God’s Promise of a Savior

The Significance of the Fall of Man & the Curse as the Context

for the Promise of Genesis 3:15

Point One: God’s Original Very Good Design

God created man in His image so that man would function as God’s vassal-king on the earth; so that man, bearing God’s image, would represent Him and have dominion over the earth and subdue it: “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, so that they will have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that creeps on the earth’” (Genesis 1:26-28).

God commanded them to do five things: 1) be fruitful, 2) multiply, 3) fill the earth, 4) subdue it, and 5) have dominion. In this design, God created a hierarchy: God, man, animals. God at the top of the hierarchy, followed by man and woman with their roles dividing them with man over woman, and ending with the animals under man. Here is an illustration of this:

Genesis 1:26-28 revealed that God created both man and woman equally in His image for the purpose of together having dominion over the animals and subduing the earth. They could not fulfill their roles as designed and ordained by God outside of the marriage relationship. Genesis 2 reveals specifically what those roles are. “YHWH God took the man and set him in the garden of Eden to serve it and to keep it” (Genesis 2:15). Adam’s purpose in the Garden as designed by God was to serve it and to keep/preserve/protect it. YHWH God gave Adam a two-sided command with a warning: “And YHWH God commanded the man, saying, ‘From any tree of the garden you may surely eat; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you may not eat from it; for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die’” (Genesis 2:16-17). God commanded Adam what he could do and what he could not do, and gave the reason for what he could not do: in the day that he eats from it, he will surely die.

The role of woman as God designed her to be is a helper suitable for man. Genesis 2 reveals YHWH’s unique creation of both man and woman, as separate and distinct from everything else that God had made. “Then YHWH God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and so the man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7). “Then YHWH God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him’” (Genesis 2:18). “So YHWH God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. And YHWH God fashioned the rib, which He had taken from the man, into a woman, and He brought her to the man” (Genesis 2:21-22). Adam’s role in having dominion over the animals and in subduing the earth was to serve and keep the Garden of Eden. His wife’s role was to be a helper suitable for him; not a partner but a helper, an assistant. God brought her to the man (2:22) and the man called her woman; in the same way that YHWH God brought the animals to the man so that he would name them (2:19-20), so also YHWH brought the woman to the man so that he would name her. This was to fulfill man’s role in having dominion; in naming the animals and later his wife, the man demonstrated his headship and authority over them—which is God’s design for him.

God created man and all His creation very good; seven times does Genesis 1 say that God saw that what He had made was good (Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31). And the last time: “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). It was right and beneficial and complete and pure; it was morally, intrinsically, qualitatively good. It was not evil. It was without sin, death, or the curse; it was a glorious state where God dwelt among men (Genesis 3:8).

Point Two: The Fall of Man

Genesis 3:1-7 reveals this entire hierarchy of God’s creation flipped on its head. A serpent (an animal) comes to the woman and deceives her, calling God a liar: “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which Yahweh God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Indeed, has God said, “You shall not eat from any tree of the garden”?’ And the woman said to the serpent, ‘From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God said, “You shall not eat from it, and you shall not touch it, lest you die.”’ And the serpent said to the woman, ‘You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil’” (Genesis 3:1-5). The woman then steps out of her role as a helper suitable to the man and leads her husband: she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. “Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, so she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate” (Genesis 3:6). This role reversal is further seen in that up until this point the man and the woman have been referred to as “the man and his woman/wife” (2:25). The one on the forefront has been “the man”, but now it changes to “the woman” (3:1). Now in 3:6 the woman is giving to her husband with her.

This rebellion was first prompted by an animal (who was the devil and Satan), who questioned then lied about God’s words, lying about His character and tempting the woman with the temptation that she could be like God. The woman then fell to the temptation and disobeyed God’s command, eating some of the fruit; and she gave some of the fruit to her husband who was with her. The man stood by and let it all happen. This was a rebellion against God’s designed and commanded hierarchy because Adam allowed a serpent to lie about God to his wife, and then listened to the voice of his wife, not fulfilling his role as the one in authority over his wife. This rebellion rejected God’s designed hierarchy and in so doing rejected God:

This was a two-fold rebellion: it was man’s sin and rebellion against God’s command to have dominion as God originally designed and commanded him to function (Genesis 1:26-28) because Adam did not kill the serpent when it addressed his wife and called God a liar. And it was sin and transgression against God’s command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. As a result of this rebellion, the man and his wife surely died, they died spiritually: “And Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, ‘From any tree of the garden you may surely eat; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it; for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die’” (Genesis 2:16-17). “Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, so she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings” (Genesis 3:6-7).

Point Three: The Curse & God’s Promise of a Restorer

Because man rebelled against God’s hierarchy, God cursed this rebellious flipped hierarchy by cursing it in the order of its rebellion: the serpent, the woman, the man (Genesis 3:14-19). In this curse there is pain and death; there is difficulty, toil, decay. But God did not leave man without hope: God promised One who will succeed where Adam failed. When God cursed the serpent, He promised that One will come who will strike a death-blow to his head:

“And Yahweh God said to the serpent,

‘Because you have done this,

Cursed are you more than any of the cattle,

And more than every beast of the field;

On your belly you will go,

And dust you will eat

All the days of your life;

And I will put enmity

Between you and the woman,

And between your seed and her seed;

He shall bruise you on the head,

And you shall bruise him on the heel.’”

—Genesis 3:14-15.

God’s promise in Gn 3:15 is God’s declaration of victory over the serpent/Satan. It is a promise that He will one day reverse this cursed hierarchy through this Seed of the woman. One day there is coming One who will have dominion because He will succeed where Adam failed and will kill the serpent who instigated the fall of man which led to sin, death, and the curse. But this Seed will also receive some kind of attack from the serpent on his heel; not a death-blow, but a wound. This promise in Genesis 3:15 marks the beginning of the rest of human history. This Seed of the woman is the sole main character of the Bible and of God’s story of His creation; as such the rest of the Bible anticipates and reveals this One to come. Specifically two areas concerning this one: His crushing the head of the serpent, and the serpent’s crushing of His heel.

In this context God promised pain for Adam and Eve in their roles because they rebelled against God’s design for them:

“To the woman He said,

‘I will greatly multiply

Your pain and conception,

In pain you will bear children;

Your desire will be for your husband,

And he will rule over you.’”

—Genesis 3:16.

“Then to Adam He said, ‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, “You shall not eat from it”;

Cursed is the ground because of you;

In pain you will eat of it

All the days of your life

Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;

And you will eat the plants of the field’”.

—Genesis 3:17-18.

In pronouncing the curse God promised physical death for man:

“‘By the sweat of your face

You will eat bread,

Till you return to the ground,

Because from it you were taken;

For you are dust,

And to dust you shall return’”

—Genesis 3:19.

As a result of Adam’s fall in the Garden of Eden, this is the global effect on mankind: mankind is now a race of sinners who experience the effects and result of sin against God. Namely, pain and death. But God has not left mankind without hope, because He promised One who will have dominion in victory over God’s enemy. Who will restore this fallen hierarchy and thus remove the curse, bringing God’s creation back into a state of being very good; back into a Garden-like state.