02.01. The Seed of the Woman, or the First Promise of Redemption
I THE SEED OF THE WOMAN, OR THE FIRST PROMISE OF REDEMPTION
I FROM the beginning let us keep in mind that the Bible is not a history of creation, nor a history of the world, nor of the human race, but a history of redemption-the redemption of the race and of the earth on which it dwells. This history begins to be recorded at the moment the necessity for redemption appears; that is, when man first fell into sin, as indicated in Genesis 3:1-24. At the fifteenth verse of that chapter God is pronouncing His curse upon the serpent, who represented Satan, and says:
"I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." This verse is the first promise of redemption, and has sometimes been called the protevangelium, a Greek word, meaning the earliest proclamation of the Gospel. When God says, “I will put enmity between thee and the woman," “thee" refers primarily to the serpent, and yet the context shows that some one other than the serpent is ultimately in mind. That one is Satan, as we gather from Revelation 12:9 and Revelation 20:2, where the serpent is introduced again and identified with "the devil and Satan." Thus, at the very beginning of his attempt upon man, Satan is frustrated in his plan. He thought he had entered into a harmonious and perpetual and successful compact with man against God, but finds that it is broken ere it begins to work. It is enmity and not friendship that shall exist. Happy are we if we appreciate this enmity, and in our daily contact find daily conflict! The enmity is to be not only between the serpent and the woman, let it be observed, but "between thy seed and her seed." The "seed" of the serpent is the generation of evil men in all the days, as John’s words in Matthew 3:7, and those of Jesus in Matthew 13:38; Matthew 23:33 and John 8:44 firmly establish. Compare also Acts 13:10 and 1 John 3:8. In like manner the "seed" of the woman is the generation of the righteous, as we may gather from Psalms 22:30 and elsewhere, although its stricter application is to the person of Jesus Christ. The emphasis on the word "woman" in the text suggests His virgin birth; but whether or not, the whole story of the Bible, and hence the whole story of redemption, gathers around this "seed." We find it referred to in the call of Abraham and the founding of the nation of Israel, Genesis 12:3; Genesis 15:5, and elsewhere. Isaac, the son of Sarah, was the immediate realization of the promise, and yet he was only the type of the true Isaac who was to come. This is proven by Paul’s words to the Galatians (Galatians 3:16), where he says: "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ."
It was this seed to whom the prophet Nathan referred in revealing the divine promise to David that his son should sit upon his throne and that his kingdom should be established forever (2 Samuel 7:12, compared with Psalms 132:11).
It was this seed that Isaiah prophesied of (Isaiah 7:14), and Jeremiah, and Micah, and Malachi. Indeed" to Him bear all the prophets witness. "
II But the text continues: "It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."
Satan and his seed, considered as one totality, succeeded in bruising the Saviour’s heel all through His earthly career, from the murderous antipathy of Herod to the expiring groan on the cross. But after all it was only a bruising of the heel; it was not deadly, nor destructive either of the Saviour Himself or the great purpose of redemption for which He came into the world. On the other hand, the Saviour bruised Satan’s head, a type of the deadly final overcoming power of Christ. This bruising of Satan’s head may be said to have begun when Christ overcame him in the wilderness. Another stage of it was reached in His resurrection, when He spoiled principalities and powers, and made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in the cross (Colossians 2:15). Another will be reached when, at His second coming, Satan shall be bound in the bottomless pit for a thousand years (Revelation 20:2). But the final stage will be reached when, after the millennial age, he shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone and be "tormented day and night forever and ever" (Revelation 20:10).
It is of the deepest interest to true believers to note that the Holy Spirit, through Paul, unites Christ and them in one totality, so far as the bruising of Satan’s head is concerned. In Romans 16:20 it is promised that the God of peace shall bruise Satan under our feet shortly. Long has he tormented us, and more especially from the beginning of our Christian life has he shown himself the adversary of our souls; but, as Bishop Moule says: "Let us meet his inroads and attacks in the name of Him who has made peace for us and works peace in us, and his afflictions will soon be over."
III
After this first promise of redemption, God leaves man to himself, as it were, for a period of 1,500 years, more or less. There is no further promise, prophecy or prediction till we come to the days of Noah. All this time man has an opportunity to return to God if he will, and no doubt in the fullest fellowship and blessing, on the basis of that first promise of redemption through a personal Redeemer. But the result is well known. At the end of that period, “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thought of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth" (Genesis 6:5-7). The deluge followed, and only "Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." But the deluge did not change man’8nature, evidence of which is soon seen thereafter in the drunkenness of Noah and the licentiousness of his son Ham (Genesis 9:19-25). Practically the same conditions maintained in the whole race as before that awful judgment, and issued at length in what with truth has been called "an organized political and religious revolt against God." This refers to the event of the tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-32). As men again multiplied on the face of the earth, union and consolidation for some reason came to be considered of prime importance. And on the plain of Shinar they said, "Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top may reach to heaven, and let us make us a name; lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth" (Genesis 11:4). The attempt was a failure. "The Lord came down to see the city and the tower," language of sublime simplicity suited to the early mind of man, and expressive of the interposing providence of God. This was a providence of judgment, but, as always, judgment tempered with mercy. Their language was confounded and their union dissipated, but they themselves were not destroyed.
Nevertheless they were abandoned to their own evil ways. "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools." "As they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind" (Romans 1:18-32), and "the loathsome moral condition of Sodom and Gomorrah is a miniature picture of the debasing corruption that followed" ("When God Comes Down to Earth," Stroh).
It now looked as though God’s name and God’8 truth would be forgotten in the earth. It now looked as though that first promise of redemption would come to nought. It now looked as though the seed of the serpent had prevailed. But the next study will teach us differently. Our next "mountain peak II will present us with a clearer vision of the sweep and purpose of God’s grace.
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON 1.Define the Bible, stating what it is and what it is not.
2. Where does the history of redemption begin?
3. How would you identify Genesis 3:15?
4. Give Scriptural proof of the identity of the serpent and Satan.
5. Who are meant by the "seed" of the serpent?
6. Who distinctively is the "seed" of the woman?
7. Trace the history of the “seed of the woman" through the Old Testament.
8. What is meant by Satan’s bruising Christ’s heel?
9. Give the history of the bruising of Satan’s head.
10. What is the next great Bible prophecy and its fulfillment?
11. What is the next outstanding event after the deluge?
12. Describe the conditions leading up to that event.
13. Describe the conditions following.