You Shall Bruise His Heel

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15 ESV)

Genesis 3:15 is the first explicit reference to Christ in the Bible. Way back to Genesis, right after the fall of Adam. As much as I love the ESV, I really like the NIV translation of this verse. Instead of bruising your head, the NIV reads he shall crush your head. I like the idea of Christ crushing the head of Satan.

No one likes to read the Old Testament, but so much is there regarding Christ. In this verse, God the Father tells Satan that one will come, and He will destroy Satan when he comes. Now remember Moses wrote this under divine inspiration some 4000 years after creation. Moses wrote this in the Torah; this was also some 1396 years before the birth of Christ. That is just wild.

If we look at this line by line, God said, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring.” From Adam through David to Christ is the line of Eve. That’s why Matthew and Luke begin with the genealogies. Even though there is human failure, there is dedication and devotion to God within the line. There is enmity, odds, and a struggle between Satan and the creation of God, the line of the man Adam.

The second line is something I want to focus on because the preplanning of God is staggering. He already knew the plan of redemption, as it would unfold through the horrific sacrifice and the resurrection. “he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” God had planned for the sacrifice of Christ from the beginning. Remember, He knew the end before the beginning (Isaiah 46:10.) God is telling Satan Christ is coming. While initially, His rule will defeat sin and death. Ultimately, after a brief respite, Christ will throw Satan into the lake of fire.

Here is what’s interesting. Because of Satan, the world did not recognize Jesus as the Mashiach, the Messiah. They nailed him to a tree. The Romans were artists at torture and death. Crucifixion was one of their favorites. An average person could last several days when crucified—the body’s position when crucified causes asphyxiation. The person crucified would constantly push up on their heel, trying to breathe. This pushing motion would cause severe bruising of the heel “and you shall bruise his heel.” God saw the death of Jesus and orchestrated it so that you could be saved through Christ’s blood. Jesus did not live for several days on the cross. He had the power to lay down his life and to take it back up again (John 10:18). Any power given to the Romans came from above and served God (John 19:11).

Christ died for you an excruciating death taking on the wrath of God that you might be saved in Him. Genesis 3:15 is another place in scripture where the foretelling of Christ exists.

May the mercies and grace of Christ be upon you. Shalom