The Promised Seed
Genesis 3:1-19 (ESV)
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You[a] shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden,
3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,[b] she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool[c] of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring[e] and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
16 To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for[f] your husband, and he shall rule over you.”
17 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
A small town once raised money to build a long-awaited bridge over a dangerous river. People were tired of taking the long way around—farmers lost time, children walked miles to school, and ambulances couldn’t reach the far side quickly. After years of discussion and fundraising, construction finally began. The community was thrilled—signs went up saying “New Hope Bridge — Opening Soon!”
Months passed. The supports were built, the road was paved… but the final section was never completed. For reasons no one quite understood, work stopped just short of connecting both sides. The bridge looked finished. From a distance, it promised connection, convenience, safety. But it led nowhere. People stood at the edge, frustrated and disappointed. The whole town had relied on a promise that didn’t come through. A bridge that stops three feet short of the other side is just as useless as no bridge at all.
Human promises, no matter how sincere, often fail. Why? Because we are often guilty of overcommitting or underestimating, and, worse, we change. But God is absolutely different from us. When He makes a promise, He doesn’t stop three feet short. He will surely deliver what He promises. He doesn’t lie, He does not change, and He will always be faithful to all His promises. Remember, when we studied the Book of Joshua during the months of September and October, the Book ended with this powerful theme of God’s faithfulness, Joshua 21:45 (ESV):
45 Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.
Joshua’s declaration still remains true today, and whether we choose to trust the Lord or entrust our lives to Him, we can be confident that we will never be disappointed.
This morning, as we start our Christmas sermon series, we will focus on the theme, “The Promised Hope.” In this series, we want to emphasize that the main reason to celebrate Christmas is that Jesus's incarnation gives us hope for both this life and the next. The truth is that we can easily become overwhelmed by life's struggles and find ourselves feeling hopeless and anxious about what the future holds. If this is your situation today, I trust our sermons this month will help restore your joy and confidence in the Lord.
To begin this series, we will examine a passage in Genesis where humanity first sinned against the Lord. It was truly heartbreaking to see Adam and Eve deceived by the Devil, leading them to sin against God. Yet, the Lord shows mercy and compassion by giving the very first prophetic promise about the coming of Jesus. The key verse in our text is verse 15, which states, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring[e] and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” This verse is so significant that Bible scholars call it "Protoevangelium," meaning "first gospel."
I THE CONTEXT: THE DISOBEDIENCE OF ADAM AND EVE (vs. 1-7)
When we start reading our text, we will see the story of Adam and Eve falling into sin because they were tricked by Satan, who appeared in the form of a serpent (v.1). How do we know that the serpent was the Devil? Considering some New Testament verses, it is evident that the serpent is Satan:
John 8:44 (ESV)
4 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Revelation 20:2 (ESV)
2 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,
In both verses, we see direct references to Satan as the serpent who lied to Adam and Eve to make them disobey the Lord. Today, Satan has not changed at all. He is still the same, trying his best to deceive us so we will sin against the Lord. If we carefully examine the passage, we will discover clearly how the Devil tempts all of us to sin.
But before I show you how he tricks us into sin, it is essential that we see him as the Bible describes him – a part of God’s creation. This is mentioned in verse 1 – “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.” It is important that we see Satan the way he is described in the Bible. He is not equal to God. He did not co-exist in eternity with God. He is not as powerful as God. He may have the power to outsmart us, but he will never outsmart the Lord. So, if we are believers in the Lord Jesus, we should never be afraid of him because God is able to limit what he is able to do against us.
How does he lead us to sin? There are two things he will always do to us, as seen in our text:
He will instill doubts towards God. (v.1)
If you read verse 1, you will see the Devil asking Eve this question first: “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” This question might seem like mere curiosity. However, in reality, it was meant to question God's goodness. Essentially, Satan was implying to Eve that God is not truly good and kind for withholding the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
We need to watch out for Satan’s attempts to undermine God's character. This occurs when we start re-evaluating God's goodness and kindness, especially during tough times when we don’t understand why we're suffering compared to others around us. Oswald Chambers once aptly wrote:
“Satan uses the problem of this life to slander God’s character; he tries to make us think that all the calamities and miseries and wrongs spring from God.”
He will impugn God’s Word (vs. 4-5)
If the first assault was more subtle, this time, he’ll be more radical in his approach because he will openly deny the validity of God’s Word by saying, “You will not surely die.” Then, if you read verse 5, the Devil will claim that there are great benefits if they partake of the forbidden fruit – “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Undoubtedly, Satan’s efforts here will ultimately cause Eve to distrust God. As God’s people, we know that the Devil can lead us to disobey the Lord through the same subtlety he demonstrated right from the very beginning of human history. This is the very reason why the apostle Peter gave us these words in 1 Peter 5:8 (ESV):
8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
If we allow the Devil to deceive us, we also permit Him to lead us into sin. And when we sin, we will eventually face the consequences.
II THE CONSEQUENCE: THE DEATH BROUGHT BY SIN (vs. 8-19)
As we know, after God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, He made it very clear to them that the moment they ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would surely die (Genesis 2:15-16). So, after they disobeyed the Lord, He confronted them and pronounced the death they deserved.
Dr. Tony Evans, in his commentary, identified several applications of this death:
Emotional Death (vs. 8-11) – This death was expressed through their shame and guilt over their nakedness. They were both naked before eating the fruit, but after sinning, they had to hide from God because of their shame and guilt.
Relational Death (vs. 9-13, 16) – Sin has also broken humanity’s relationships with God and with others. With God, the spiritual connection that once brought joy has become a source of fear. What a tragedy! Then, Adam, when confronted about his sin, immediately blamed Eve, his wife. He literally threw her under the bus, as we say today. Now, jump to verse 16. We read the curse to Eve, saying, “Your desire shall be for[f] your husband, and he shall rule over you.” Besides the painful labor women will endure when giving birth, her relationship with her husband will be a constant struggle because of her desire to always dominate him.
Environmental Death (vs. 17-19) – This curse is clear in God’s statement that work would become painful labor rather than a productive process, as originally intended by God.
Physical Death (v. 19) – Although Adam and Eve did not die immediately after they sinned, their inevitable biological death was now certain, “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Gradually, their life was being taken away from them because they were going to slowly but surely go back to dust.
Spiritual Death (vs 22-24) – We read the last verses of Genesis 3, “Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.” On top of all the consequences, this is absolutely the worst. Ultimately, they will lose their intimate walk with God in the garden. They were driven out of the place where they had enjoyed their close fellowships with God. Of course, their removal from the garden was still an act of mercy from God because if they had remained there, they could have eaten the fruit of the tree of life, which could have resulted in them living permanently in their pitiful, cursed condition.
These consequences of Adam and Eve’s sin should clearly remind us of two essential truths that we should never take for granted. First, our disobedience to God will always result in sin. Second, sin will always bring serious consequences. Often, we carelessly commit sin without thinking about how it could damage our lives. Worse, the consequences of sin can affect not only us but also the people closest to us.
III THE COMPASSION: THE DELIVERANCE FROM SIN (v. 15)
Lastly, we want to focus now on our key verse, which is verse 15: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring[e] and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” Once again, despite Adam and Eve’s deliberate disobedience, God chooses to show compassion by promising redemption. God in His holiness must punish sin, but in His mercy and grace, He also provides a way so He can restore humanity’s relationship with Him.
Verse 15 is part of the curse given to Satan. Out of this passage, we will find several important truths from this verse that we shouldn’t overlook.
The Continuing Struggle Between Good and Evil
The key word we need to emphasize in the first line is “enmity.” This can simply be understood as hostility or hatred. In other words, as a result of Adam and Eve’s disobedience, there will be a hostility or hatred between the offspring of the Devil, which is evil, and the offspring of the woman, which could refer to both the human race and the Promised Messiah. The apostle Paul refers to this spiritual struggle in Ephesians 6:12.
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Since humanity’s fall into sin, Satan has hated us all. If we give him an opening or become complacent spiritually, he will seize the opportunity to harm and destroy us. Therefore, always stay alert and watchful against the Devil’s attacks.
The Coming Messiah’s Virgin Birth
The reference to “her offspring” has led many Bible scholars to interpret it as a direct statement concerning the virgin birth of the Messiah. Of course, this interpretation is not really unreasonable since we have direct Scriptures that support this doctrine, like Isaiah 7:14:
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
This verse highlights the importance of the doctrine of the virgin birth of Jesus Christ because it acts as a “sign” or supporting evidence of His Messianic status. Another clear verse is Galatians 4:4, which states, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law.” It was necessary for Jesus to be born solely through a woman because that was the only way He could maintain His holy, perfect nature. Every single one of us who was born through the sexual union of a man and a woman inherited the sinful nature of Adam.
The Crucifixion of the Messiah
The final part of the verse, “he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel,” has been understood by many evangelical Bible scholars as a reference to the crucifixion of the Messiah. Notice that while Satan could “bruise his heel” by crucifying the Lord Jesus, Jesus would be able to deliver a more fatal blow to Satan by bruising his head. The work of Jesus on the cross and His resurrection became the very foundation of our salvation from the power of sin and Satan. Today, we celebrate Christmas because we celebrate this glorious victory that Jesus secured for us when He went to the cross more than two thousand years ago. One of the Christmas songs that should hold special meaning for us as we celebrate is Joy to the World, especially when you reach this stanza that says:
No more let sins and sorrows grow
Nor thorns infest the ground
He comes to make
His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found
Far as the curse is found
Far as, far as the curse is found
Praise God because of Jesus Christ, the Promised Seed, we no longer have to continually suffer from the curses of sin caused by the disobedience of Adam and Eve.