Genesis 3:15: the promise of a Savior
I am involved in a discussion of the gospel as presented already in Genesis: “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” (Genesis 3:15). What are other Bible passages that substantiate the reason we teach this Genesis 3:15 passage as the first evidence of God's unfathomable love for mankind - the Gospel?
Romans 16:20 speaks of Jesus’ saving work in light of Genesis 3:15: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” Revelation 20:2 describes Satan as “that ancient serpent” whom God controls and eventually puts out of commission.
The Bible explains that Jesus’ mission in coming to this world as true man was to defeat Satan (Matthew 4:1-11; John 12:31; 1 John 3:8-13; Revelation 12:9).
With the rest of the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah in mind, and in light of the New Testament accounts of Jesus fulfilling all those prophecies, it is clear that God’s promise to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:15 was the first promise of the Savior.
If we need any more proof that Genesis 3:15 speaks of the first Gospel promise, all we need do is look at Satan’s actions after that promise was given: he was engaged in a relentless but futile effort to destroy the ancestral line of the Messiah and then to kill the Christchild himself. Satan understood what God’s promise in Genesis 3:15 was all about.
How thankful we can be that God gave sinners one promise of a Savior after another. And then, “when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship” (Galatians 4:4-5).