Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.
Genesis 3:1

One more important detail in Genesis 3. A little about the devil. The devil (Satan) was an angel—the highest angel. But he became prideful and he rebelled against God, demanding that he would be like God. This is, of course, impossible, since angels are created beings—whereas God is the uncreated Creator of all things.

God cast Satan out as an angel, along with one-third of the angels that joined Satan in his rebellion against God. Since that time, Satan has had one agenda: to foil God’s plans—especially His plans about the special people God had in mind.

The serpent was indeed cunning. He said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’” (Genesis 3:1)

It was Satan (called the serpent) who tempted Eve to disobey God by eating the forbidden fruit. Eve, in turn, tempted Adam, and both sinned. God had a few choice words for Satan in the aftermath of man’s sin. God said: “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.” (Genesis 3:15)

God’s words to Satan were also the first words about the Messiah to come (Jesus), referred to as the Seed of the woman. Satan would bruise the heel of the Seed of the woman, but the Seed of the woman would bruise the head of Satan. This is the first prophecy of how Christ would defeat the devil to save His people.

The Seed of the woman is CHRIST.
That Satan would bruise Christ’s HEEL = Christ’s suffering and death in the cross—from which He would arise!
That Christ would bruise Satan’s HEAD = Jesus would utterly defeat the devil.

This is the first direct reference to Jesus and the revelation of God’s plan to save a special people for Himself that would be instrumental in the demonstration of the love between God the Father and God the Son—and of God’s love for the people Jesus would save.

REMINDER: The goal of these studies is to reveal Christ in all the Scriptures. The goal of this study in particular is to show you that the Bible is ONE STORY about God’s ONE GRAND PLAN. That grand plan is Christ and the gospel—even in the opening chapters of Genesis. The Bible is one book, one story, and it is all about Christ!