Listen:  86 Question 6

Let’s start by reading Genesis 3:14-15, “And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”  We see that these words are spoken to the serpent, or the devil, after he successfully tempted Eve to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  In the physical sense, the serpent was cursed so that he would have to crawl on his belly.  It is possible that, up until this point, the serpent had legs to walk on.  After this curse from the Lord, he must now crawl along in the dust.

At this point, the Lord addresses Satan himself.  The Lord put enmity, or hatred, between Satan and the woman, who represents mankind in general.  There would also be enmity between Satan’s seed, or demons, and her seed, which is Christ.  The seed of woman, which is Christ, would bruise Satan’s head, while Satan would bruise the heel of Christ.

How did Satan bruise the heel of Christ?  He did that by the physical sufferings and death of the Lord Jesus on the cross.  Think about all the Lord Jesus went through at His trial and on the cross.  He was beaten terribly; He had a crown of thorns pressed down into His head; He was forced to carry His own cross; He was nailed by His feet and hands to that cross; and he had a sword driven through His side.  Satan had no idea that the death of the Lord Jesus was not victory.  It was his defeat.

The Lord Jesus, speaking of His crucifixion said in John 12:31-32, “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”  While Satan had bruised the heel of the Lord Jesus, that same heel crushed the head of Satan when He died for our sins on Calvary’s cross.  The Lord completely defeated Satan.  Satan, who completely opposed God’s will was defeated by the One who loved to do God’s will.  It’s said of the Lord Jesus in Hebrews 10:7, “Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.”  It was said prophetically of the Lord in Psalms 40:8, “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.”  Not only was the Lord Jesus obedient to His Father, He delighted to do God’s will.  Philippians 2:8 says about Jesus, “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

Satan, by his temptation in the Garden of Eden drew mankind into sin and death because of our sins.  The Lord Jesus defeated Satan and delivers us from the power of sin and death through faith in Him.  Hebrews 2:14-15 tells us, “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”