Let’s read that interesting verse: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between YOUR SEED and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (NKJV). It is important to know that God is actually speaking to “the Devil” in this verse. He had been speaking to the actual serpent that the Devil used in verse 14 which reads, “So the LORD God said to the serpent: ‘Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.” In verse 15 God speaks to the Devil himself who is, from that point on, referred to as the “serpent” in Scripture. In Revelation 12:9 and 20:2 we read, “So that great dragon was cast out, that SERPENT OF OLD, called the Devil and Satan…He laid hold of the dragon, that SERPENT OF OLD, who is the Devil and Satan.” I believe the Devil POSSESSED THE SERPENT and used him to deceive Eve, as we learn in 2nd Corinthians 11:3, “But I fear, lest somehow, as THE SERPENT DECEIVED EVE BY HIS CRAFTINESS, so your minds may be corrupted from simplicity that is in Christ.”

Now we are prepared to take a closer look at Genesis 3:15 and to answer your question. When God says, “I will put enmity between YOU and THE WOMAN,” He is speaking of the ongoing conflict there would be between the DEVIL and MANKIND. But then He goes on to say, “and between YOUR SEED and her Seed.” The “seed” of the Devil (the “serpent”) refers, no doubt, to men who would follow the Devil. In fact, in John 8:44 the Lord Jesus speaks of them as “the Devil’s children.” It says, “You are of YOUR FATHER THE DEVIL, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”

We believe the words “her Seed” may refer to the godly line of men through whom Christ would be born into the world, yet primarily the “Seed” (with a capital “S”) refers to Christ Himself. This becomes clear when we consider the next words, “He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” In these precious words we have God’s first “gospel promise,” for in His announcement of judgment upon the serpent (who is the DEVIL in this verse), He assures him that the woman’s Seed (who is CHRIST) will “bruise your head.” This is speaking prophetically of the victory Christ would gain over the Devil on the Cross. On the Cross the Lord Jesus delivered a mortal wound to the Devil, for we read in Hebrews 2:14, “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself (the Son of God) likewise shared in the same, that through death He might DESTROY HIM WHO HAD THE POWER OF DEATH, THAT IS, THE DEVIL.” At the cross the Devil was judged, as we see in John 12:31, “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.” It is true that God’s sentence of judgment hasn’t been carried out yet, but he is doomed and in time he will be cast into the lake of fire. I would encourage you to read Romans 15:20 and Revelation 20:1-3, 10.

In closing our short meditation, let’s muse on the closing words, “and you shall bruise His heel.” In order for the Lord Jesus to defeat the Devil He had to suffer on the cross! Satan used “his seed” (those who followed him in his hatred of Christ) to deliver Him over to Pontius Pilate to endure the untold agonies of being beaten, scourged and crucified. But it wasn’t, as one has said, an “ultimate defeat” for the Devil, and that’s why is it speaks of “His heel” being bruised (the “heel” can be injured without one receiving a “fatal blow”). And let’s remember that after Satan “had his way with Him,” God Himself judged His Son for our sins. And thus we read in Isaiah 53:10, “Yet it pleased the LORD (God the Father) to BRUISE Him (the Lord Jesus); He has put Him to grief. When You make his soul an offering for sin.” It was those sufferings from a Holy and Righteous God for sin that has brought salvation to lost and guilty sinners, and through His voluntary death He also conquered the Devil. (279.7) (DO)