“The Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this [encouraged Adam and Eve to sin against God]… I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.'” -Genesis 3:14–15
This is such an important verse in the Bible that it’s actually got it’s own term: Protoevangelium.
It means “first Gospel”. That this is the first time in scripture we see the Gospel foreshadowed to.
That’s pretty amazing isn’t it?
That even from the moment we turned away from God,
He was planning our redemption?
People often say that the God of the Old Testament is an angry jugdemental God, and the God of the New Testament is loving and forgiving.
But God is the same yesterday, today and forever. He has always loved us, and He’s always been fully just and the Judge of sin.
So, from the very beginning He knew how He would be fully loving, yet fully just.
He would pay our debt for us.
Jesus coming to die for our sins and rise again was not a mistake.
It wasn’t an afterthought.
It was love.
When God says that “he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel,” He’s refering to how He [Jesus] will hit Satan, sin and death on the head, dealing a deathblow to remove the penalty of sin, death. But that in the process, Jesus will have His heel brusied. That Jesus would be hurt in the process, and He was.
He suffered a great death, but didn’t stay dead. He rose again to prove that He was God, as He said He was, and to show us that our debt truly has been paid. To show us that He truly can give us new life.
Think about that today.
The God of the universe planned to save you.
From day one, He began His rescue mission.
And He couldn’t stop thinking about it.
We see prophecy all throughout scripture. Everthing from semi-specific foreshadowings of a coming Savior, to exact dates and events.
We know that part of the reason for this is for us to know that He is God and there is no other (Isaiah 42:8–9, Isaiah 41:21–24), but I think it is also because He wanted to remind us how much He loves us.
He wanted to constantly remind the original hearers and readers that He was working.
That He hadn’t abandoned them.
And that He was coming for them.
And, for us today, we can look back and see how God had everything under control. We can be encouraged today, because we see His faithfulness in the past (Romans 15:4).
“God’s past faithfulness demands our present trust.” -Chuck Smith
So, for your enjoyment and encouragement, here’s more prophecy reminding us of the coming Savior
Who has already come.
Who has already paid our debt
Who is alive and well.
And Who still loves you and is for you.
Today.
The Savior would be from the line of Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3, Galatians 3:16, Matthew 1:1-17)
The Savior would be from the house of David (2 Samuel 7:12-13, Romans 1:1-6, Matthew 1:1-17)
The Savior would be born of a virgin and be called Emmanuel (Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:22-23)
The Savior would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2, Matthew 2:3-6)
The Savior would be worshipped by wise men and presented gifts (Psalm 72:10, Isaiah 60:6, Matthew 2:1;11)
The Savior’s birthplace would suffer a massacre of infants (Jeremiah 31:15, Matthew 2:16-18)
The Savior would be in Egypt for a season (Numbers 24:8, Hosea 11:1, Matthew 2:13-15).