A Bruised Head (Genesis 3:15)

 


Thursday, January 16, 2025


Psalm 38

Genesis 3:1-19

John 7:1-13


A Bruised Head (Genesis 3:15)


Our fairy-tale setting, of the idyllic Garden of Eden in the age of innocence, has come crashing down. But it is not from a barbarian invader or natural disaster; rather, a comedy of errors has what has spoiled God’s good creation.


Note the question of questions, the sin of sins, as spoken by the serpent: “Did God really say?” That is the same question he asks today. And then, lying about what God really meant – nothing has changed, the enemy is using the same playbook.


Adam, responsible for Eve, instead submits to her. He does what he should not, sin begets sin, and he eats. Then they are given the opportunity to confess and repent, but Adam plays (and loses) the blame game. The magic Garden has become a memorial to a tragedy.


Yet in the midst of the tragedy, the gospel of Jesus shines through in what the scholars have dubbed the “proto-Gospel”: the offspring of the woman will bruise the head of the serpent. One day, there will be one born of Eve who is this one that God has spoken of, and the serpent will try and fight him and nip at his heels, but in vain: his head will be crushed, and his villainy ended. Adam and Eve will spend the remainder of their earthly lives waiting for this child; they will have faith in God to save them by his Messiah.


With creation, the Garden and the Fall, we have everything set up for the rest of human history to follow. We know what was, and what happened, and what God promised would yet happen. We also know who this offspring is, and just how glorious his head-crushing was. And one day, the work will be complete, and we will be in a state and in a place even more wonderful than Adam and Eve were in before they ate the fruit.


Do you hear the serpent and his offspring lying to you today? How will you combat his lies?


God of promise and rescue: guard my spirit against the lies of the serpent and his offspring. Keep me safe in Jesus’ protection, so that I may live the wonderful life you always intended for me.

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