When God created Adam and Eve, the relationship of God with man was perfect. God placed the man in the most wonderful and beautiful garden. Adam and Eve were placed in that garden to live and preserve it (Gen. 2:15). Man had enjoyed communion with God. Nevertheless it was in this same garden, the Lord had given a test to mankind in order to affirm their permanent holiness. What was the test? The Test is found in Gen. 2:16-17, “the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” God gave them the freewill, the freedom to obey or reject God’s will. In other words, before the fall of man, man could obtain salvation through his obedience to the commandments of the Lord. This is commonly called the covenant of works. Man must work in order to obtain salvation. Thus it was with this purpose God gave this test.
The condition of man as being a perfect man did not last long. Shortly after he was put into the garden, Satan tempted Eve to disobey the commandment of the Lord. The subtlety of the serpent used by Satan to tempt our first parents had caused to doubt on the Word and promise of God. God forbade them to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge good and evil. Adam and Eve must have understood that, as Shaw said, "Their abstaining from the tree of knowledge was the criterion, by which their fidelity was to be tried, and their eating of the fruit of that tree was a violation of the whole law; for it was rebellion against the Lawgiver, and a renunciation of his authority."
This implied that when God gave the test to our first parents, it required the absolute obedience to Him. Adam and Eve must have clearly understood the consequences of disobedience to the Lord. Nevertheless, when Satan cast doubt on the Word of God given to Adam and Eve, Eve took the first action to respond the serpent (Gen. 3:1-3).
As a result of this confrontation, Eve was seduced by the subtlety of the serpent. When Eve “saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat” (Gen. 3:6). The freedom God gave to man was abused. They did not have the perfect rectitude anymore. The promise of Satan was fulfilled. Their eyes had opened to know good and evil (Gen. 3:5) from their own wicked perspective. Thus the moment they had eaten the fruit of the tree of knowledge good and evil they realised their wickedness and fear entered their hearts (Gen. 3:8).
When Adam fell into sin, the whole human race fell at the same time because Adam was the representative of all men (Rom. 5:12). As a result of Adam’s disobedience “the serpent was cursed, the earth was cursed, and man likewise came under the curse.” The relationship of man with God was not as in the Garden of Eden. Nevertheless it was during the annunciation of the curse to the serpent, God gave the promise of the coming Messiah (Gen. 3:15). As Hengstenberg rightly remarked, "The promise of the Messiah, given immediately after the fall, as it is the first, so is it also the most indefinite. Opposed to the fearful threatening stands the consoling promise, that the reign of sin and its consequent evils should not last forever; that posterity of the woman should one day gain the victory over their dreaded conqueror."
Gen. 3:15 says, “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.” This verse is commonly called “Protevangelium.” Bible-believing scholars agree to this statement because God had given the promise to our first parents the coming Saviour who would save the sinners from their sins (cf. Rom. 5:19). Although God condemned mankind for that terrible sin they had done, the Lord still showed His mercy. As Kligerman said, “In the darkest hour of human history, God’s promise of ultimate victory brought comfort and cheer. This, then, the first Messianic promise, the promise of the utter destruction of the serpent who is responsible for the ruination of mankind.”
At this juncture, it is necessary to ask this question, how is it that Gen. 3:15 becomes the first gospel preached by God? Looking at Gen. 3:15 closely, it is clear that this verse is part of the pronouncing of the curse given to the serpent. The Lord said to the serpent “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed” (Gen. 3:15a). The serpent was the representative of Satan. Thus when God cursed the serpent before Adam and Eve, God actually was cursing Satan. Clowney said, “The serpent was judged…. Though Eve had made herself the friend of Satan and the enemy of God, God would reverse the situation. He would put the enmity not between God and man but between man and Satan.”
It is important to understand that the context of this verse tells us that the enmity is not between the seed of Satan and the seed of the man, but between the seed of Satan and the seed of the woman. In the Scripture, the word “seed” is used to describe the offspring of posterity. In the case of Gen. 3:15, the phrase “her seed” denotes her posterity, including the Messiah, the greatest of all her descendants. He is the Seed (Gal. 3:19), who came with the purpose to destroy totally the works of the Devil (Heb. 2:14). According to Kligerman, the coming of the greatest Seed of the woman involves, “(1) restore to man the Creator’s moral image, (2) restore communion and fellowship with God, (3) remove the curse from man’s heritage, (4) conquer death in behalf of all mankind.”
We notice that the word ‘seed’ in Gen. 3:15 is in the singular form. This implies that the seed of Satan is referring to Satan himself and the seed of the woman is referring to the coming Messiah, the Saviour of the world. Nevertheless there is no doubt, in the light of the New Testament Scriptures that the seed can be understood in the spiritual sense. The seed of Satan consists of unbelievers and the seed of the woman refers to the spiritual seeds namely those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. But the context of this verse demands only one meaning, that the seed of the woman that the Lord had promise, only refers to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah.
The second part of Gen. 3:15 says, “it shall bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise his heel.” Who shall bruise the head of Satan? Can the descendants of Adam crush the head of Satan? Definitely not, only Christ can. Though this prophecy was given to our first parents thousands of years before Christ came to this world, the Lord had already shown His mercy toward mankind. He knew that after the fall, no one could please God with his own merit, but merely by the merit of the Lord Jesus Christ through His death on the cross. However, the Scriptures recorded that in the process of crushing the head of Satan, Satan himself was permitted to crush the heel of the Lord Jesus Christ. This refers to the death of Jesus Christ. On the other hand, Christ would crush the head of Satan through His resurrection from death. Satan was “destroyed and ruined at last by the great Redeemer, signified by the bruising of his head; his subtle politics shall be all baffled, his usurped power entirely crushed.” Furthermore, Clarke said, "… and this alone, is what is implied in the promise of the seed of the woman bruising the head of the serpent. Jesus Christ died to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, and to destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil. Thus he bruises his head destroys his power and lordship over mankind, turning them from the power of Satan unto God (Acts 26:18). And Satan bruises his heel God so ordered it, that the salvation of man could only be brought about by the death of Christ; and even the spiritual seed of our blessed Lord have the heel often bruised, as they suffer persecution, temptation etc., which may be all that is intended by this part of the prophecy."
Adam understood clearly the meaning of this prophecy. He knew that through the seed of Eve, He would come to bruise the head of Satan. For this reason, Adam honoured Eve by calling her the mother of all living, because through her seed the Saviour would come to save sinners (Gen. 3:20). Thus, Gen. 3:15 is absolutely a prophecy of the first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to this world. Paul understood that the fulfilment of this prophecy was according to the appointed time given by the Lord. As he said in Gal. 4:4-5 “But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the Law, To redeem them that were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” Satan was crushed at Calvary and defeated when Christ rose again from the dead. In Rev. 20:1-5 is recorded that when Christ returns, Satan will be in submission to Him.
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