Jesus Came to Crush the Serpent's Head

Jesus came to crush the serpent’s head.

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 3:15

Genesis 3 is full of really bad news. The first two chapters of the Bible show just how good things were. A married couple enjoying total and unashamed intimacy. A garden that had all manner of good food. A God who kept close communion with Adam and Eve. The Fall in Genesis 3 ruined that paradise. Instead of marital harmony, strife. Instead of good soil, thorns. More importantly, instead of life and communion with God, death and separation.

But in the midst of all the curses, Genesis 3:15 shines like a light at the end of the tunnel. It is a text of hope that promises that all is not lost. God promises Satan, that crafty serpent who deceived mankind, that his head will one day be bruised in defeat by an offspring of Eve.

Abraham, Moses, David – all of them, and more beside them, at one point looked like they might be able to do it. But they all fall into sin and are unable to bruise Satan’s head. The Old Testament ends with this promise unfulfilled.

But Jesus came to fulfill that hope in Genesis 3:15, to do battle with sin and Satan once for all. Unlike all who went before him, Jesus did not fall prey to Satan’s schemes, but lived the perfect life that nobody else could live. To all looking with natural eyes, the cross seemed like another victory for the serpent. But as Jesus rose from the tomb on the third day, he showed that even though he suffered and died, it was Satan who ultimately had his head crushed.

Jesus bruised the serpent’s head on Calvary that day. Satan is a battered enemy because of him. And what Jesus started on that day will one day be finished when God crushes the serpent under our feet in glory (Romans 16:20).