Genesis- The Seed of the Woman

Photo Source:https://charlestinsley.wordpress.com/2013/08/26/genesis-315-the-protoevangelium/

Genesis 3:15
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.

Imagine you have just lost your most valuable possession for all eternity with seemingly no hope for recovering it. Maybe it's your car, your house, a piece of jewelry. On that fateful day about 6,000 years ago, Adam and Eve lost something much more valuable. They lost life in a perfect world. But even when all hope seemed lost, God gave them a glimmer of hope. That hope comes in the form of the protoevangelium.

The protoevangelium or "first gospel," is the name given to this verse as it is the first glimpse we see in the Bible which has a reference to the gospel and to the subject of our series, Jesus Christ.

One aspect scripture which we will study often as we go through much of the Old Testament is the Messianic Prophecies, or prophecies concerning the Messiah. Many of these will provide a basis for different books. This holds true for this verse as it contains 2 distinct Messianic Prophecies.

The first of these comes in the first part of the verse: "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed;" This is the first reference to the virgin birth. This prophecy is stated more clearly in Isaiah 7:14 

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Christ eventually fulfilled these prophecies. Mary miraculously conceived Jesus by the Power of the Holy Spirit. Luke 1:35a says,

And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee:

The second prophecy deals with Christ's role as the eventual defeater of Satan: it (the seed of the woman) shall bruise thy (the serpent's) head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Satan bruised Christ's heel when our Savior hung on Calvary's cross. But as we all know, Jesus did not stay dead. Now he awaits His return for the believers and His prophesied crushing of Satan.

Romans 16:20
And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

Revelation 20:10
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone...and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

I understand that this is all rather basic, but it is just the beginning of what I believe will be a great summer study in the Word of God.

Stay tuned for the next installment in this series, from the book of Exodus- Jesus as the Passover Lamb.