Heaven Coach

The world looks at the story of Adam and Eve and the serpent (Devil) and they mock it’s simplicity and think it is a children’s story. Therefore, the beauty, meaning and significance is frequently lost. This initial interaction between God, Adam and Eve and Satan is revealing and sets the stage for what follows, that is for human history. The correct understanding of what happens here can seriously affect your thinking about life. Indeed right here “in the beginning” God reveals the purpose of life. Today, we can understand the meaning has been revealed by God and fulfilled in Christ.

God is careful, accurate in delivering His purpose to humankind

There is so much fundamental misunderstanding about life that could be clarified if we were more careful. God has been careful and accurate in providing man the answers he wants and needs. The following is an example of how God from the beginning pointed to what life would be about. It shows how every detail of the plan was in the mind of God. God provides how the study of His Word can move one from faith largely unseen in the beginning to a faith where more and more is seen. In the case that follows, a person’s faith is strengthened by looking at just one thing God has said and seeing its uniqueness. It is highly unlikely that man could conceive of such a statement and then how it is eventually fulfilled. Our example comes from Genesis 3.15, where God begins immediately after the sin of Adam and Eve to reveal His plan of reconciliation. God in Genesis 3.15 is speaking to the serpent, that is, Satan:

I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.

God will place enmity that is, He will place opposition/hostility between Satan and her Seed. God’s answer to what had just happened, namely, sin, would somehow be addressed by the Seed of woman. God’s plan involved bringing the solution through the Seed of woman, a “Man” who would deliver a bruise to the head of Satan, that is a serious or mortal wound to Satan and his plans. God would allow this Man to suffer a bruise to His heel, that is a painful but temporary wound.

It is quite amazing how this all “plays out.” I cannot envision man conceiving of the series of events that would actually occur based on what God said here to Satan. It would truly be what life was all about, and very directly (God directing this statement at Satan) show the “beginning” of a battle between good and evil. It was in response to sin, a spiritual thing, and God was talking about bringing a very spiritual solution. Today we can easily understand the meaning of what God revealed in Genesis 3.15, and yet few understand. Even though God knew full well that Adam and Eve would not understand what was said at that time, God also knew that in these “last days,” man could easily understand.

First, let us note that God speaks of “her Seed.” Over much of the early history of mankind, women were not generally, if at all, thought of as much more than a possession of man. Even in childbearing, it was the seed of the man that was responsible for reproduction with the woman simply being a place for the early growth of a child. So when God mentions the Seed of woman, it would be something that man would not understand until more modern times. Yet why didn’t God say the seed of man and the seed of woman since all children that have been born into the world are the result of the seed of man and the seed of woman? It was not a mistake on God’s part. We are to learn over a thousand years later in Isaiah 7.14:

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.

Later in Matthew 1.21–23, we have a similar statement, but we learn that Immanuel is translated, “God with us” and that His name shall be given as Jesus because He will save His people from their sins.
Jesus would be the Seed of woman, a virgin bearing a Son. God reveals a great deal more about Genesis 3.15 in Luke 1.26–38:

And behold you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus.
He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give 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.
Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be since I do not know a man?”
And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.”

Certainly, as God told Satan, the Seed of woman would bruise his head, and now we learn that Seed would be the Son of God. It would be Jesus, the Messiah; the answer to man’s spiritual, eternal problem was to be Jesus. He would be born of woman’s seed and not of any man, but also conceived of God the Father. He would have the likeness of man, but also be called the Son of God. Now, we can further improve our understanding of God’s plan from Genesis 3.15 and His means to bring Jesus by studying Genesis 12.2,3. In these verses, God makes certain promises to Abraham:

I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

All the families of the earth shall be blessed in Abraham. It would be God’s plan to bring Jesus through the lineage of Abraham. For this reason the children of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob or, as we know them, the children of Israel or the Jewish nation would become God’s people. It is only for this singular reason, the reason of Genesis 3.15, and God’s spiritual purpose to bring Jesus that the children of Abraham are God’s chosen people. It had to do with providing the blessing, the reconciliation that was to come to all nations but first to the Jews through Jesus. As part of that plan, God would be with the children of Abraham in certain ways that would benefit them, especially as they were obedient. God also through Moses and others would be laying the groundwork for the coming of the blessing. One key element was that of the priestly offerings made for the people. All of the Old Law being a shadow of what was to come in Christ. So the lineage of Jesus beginning with Abraham covers forty-two generations. Finally, in Joseph, Jesus’s earthy but not actual father being the husband of Mary, Jesus is born. The generations from Abraham to Joseph, husband of Mary, are given in Matthew 1.1–16.
God’s focus was always on the reconciliation with man. Jesus was the answer. Isaiah is just one of many places where God during the time of the lineage would be revealing information about the Messiah and His purpose. Isaiah 53.4,5 provides some details of God’s plan in Christ:

Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.

We see the Messiah being wounded and bruised for us, for our iniquities, that is, for our sins. We can read on in Isaiah 53.9, 10, 11 and see that this Messiah would be without sin and God would allow Him to be bruised. Furthermore, that “God’s Seed” would be made an offering for sin, and it would satisfy God. As a result of this bruise, which in reality is the suffering and death of Jesus, many will be justified, “for He shall bear their iniquities.” It might not seem to someone that the terrible suffering and death of Jesus could be a bruise to His heel, but God looks at things spiritually, eternally. Jesus accomplished God’s will and receives the honor, sitting at the right hand of God. Our faith can be greatly strengthened by the study of God’s Word. There are so many things in the lessons from God that can help us to be eternally successful. Look to the patience and obedience of Jesus in the process of reconciliation. Jesus could see the suffering and death as temporary, as a bruise. Look at the certainty of every Word that comes from God. Realize that life is about the soul, about the eternal, and live and make decisions with that understanding.

Summary – God’s Purpose / God’s solution