Your Bible Lesson For The Day
What Hope Has God Given Fallen Mankind?
Have you ever thought what your life would be like without hope? Ephesians 2:12 says the unbelievers in the world have no hope, though they likely do not realize they are without hope. They are without hope, however, because of sin and its punishment of death. For a short time Adam and Eve were such fallen sinners without hope.
When Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s command, they came under the punishment of death – spiritual death, temporal death, and eternal death. There was no way for them to escape it. Before them laid a lifetime of spiritual ignorance and sin. A lifetime of misery and then bodily death. An eternity of torment and suffering in the flames of hell.
But before the Lord spoke even one word of such punishment to Adam and Eve, he showed himself to be a loving, merciful God. He gave them a promise of hope. Genesis 3:14,15 state the Lord said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you more than all the domestic animals and all the wild animals of the field! Upon your belly you will always go, and dust you will eat all the days of your life. And enmity I will put between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he will crush your head, and you will crush his heel.”
Those words were a threat of punishment for the devil, but for Adam and Eve, and for all of mankind who would follow them, those words were a promise of hope. A certain Seed of the Woman would come, who would be the Serpent Crusher. As the Seed of the Woman he would be a descendant of her and Adam. He would crush the head of Satan, destroying him for good. To crush and destroy Satan, however, he would have to be greater and more powerful than Satan. He would have to be God as well as man. And when he destroyed Satan, he would undo what Satan had done and would destroy Satan’s power and domain. Satan had led mankind in the persons of Adam and Eve into sin, death, and hell. The Seed of the Woman, the God/Man, would deliver all of mankind from sin, death, the power of the devil, and hell. But in the process of crushing Satan’s head and saving mankind, he himself would suffer having his heel crushed. But having his heel crushed would not be a mortal, lasting wound.
All the rest of the Bible from Genesis 3:15 on is about the coming of this Seed of the Woman who would save fallen mankind. And the rest of the Bible tells you who he is – the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus crushed and destroyed Satan by his suffering and death on the cross, but it was not a permanent death, for he rose again on the third day.
And so when God promised the coming of the Seed of the Woman who would crush Satan’s head, God gave you, as well as all of fallen mankind, a hope of eternal life and salvation. Indeed, Jesus with his redeeming sacrifice on the cross is your only hope. Put your trust in him, so you are not without hope like all of unbelieving mankind is.
When Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s command, they came under the punishment of death – spiritual death, temporal death, and eternal death. There was no way for them to escape it. Before them laid a lifetime of spiritual ignorance and sin. A lifetime of misery and then bodily death. An eternity of torment and suffering in the flames of hell.
But before the Lord spoke even one word of such punishment to Adam and Eve, he showed himself to be a loving, merciful God. He gave them a promise of hope. Genesis 3:14,15 state the Lord said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you more than all the domestic animals and all the wild animals of the field! Upon your belly you will always go, and dust you will eat all the days of your life. And enmity I will put between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he will crush your head, and you will crush his heel.”
Those words were a threat of punishment for the devil, but for Adam and Eve, and for all of mankind who would follow them, those words were a promise of hope. A certain Seed of the Woman would come, who would be the Serpent Crusher. As the Seed of the Woman he would be a descendant of her and Adam. He would crush the head of Satan, destroying him for good. To crush and destroy Satan, however, he would have to be greater and more powerful than Satan. He would have to be God as well as man. And when he destroyed Satan, he would undo what Satan had done and would destroy Satan’s power and domain. Satan had led mankind in the persons of Adam and Eve into sin, death, and hell. The Seed of the Woman, the God/Man, would deliver all of mankind from sin, death, the power of the devil, and hell. But in the process of crushing Satan’s head and saving mankind, he himself would suffer having his heel crushed. But having his heel crushed would not be a mortal, lasting wound.
All the rest of the Bible from Genesis 3:15 on is about the coming of this Seed of the Woman who would save fallen mankind. And the rest of the Bible tells you who he is – the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus crushed and destroyed Satan by his suffering and death on the cross, but it was not a permanent death, for he rose again on the third day.
And so when God promised the coming of the Seed of the Woman who would crush Satan’s head, God gave you, as well as all of fallen mankind, a hope of eternal life and salvation. Indeed, Jesus with his redeeming sacrifice on the cross is your only hope. Put your trust in him, so you are not without hope like all of unbelieving mankind is.