“He shall bruise your head” – Genesis 3:15
So the LORD comes into the garden, and Adam and Eve have sinned. They have listened to the Serpent instead of Him, and all His good creation is shaken and tarnished and left to fall apart. And His Adam and His Eve are hiding and afraid. Even when, especially when He comes to them.
And they come out and they start talking, and the ravage of sin is already evident. Passing blame, not protecting or caring for each other. It’s a mess. Their lives will be messes. Creation will be full of messes because of them. And that’s going to be rough news to break to them – Eve’s going to hear about pain in childbirth and Adam’s going to learn about the ground being cursed.
But first things first. The LORD’s first response isn’t going to be to lay into Adam or Eve. No, the first thing to do is to deal with Satan. And there, in the Garden, Jesus told Satan that He was coming for him. There Jesus promised that He Himself would come and crush Satan under His feet to free His Adam, His Eve, His you, His me. All the other stuff – the impact of sin – that can wait for a moment. Jesus will bear that and pick that up too, but first things first – Satan, you are toast.
Even before the impact of sin is declared and shown, the LORD Himself declares the defeat and destruction of the Evil One. And this is precisely what we see play out in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus. Oh, to be sure, Satan strikes at our Lord, bruises His heel – but the Serpent’s head is shattered by Jesus’ death and resurrection. Come quickly, O Christ Jesus our true and living Head!
