You Shall Bruise His Heel…He Shall Bruise Your 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.”

This verse is generally recognized as the proto evangelium (first gospel). It is a promise by God that someday Satan will be crushed. It comprises a cursing and promise. The cursing is enmity and the promise is bruising. The concepts of promise and cursing are related to the idea of covenant. Christians should not be confused by or afraid to think in covenantal terms. It is biblical to think in such a way. Yet most Christians seem unable to define what a covenant means in Scripture.

The Bible indicates over and over again that God has entered into covenant relationships with people. God made a covenant with Noah (Gen. 6:18), with Abraham (Gen. 15:18), with Israel (Ex. 24:8), and with David (Ps. 89:3). Jeremiah spoke of a new covenant (Jer. 31:31–34). Our Lord expressed himself at the last supper in covenant language (Luke 22:20). O. Palmer Robertson defines a covenant as “a bond in blood sovereignly administered” (The Christ of the Covenants, p. 4). He means a life and death relationship. When God enters into a covenant, it has to do with life and death. A covenant is all about relationship—between God and man. To break a covenant with God is to disregard with impunity what God has deemed sacred or inviolable. We speak of marriage in this way because God has defined marriage as between one man and one woman without any divorce (Gen. 2:24; Mark 10:6–9). Marriage is defined by God as binding because it is God who does the joining. This covenant idea in marriage today is disregarded, not only by unbelievers, but also by believers. Marriage is thus viewed by God in terms of life and death. It is death only that breaks a marriage (Rom. 7:2, 3; 1 Cor. 7:10, 11, 27, 39).

The relationship idea of the covenant is expressed through an oath formula. The oath binds us, or God, to the covenant. If we make a covenant with someone, our oaths bind us to the relationship and also to God, because he is also and always a witness. God’s covenants with man are never casual or flippant. Life and death is certainly not so. The aspect of blood in a covenant makes life and death prominent. A bond in blood expresses clearly the idea of cutting a covenant. The phrase “to make a covenant” in the Old Testament means “to cut a covenant.” And cutting a covenant indicates the blood connection.

This is what happened when God made a covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15. Abraham laid out all the pieces of his sacrifice and then God passed through them. That passing through them is the cutting aspect. It is God who takes an oath upon himself that, should he fail to keep the covenant with Abraham, he would be subject to the same end as the animals in the sacrifice. This alone tells us that God will always keep his covenants. His word is his bond. Jesus said the new covenant was expressed by the shedding of his blood (Luke 22:20). Forgiveness of sins is certain because Jesus shed his blood. So a covenant is a binding relationship glued together by a life and death sentence. It is interesting to note that the death part of the covenant seems to stand at the beginning or start of covenant statements. The relationship is first defined negatively. When I write out my will, my death defines the end of all relationships defined in the will. My death guarantees inheritance rights and so on. But my will is not really a covenant, it is a testament. This is why death is at the end. Death ends the relationship. In the covenant, death stands at the start of the relationship, highlighting the curse part. This is how we must see Jesus’ death for us. His death stands first, guaranteeing us life. It is not a testament (though that word is often used), but rather a covenant obligation that our Lord undertakes. The cursing part upfront puts the threat of death and judgment right before our eyes. It is designed in this way as a prohibition or warning. The promise of blessing and life follows the threat of death and cursing. So the promise of Jesus’ victory at the cross in Genesis 3:15 follows the cursing of Satan in verse 14: “The LORD God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.’” The result of the curse would be enmity between the serpent and the woman and between the seed of the serpent and the woman. The woman is Eve, and her ultimate descendent is Jesus Christ who will stamp on the serpent and crush him.

As far as covenants go, Scripture teaches us that the regularity of day and night is also related to a covenant relationship. Genesis 1 indicates the day and night relationship by the phrase “there was evening and there was morning” (Gen. 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31). This combination, beginning with evening, is referred to as the“day”—first day, second day, etc.). None of us would say this can be broken. It is an established pattern. If it ends then life ceases. God used the night and day pattern to stress how fixed his covenant relationship was. In Jeremiah 33:20–26, God states that if Judah (or Jeremiah) could break his covenant for the day and night, then his covenant with David would also be broken. The same idea is found supporting the new covenant in Jeremiah 31. Immediately after declaring the new covenant, God says: “Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar–the LORD of hosts is his name: ‘if this fixed order departs from before me, declares the LORD, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a nation before me forever’” (Jer. 31:35, 36). The established order of day, night, sun, stars, moon and roaring waves is the evidence of the certainty of God’s covenant promises and cursing. Since we are unable to change this order, God will keep his new covenant.

Genesis 3:15 is a message of hope and restoration. It is God binding himself in obligation to save a people for himself. All that Adam discarded in his assertion for self-rule, Jesus shall recover for his people. This is the new creation. It is redemption that saves a people of God and resurrection that secures a people of God. At this point, it is also interesting to note that creation is covenantally tied to not only marriage but also the Sabbath day. This has practical aspects to it. When God finished his work, he rested. He rested, not because he was tired, but to establish a principle for us. The principle of rest follows the principle of labor. Everyone is expected to work and then rest. Retirement is usually promoted as the ultimate reward for work, but there is no retirement in Scripture. There is always work and then one day of rest. Instead of retirement for us, there is resurrection. Let me stress what Scripture teaches in terms of order. We must view our week as rest and then labor. Our work is fueled by our rest. We know this because of the first day of the week. It is Sunday that begins the week and not Monday. We should view history from God’s perspective and not man’s. Redemption has been accomplished and resurrection is to come.

Genesis 3:15 is a gracious promise by God to save. It is a covenant of redemption. To the woman, God promises children (a seed), but not without pain. To the man, God promises bread, but not without excessive effort and difficulty. What should have been normal under creation is defiled and cursed by the Fall. But under Jesus, there is recovery and blessing. He bore the covenantal punishment and was made a curse for us (Gal. 3:13), that we might live.