Our God is living. As a God of purpose, however, He is not only living but also moving and working. Today we are all under His moving and His working. The Bible is not a book of stories, nor is it a book of doctrines. Rather, the Bible is a book of revelation, revealing to us that the God of purpose is living, moving, and working. After God’s work of creation in Genesis, the man created by God was seduced and fell. However, the God of purpose can never be defeated. Once God establishes His purpose, He can never be stopped from accomplishing it. Regardless of how subtle Satan is or how much he does to try to frustrate God’s purpose, God simply laughs at him, saying, “Little Satan, whatever you have done and whatever you are going to do will only turn out to help Me to fulfill My purpose. Do your best to try to defeat Me. I am the God of purpose and the eternal God. Once I set My mind on a certain purpose, I can never be defeated. No one can stop Me from fulfilling My purpose. Your greatest effort to frustrate My purpose will only speed up My pace. Initially, I may work only superficially, but by your help My work will go deeper and deeper.” This thought is clearly revealed in the first few pages of the Bible.
Genesis 1 tells us that God created man (vv. 26-28). Genesis 2 shows the purpose for which God created man—that man might take God in as life to become precious materials for God’s building (vv. 8-12). Also in chapter 2, Eve, the wife of Adam, was built by God (vv. 18-24). Thus, Genesis 2 reveals God’s eternal purpose of building. Then in Genesis 3 the serpent came in, and man was seduced and fell. This may seem disappointing to us. After seeing the tree of life, the precious materials, and the building of the wife in chapter 2, we may not rejoice when we see the serpent in chapter 3. However, we need to see that the serpent is only the background, not the main figure. Genesis 3 presents a picture not of the serpent but of a wonderful person, the seed of the woman (v. 15).
In Genesis 3 the subtle serpent crept in and seduced the man that God had created (vv. 1-6). Satan, the serpent, was happy, thinking that he had usurped man for himself. Then God came into the garden and asked Adam if he had eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (v. 11). Adam answered by blaming God for making Eve, saying, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate” (v. 12). God did not rebuke Adam or condemn him. He was not bothered by Adam’s passing on of the blame. Rather, God turned to Eve and asked her, “What is this that you have done?” She said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate” (v. 13). By saying this, she too was blaming God by implying that God should have crushed the serpent before he had a chance to seduce her. However, God did not rebuke her either.
Although God asked the man and his wife what they had done, He did not ask the serpent what he had done. God never gave an opportunity to the serpent to say anything. Rather, He said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, / You are cursed more than all the cattle / And more than all the animals of the field: / Upon your stomach 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 will bruise you on the head, / But you will bruise him on the heel” (vv. 14-15). It seems that God was saying, “Little serpent, because you did this, you will be cursed. Now I am going to defeat you. You came into humanity through the back door, through the female. You should not have done this. In order to shame you, I will bring forth a seed through this back door. You came into humanity through the woman, but I will bring forth a seed of this woman. You thought that your coming into man was your victory, Satan, but you only built up a defeat for yourself. You only opened the door and paved the way for Me to come in and bring forth the seed of the woman, who will crush your head.” This is wonderful! When we come to Genesis 3, we should say, “Hallelujah for the seed of the woman! Hallelujah for His bruising of the head of the serpent!”
After Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they realized that their destiny was to die, for God had told Adam that if he ate of the tree of knowledge, he would surely die (2:17). Because Adam and Eve knew this, they were in fear and trembling (3:8). However, Genesis 3:15 was the first preaching of the gospel. People today are seeking peace, but God did not speak of peace in His preaching of the gospel in Genesis 3:15. Rather, He said that He would put enmity between the serpent and the woman and that the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent’s head. When Adam heard this gospel, these glad tidings, he was no longer in fear and trembling. Before he heard this gospel, he blamed God for giving him a poor wife. He might have thought, “It would have been better if God had never made me a wife. I would not be in this situation.” However, after hearing the first preaching of the gospel, Adam’s feeling changed, and he called his wife Eve, which means “living” (v. 20).
Genesis 3 presents a wonderful picture of the seed of the woman who would come to bruise the head of the serpent. However, this picture needed a background. This background was the creeping serpent. Without this background we would not be able to see the seed of the woman as clearly. Without the serpent coming in to seduce man, causing him to fall, there might have been no way for the seed of the woman to be revealed. The seed of the woman is the Lord Jesus (Isa. 7:14; Gal. 4:4). Without the serpent and the fall of man, the Lord Jesus could never have been revealed as the seed of the woman.
Today the Lord Jesus is in our spirit as the seed of the woman to bruise the head of the serpent. He bruised the head of the serpent on the cross, and today He is bruising the serpent’s head in us. “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing” is a famous hymn written by Charles Wesley. The last verse of this hymn says, “Come, Desire of nations, come! / Fix in us Thy humble home: / Rise, the woman’s conqu’ring seed, / Bruise in us the serpent’s head; / Adam’s likeness now efface, / Stamp Thine image in its place: / Final Adam from above, / Reinstate us in Thy love” (Hymns, #84). Christ’s bruising of the serpent’s head not only took place on the cross objectively but also is being accomplished in us subjectively. Without Satan’s subtle activities in the garden, Christ could not have been revealed as the woman’s conquering seed to bruise the head of the serpent in us.
Genesis 3 is a wonderful chapter because in it we see the first preaching of the high gospel. The low gospel tells man that he is going to hell but that if he believes, he will be allowed into heaven. The high gospel is the gospel of the seed of the woman bruising the head of the serpent. Actually, when the head of the serpent is bruised and Satan is destroyed, every place is “heaven.” If the head of Satan is bruised in our home, our home will be “heaven.” If the head of the serpent is bruised within us, we will be “heaven.” Thus, Genesis 3 is a wonderful chapter portraying the conquering seed of the woman, who bruises the head of the serpent so that our name can be “living.” This chapter reveals how we are saved and made living. Chapter 3, however, is not the end of Genesis.