I will put enmity between your seed. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel. Jesus was a Prophet

Igor asks
Answered by Alexandra Lanz, 04/20/2011

Hello to you in the truth of God, Igor!

You are asking about the final part of God's prophecy regarding the serpent, but to understand the words you are interested in, we must consider the entire prophecy as a whole:

"And the Lord God said to the serpent:

for doing this

Cursed are you above all cattle and above all the beasts of the field;

you will walk on your belly,

and you shall eat dust all the days of your life;

and I will put enmity between you and your wife,

and between your seed and her seed;

it will bruise your head, and you will bruise its heel" ().

What is the difference between the heel (heel) and the head?

1) it is always in the dust, where the poisonous snake crawls. This means that humanity will still not be able to avoid the pain that the serpent wants to inflict on it. Illness, depression, disappointment, accidents, death - this is all the result of the fact that the feet of humanity are where the snake crawls, biting us.

2) even if the heel hurts, it is still not fatal. Even if the snake manages to sting a person in the heel, causing him severe mental and physical pain, the person will still have the opportunity to take an antidote before the poison affects the central life support system.

3) the head, not the heel, controls the life of the creature, therefore, if a wound inflicted on the head is always more serious than a wound inflicted on the heel. To be able to wound an enemy in the head means to be able to kill him. Whereas wounds inflicted on the heel will never bring death to the whole body. Suffering - yes. But not death.

Thus, God promises humanity that, although it will suffer from Satan, it will not perish. But at the same time, God promises Satan that although he will be allowed to torment humanity, Satan will still die - at the hands of humanity itself.

I want to draw your attention to one truth of this prophecy that is absolutely important for our salvation. The truth is that if we, as individuals united in one body of humanity, decide to take the path of war with the serpent that stings us, we will not hit the serpent in the head with our own strength.

Notice that when God promises to put the enmity between good and evil in the heart of mankind, He speaks of the seed of the woman, although according to Biblical logic it is the seed of the father (man) that is important. However, the prophecy clearly states that although the conqueror will be born of the wife, the seed of the husband will not take part in it.

This is an infinitely important moment! The seed of a man, united with the seed of a wife, cannot be a winner, because a fallen man is powerless before the one who defeated him (before the serpent), a fallen man (husband) can only pass on to his children his fallen nature, powerless against the serpent, but not nature winner over the serpent. But the seed of God, united with the seed of the woman, can...

Therefore, we have before us a prophecy about the birth of Man, in which each of us can become a winner over the serpent. This prophecy came true two thousand years ago:

“And the Angel said to Her: Do not be afraid, Mary, for You have found favor with God;

and behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a Son, and you will call His name Jesus.

He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.

Mary said to the Angel: How will this be when I don’t know my husband?

The angel answered and said to her: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God" ().

Jesus was the only Man on earth who was actually born not from an earthly father, but from a Heavenly Father, i.e. He actually took upon himself in every detail our human flesh, and at the same time he was the Son of God, and not of man (husband).

It was Jesus who was bitten in the heel by the serpent so severely that He had to die the second eternal death. The serpent put all his poison, all his hatred, all his strength into making Jesus suffer forever.

Yes, from the pain that pierced the heel of Jesus (in His flesh), His heart broke and His life stopped, but the serpent never managed to reach the head of Jesus, to that “control center” of His life, in which Eternity was concentrated Therefore, death, ETERNAL death, could not hold Him ().

So Jesus is the very seed that comes from the woman and that bruises the serpent’s head. If we are in Jesus, then we live His victorious life, the life of overcomers... and although the serpent manages to bite us in the heel (torment our flesh even to the point of physical death), if we are in Christ, we can preserve our brains inaccessible to his poison, which means -

To constantly defeat everything that the serpent puts in our path,
- thereby delivering blows to his head.

And all this is by the power of God Himself ().

With love in the Winner,
Sasha.

Read more on the topic “Interpretation of Scripture”:

After the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, God made a very important promise.

Theologians call it a fancy word proto-evangelism. It means “the first Gospel.” This is the first messianic prophecy and the first promise of salvation. God said to the snake:

“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it will bruise your head, and you will bruise its heel.” (Gen. 3:15)

After the destruction brought by sin, God predicted restoration. Jesus, the seed of the woman, came to bruise the serpent's head. By the way, this fall did not take God by surprise. In Rev. 13:8 Jesus is called “The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” This means that God foresaw the fall of man and prepared the necessary means in advance. He planned to send His Son to reverse the curse even before the curse was cast.

Just as David killed Goliath with his own sword, so Jesus killed the devil with his most powerful weapon - death.

“And just as children partake of flesh and blood, He also received them, in order by death to deprive him of the power of him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and to deliver those who, from the fear of death, were subject to slavery all their lives.” (Heb. 2:14-15)

Before the cross, Satan held the fear of death over humanity like an ominous scepter. Now that Jesus has conquered death, those who believe in His atoning sacrifice no longer have to fear it. Death is no longer a bitter end for a believer, but a glorious beginning. This is literally the portal through which we pass from life to eternity. Death is a transition, an elevation, a release - it is a liberation from the trap of a sinful, disease-prone, fallen body. Someone said: “For a Christian, death is simply a passage home.” The same Spirit who raised Christ from the dead lives in us and one day “He will also give life to [our] mortal bodies”(Rom. 8:11). Death for a believer is as harmless as a bee without a sting.

A father and son were driving down the road when a bee flew into their car and began buzzing around their son's head. The boy had a fatal allergic reaction to bee stings. He panicked in horror, waving his arms. The father opened the windows and tried to drive the bee out of the car, but was unsuccessful. Finally, he drove off the road, pounced on the bee and caught it with his bare hands. He deliberately allowed the bee to sting him. Then he opened his hand and said: “Look son, you don't have to be afraid anymore. She no longer has a stinger. You are safe now!” Jesus took the sting of death for us, and therefore we no longer need to fear him. No wonder Paul writes:

"Death! where is your sting? hell! where is your victory? (1 Cor. 15:55)

A skeptic might think: “If Jesus really defeated the devil on the cross, how do you explain all the evil in the world?” If you look at the news, it looks like evil is winning: violence, crime, disease, war, terrorism, natural disasters, and so on. Yes, I am fully aware of the demonic activity that is rampant in the world. But what happens when a snake's head is cut off? She writhes and twitches her tail in death throes. All the evil we see is Satan's last desperate attempt to destroy as many people as possible because he knows his time is near. As Billy Graham said: “I was reading the last page of the Bible. Everything will be fine." In Rev. 20 talks about how ONE angel will bind Satan in the abyss for 1000 years. Then, after being released for a short time, he will be cast into the lake of fire for eternity, and the saints will enjoy their heavenly home.

Jesus' last words on the cross were “It is finished!” What did He mean? He didn't just talk about His life or His earthly ministry. I believe He meant this:

1. The Scripture has been fulfilled. Numerous prophecies concerning His birth, ministry, suffering and death were literally fulfilled.

2. The sacrificial system is outdated. Millions of animals were killed and burned to atone for sins. Jesus, the Lamb of God, is our only sacrifice. No more sacrifices are needed.

3. Sins were paid for. The word “finished” is a translation of the Greek word tetelestai, which means “paid in full.” Archaeologists have found ancient “tax receipts” on papyri with the word tetelestai on them.

4. The plan of salvation was completed.

5. The victory over Satan was completed. Jesus stepped with his heel right on the head of the serpent and took the keys from hell and death (Eph. 4:8-10, Col. 2:15, Rev. 1:18).

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Kent Hughes in his “1001 Great Stories” shares this opinion:

“In a European art gallery, a famous painting hung for many years. It depicted a chessboard, on one side of which the devil sat on a chair, looking ominously triumphant. Opposite him was a sad, unhappy young man, defeat visible on his face. The title read “Checkmate!” American chess champion Paul Murphy traveled to Europe and visited this gallery. He looked at this picture for a long time in silent thoughtfulness. And then he exclaimed with delight: ‘Bring me a chessboard; there is one - and only one - move with which I can save him!’.. The world received checkmate from the devil, but the Savior made one move that could free us from despondency in life and doom in eternity.”

Now it's our turn! What Jesus did on the cross is of no use to us unless we repent and believe. When we surrender to Christ, we place our heel on the serpent's head and enter into His victory.

“The God of peace will crush Satan under your feet soon.” (Rom. 16:20)

Genesis 3:15

So, the Lord Himself will give you a sign: behold, a virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and they will call His name Immanuel.

Isaiah 7:14

The Bible describes conception and birth as a supernatural miracle.

In the sixth month the Angel Gabriel was sent from God to the city of Galilee, called Nazareth, to a Virgin betrothed to a husband named Joseph, from the house of David, and the Virgin’s name was Mary. The angel came to her and said: Rejoice, full of grace! The Lord is with You, blessed are You among women. When she saw him, she was embarrassed by his words and wondered what kind of greeting this would be.

And the Angel said to Her: Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God, and behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a Son, and you will call His name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end. Mary said to the Angel: How will this be when I don’t know my husband? The angel answered Her: The Holy Spirit will come upon You, and the power of the Most High will overshadow You, therefore the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.

Gospel of Luke 1:26-35

The second reason is that, through the virgin birth, Jesus was not involved in the sin that plagued and desecrated humanity after the Fall and is passed on from generation to generation (hereditary sin). The Bible is clear that Joseph did not touch Mary until Jesus was born. Thus, the Gospels claim that both the conception and birth of Jesus are supernatural. Philippians 2:7 says that Jesus “made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and becoming in appearance like a man.”

So Jesus is equally true God and true man. By His divine nature He is eternal. As a man He was born in Bethlehem from the Virgin Mary.

Eternal Union

Jesus took on the form of a man for the following reasons:

1. To identify Yourself with a person. He showed what a person should really be. Thus He restored the original image of man. Looking at Jesus, you know what a true man of God, created in the image of God, should be like, how he should think and act.

2. To show humanity what God is like. Jesus is God come in the flesh, the face of Christ shining with the glory of God. Second Corinthians 4:6 says, “...that we might be enlightened by the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” In the Epistle to the Hebrews (1:3) it is said about Jesus: “He, being the radiance of glory and the image of His person...” And the Gospel of John says: “... The Word became flesh... full of grace and truth; and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father” (1:14). Through Jesus, God shows us who He really is.

3. To suffer as a man, a representative of all mankind, to bear the punishment for sin in our place, since only a man can be punished for human sin. As having no sin in Himself, Jesus was able to take upon Himself the sins of all sinful people, die in their place and then be resurrected. Thus, God Himself was able to pay for sinful man. This is why Jesus had to be both God and man at the same time. We will look at this issue in more detail in the chapter on reconciliation with God.

In Jesus Christ the divine and the human were embodied at the same time, without any dependence or contradiction. Jesus was not sometimes a man and sometimes God. The divine essence was not mixed with the human, and the human with the divine. They did not dissolve in connection with each other, but acted together.

After the resurrection, ascension into heaven, rapture of the Church, after the emergence of a new heaven and earth, Jesus will forever remain the same - God, the Son of Man. He will be clothed in a resurrected glorified body. The Revelation of John (1:12-18) gives us a description of the glorified Christ with body, head, face, eyes, hair, torso, legs and arms.

Jesus, the eternal God, took on the form of a man forever. After the resurrection of His body and glorification, He sat down in all His glory at the right hand of God the Father, forever uniting in Himself the divine nature and the glorified human body.

This is the “divine mystery” spoken of in 1 Timothy (3:16). This is what will be admired, what will be exalted and glorified forever and ever: Jesus, true God, true Man, Son of God, Son of Man!

Ministry of Jesus

Besides the deity of Jesus and His humanity, the Bible also talks about His ministry and the prophecies that He will fulfill.

Jesus was a Prophet.

Moses predicted the coming of a Prophet similar to himself (Deut. 18:18-19).

As the prophet Jesus did the following:

He taught and preached the law in the form of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7);

He predicted the future (Matthew 24-25);

He rebelled against unrighteousness, for example, in the cases of the reproof of the Pharisees (Matthew 23) or in the case of the cleansing of the temple (Matthew 21:12-13);

Moved in the gifts of the Spirit, in the prophetic spirit and anointing, to serve and help people in their various problems and needs.

15. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it will bruise your head, and you will bruise its heel

"and I will put down enmity..." This section is of the greatest importance. It contains a prophecy that runs through the entire history of the world, right up to the very end of the world, and is fulfilled together on every page of the above-mentioned history. The deep enmity named here is that internal opposition that exists between good and evil, light and darkness (John 3:19-20; 7:7; 1 John 2:15) - this enmity is reflected even in the sphere of higher spirits (Rev. 12:7-9) .

“The first wife in the world was the first to fall into the devil’s snare, but she, with her repentance (meaning the repentance of her entire subsequent extra-paradise life), is the first to shake his power over herself” (Vissarion).

Many Church Fathers (Justin, Irenaeus, Cyprian, John Chrysostom, Jerome, etc.), based on various places of Holy Scripture, attribute this instruction not so much to Eve, but to that great wife who, more than all other wives, personified in herself " enmity" to the kingdom of Satan, serving the mystery of the incarnation (Rev. 12:13,17; Gal. 4:4; Isa. 7:14; Luke 2:7; Jer. 31:22). Instead of the disastrous friendship between the wife and the serpent, there is a saving enmity between them. Since the wife of the first Adam was the cause of the fall, the mother of the second Adam was the instrument of salvation.

"and between your seed and her seed." The seed of the serpent in the immediate, literal sense means the offspring of the natural serpent, i.e. all future individuals of this genus with whom the wife's offspring, i.e. all of humanity in general is waging a primordial and fierce war; but in a further, certain sense, through this analogy, the offspring of the tempting serpent is symbolized, i.e. children of the devil in spirit, who in the language of the Holy Scriptures are called either “brood of vipers” (Matthew 3:7; 12:34; 23:33), then “tares in God’s field” (Matthew 13:38-40), then directly “sons of destruction, disobedience, the devil” (John 8:44; Acts 13:10).

Among these children of the devil, the Holy Scripture especially singles out one “great adversary,” “the man of lawlessness and the son of perdition,” i.e. Antichrist (2 Thess. 2:3). In complete parallel with this, the interpretation of the wife’s seed is established: by it, in the same way, first of all, we mean all her offspring - the entire human race; in the further sense determined by the context of speech, it means pious representatives of humanity who energetically fought the evil that reigned on earth; finally, from among this latter, the Holy Scripture gives grounds to single out one Great Descendant, born of a woman (Gal. 4:4; Gen. 17:7,19), as the victorious opponent of the Antichrist, the main culprit of the victory over the serpent.

"it will bruise your head, and you will bruise its heel.” The very process and nature of the above enmity is clearly depicted in an artistic picture of the great struggle between the two warring parties, with a fatal outcome for one of them (a blow to the head) and relatively insignificant damage to the other (a sting in the heel). Quite close analogies to this image are found in other places of Holy Scripture (Rom. 16:20, etc.). The mention here of a wife, a serpent and their offspring, a blow to the head and a sting to the heel - all these are nothing more than artistic images, but images full of deep meaning: they contain the idea of ​​​​the struggle between the kingdom of light, truth and goodness and the region of darkness, lies and all evil; This highly dramatic struggle, beginning from the moment of the fall of our ancestors, passes through the entire world history and will end only in the kingdom of glory with the complete triumph of good, when, according to the word of Scripture, there will be God " everything in everything"(1 Cor. 15:28; cf. John 12:32). I will meet the serpent or his main fiend - the Antichrist and will smite the latter (2 Thess. 2:8-9; Rev. 20:10).

It is curious that the tradition of paganism has preserved a fairly strong memory of this important fact and has even captured the very picture of this struggle on various artistic monuments. If this divine promise of victory over the devil serves as a living source of consolation and joy for us, then what kind of ray of life-giving hope was it for the fallen ancestors, who first heard this most joyful news from the lips of God himself? Therefore, this promise is quite deservedly called the “first gospel”, i.e. the first good news about the coming Deliverer from slavery to the devil.

The great promise of Almighty God, which was also testified to by many prophets of the Old Testament, was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

The main mission of Jesus Christ

The fulfillment of God's plan, which required man to completely submit his will to God, was resumed with the coming to earth of Jesus Christ. He returned man to Eden - the place of fulfillment of God's original plan. When man fell into sin, God lost more than just his relationship with man. First of all, His global plan was violated - the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth, as well as in heaven. However, what God plans will still happen.

This is why Jesus Christ came to earth. For many years, theologians have argued that Jesus came only to save man. In fact, He came to bring back to earth the Kingdom of God, which was lost in the Garden of Eden. Jesus' main task was to restore God's Kingdom. The second thing that the coming of Jesus to earth was supposed to solve was the redemption of man who was to rule in this Kingdom.

This truth is confirmed by the fact that even before the atoning sacrifice, Jesus said: “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand” (see: Matthew 4:17, Mark 1:15, Luke 10:9, 11). He didn't say, "It has come," He said, "It has come." Then, entering the ministry, Jesus says: “...The kingdom of God has come upon you” (Matthew 12:28; Luke 11:20). In the Sermon on the Mount, responding to the request of His disciples, He revealed to them the plan that was in the heart of the Father.

Jesus knew that God's goal was to bring back to earth the Kingdom that was lost in Eden. Where was God's Kingdom to come from? From heaven! Where should It come? To the ground and into the hearts of people. Jesus came to restore God's original plan, God's will, which was to establish His Kingdom on this earth, and therefore He said: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). Therefore, the first and main task of Jesus, His main mission in realizing God's plan was the return of God's Kingdom to the earth and His further establishment throughout the earth.

Jesus Christ descended along the earthly line from the line of David, who at one time restored the kingdom of Israel.

And behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a Son, and you will call His name Jesus; He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David; And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end” (Luke 1:31-33).

The Kingdom of David is a type of the Kingdom of God. David was a special person, a special king before God, and therefore God promised him that the royal throne would not leave his house. As a man "after God's own heart," David built his kingdom on God's principles. The Bible calls Jesus Christ the Son of David, that is, the continuer of his mission - the mission of restoring God's Kingdom on earth, establishing His rule. God promised David that his throne would be restored. This allegory says that the Kingdom will be restored by Jesus! The prophetic word was spoken long before His birth. The ancient prediction came true. Jesus restored the royal throne of David, restored the Kingdom of God on earth. This was His main mission - the mission of restoring the Kingdom on earth.

Before His death, Jesus declares that the Kingdom of God will be within man (see: Luke 17:21), but for this, a person must be redeemed, freed from sin. A perfect sacrifice was needed to redeem all those living on earth and, by placing the Kingdom of God in them, to spread It everywhere. The Son of God, Jesus Christ, became such a perfect sacrifice. He restored God's Kingdom to the earth and redeemed man. The following can be traced: only after the return of the Kingdom of God to earth was man redeemed.

The sacrifice of Jesus Christ returned man to Eden - the Kingdom of God's presence. Jesus reconciled man with God and restored the possibility of communication with Him. Man was restored to the Kingdom and the power that he originally had in Eden.

Jesus Christ returned to man the opportunity to fulfill God's commission and carry out His plan: the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth. The return of the Kingdom of God to earth is the main mission of Jesus Christ. It was for this purpose that He saved man and sent the Holy Spirit to earth, who dwells in everyone who is born again.

Preserving the Kingdom

As we said, Jesus Christ brought the Kingdom of God back to earth. The First Apostolic Church preached the Gospel of the Kingdom, its ministers established God's Kingdom in many cities and countries. They zealously carried out the Assignment that the Lord gave them before His ascension.