The First and Only Prophecy

“And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because you have done this, you are cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon your belly shall you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life: And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; It shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” (Genesis 3:14-15)

God is clearly talking to the serpent, but not really to that snake. God was using the symbol just as Satan had used it like a puppet. Satan, “that old serpent”, was the real object. Satan’s head would be bruised or crushed, while the Seed’s heel would be wounded.

We know the seed is the Messiah, because only the Savior could crush Satan’s head and remove his power from the earth and from all the universe. The bruising of Satan began at the cross which declared his time was short. (Revelation 12:12) The complete crushing would happen at Christ’s return when Satan would be executed.

To crush Satan’s head, Christ would have to suffer His heel being bruised. The Son of God sacrificed His all on the cross, but was resurrected then ascended to heaven where He was forever beyond Satan’s power.

In this short prophecy we see the two key events in the plan of redemption. The Adam timeline shows the cross—“bruise His heel”— and the Second Coming—“bruise your head”. Every prophecy after this one is merely a more detailed explanation or adjustment. Like a flower blossoming or a tree branching outwards, every prophecy in scripture grows out of this one to form one large prophecy with multiple layers or branches.

The first part of the prophecy where Christ’s heel is bruised was made very real to Adam and Eve. They had to sacrifice the lambs from which the Son of God made their new clothes. The sacrificial lamb was a constant token of forgiveness as well as a regular reminder of the Messiah to come. By slaying the innocent lamb, Adam and his descendants were painfully reminded of the cost of sin. It was one thing to talk about the future Messiah. It was another thing to relive the pain of sin and feel the death of the Savior.

This simple, heartfelt prophecy was twisted and perverted started with Cain and his descendants. Later, in the time of Moses, the ritual was expanded into an entire religious culture to help guard against abuses such as human sacrifice.

Back in those early days before the flood, one other prophecy was recorded, which was really just an expansion of the crushed head. “Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” (Jude 14-15)

In the end, God is vindicated. Judgment does not merely kill the wicked, but it convinces both saint and sinner of God’s righteousness. Yes, God allowed sin, but He also offered a way back after every sin, including Lucifer’s first. We hear “hard speeches” almost everywhere, but they are without foundation or excuse. God is vindicated in all of His actions. Sin is condemned as an intruder without reason or cause.

This sinful stubborness becomes more apparent after the cross reveals the grace of God for our salvation. Everyone could be saved and God could be vindicated all at the same time. There was never any need for all the degradation and destruction we now experience.

As we continue through the Bible timeline we will see that prophecy is progressive. God’s method of teaching angels, saints, and sinners alike is through progressive patterns. Because we are finite beings, He teaches us truth today then repeats and expands it tomorrow. We grow in our understanding as we are able and have interest. God starts simple, then builds on it as needed.

And the idea, “as needed”, is key. There never needed to be a flood. There never needed to be the rise and fall of Israel and empires. The people could have patiently waited for the Messiah by bringing their sacrifices to the gate of Eden. Once the Lamb of God appeared, they could have witnessed His infinite sacrifice, learned the fullness of the godly life, then teach their children to live by faith. The world should have been gladly waiting for the re-appearing of Christ.

Then the final execution of the judgment on Satan, his angels, and the wicked would have take place in some corner of the earth rather than turning it into a vast lake of fire. The remaining saints would be restored to immortality in robes of light, the gates of Eden opened again, and eternity beyond the possibility of sin would begin. There were just ten lessons humanity needed to learn (see book 3) then it all would have been finished thousands of years ago and we would be in Eden right now.

But sin is stubborn and sinners are selfish. They did not want to encourage one another to loyalty and faithfulness. Instead, we had a flood and a tower and Abraham leading to Moses. And Moses added the second layer to the prophecy in response to the spread of sin.