The record in the Bible concerning the fall of Adam and Eve shows us not only the initial types of Christ’s redemption but also the types of Christ’s salvation.
In Genesis 3 Adam and Eve were tempted by the serpent, and as a result they sinned and became fallen. However, God did not reject them; instead, He began to carry out His salvation for them. He promised them that the seed of the woman would come as the one who would save them from the corruption and bondage of the serpent. This seed of the woman is the incarnated Christ, who was born of a woman, even a virgin (Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:23; Gal. 4:4), to be the Savior of fallen men.
In Genesis 3:15 God told the serpent that the seed of the woman would bruise its head. When Christ as the seed of the woman was on the earth, He exercised authority to bind the strong man, that is, the serpent, Satan—the evil one—and plunder his goods, the fallen people, who are under his bondage and for his use (Matt. 12:29). Eventually, Christ bruised the head of the ancient serpent through His death on the cross and destroyed the devil, who has the might of death, altogether abolishing him and bringing him to nought (Heb. 2:14). Since Christ destroyed Satan in our flesh and also destroyed the power of sin, which is the sinful nature of Satan in us, He saves us from the slavery of death and releases us (Heb. 2:15).
In Genesis 3 the serpent in the garden of Eden as the embodiment of the evil one signifies the subtle one, the devil, Satan. He was a murderer from the beginning and is also a liar (John 8:44). He is called “the tempter” (Matt. 4:3), who in a subtle and crafty way seduced the God-created man and thereby caused him to sin and fall. By doing this, Satan injected himself into man and caused man to have the serpentine poison, the evil nature, in the flesh, possessing the serpentine nature. Thus, man became a serpent and belonged to Satan (Matt. 23:33; 3:7). When Christ was lifted up on the cross in the form of the flesh of sin, the ancient serpent, Satan, was judged and completely destroyed through the Lord’s death.
When Christ as the seed of the woman bruised the head of the ancient serpent, Satan, through His death in the flesh on the cross, the serpent also bruised His heel. This refers to Satan’s hurting of the Lord Jesus by nailing His feet to the cross (Psa. 22:16). For the accomplishing of God’s redemption, Christ tasted death for us, the fallen sinners, to cause the death of Satan and destroy the serpentine nature in our flesh that we may be freed altogether from Satan’s poison. What a salvation this is!
In the Bible, God used the skins of the sacrifices with which He made coats for the fallen Adam and Eve to put on, the sheep with their fat which Abel offered to God, the burnt offerings which Noah offered to God, and the seed of the woman who would bruise the head of the serpent, as the primitive types concerning Christ’s redemption and His salvation. God’s clothing Adam and Eve with coats made of the skins of sacrifices typifies that God caused Christ to be sacrificed for sinners as the substituting Lamb. Thus, Christ was made the righteousness of the sinners who believe in Him, and the sinners are justified and may live before God. The firstlings of the flock offered by Abel were a type of Christ, who is unto God, who lives for God, and who is gentle and tender, that He might be the living of the believers, whose sins He bore and whom He redeemed, to satisfy God’s desire and be accepted by God. The fat which Abel offered is a type of the tender merits of Christ offered to God for His satisfaction. This indicates that we sinners who have been redeemed by Christ should live before God by such a Christ so that, like Him, we may be accepted by God. After Noah was saved by God from the old age of corruption into the new age of restoration, he built an altar to offer sacrifices as burnt offerings to be a sweet-smelling savor to God. By doing this, he satisfied God’s heart that the earth might remain before God. This is the completion of the initial types of Christ’s redemption.
In the fall of Adam and Eve there are not only the initial types of Christ’s redemption but also the types of Christ’s salvation. God promised them that the seed of the woman would come to save man from the corruption and bondage of the serpent. This seed of the woman is a type of Christ, who was born of a virgin, as the Savior of fallen men.