We Believe In Jesus: The RedeemerSample

Hope for Redemption: Genesis 3:15

God didn’t take long to reveal his plan for humanity’s redemption. In fact, the first glimmer of hope for humanity came in the fact that God cursed them. In Genesis 2:17, God had threatened to kill humanity if they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, they didn’t immediately die. Instead, God showed a measure of mercy by delaying their deaths. And he showed even more mercy by allowing humanity to continue to serve him in the meantime. Rather than removing them from his plans for creation, he continued to keep humanity at the center of his work. And then God did something even more merciful: he promised to send a Redeemer that would crush the plans of the devil and restore God’s people to faithfulness. The first mention of this Redeemer is often called the first gospel, and it’s found in God’s curse against the serpent after Adam and Eve had sinned. Genesis 3:15 says:

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.

In the Fall, Adam and Eve aligned themselves with the rebellious serpent rather than with God. But even then, God didn’t abandon his people. In this curse on the serpent, God promised that eventually the offspring of the woman would rescue humanity by defeating the serpent.

These early gospel images continue in Genesis 3:21, where God provided Adam and Eve with garments of skin to cover their nakedness and shame. Not only did this demonstrate God’s continued love and provision for humanity, but it anticipated a day when a fuller sacrifice would be made to redeem the people of God and to cover their sin. And as the New Testament makes clear, this sacrifice would be the Son of God himself.