Bruised Heel, Crushed Head

This picture is only a single sentence, but it yields a lot of valuable insight.   First, God’s immediate response after Satan persuades Adam and Eve to sin was to offer hope, in the form of condemnation for Satan.  God immediately promised that Sin and the serpent will not have the last word.  God will reverse sin and death, and destroy the serpent through Eve’s offspring.

Eve’s seed, or offspring, is looking into the far future to a specific person, which we can now recognize is God’s Messiah, or anointed one.  At that future time, Satan will try to finally win the battle but will only be able to strike Messiah’s heel; certainly painful, but not fatal.  The Messiah in turn will crush Satan’s head, which will prove fatal.  Even if Satan lingers for a while, his end is settled and sure.

It’s also noteworthy that Messiah is Eve’s seed, not Adam’s.  He is the offspring of Eve alone, not of any human father.  God was making it clear that he himself would be Jesus’ father.

The rest of the Bible lays out the story of God’s solution to the problem of evil, and his plan to redeem humanity and all of Creation.  And we aren’t just spectators in the battle against sin; Christians have a role to play as covenant partners in putting the world right again.  When we reorganize our lives according to God’s will, we frustrate Satan’s plans.

Takeaway from Genesis 3

The understanding and the pictures you hold onto from Genesis 3 will form a lens for how you read the rest of the Bible.  Portions are metaphorical and portions are literal, so it can take a few different forms.  Here’s my takeaway.

When Adam and Eve sinned, God’s reaction wasn’t anger and punishment.  I think it was sorrow.  Their sin had opened the door for the forces of evil to invade God’s good creation.  I think Adam and Eve could sense the change when they realized they were naked.  When God explained the extent of the changes that had just taken place in the world, that wasn’t his retribution; he was explaining what life subject to the forces of evil would be like.  But then God assured them that even though evil would be a constant source of pain and suffering for humanity, he would one day conquer the forces of evil at their source, and a descendant of Eve would be the one to lead us in taking back God’s creation and defeating evil forever.