Genesis 3.14-15
Gospel Song
Call to worship / Old testamenT reading:
pastor andrew loginow
Isaiah 7.14
New TestamenT reading:
pastor michael champoux
Revelation 12.1-6
song:
We believe (creed song)
Historical reading:
pastor bobby owens
Apostles’ Creed
song:
Christ has risen (come awake)
Confession & Pardon:
dr. brett eckel
song:
O Praise the name
Sermon:
dr. alex logionw
Genesis 3.14-15
Introduction
Think back to your days in school – some of you are still in school right now; others haven’t been in school for a long time, but think back to those days when you had to write a paper. When you write a paper, when you make an argument, you begin with a thesis statement and the rest of the paper or argument proves, defends, or articulates the thesis. When I was writing my dissertation, I worked with professors, doctoral personnel, and fellow students crafting my thesis statement for hours, days, and weeks. My dissertation was an academic exercise to make a unique contribution to the field of homiletics by proving my thesis statement through doctoral level research and argumentation. The thesis statement governs everything that follows and everything that follows proves or supports the thesis.
Genesis 3.15 is the thesis statement of the Bible. This verse is what Scripture is about. Highlight, underline, circle, whatever you want to do, do it to Genesis 3.15. If you don’t understand this, if you don’t recognize that Genesis 3.15 is the thesis statement of Scripture, you will not understand the Bible. I don’t mean that you won’t understand anything in the Bible, but you will not truly understand the Bible. Much hermeneutical confusion – whether it’s dispensationalism, or legalism, or moralism, liberalism, or any other dysfunctional interpretation begins with misunderstanding that Genesis 3.15 is the thesis statement of the Bible.
What did they hear?
In order to see this let’s remind ourselves what we’ve seen so far in Genesis 1.1-3.13. Genesis 1 reveals the 1 true and living God who created all things. God formed the creation in days 1-3 and then He filled creation in days 4-6. Moses structures the creation story this way to teach us that God was building His cosmic temple and then God placed His image in the midst of the temple – humanity, male and female in God’s image – and then God rested and blessed His cosmic temple.
Genesis 2 recapitulates Genesis 1 telling the same story from the perspective of the ground. Genesis 2 presents a lush abundant garden. God put Adam in the garden to work it and keep it and God gave Adam His Law – Adam can eat everything in the garden but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil Adam cannot eat for the day that he eats of it Adam will die. God then created Eve from Adam and the man and his wife were naked and not ashamed.
Last week Pastor Kevin led us through Genesis 3.1-13, which reveals to us that the serpent tempted Eve to break God’s Law and the woman was deceived and she gave some to her husband and he ate and then they both knew they were naked and they covered themselves. This is the 1st time we see guilt and shame in Scripture. Adam and Eve were guilty of breaking God’s Law and felt shame because of their sin so they sought to cover their shame. And then they hear God coming and they hid. Why did they hide? Because they thought they were going to die. God told Adam that the day that he ate of the tree he would surely die so Adam and Eve hide because they believe God is coming to execute justice.
The most popular song by the Red Hot Chili Peppers is called Under the Bridge. It goes: “I don’t ever want to feel like I did that day;” I don’t ever want to feel like I did that day. Everyone knows that feeling. That’s what Adam and Eve felt after they sinned – they felt guilt and shame. They thought, “I wish I had believed and obeyed God’s Word.”
And then God lines these 3 sinners up and Adam blames his wife and she blames the serpent. What does that reveal to us? At this point they’re unrepentant. They feel guilt and shame but they are not confessing their sin and turning from their sin – no; they are blame shifting; they are playing the victim. And then God speaks the words we read in Genesis 3.14-15.
The Man & His Wife
Dr. Jim Hamilton helpfully describes how the man and his wife, the serpent, and God would’ve understood these words when God spoke them. What did Adam and Eve hear? Well, the 1st thing they heard was that they were not going to die – at least not today. When God says He’s going to put enmity, warfare, between the serpent and the woman, enmity assumes duration – the enemy and the woman will be at war. Eve cannot war with the serpent if she is dead. And it’s not just the woman, but also her offspring (Hebrew seed זַֽרְעֲךָ֖); that means Adam’s not gonna die either because Eve can’t have offspring without Adam – the woman technically doesn’t have seed, the man does. So the 1st thing they heard is that execution was stayed for now – they are not going to die.
The 2nd thing they heard is that they’re not stuck on serpent’s side. They chose the serpent over God and now they’re lined up with the serpent receiving judgment, but God is gracious and merciful to His image bearers. They aligned themselves with the serpent, but God will not leave them there. He will save them and they will war against Satan.
One more note on the woman and her offspring: even in this 1st gospel promise God esteems motherhood and values children. We saw this earlier in Genesis 1.28 – God blesses the man and his wife by commanding them to be fruitful and multiply. Now in Genesis 3.15 we see that motherhood and children are not only integral to God’s purpose in creation, but also in His purpose in salvation. Our modern Western culture abhors this and so they do the exact opposite, don’t they? What is the exact opposite of esteeming motherhood and valuing children – saying we’re going to have sex with whoever we want and if there are any “mistakes” from that sex, we’ll simply murder them. Many women have been abused and many children murdered because people reject God’s design in esteeming motherhood and valuing children.
A quick word to you single ladies, or married woman who are struggling to get pregnant, or weren't able to have children – this is not to say you are less valuable. Your identity is found in that you were created as an image bearer of God and that you can be redeemed in Christ. You are not less valuable because you’re single, or not a mother, but we can’t pretend as if most women throughout all of history have been mothers – that’s God’s design. And even if you’re not a wife or a mother, you should be a spiritual mother here at church, you should honor your own mother, you should help create a culture that esteems motherhood and values children. Want a real easy way you can do it – volunteer to serve in the nursery; volunteer to help in children’s Sunday school; volunteer to babysit for a young mom; speak words of encouragement to young moms – may CCC always have a culture that esteems motherhood and values children!
Serpent
What did the serpent hear in God’s words? First, God says to him: Cursed are you. That is a declarative, final statement. There will be no salvation, no redemption for Satan because he deceived God’s image into sin. When it’s all said and done the devil will suffer eternal conscious punishment in hell. There is no hope for him.
Second, God tells him: On your belly you shall go. This is a posture of humiliation. The fact that snakes slither on the ground to this day is a reminder that God has humiliated Satan. Third, God tells the serpent: Dust you shall eat. This is a reversal of the temptation in judgment. The serpent tempted the woman to sin by eating the fruit and now God tells him that he will eat the dust – once again a posture of humiliation.
But I think there might be something more here too. My brother pointed this out to me some time back (shout out Pastor Andrew) Genesis 2 and 3 both teach us that God created man from the dust. There is a sense in which Satan’s humiliation is tied to our judgment. The serpent eats the dust; we are dust and to dust we shall return. The enemy exists to steal, kill, and destroy God’s image. Much human suffering has come at the hands of the devil and we have no one to blame but ourselves because in Adam we aligned ourselves with the serpent.
God
And what do we hear from God’s perspective in these words? First, God’s Word is declarative authority. God said it so it will happen. Just as when God said let there be light, the light had no choice in the matter but to be, so it is with everything God says. If God says that the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent, it is more true, more sure, than we can even fathom. God declares the gospel in this verse and there are no ifs, ands, or buts. Satan will be crushed. God’s elect will be saved. It doesn’t matter what anyone says, thinks, or does – it will be so.
Second, salvation is effective. In these verses God speaks words of grace, mercy and, judgment and God’s grace is irresistible, His atonement is definite, His election is unconditional. Some of you still think your salvation is somehow contingent on your decision, or your free will – how foolish! God doesn’t say He will save Adam and Eve as long as they’re ok with it, or as long as they choose Him, or if they’re persuaded to love Him. No! God simply declares what will happen and it happens.
So can we just take a moment here to take the trash out? I don’t know exactly what sorts of legalism are represented in this room, but we need to flush all of that down the toilet. God has never ever ever once ever in the entire history of humanity ever saved anyway based on anything that person says, thinks, or does. Not even .000000000001% - ever! So stop trying to perform. Stop feeling self-righteous about what you do or don’t do, or say or don’t say, or think, or don’t think.
All that God has ever required in the gospel is that we believe. That’s it! You might ask what about obeying God’s Law? Doesn’t God want obedience? Yes, of course, but faith is the only means by which we are made right with God through Christ. If you believe, you will want to obey God because the Holy Spirit will change your heart and your thoughts and actions flow out of your affections. If someone doesn’t want to obey God it reveals they don’t love Christ, but stop feeling self-righteous about what you do vs. other people. You’re not that great and your legalism is only offending the gospel, harming others, and killing your joy.
What does it mean?
The seeds planted in this promise germinate through redemptive history and blossom in Jesus Christ. Many have labeled Genesis 3.15 as the protoevangelium – the 1st gospel and it is. Genesis 3.15 is the 1st explicit revelation of the good news of Jesus in Scripture and the rest of the Bible tells the story of how the 1 true seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent. Reformed theologians have labeled this promise the covenant of grace, which all other covenants in the Old Testament progressively reveal, fulfilled in the New Covenant of the Lord Jesus, but regardless of how you label it, Genesis 3.15 is the thesis statement of Scripture – this is what the Bible is about.
For the duration of the Old Testament narrative God’s people actively believed that there would be the seed of the woman, the Messiah, who would reverse Adam’s curse. This is what Adam and Eve believed. Eve thought it would be Cain, then Seth, and as redemptive history unfolds speculation would continue – is it Noah, or Isaac, or David, or Solomon, but over-and-over again the sin and death of each man answers: no! He’s not the one.
That is until the pages on the New Testament where Scripture reveals Jesus of Nazareth is the skull-crushing seed of the woman. We confessed this to be so earlier when Pastor Bobby led us in the creed – the Lord Jesus is the eternal 2nd person of the Holy Trinity, the Son of God, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. Unlike Adam and every man following, Jesus never sinned. Jesus obeyed God’s Law in thought, word, and deed, by what He did and never left anything undone, Jesus always loved God with His whole heart, and Jesus always loved His neighbor as himself.
And then when He died on the cross Jesus fulfilled the promise of Genesis 3.15. Jesus crushed Satan’s head by the crushing of his heel meaning Jesus endured a crushing that was not finally fatal – Jesus endured God’s just wrath for the sins of His elect and Jesus died. Jesus had to die because God told Adam, the day that you eat of the fruit of the tree you will surely die; Jesus died as our representative but death could not justly detain Christ because Jesus was without sin; Jesus was not guilty so He was released. Jesus resurrected on the 3rd day as the last Adam of the new creation. That’s what Scripture means when it says that Satan will crush His heel – Jesus was crushed but it was not finally fatal.
But it was through His death and resurrection that the Lord Jesus crushed Satan’s head. Jesus’ death and resurrection was the finally fatal blow to the enemy. Jesus took dominion over sin by obeying the Law in His life and he also took dominion over sin when on the cross Christ atoned for the sins of God’s elect, so Jesus defeated sin and then when He resurrected Jesus defeated death because there is now a man who cannot be held by death. The Lord Jesus has dominion over death – He holds the keys of death and hades. Satan is the father of sin and death but Jesus took dominion over the penalty of sin and death.
When the Lord Jesus returns He will raise the dead, judge the world, and make all things new. Jesus has the authority to raise the dead because He is the only man to have dominion over death. Jesus will judge the world because He’s the only man to keep God’s Law in thought, word, and deed, and because Jesus atoned for the sins of His people who broke God’s Law. Jesus will make all things new because He is the last Adam who rules the new world as God’s image.
This is why the only reasonable option for each of us is to repent and believe this gospel. You must receive Christ by faith. How do you know that you have faith in Jesus? Faith has 3 components that all build on each other – knowledge, assent, and trust. So 1st ask yourself, do you know Jesus? Do you know that God is your creator and that you have broken His Law, which means you’re guilty and deserve judgment? Do you know that Jesus died and rose again to save sinners?
Next, do you assent to this good news, meaning you don’t merely know that the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ saves sinners, but you assent to the validity of this truth claim. Do you believe it’s real; it’s true? Do you question or ignore the gospel, or do you assent to the gospel?
But even assent falls short of genuine faith. The climatic and key element of genuine faith is trust. Do you trust in Jesus Christ alone? Have you transferred your trust from anyone or anything else to the person and work of the Lord Jesus?
If you have faith that faith is revealed in your repentance. Repentance is not faith but repentance is the result of faith – the fruit of faith. Repentance means you confess your sin and turn from your sin. You must confess your sin initially and continuously. There is an initial confession of sin – many people describe this as the moment of conversion or salvation, sometimes it’s dramatic or clear; other times it’s gradual but there is a point where you acknowledge that you are a guilty sinner. Maybe some of you here have never done that, maybe you’ll admit that nobody’s perfect, or whatever, but you have not acknowledged the fact ever that you are guilty of breaking God’s Law and that you justly deserve eternal conscious punishment in hell. Until you do that, you have not repented and you are deceived and the truth is not in you.
While the initial confession is often how God reveals to us that He has given the gift of faith, the Bible never ever ever speaks of confession as a 1-time thing. As long as we sin we must confess our sin. This is why we practice the confession and pardon every Sunday. If we live in unrepentant sin we sear our consciences and invite the discipline of the Lord. If we perpetually live in unrepentant sin it is a sign that we do not have faith.
But confession is only ½ of repentance – repentance also means turning from our sin. Once again this often happens initially when God providentially reveals that He has gifted faith to 1 of His elect, but this is also a continuous spiritual discipline. We must regularly confess and turn away from sin. Is your life consumed with money? Confess that and turn from it back to Jesus. Is your life consumed with sexual sin, or your own selfishness, or politics, or jealousy, or gossip, or self-righteousness, or any other form of idolatry? Confess it and turn to Jesus.
God uses our guilt and shame to drive us back to the Lord Jesus. Just like after his fall Adam thought, I wish I had listened to God’s Word; just like Adam thought, “I don’t ever want to feel like I did that day;” your confession and turning, your repentance acknowledges that reality and adjusts. Confession is declaring, “I should have believed and obeyed God’s Word;” and turning is changing whatever you’re doing to believe and obey God’s Word. Repent and believe the gospel.
Conclusion
There is no other option because this gospel of Jesus is the only answer to the universal human problem, which is sin and death. Jesus is the answer to the problem of evil, sin, and death because Jesus does what Adam should have. When that rebellious serpent slithered into God’s kingdom Adam should’ve crushed his head. When the enemy deceived Eve, Adam should have offered himself as the sinless sacrifice in his wife’s place but Adam didn’t crush the serpent’s head and he didn’t offer himself as a righteous substitute for his bride; instead he followed her in sin. But Jesus does crush the serpent’s head and Jesus did offer himself as the righteous substitute for His bride, the church. The nails on the cross that bruised Christ’s heels reminds us of the victory that crushes Satan’s head. And that’s what the Bible is all about.