her. God gave Adam His commands and Adam was responsible to teach those commands to his household. To his wife. To Eve. He was responsible for her obedience. And as we all know, she was disobedient. She fell for the lie of Satan when he told her that if she ate the fruit, her eyes would be opened and she would be like God. So, she ate. And not only did she eat, she gave it to Adam and he willingly ate. Many times Eve gets a bad rap, but Adam was the one who was responsible. As part of God’s created order of things, Adam was supposed to lead his family in the ways God had commanded. But he shirked that responsibility. He gave his headship up to Eve. Instead of Adam leading Eve in the righteousness of God’s command, he allowed Eve to lead him in falling for Satan’s lie. Now, Eve had a free will just like Adam did. She was accountable for her own choices in taking the fruit. She was accountable, but Adam was responsible. And because Adam, as the father of all mankind sinned, all mankind had to pay the price. That should say something to us, men. God ordered us to be head of our families for a reason. Not to be the boss. Not to lord our headship over our wives. But to lead them in God’s righteousness. And when we fail to do what God has called us to do, our whole posterity can pay the price. Just like we have because Adam failed to lead Eve in God’s righteousness. Instead, he chose to follow her in rebellion. So, what was their rebellion? Even though God had created Adam and Eve in His image, that wasn’t enough. They recognized that God was God and they weren’t. God is autonomous and they weren’t. God set the rules, they were to obey them. But that wasn’t good enough. Satan told them that they could be like God—literally, they could be gods just like God. They could be their own boss. In 1875, an agnostic named William Ernest Henley published a poem that sums up that kind of attitude. It’s called Invictus:
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
June 11, 2001, Timothy McVey, the home-grown terrorist who bombed the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was executed. His final statement to the world was this poem. As he faced his executioner, he still wanted the same thing Adam and Eve wanted. To be master of his own fate—captain of his own soul. That’s what McVey wanted, because that’s what all mankind wants. Ever since that first sin in the Garden, mankind has tried to be master of his own fate and captain of his own soul. God knew that. And because of His love for mankind, He made us a promise. Immediately after the sin had been committed. In the middle of pronouncing judgment on mankind as a result of that sin. Because He loves us, God promised a redeemer. As we look at this verse tonight, I want us to recognize the promises God made concerning Jesus as our redeemer. And as a result of that, I want us to worship His as our Savior. In order to do that, we’re going to look at three promises God made concerning Jesus as our redeemer. First, God promised there would be unseen warfare with the redeemer.
GENESIS 3:15a
God promised there would be unseen warfare with the redeemer. God promised enmity. How strange is that? The word translated enmity brings to mind personal hostility, rancor, intense hatred—warfare. How does that fit with the promise of a redeemer? Because look where God is putting the warfare. First, He’s putting enmity between the serpent and the woman. Now, this doesn’t mean that God made women afraid of snakes. God is using the scene that was right in front of Adam and Eve to speak of the big picture. The serpent had been used as an instrument of Satan, so when God spoke of the serpent here, He was talking about Satan. Also, this was a prophesy. As such, when God spoke of the woman, He wasn’t just talking about Eve. He was talking about all who would come from her. So, basically, what God is saying here is that He has put warfare between Satan and mankind. So, what was new about that? Satan obviously already hated mankind. He knew from experience that God wouldn’t put up with His creation trying to put themselves on an equal plane with Him. After all, that’s what got him cast out of heaven. The Bible says that Lucifer was filled with pride and wanted to be like the Most High. So God cursed him and cast him out of heaven. Satan knew that if he could get Adam and Eve to want to be like the Most High, God would curse them as well. He tempted them because he hated them. He hated them because they were created in the image of God. And he hated God because he wanted to be God. So there wasn’t anything new about the enmity between Satan and man. Satan declared war on man from the first second that God created him. So what was new in this promise? God promised that man would now declare war on Satan. He would give man a disdain and hatred for sin and Satan. That sounds strange, knowing the way the world is, doesn’t it? But not if you think about it. See, the world knows that some things are right and some things are wrong. Society knows it’s wrong to get liquored up and beat your wife. Society knows what Timothy McVey did was wrong. The lie from Satan is that we can do something about our sin apart from God. That we are the masters of our own fate—the captain of our own souls. The sin and devastation we see all around us is evidence of the warfare from Satan on us. It’s the fallout, but God prophesied an unseen way to return the fire. He promised an advocate Who would fight the spiritual warfare on our behalf. That is what He meant when He said He would place enmity between the serpent’s seed and the woman’s seed. There are several different levels on which this statement is true. But it is ultimately and completely fulfilled in Jesus Christ. The serpent’s seed is the fruit of his lies, deception, and temptation. The sin and devastation all around us. But the woman’s seed would stand against it. The woman’s seed would be the advocate who fights to redeem mankind against the enemy in unseen spiritual warfare. Notice the Bible says “the woman’s seed.” Biologically, that is impossible. Woman doesn’t have seed. Never has, never will. Seed always comes from men. Except once. Only one time in history has a child been born without benefit of the seed of man. That is the One who was born as the woman’s seed. The One who was born of the woman who conceived of the Holy Spirit—Jesus Christ. Right in the middle of cursing mankind for the sin of Adam and Eve, God promised a redeemer. A redeemer born of a virgin. A redeemer who would engage in unseen warfare with our adversary. Our adversary the devil. That serpent of old, Satan himself. But God didn’t just promise enmity. He didn’t just declare the war. He promised there would be ultimate victory by the redeemer.
GENESIS 3:15a-b
God promised there would be ultimate victory by the redeemer. God promises there will be a battle. He promises there will be enmity. But He also declares victory. Back before Super Bowl III, Broadway Joe Namath guaranteed his Jets would win. It was big news and people thought he was arrogant. He was—but he backed it up. But guaranteeing a win in a football game is nothing compared to the victory God guaranteed. God guaranteed victory over Satan in the same verse He declared the war. He said it—the woman’s seed, Jesus Christ—shall bruise thy head. Bruise sounds so sensitive and delicate, doesn’t it? What that word really means is crush or batter repeatedly and unmercifully. God promised that Jesus would crush Satan’s head. Satan’s head was crushed when Jesus emerged victorious from the tomb that first Easter morning. But Satan is like a snake in so many ways. Have you ever killed a snake? I hate snakes. As a matter of fact, I’m a snake-o-phobic. I’ve been known to run over one on the road, then stop and back up to make sure it’s dead. But not too long after we moved in the house, my son found a snake out by the dog pen. We were keeping my mother’s dog at the time, so I got to be big brave Dad and go kill the snake. It was a little snake, but I made sure and got the longest handled shovel I could find. I performed my duty well, and chopped that thing’s head off. The thing about that snake was, it was dead. But I guess it didn’t know it. That little head opened up its mouth real big like it was really going to bite me. And its body was wriggling and flipping around like it was in a hurry to go somewhere. It was ready to do some damage. Python snakes wrap themselves around their victims and crush them to death. They say that if you cut off a python’s head, it actually crushes its victim tighter. Here in Genesis 3:15, God told Satan, “your days are numbered.” He told him, “My Son—the seed of the woman—will crush your head.” So Satan spent his time trying to eliminate the seed of the woman. He started by provoking Cain to kill Able. When God promised that His seed would come from Abraham, Satan attacked Abraham’s family. When God promised that His seed would come from the line of Judah, Satan attacked Judah. When God promised that His seed would come from the line of David, Satan attacked him. That’s the whole history of Israel. We won’t go through the whole Old Testament, but that’s what Satan was doing. God told him his head would be crushed by the seed of the woman, so he was trying to eliminate her seed. Then the seed came. Jesus was born. And He crushed Satan’s head. When He rose from the grave, He won the victory over Satan. He crushed his head. But just like that snake in my yard, he still thinks he’s alive. And just like that headless python, his crushing grip of sin seems to be getting tighter and tighter. He’s dead, he just doesn’t know it yet. But he’ll know it one of these days. Revelation 20:10 says, “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” One of these days, that old deceiving serpent will deceive no more. What a glorious day that will be when all of God’s enemies are cast down. There will be no sin and will be no more temptation to sin. Evil will be done away with in eternal punishment. Nothing will tarnish God’s glory. What a day that will be. A day of ultimate victory. But that victory didn’t come without a price. And it was a price none of us could pay. In order that God could promise ultimate victory by the redeemer, He had to promise there would be undeserved suffering for the redeemer.
GENESIS 3:15a-c
God promised there would be undeserved suffering for the redeemer. Once again, that word for bruise is crush or batter. In His prophesy, God lets Adam and Eve know that His victory over their sin would come with a price. He tells them that the woman’s seed would suffer painful wounds because of their sin. And then He showed them what it would look like. Look with me a few verses down in verse 21:
GENESIS 3:21
To cover their nakedness. To cover the guilt and shame of their sin… God shed blood. Adam and Eve had never seen death. They had never seen pain. They had never seen blood. But God inflicted pain on an innocent animal. An animal that had, just a few verses earlier, come before Adam for him to name. An animal that now lay cold, dead and bleeding before them. Sacrificed to provide them a covering for their shame. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death.” Adam and Eve saw the wages of their sin that day. They saw that the only thing that could provide a covering for their sin and shame was the shed blood of an innocent sacrifice. God graphically showed them a picture of what He promised them would happen in the future—Satan would crush the redeemer’s heel. Jesus Christ allowed Himself to be crushed by Satan on the cruel cross of Calvary. He was beaten beyond recognition. He was humiliated and hung naked on a hill for everyone to see. They spit on Him and mocked Him and ridiculed Him. He did all that to be our redeemer. Our redeemer that fights the unseen warfare. Our redeemer that secured the ultimate victory. And our redeemer that endured the undeserved suffering. And all it did was crush His heel. Yes, Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death.” But it goes on to say, “but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Jesus is our redeemer. He is our Savior. But just like Adam and Eve had to put those skins on, we have to put on the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior. Have you done that this evening?
