The Seed of the Woman: Why Christmas Starts in Genesis
Week 1 of our series “And He Shall Be Called”
Christmas comes early this year for our church. I know there are two kinds of people: those who pull out the decorations on November 1st, and those who refuse to hear a carol until Thanksgiving is done. I usually belong to the second group. This year I’m making an exception, partly because I think we could use a little more holiday joy, but mostly because we’re starting a new series.
It’s titled “And He Shall Be Called,” taken from Isaiah’s prophecy listing the names the coming Messiah would carry. By some counts, Jesus has over 150 names and titles. I couldn’t squeeze them into four weeks for Advent, so I am expanding this series to nine weeks. And we start where everything starts: the opening pages of Genesis.
Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?
Indiana Jones can outrun boulders, bad guys, and collapsing temples, but he’s terrified of snakes. Some of you are right there with him.
I’m not quite there, but I have a healthy respect. In high school, on a canoe trip down the Buffalo River in Arkansas, a friend and I rescued a stranded canoeist from the underbrush. At that moment, a snake dropped from the branches into our canoe. I have never left a boat faster. And then this summer, I found a black rat snake curled up in a cabinet in my garage. We reached an understanding — I'll leave you alone, and you'll leave me alone. Then I went in for lunch, came back, and he was gone. I still don’t know which is worse, a snake you can see or one you can’t.
The scariest thing about snakes is how they show up where you least expect them. Humanity has had a strange relationship with them since Genesis 3.
The First Encounter
The serpent slithers into the garden with a question: “Did God really say you can’t eat from any tree in the garden?” Notice the technique. He twists the command, plants doubt, then flatly contradicts God: “You won’t die.” Eve sees fruit that looks good, tastes good, and promises wisdom. She eats. Adam eats. Paradise breaks.
They had one rule. One. And we wonder why nobody listens when we give them rules.
When God arrives, the finger-pointing begins. Adam blames Eve, Eve blames the snake, and Adam sort of blames God for giving him Eve. But God turns to the serpent first:
“I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”
It sounds like a throwaway line, a just-so story about why we fear snakes. It isn’t. Genesis 3:15 is the first messianic prophecy in the Bible.
One Verse, Loaded with Power
Look closely at the grammar. “Offspring” (or “seed”) can be singular or plural, but the verse shifts to singular: he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel. One particular descendant of the woman will come and deal the serpent a death blow. The King James Version says “bruise,” but in the 1600s, that word meant to break or shatter. This is mutually assured destruction.
Once you see it, the conflict shows up everywhere:
Cain and Abel, in the very next chapter
Moses and Pharaoh, where God’s first sign is a staff turned snake
Deborah and Jael, who drives a tent peg through an enemy general’s head
David and Goliath, a showdown between gods as much as men
Babylon and Assyria, empires swallowing God’s people
Herod, hunting a rival king in Bethlehem
Theologians call Genesis 3:15 the protoevangelium, the “first gospel.” The battle is raging, but the serpent’s days are numbered. From the moment sin entered the world, God had a plan.
Echoes Through Scripture
The promise keeps resurfacing. Balaam, hired to curse Israel, instead sees a star rising from Jacob and a scepter from Israel to smash the enemy’s forehead. Psalm 110 pictures a Lord who crushes kings. Isaiah promises a virgin will bear a son called Immanuel, God with us, then reveals the cost in chapter 53: “He was pierced because of our rebellion.” The seed of the woman would deliver the blow and take a mortal wound himself.
Then comes Mary. There’s an image I return to every Christmas called Mary Consoles Eve, a simple colored pencil drawing, and it’s powerful. In Luke 1, Mary sings of God scattering the proud, toppling the mighty, and sending the rich away empty. Pride, power, greed: the same temptations from the garden. Mary sees God undoing the fall through her son. We love the song “Mary, Did You Know?” but I suspect she knew far more than we give her credit for. She knew her Bible.
The Serpent Fights Back
Satan knew what was coming, so he tried everything to derail it:
Kill him as an infant. Herod’s massacre in Bethlehem.
Tempt him in the wilderness. After forty days of fasting, the serpent brought the same pride, power, and greed that toppled Adam and Eve. Jesus won where they lost. Satan left “until an opportune time.”
Rally the troops. Alistair Begg suggests the surge of demonic activity in the Gospels came because the serpent crusher had arrived.
Use his friends. Right after Peter’s great confession, Peter rebukes Jesus for talking about the cross. “Get behind me, Satan.”
Rush the timeline. Crowds tried to throw him off a cliff and stone him. Jesus said, “No one takes my life from me. I lay it down on my own.”
Get him off the cross. “Save yourself, if you are the Son of God.”
Nothing worked, because Satan knew the cross would be his undoing. Both of them were finished there.
The Dragon Can Be Killed
G.K. Chesterton wrote that fairy tales don’t tell children dragons exist, since children already know. Fairy tales tell them dragons can be killed. The Bible isn’t a fairy tale, but the point stands. The Bible doesn't tell us evil exists. We all know evil exists. Scripture tells us the serpent has been defeated.
We live in the “already, but not yet.” Think of the Battle of New Orleans, fought after the War of 1812 was already won. The battles still rage, though the war is decided. A cornered animal is at its most dangerous, and the serpent knows his doom is sealed. Hell wasn’t made for us. It was made for him, and he rules nothing there. Paul tells us even death has been swallowed up in victory.
You Get to Join the Fight
Maybe you’re thinking, “I’m not the seed of the woman. This is about Jesus.” Not so fast. In Galatians 4, Paul says we’ve gone from slaves to children, heirs alongside Christ. Jesus told his disciples he had given them authority “to trample on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy.” Revelation 12 says believers overcame by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. And Paul closes Romans with this promise: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.”
The war is won. The battle continues. And you get to pick a side.
All This Power in a Manger
When a baby was born to nobodies and laid in a manger, God’s plan arrived right on schedule. The seed of the woman had come. He would grow up to drive out demons, inaugurate the kingdom, and lay down his life on a cross, dealing the death blow to the serpent once and for all.
That’s the Jesus we celebrate this season. Let’s never forget it.
Think About It
Genesis 3:15 is called the “first gospel.” Why do you think God gave the promise of a Savior in the middle of pronouncing consequences for sin? What does this tell us about God’s character and his plan from the very beginning?
The serpent’s approach in the garden began with doubt: “Did God really say?” Where do you see that same strategy at work in your own life or in our culture today? How did Jesus respond differently in the wilderness?
Mary’s song in Luke 1 describes God scattering the proud, toppling the mighty, and sending the rich away empty, echoing the temptations of pride, power, and greed from the garden. Which of these three do you find most tempting, and what does it look like in everyday life?
Satan tried many ways to keep Jesus from the cross, including using Peter, one of his closest friends. How can well-meaning people sometimes tempt us to avoid hard obedience? Who are the people in your life who help you stay on mission?
The sermon says the war has been won, but the battles are still being fought. What does it mean to live in this “already, but not yet” reality? What does it practically look like for you to join the fight this week, armed with Christ’s power rather than your own?
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