Genesis 3 explains how sin crashes into creation and then proceeds to ruin everything and everyone. And yet we’ll also see a spark of God’s promise about how he will — one day — clean this whole mess up by finally crushing the head of the serpent, Satan’s mouthpiece.
Our masterful storyteller, Moses lays out the chapter which plays out like a tragic, five-act origin story for original sin:
- Act 1: motive and opportunity (3:1–5)
- Act 2: the crime (3:6)
- Act 3: the trial (3:7–13)
- Act 4: the sentencing (3:14–20)
- Act 5: the gracious exile (3:21–23)
And something curious happens in the last two acts for those who have skipped ahead to read the gospels: we see the foreshadowing of Jesus even in the midst of humanity’s low point.
The Makings of a Tragedy
Once the fruit touches their tongues, Adam and Eve are welcomed into a world of shame and separation — from each other, from their God, from the creation they’re meant to care for. That’s what sin really does: the scintillation lasts a few seconds, but the shame and separation stick. They used to hear God’s voice and heed it, now they hear it and hide (Gn. 3:8, 10).
You might be wondering to yourself, “Hang on. Why are Adam and Eve still alive? Was the serpent right?” After all, it said that when they ate the forbidden fruit, they wouldn’t die (as God had warned) but their “eyes will be opened, and [they] will be like God” (Gn. 3:5). Did you notice how Moses describes what happens immediately after they sinned? “Then the eyes of both of them were opened.” Now, if the serpent was right, we’d expect the next phrase to explain how they became like God. After all, their eyes are now opened.
But Moses shows us the opposite.
Adam and Eve’s open eyes force them to stare at their shame and vulnerability; to see that they are, in fact, not like God. What they thought would bring them to some kind of heightened divine consciousness has in fact shattered their unique connection to the divine.
After Adam and Eve plead guilty (Gn. 3:12–13), all that is left is for the judge of the universe to hand down his sentence. Three perpetrators, three guilty verdicts, three sentences — Adam and Eve’s first, and then the serpent’s — and that is where we should linger: Genesis 3:15.
It’s a surprising and significant verse because it contains breaking news: Adam and Eve will bear offspring. The death God decreed didn’t mean the end of the human experiment. It’s significant because it describes the conflict at the heart of our continued existence: the seed of the woman versus the seed of the serpent.
The Crushed Head of the Serpent
Does this verse mean we’re about to get a bunch of stories about human heroes crushing some cobras? No. Is Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark based on a true story? Also — and unfortunately — no.
The heart of this conflict has nothing to do with skin versus scales and everything to do with trusting God versus rejecting God. Through God’s curse of the serpent, Moses reiterates the stakes of existence.
Those who disdain God’s Word and decide to live their own way prove to be offspring of the serpent. But those who align with God’s purposes prove to be offspring of Eve. Though Eve is the mother of all the living (Gn. 3:20), not all are her offspring in this sense.
The Gospel’s First Echo in Genesis
At the end of Genesis 3:15, the Lord makes a prediction that will reverberate throughout the rest of Scripture. It would be simplistic to say that all of Scripture is about this. And yet it would be shortsighted to ignore how vital this promise is to its main storyline.
You might be thinking, “Um, isn’t the Bible ultimately about Jesus?”
Yes, of course. And it’s right here that he first shows up. Look again at the final line of God’s verdict: “He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Who’s the “he”?
Who could have imagined that God was talking about himself here? Who could have imagined God would deal death its deathblow through the death and resurrection of his Son? As we read through Scripture, we find our fair share of head crushers. But all of these temporary heroes eventually get swallowed up by death. Though they strike the serpent’s head, the curse of sin still crushes them.
Until Jesus shows up. He’s temporarily swallowed up by death before he swallows death up in victory — and then spits it out when he walks out of the grave.
The first spark of the gospel shows up in Genesis 3:15. The bad news for the serpent is good news for us. His curse is our blessing.
The Gracious Exile
Imagine the scene as Adam and Eve are sentenced for their sin. The Judge’s final words — “And to dust you will return” — linger in the air. It’s tense, somber, serious.
What do you expect to happen next? If this were a true-crime documentary on Netflix, the perpetrators would stand there, slack jawed as they wordlessly contemplate their terrible fate. The judge would tap his gavel and then disappear through the back. But here? A different scene unfolds. These perpetrators do stand silent. But this judge drops his gavel, steps down from his bench, and covers up the superficial cause of the assailants’ shame.
We could say Genesis 3:15 is the first step on the Bible’s long road to get to Jesus. Perhaps we’ve already found the second step in Genesis 3:21: “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them” (NIV). Did he use needle and thread? A sewing machine? No, he used a sacrifice. Moses’ audience would have read this and immediately thought of bulls and goats and priests. And they’d have been right. The Levitical sacrificial system was their life, for it was a “reminder of sins” (Heb. 10:3). And what a gracious system it was!
How else would God’s people persist in God’s presence? But we should read Genesis 3:21 and immediately think of Jesus. Because we know “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Heb. 10:4). How gracious and powerful is Jesus! Only his death can provide unfettered access to God forever.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Because though there are sparks of hope, Moses knows that this part of the story is a tragedy — at least for now.
Adam and Eve are banished from paradise. They’re kicked out of their home, and the path toward the tree of life is now guarded by cherubim with a flaming sword. Is there another way in?
It takes the rest of the Bible to answer that question.
And for that, we look toward Easter.
Adapted from From Eden to Egypt: A Guided Tour of Genesis by Alex Duke.
From Nephilim and Melchizedek to Lot’s family and the binding of Isaac, careful readers of the Bible have many questions about Genesis and how it all connects to the Bible’s larger thread. In From Eden to Egypt, Alex Duke gives everyday Christians a guided tour of these wonderful stories so that they’ll see — perhaps for the first time — that it’s all there for a reason.
You can also deepen your study into the glimpses of Easter throughout the Bible with Bible Gateway Plus. Bible Gateway Plus gives you quick, convenient access to dozens of digital study Bibles, commentaries, and reference books, all of them seamlessly integrated into your online Bible reading! Try it free and see what a difference it makes in your reading and study of God’s Word.
Alex Duke is the senior editor of 9Marks and host of the podcast Bible Talk. He also serves as a pastor of Third Avenue Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky where he teaches God’s Word to middle and high school students.
