These daily devotional readings accompany the Advent at Home guide prepared by the West Park Prayer Ministry Team. If you haven’t already, download the advent scripture reading schedule here.
Genesis 3:15
[15] 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.” (ESV)
This week we’ve looked at some tragic situations in God’s Word. The siege of Judah in Micah’s day. The list of fleshly deeds Christians can fall prey to in Romans 13. But the worst tragedy for people was also the first tragedy – the fall of mankind into sin and away from God. What hope could possibly come out of such tragedy?
In the earliest verses of Genesis 3, the man and the woman sin by eating the fruit God told them not to eat, then quickly experience the fear, blame-shifting, isolation, and arrogance that resulted from their disobedience. They had believed the lie of the snake, and they suffered for it.
God did not abandon them, and that is the first sign of hope. He pursued His disobedient children, judged them for their sin, and offered them a promise that their lives could still be redeemed. The promise occurs in verse 15, and it is sometimes called the protoevangelium, or “first gospel.”
God speaks to the snake in verse 15, judging it for misrepresenting Him to the people. The judgment is this: one day, a descendent of the woman would crush the head of the snake. Although the snake would damage the heal of the man, that man would deliver the death blow to the snake. There’s hope in that promise: hope that mankind would be delivered from the tyranny and fear of death. Hope that a deliverer would come to defeat the enemy.
In Hebrews 2:14–15 we read the New Testament fulfillment of that promise in Genesis 3:15. It tells us that Jesus the Christ in His first advent came to deliver us from the power of the snake.
[14] 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, [15] and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. (ESV)
Admittedly, the battle still goes on today as we fight in the current spiritual war. But our hope today is based on the victory the Lord Jesus won over Satan when Jesus died on the cross. We can rejoice in the battle that our enemy’s head has been crushed. He can’t go on for much longer in his rage against God’s church. The promise you can hold on to today is Romans 16:20 “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” (ESV)
