THE GOSPEL
ACCORDING TO GENESIS
When we think of
Genesis 3 we are prone to think of the first sin, the disobedience of Adam and
Eve, the descent of humankind and creation into a sinful existence marked with
suffering, wickedness and death. And we would be right in our summary of that
passage…for the most part.
What we
might miss is the presence of the gospel embedded in the story. There is a
subtle but heavy tone of good news that permeates this narrative. It may sound
ludicrous to say but it’s there. In the midst of God’s questioning of Adam and
Eve and his eventual sentencing of the conniving serpent and the guilty pair,
there is a glimmer of the plan of redemption.
One
verse that captures the essence of the gospel is John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his
one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have
eternal life.” This is easy to see; simple, direct and to the point as to
where our redemption is found.
However,
when I compare John 3:16 with Genesis 3:15, I see a common thread: “And I will put enmity between you and the
woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you
will strike his heel.”
Do you
see it? I know, it’s bizarre. How do you find the gospel, let alone John 3:16,
in God’s condemnation of a snake? Yet theologians call this protevangelium, or “the first gospel.”
And Augustine, reflecting on the glorious triumph of God through Christ over
sin, considered that we would never know the incredible love and mercy in the
heart of God if Adam had not sinned. He called it Felix culpa, (fortunate transgression).
So there
it is, the first key played in the musical score, the song of redemption, God’s
symphony. God was not surprised by man’s sinfulness; indeed, he was prepared
for it. For Peter wrote, “He was chosen before the creation of the world, but
was revealed in these last times for your sake,” (1 Peter 1:20). Now how does
that song go, this song that God began to sing? How did it start?
1. The Context – The Original Sin
Because Genesis 3:15 is so important to the history of
redemption we need to put it into context:
a) Time and Place
– We begin with the observation that this event took place at the dawn of human
history. Some will call this a biblical myth, that it was a story used for
teaching, but was not intended to be taken literally. While the talking serpent
is not something you see every day, I am going on the belief that this is an
historical event. One solid reason for this is that the NT writers treat it as
an historical event. Jesus is in the line of Adam and Paul speaks of Adam as a
real person.
In
Garden of Eden, at the dawn of creation, when everything was perfect, two
people were given a choice: trust and obey, or go your own way.
b) A serpent, a
woman, and a man – The story features that talking serpent coming to the
woman and planting ideas in her head. Why he chose the woman is unclear to the
reader. Perhaps it was because God’s command not to eat from a specific tree
was not given in her hearing; she only heard from the man that she should not
eat of it. The question on our mind’s then is, where was the man? But 3:6
reveals that when the woman gave some to her husband, “who was with her,” he
ate without question. Did he hear the whole conversation with the serpent and
say nothing?
c) Sin is born
– The most important detail in the context is that this is where sin began.
The
serpent’s strategy in this attack was to instill doubt and desire in the
woman’s heart. He planted doubt by asking, “Did
God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (3:1b). The
woman innocently answers that they may eat from any of the trees but one. That
one tree, she explains, must not even be touched or you will die. God did not
say that. He said, eat of it and you will surely die (2:17). No matter, the
serpent drives the doubt deeper. He says that they will NOT surely die. In
fact, in Hebrew it reads, “Dying, you will not die…” casting a huge shadow of
doubt on what God said.
What’s
at stake here is the heart of God. Is God good or not? Would God deprive
humankind of anything that they needed? Would God keep from us that which would
make us better people? The serpent convinced the woman that God must be keeping
something from her.
Then the
serpent applies desire. When you eat of it your eyes will be opened, you will
be like God, you will know good from evil. Wouldn’t you like to be wise like
God?
The
woman’s response comes on three levels:
The Practical Level: the fruit looked good to eat; she
desired it – THE LUST OF THE FLESH!
The Emotional Level: it looked good (pleasing to the eye)
– THE LUST OF THE EYES!
The Spiritual Level: it would make her wise – THE PRIDE
OF LIFE!
This is
the core of sin. “For everything in the
world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of
what he has and does – comes not from the Father but from the world,” (1
John 2:16).
2. The Conflict – Spiritual Warfare Begins
Sin introduced a new element into the world – conflict.
Conflict between God and humankind, between man and woman, between all people
and between people and the serpent. Our focus in the main verse is this: “And I will put enmity between you and the
woman, and between your offspring and hers,” (3:15a).
a) God’s mercy
– There is a gentle sense of God’s mercy in this story. God knew what the man
and woman did. He could have thundered from his throne and condemned them on
the spot. God might have started over with a new couple – he could have if he
wanted to, but he didn’t.
What did
God do? He gave them a chance to explain their actions. That doesn’t mean he
would excuse their sin and say, “That’s okay, we all make mistakes.” No, but he
went looking for them, seeking them out, giving them an opportunity for
reconciliation.
What did
they do? They tried to cover their nakedness (sin) with fig leaves (the works
of their hands); they hid from God; the man blamed the woman; the woman blamed
the serpent. They did everything but confess.
God
could have been angrier still. He had no choice but to pronounce sentences on
the three. And it is in this odd sentence that we find the gospel; in the
serpent’s condemnation is our good news, “I
will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and
hers.”
b) Unmasking the
serpent – It is only through the NT writings that we know the true identity
of the serpent. John unmasks him in his Apocalypse, “The great dragon was hurled down – that ancient serpent called the
devil or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth,
and his angels with him,” (Rev 12:9).
Satan
was the serpent, or used the serpent. Either way, it was his work that led the
woman astray. So God declared that there would be hostility between the woman
and the serpent (is that why woman don’t like snakes?). Satan continues to use
deception, doubt and desire to lead people astray.
I caught
a small scene out of the movie Out of the Grey one night. The synopsis of the
movie is that a plane crashes in the Alaskan wilderness and the survivors have
to outrun wolves to stay alive. There is one survivor left at one point, and he
cries out to the sky calling on God to show himself or do a miracle. The
survivor pledges to believe in God for the rest of his life if God will do
this. No answer. He swears at God, keeps moving, and is eventually killed by
wolves. The story is very vexing and perplexing in terms of relating to God.
Why did God not answer him? Or save him? I discovered the answer later (I’ll
share later).
The
point is that Satan deceives and blinds the people of this world even to this
day, making them doubt the goodness of God. That is the present conflict we
live with in this world. Faith in God is at odds with the world system.
c) Hostility with
the world – “I will put
enmity…between your offspring and hers.” Our verse implies that the
descendents of the woman and of the serpent would be at odds. Satan can’t
literally have children but people would choose his deception over the truth.
Jesus
pointed this out when talking to the Jews who claimed to have the truth, “You belong to your father, the devil, and
you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the
beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies
he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies,”
(Jn 8:44).
Those
who oppose Jesus can be none other than people of the lie. If we follow Jesus
then we can expect hostility from those who think Jesus is not who he says he
is.
3. The Cure – Who is this seed?
“He will crush your
head, and you will strike his heel.” This is the gospel according to
Genesis.
a) “You will
strike his heel” – The difference between a head wound and a heel wound is
tremendous. If you walk on gravel with bear feet and hit that one piece that is
razor sharp, you will dance and scream and cry – but you won’t die. If you hit
your head in a fall or a car accident, there’s a good chance you will be badly
injured or die.
The
cross was a small wound to the heel. Yes it was deadly. Jesus died. But to the
Son of God who rose from the dead, it was but a moment of painful dying
compared to the power of eternity that was his life.
Satan
had been nipping at Jesus heels all through his life and ministry. Almost as if
to repeat his victory in the Garden, Satan tried his deception out on Jesus
after 40 days in the wilderness. Nip #1 – “make some bread.” Nip #2 – “Jump off
the spire of the temple.” Nip #3 – “bow down to me.” Jesus would have none of
it. He knew Satan’s lies.
Remember
the man chased by wolves who cried out to God? I was vexed by the situation.
But then God showed me that Jesus was in the same situation. On top of the
temple, Satan tried to make him jump and see if God would catch him. Jesus
replied that you ought not to put God to the test. What Jesus meant was, even
in dire straits, God asks us to trust him. Isn’t that where Adam and Eve
failed? They weren’t in danger and they failed to trust God. What if we are in
danger – chased by wolves? Can we trust God? Jesus said, “Yes,” emphatically. The
cross underlined that trust.
Satan
continued to nip at Jesus. He used Herod; he used Pilate; he used Judas; even
Peter was a tool of Satan. Satan finally murdered Jesus through the cross. He
thought he had won.
b) “He will crush
your head” – It turned out that the cross was a crushing blow to the head
of Satan. I have heard that even if you cut the head off a snake, the body
still wriggles for a while – and the venom is still deadly. Satan is in his
death roes, but he is still deadly.
But he
is conquered. We have the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ who has crushed
the head of Satan. I love how Paul puts it in his letter to the Colossians, “When you were dead in your sins and in the
uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He
forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the written code, with its
regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away,
nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he
made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross,” (Col
1:13-15).
The
cross was supposed to be Satan’s defeat of Christ; it turned out to be Satan’s humiliation.
He was made a public spectacle through the cross. Our sins can be forgiven; our
bodies of death transformed into bodies of life; our curse exchanged for
blessing.
Who is
this seed in Genesis 3:15? It is Jesus Christ!
The book of Romans is a beautiful letter that explains
in-depth the meaning of the cross. Paul takes us through an explanation of sin,
the law, grace, redemption and the new life. At the end of the letter he makes
some personal remarks to friends and adds a few warnings. Then he says this, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan
under your feet,” (Rom 16:20).
Whose
feet? Jesus’ feet? No. Your feet. Jesus has already stomped on that serpent.
Now it’s our turn. Through Christ’s victory and because of our faith in his
gospel, we can have the privilege of stomping on Satan’s head.
He is
nipping at our heels. He whispers defeat into our ears when we fail to grasp
the joy of the Lord or live the victorious Christian life. Satan wants us to
wallow in the darkness of his thinking and believe his lies that our sins are
too great. In short he still makes us question the goodness of God.
But are
we victims or victors? We need to stop playing the victim and claim the victory
in Jesus. Mike Mason wrote, “The idea of attacking my spiritual enemies would
have chilled me to the bone. Yet gradually I learned a surprising truth: What
matters isn’t the force or skill of my attack, but the simple resolution to
fight. As long as I hang back in fear, I cannot win. But the moment I take up
arms with a will, the enemy’s on the run. It’s exactly as Scripture says:
‘Resist the devil, and he will flee from you,’ (James 4:7).”
The best
weapon is joy. The reason for Joy is this gospel. This is the gospel song begun
back in Genesis.
AMEN
