Genesis 3:15

In Christ Jesus, Whose Coming We Await, Dear Christian Friends,

The special midweek services we are once again having at this time of year serve a very special purpose. They are meant to draw our attention to many of the Old Testament prophecies so that we can see how they were fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. These prophecies speak of the “advent” or “coming” of our Savior. Tonight’s text provides the very first advent promise, the first gospel message recorded in Scripture, the first time the Bible refers to the one who would deliver fallen mankind from sin.

This initial advent announcement was rather vague and mysterious, but so were many of the promises which would follow over the years. But little by little, the Lord used simpler language in his promises. It was as if he was painting a picture for the people, and each promise provided yet another detail of what to expect from their coming Savior. Finally the picture was complete, and there could be no mistake when it came to seeing Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Son of Mary, as the one in whom all the promises of God were fulfilled.

Tonight let’s begin our meditations on the promises of our coming Lord by going back to the beginning, to the days of the first paradise in Eden. We take as our theme this evening:

“Advent Announced”

I. The advent of the woman’s Seed

II. The advent of our Redeemer

The first advent announcement was made to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They had been created by God in perfect righteousness and holiness. He gave them a beautiful home in which to live, a splendid garden which they were to keep. To show their love for him, the Lord asked one thing of Adam and Eve. They could eat fruit from every tree in the garden, except for one–the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

For a time (we’re not told how long) Adam and Eve lived in perfect bliss and happiness. But then God and man’s enemy, the fallen angel called the devil, entered the picture. After rebelling against God and being cast out of heaven, Satan had taken as his mission to do as much harm to God’s creation as possible. So he naturally set out to destroy God’s greatest creation–mankind. And he succeeded. He caused Adam and Eve to doubt God’s word, and he led them to eat of the forbidden fruit. Man did what God said not to do. Sin entered the world. Man had fallen.

The relationship between God and man had been shattered (Ge 3:8,11), “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden….And he said,’…Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?’” Sin’s results were painfully obvious right from the start, as we hear both Adam and Eve try to pass the blame on to someone else (Ge 3:12,13), “The man said, ‘The woman you put here with me–she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.’ Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’”

These excuses didn’t get Adam and Eve off the hook. Their sentencing would soon follow. But first the Lord delivers a blow to the serpent (Ge 3:14), “Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.” And then we shift to our text–a curse for Satan himself, but a promise of hope for man (v 15), “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.” “Enmity” or “hatred” would dwell between the woman’s Offspring and that of the devil. Satan and his power would be crushed, and mankind would be delivered.

Let’s take a closer look at the meaning of this first advent announce­ment. This “hatred” between the serpent and man was more than just a natural aversion that we hold toward snakes. That certainly seems part of the serpent’s curse, when it was stated that the snake would be “cursed…above all the livestock and wild animals” (Ge 3:14). But the serpent was only the tool used in the temptation. The real culprit was Satan himself (1 Jn 3:8), “He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning.” Jesus himself calls the devil a murderer and a liar, even the father of all lies. The serpent is the devil, and his offspring is sin and all of its deadly consequences.

The woman mentioned is Eve herself. But now a new beginning would come from the very one whom Satan had corrupted. The one who had introduced the transgres­sion of mankind would now introduce the redemption of mankind. This would be accomplished through her Offspring. This isn’t a reference to Seth or Enoch, to Noah or Abraham, to Judah, David, or even the Virgin Mary. These were certainly the offspring of a woman, but they were also offspring of a man. Eve’s Offspring would be “conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.” The Offspring spoken of in our text would have no human father (Isa 7:14), “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” The Angel Gabriel explained to Mary how this miraculous event would take place (Lk 1:35), “The Holy Spirit will come upon 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.” God himself would be the child’s father. Jesus Christ would be the woman’s Offspring, but he would be the very Son of God.

I want you to take note of how quickly God made his advent announcement to Adam and Eve. There was no delay. There was no instantaneous destruc­tion. There were no second thoughts. Immediately after they had sinned God had a plan to save them, a plan of love and mercy. He knew exactly what Adam and Eve needed–the same thing that we need today: a Savior from sin!

That Savior was Jesus, the Seed of the woman, but also the very Son of God. He would come as promised to complete God’s mission, to buy us back from the devil who won us over to his side through the fall into sin. Jesus would come to be our Redeemer.

That Redeemer is the one being referred to in our text (v 15), “He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” The “head” is a symbol of life and strength. If you crush the head of a snake, his power has been eliminated. Christ would meet Satan head-on. He would endure his many temptations without ever slipping up even once. He would battle him all the way to the cross, where Satan’s hold on mankind was finally vanquished. There Jesus atoned for mankind. He made us “at one” with God again by delivering us from having to share with Satan in the wages of sin. Jesus came to disrupt the devil’s nightmarish plan for mankind (1 Jn 3:8), “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” And he succeeded!

The devil’s counterattack did little damage to our Redeemer (v 15), “You will strike his heel.” Jesus had to suffer bitterly for our sins, even suffering death on a cross. Satan did strike his heel. When you step on a snake’s head, you could be bitten in the heel. But the heel doesn’t contain any vital organs. The injury didn’t prevent Jesus from accomplishing his mission. As a matter of fact, Jesus used his death as the very means for crushing the power of the devil (Heb 2:14,15), “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death–that is, the devil–and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” The prophecy was fulfilled, and our redemption is secure.

Let us never underestimate what our Redeemer has done for us. He stood in for us. He gave mankind another chance, a new beginning, by nullifying the fall into sin. Christ has ended mankind’s fall (Ro 10:4), “Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.” He robbed the devil of his control over us. As the hymn-writer says it (TLH 192:4), “Now hell, its prince, the devil, Of all their pow’r are shorn; Now I am safe from evil, And sin I laugh to scorn. Grim Death with all his might Cannot my soul affright; He is a pow’rless form, Howe’er he rave and storm.”

It’s through faith that you and I share in the victory of our Lord. Adam and Eve did. When Eve’s first son was born, she proclaimed (Ge 4:1), “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.” Many believe that Eve mistakenly thought that this first child would be the promised Redeemer. Nevertheless, we can see how they both took comfort and believed in God’s advent announcement.

It’s also that same faith that helps us resist the devil and his temptations. A crushed snake can still move and frighten those who get too close. So also the devil can still trouble the followers of Jesus when we stray too far from our Lord. In his Reformation hymn Martin Luther reminds us of this fact (CW 200:3), “This world’s prince may still Scowl fierce as he will,” and his scowl can be very fierce indeed! But the verse continues (CW 200:3), “He can harm us none. He’s judged; the deed is done!” We have the antidote for the poison of sin (CW 200:3), “One little word can fell him.” And that word is Jesus!

The devil still can make life miserable for us as we live in a world of sin. We are daily tempted to stray within his reach, to let go of our Savior and give in to his temptations. That’s why it’s so important to hang on to your Redeemer! Keep looking to Jesus! Keep looking to the one who makes our final deliverance a reality (Ro 16:20), “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” That final deliverance will come at the second “advent” of our Redeemer, when he arrives in glory to cast the devil and his angels into hell for good where they will never be able to touch the saints of God again. Until then let us pray (CW 28:5,6):

Crush for me the serpent’s head That set free from doubt and dread,

I may cling to you in faith, Safely kept through life and death,

And, when you shall come again As a glorious king to reign,

I with joy may see your face, Freely ransomed by your grace.

Amen

–Rev Jonathan Rockhoff