Sunday, 3 August 2008

The First Prophecy Concerning the Lord Jesus Christ

Soon after the fall of man, as recorded in Genesis 3:1-13 the Lord knew that there would be no mere man who can earn salvation by his own good works. God knew the heart and ability of man that there was no way in which man could please God. The fall of man has brought curses to all mankind and no one will spare (ref. Genesis 3:14-21). What it was recorded in Genesis 3:1-13 was the proof in the human history that Satan successfully won over Adam through Eve and the serpent. Although serpent was seen in this scenario but Satan was behind the serpent to achieve his purpose to deceive Adam and Eve.

However, though Adam and Eve have disobeyed God, the Lord was still merciful to them. In Genesis 3:21 we read “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats skins and clothed them.” In order to clothe them, the Lord has to kill the animal and make the skins to be their clothes. This is to say that there was the shed blood of the animal in that time which symbolised that Adam and Eve were covered from the sins by symbolic innocent blood which was pointing to the blood of Jesus Christ. Thus it was after the fall of man, when God pronounced the curse to Satan, God predicted for the first time of the coming Saviour of the world (Gen. 3:15). Without the shedding blood of Him to cover the sins of man there will be no remission of sins. For this reason Genesis 3:15 is well known as the Proto-evangelion (the first gospel preached by God to mankind). Thus there is a need to study on this passage in order to understand the deeper meaning of the curse that God pronounce to Satan.

“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” (Genesis 3:15).

This verse can be considered as John 3:16 in the Old Testament because based on this verse alone clearly seen the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ preached to Adam and Eve by God Himself. Thus there are three things that need to be studied on this verse.

First, God said to Satan “I will put enmity between thee and the woman.” Based on this verse, the woman must have known that Satan is not her friend but enemy. The word ‘enmity’ in Hebrew can be meant as ‘personal enmity’ which break our relationship with God. Satan may appear very friendly and look like the angles of light but nevertheless we must understand that they are satanic truth. They deceive people with their own words and not following the truth of the Word of God (2 John 7-11).

Second, “and between thy seed (Satan’s) and her see.” The question is asked who is the seed of Satan? The answer is every unregenerate human being in the world. The moment we are conceived we are of Satan. Every baby born is unsaved, lost, and inherit human nature from the parents, grandfather and back to Adam. Just as David said, “in sin did my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5). This is to say that the sinful nature of every man did not come from the parents or from the neighbourhood influences but it was because of the fall of our first parents. Thus every ever born baby is unsaved including the first baby that ever born namely Cain. The New Testament said he is of the evil one who murdered his brother.

On the other hand everyone who has been born again is the seed of the woman. Thus there are two human races or groups of the people in the world namely those who are saved and walk in the light, and those who are lost and walk in darkness.

Third, “he shall bruise your head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Who is this ‘he’ mentioned in this verse? ‘He’ here is referring to the seed of the woman. Satan will be bruised by the seed of the woman, the ultimate seed, and the representative of all the saved people that ever lived namely Jesus Christ. However in the process of bruising the heel of Jesus Christ as happened on the cross by Satan through Judas Iscariot who helped to kill Jesus on the cross, Satan’s head had been bruised. “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world (Satan) be cast out” (John 12:31).
The fulfilment of Proto-evangelion

Having seen the exposition of Genesis 3:15 as described above, the questions again are raised. How do we know this verse is talking about Satan, Jesus, believer and unbelievers, for it does not say anything about them here? To answer this question it is important to know the manner in which God revealed the revelation in the Old Testament. What the Lord has mentioned in this verse is just a little seed which through centuries keep growing through the progressive revelation. And when the Bible finally completed (all 66 books), then we can look back and we may say with conviction that now we understand what God meant in the book of Genesis.

One of the text proofs in the New Testament concerning what the Lord has said in Genesis 3:15 found in Romans 16:20 “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.” This verse is saying that our God will bruise Satan under the feet of believers. In the kingdom age, Satan will be on the bottomless pit, because Jesus has bruised his head on the Calvary cross. However though Satan was already bruised his head, and yet he is still roaming around like a lion, seeking whom he may endeavour (1 Peter 5:8), but soon he will be cast out by the Lord and for a thousand years he will be bound (Revelation 2:1-2).

The question further is asked, how do we know the ancient serpent in Genesis 3 was really Satan? The answer is found in the last book of the complete revelation of God, the Bible. Revelation 12:9 says, “And the great dragon was cast, and old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” Truly the Lord has revealed to us in the book of Revelation what He meant in the book of Genesis.

How did we expect Adam and Eve to understand all these mentioned in Genesis 3:15? The answer is they believed God and what the Lord has told them. Just like Abraham, he was justified when “he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). Abraham did not know everything what we know today, but the Old Testament saint knew that the coming Saviour, the Messiah would die on their behalf to cleanse all their sins. Their faiths were looking forward for the Lamb of God that was going to be offered on the Calvary cross and what the Messiah would do for them. As for us, the New Testament saints who live after the death of Jesus Christ, we look back what the Lord Jesus Christ has done on the cross.

In the light of what the Lord told Adam and Eve in verse 20 of Genesis, “And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living,” Adam understood the meaning of the prophesy of God in Genesis 3:15. He knew that through the seed of Eve, would come the seed that would bruise the head of Satan, our enemy. For this reason, Adam honoured Eve by calling her the mother of all living because through her seed will come the Saviour to save us from our enemy. Adam and Eve might not know that this promised Messiah would come after thousands of years past, but they believed in God and what He has said that the promise would be fulfilled. Therefore right from the beginning, the Bible tells us that there will be a Saviour who will bruise the head of the Satan, though He himself suffered in the process.

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