“He shall bruise your head” was God’s promise to the serpent after Adam and Eve fell into sin (Genesis 3:15). Those words were also a promise to the man and woman. At some future point in time, the snake (Satan) and the “Seed” (Christ) of the woman would engage in a battle to the death.

Because of Adam’s disobedience, all his descendants would inherit his sin nature. Through his one rebellious act, sin entered the perfect creation of God and produced physical and spiritual death, which spread to all people (Romans 5:12). There was no death in God’s creation before Adam sinned. The first bloodshed was executed by God Himself. Genesis 3:21 records, “the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.” What a beautiful picture of what was to come! An innocent animal was killed to provide covering for the shame of nakedness that they couldn’t effectively hide by their own work. The fulfillment of God’s promise of a future struggle is revealed in this sacrificial death. The drama of that promise would climax in a spectacle on a lonely hill outside a great city in the distant future. Until then, the man, the woman, and their many descendants on the earth would have to live with the promise. Those who believed and looked forward to its fulfillment were credited with righteousness (Genesis 15:6). The man and the woman had to leave the garden of Eden. If they remained, it would have been possible to eat the fruit from the tree of life and live forever (Genesis 3:22). But it would have been an existence lived within the consequences of sin. In His infinite grace and love, God gave them a way of escape from the cursed life of sorrow, pain and toil. Death was the Creator’s loving act of mercy for those who believed His promise. It gave them passage from misery into blessing when that promise was fulfilled. (to be continued)

Sin cera, Erik

Erik O. Garthe is Associate Pastor at Canton Baptist Church in Baltimore, Maryland.

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