By Jason Smith

“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)

The Bible, from its very beginning, makes sense of the world. It explains why we are both beautiful and wonderful — because God created us in His image — and why we are also deeply flawed and tragic, and indeed why our whole world is in a constant cycle of triumph and failure — because of our sin. Yet, from the beginning of Scripture we are promised a Savior. In only the third chapter of the Bible, our first parents, Adam and Eve, rebel against their Maker by eating the forbidden fruit in act of open defiance. Their generous Creator, Yahweh, gives them the entire Garden of Eden, inviting them to indulge freely in all its variety of delicious fruits.

However, a serpentine traitor and enemy of Yahweh — a one-time captain of the Lord’s hosts — beguiles the human couple by casting God in a negative light as a miser who withholds His very best from them. Charmed by the hiss of the snake, they take of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil — the only tree off limits. In choosing the fruit, they really choose themselves over God and His good authority. Just as they were warned, the consequence of rejecting the Author of life was and always will be death (Genesis 2:16-17). Their revolt against God left a path of destruction in its wake, and we are still feeling the aftershock of humanity’s fall from glory today. Despite our numerous achievements, all of human history is pockmarked with war, famine, disease, suffering, and death — the residual effects of separation from our Creator.

The Snake Crusher

And yet, we cannot miss that in this very chapter — Genesis 3 — the Lord shines the ray of hope into the darkest moment in the storyline of Scripture. No sooner does God bring Adam and Eve under His just curse in Eden than He promises a future “Seed” that will undo the damage wrought by the serpent who tempted them into rebellion. In fact, although the promise is for humanity, He gives the statement in the form of a judgment directed to the serpent: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel” (Genesis 3:15, NASB).[1] The Hebrew term for “seed” here is zera` (זֶרַע) and can be translated as “offspring” or “descendant.”

Writing roughly four thousand years later, the Apostle Paul recalls this precise passage when he tells the Roman Christians, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you” (Romans 16:20). Even in this statement there seems to be an assumption that in order for us to be reconciled with this “God of peace,” the serpent, Satan, must be crushed underfoot. Tracing this idea back to Genesis 3:15, we see early hints that this “snake crusher”[2] is also the Savior who will reconcile us back to God, the one we have been running and hiding from (see Genesis 3:8).

Tracing the Promise of a Seed

As we continue in the story of Genesis, we come to Abram, the man Yahweh calls out of pagan idolatry to worship Him as the one true God (Joshua 24:2ff.). In calling Abram, God also made some grandiose promises to him. “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you,” Yahweh told him. “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:1-3). God elaborates on this astonishing promise: “To your offspring [zera` (זֶרַע)] I will give this land.”

In the next chapter, the Lord shows Abram the land of Canaan and reiterates the promise: “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever” (13:14b-15). Once again, the word zera` (זֶרַע), “seed,” is used (here translated “offspring”). Given the narrative structure of Genesis, we have an early hint here that the seed of the woman (3:15) is connected to this seed of Abram (13:15). As Abram grows older, he begins to doubt that any offspring will actually come from his loins (15:3). God responds to Abram’s doubt by upping the ante: “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them… So shall your offspring [zera` (זֶרַע)] be” (v. 5).

When Abram and his wife Sarai attempt their own scheme for getting Abram an offspring by having Abram sleep with their maidservant, Hagar, the result was disastrous. A boy Ishmael is born, but a vicious family feud ensues and God declares that Ishmael is not the “seed” that was promised. Instead, the seed line is to come from Sarai’s womb, despite the fact that she is nearing 90. As it turns out, through a miraculous conception, Sarai (now called Sarah) and Abram (whose new name, Abraham, means “father of many nations”) have a son named Isaac. God assures Abraham that “through Isaac shall your offspring [zera` (זֶרַע)] be named” (21:12).[3]

This promise of a seed to come is repeated throughout the remaining narrative of Genesis (24:7, 60; 26:3-4, 24; 28:4, 13-14; 32:12; 35:12; 48:4). Interestingly, King David is also promised a seed [zera` (זֶרַע), “offspring”] who will both come from his body and reign from his throne forever (2 Samuel 7:12-13). We know Solomon, David’s son and immediate heir, only partially fulfilled this promise (vv. 14-15) because Solomon no longer sits on the throne (v. 16) and his kingdom certainly did not last forever (vv. 12-13). Psalm 89 also makes clear that this ultimate Seed of David will reign in an eternal kingdom (see Psalm 89:4, 29, 36). So after Solomon, Scripture leaves the reader expectantly awaiting this true or ultimate Son of David yet to come. In other places this descendant of David is called “a Righteous Branch” (Jeremiah 23:5; 33:15) and “the Stump of Jesse”[4] (Isaiah 11:1). At times, this promised Seed is simply called “My servant David” (Ezekiel 34:23-24; 37:24; cf. Jeremiah 30:9) as if shorthand for “Son of David.”[5] It is clear by now that the Seed is referring not merely to a generational line of descendants, but more specifically to an individual descendant of both Abraham and David.

The Seed of the Woman

At this point, it is worth reviewing the original promise of Genesis 3:15. The attentive reader will remember that the promised Seed is said to come from the “the woman.” This is very odd considering that the “seed” normally comes from the man.[6] Thus, Genesis 3:15 presents something of a conundrum. Despite it being the first reference to a promised Seed, it does not fit with the normal Jewish understanding of zera` (זֶרַע).

We find a clue concerning how the promised Seed could come from a woman in Isaiah 7. There, Yahweh gives a prophetic sign through Isaiah to Ahaz, a king of Judah with a shaky faith in God. In fact, Isaiah says the prophecy is for the whole “house of David” (v. 13). The prophet then says, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (v. 14). Significantly, `Immanuw’el (עִמָּנוּאֵל)means “God with us.” A virginal conception was as common in Isaiah’s day as it is today. It would therefore constitute a legitimate divine sign that this little baby is “God with us.”

Now we come to the New Testament, which details the arrival of one called Jesus of Nazareth. In the opening narrative of his Gospel, Matthew describes both the conception and birth of Jesus, making the clear argument that Jesus is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy.[7] “When His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:18). An angel tells Joseph, Jesus’ adoptive father, to name the child “Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (v. 21). Matthew then comments, “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us)” (vv. 22-23).

Additionally, Luke’s Gospel records what the angel Gabriel told Mary, who wondered how she could bear a son as a virgin: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy — the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). It is remarkable that Gabriel also connects Mary’s virgin-born son with the prophecy given to David: “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end” (vv. 32-33).

The Promise Keeping God

All that we have seen from Scripture boils down to this startling conclusion: Jesus of Nazareth is the Promised Seed “of the woman” of Genesis 3:15. He is the virgin-born God-man of Isaiah. He is the Son of David, who will reign on His throne forever. He is the Seed of Abraham, who will bring blessings to the nations. The Apostle Paul makes this connection, too: “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring [Grk. sperma, σπέρμα]. It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ who is Christ” (Galatians 3:16, emphasis added).[8] Thus, the Promised Seed of Genesis 3, first spoken of in only the third chapter of the Bible and hinted at across the pages of the entire Bible, could only be speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So, how did this Promised Seed crush the head of the serpent under His feet (Genesis 3:15)? Not only did Jesus overcome every temptation of the devil (Matthew 4:1-11), but we are also told that the “reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8b). If Satan’s power is bound up with leading us into sin and condemning us for that sin, then Christ bearing our sin and guilt away on the cross would spell his undoing. Indeed, this is the message of rescue we find in the New Testament: “And you, who were dead in your trespasses… God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him” (Colossians 2:13-15).

The “rulers and authorities” here refers to the spiritual forces of darkness. Jesus went to the cross so that “through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14). As our guilt is removed in Christ, the ancient serpent loses all ground for accusing us, and we are rescued from our great enemy. God has been telling His people for ages of this One who would be bruised that we might be healed (Genesis 3:15; Isaiah 53:5). What a marvel it is that our gracious God would pursue us in love even as we ran from Him and promise us One who would “save His people from their sin” immediately after we, in Adam, first turned our back on Him. Just as He always will, God kept His promise.

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[1] I am unsure why the NASB does not capitalize the “him” in this sentence, following its convention of capitalizing divine pronouns.

[2] I first saw this term used of Satan in the children’s book The Biggest Story: How the Snake Crusher Brings Us Back to the Garden by Kevin DeYoung and Don Clark (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2015).

[3] Hebrews 11:17-19 recalls Abraham’s great faith in this divine promise, emphasizing his recognition that Yahweh can do all things — including raising Isaac from the dead were he to sacrifice his beloved son to the Lord.

[4] Jesse was David’s father, so the prophecy carries the same meaning as promising one from the Davidic line.

[5] It is clear from Isaiah 9:6-7 that this promised Son of David who will reign on David’s throne will be both God and man.

[6] For example, in Genesis 38:8-9, we read that Onan was to have sex with his dead brother’s wife in order to raise offspring on his behalf. Onan, knowing that the “seed” [zera` (זֶרַע), “offspring”] would not be his, spilled his “seed” [zera` (זֶרַע)] on the ground (v. 9). Also see Leviticus 15:16-18, 32; 22:4, where the ESV translates zera` (זֶרַע) as “semen.”

[7] Matthew intentionally begins his Gospel with: “This is the record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1).

[8] Similarly, Luke records Peter making this same connection in Acts 3:25-26 when he preaches to the Jerusalem crowds.