“And 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.” Genesis 3:15
On the days leading up to Christmas we want to explore the prophecies God gave us about the birth of the Messiah. God tells us that the Bible is written that we may know He is God. One of the things that we can read and know is how God told us what is going to happen centuries before they occurred. The truth of His word and His prophecies confirm He is who He says. Born of a Woman The first prophecy we want to consider is made in the Garden of Eden four millennia before the birth ofChrist. Adam and Eve have just sinned against God’s command and God is ready to pronounce a curse on the earth, mankind and the serpent. Before He does, God , in His mercy, gives the first prophecy of the coming of the Messiah. God places a special hatred between the serpent and the woman. Then the Lord says that hatred (warfare) will come to fruition between Satan and the seed of the woman. The one who come from her will be at war with Satan. That warfare will cause Satan to bruise the heel of Eve’s offspring but Eve’s offspring will deliver a mortal blow to the serpent – He will bruise his head.
We might ask why it is a significant prophecy that the Messiah would be born of a woman. The Genesis 3:15 prophecy promised that God would send one special man made from Eve’s seed that would destroy the works of the devil, although He would be wounded in the process. Since women do not have a seed but an egg, this indicates a miraculous birth, different than any other man.
Adam and Eve likely did not comprehend the fullness of God’s wisdom at this point. God knew that the sin debt of man had to be paid for and it had to be paid for by those who committed it – mankind. Therefore a man had to exist that was perfect in His being so that He alone could pay the price of sin, not just for Adam and Eve, but all their off-spring through all time. Since man was cursed with a sin nature it would be impossible for a human to pay his own debt, let alone for others.. Only God could do that so he would have to become man. This same truth is told us in John 1:14. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The amazing part is to see how this verse is realized when we compare it with John 1:1. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” In Genesis 3:15 God Himself tells us that God Himself will be born of a woman in order to pay for the sin man created in rebellion to Him. Paul tells Timothy how amazing this truth is. “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh.” If Paul thinks this is amazing we err greatly in taking the Messiah’s birth for granted.
What can we learn? On that first Christmas night in Bethlehem, “God was manifested in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16). Almighty God came to earth in the form of a newborn babe. Think about it. In the very first prophecy of Christmas, God tells us that the Messiah will be a human. Logic tells us that is not true. God is different, separate from man. Impossible. God says no. The result of our sin requires a man pay this debt which we cannot do. So God comes as a man myself and pays that debt. Thus before God announces judgment on sin, He tells us of His sacrificial love for us. That’s true Christmas joy.