THE UNFOLDING OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION

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 NKJV

The above verse is the thesis of the Bible or clear statement by God how He will accomplish redemption. It appeared vague but as history progresses it gets clearer until its fulfilment.

Adam and Eve failed to obey the first covenant which is often referred to as the Covenant of Works (Genesis 3:6). It would have been just for God to judge them but God displayed His boundless grace.

So also, God set out how He would destroy Satan and brought salvation through His Son. This was the first gospel proclamation by God just after the fall of man.

Genesis 3:15 was the revealing of His grace and how He will redeem a ruined kingdom. His redemptive work will be costly to Him, as His Son will be bruised, but He will deliver a fatal blow on Satan.

However, the temporary establishment of the blood sacrifices throughout the Old Testament was the anticipation of the cross of Christ. 

Therefore, the thesis of the Bible echoed the final atonement but also act as a guarantee until it happened (Romans 3:25). This was the beginning of the unfolding of His plan of redemption on earth.

At this point of history God was not surprised at the fall of man because the plan of redemption was His original plan (Revelation 13:8).

In view of all this, our focus for this article will be on the promise of the coming of the Seed of the woman, through covenants. Furthermore, we will discover, how God gradually unveiled His plan throughout history with faithfulness despite human unfaithfulness.

As history progresses from the fall, the tension unraveled between the devil and God’s people. The promise of the Seed of the woman was inaugurated with a covenant with Abraham (Genesis 12:7).

God confirmed the covenant with Abraham with the sign of circumcision (Genesis 15). Furthermore, He revealed to Abraham about his natural descendants, that they will be slaves for over four hundred years in a foreign land afterwards He will deliver them.

The fulfilment came at the exodus when God delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. At Mount Sinai, God made a covenant with the Israelites. Moses was the mediator of this covenant, the Israelites were blessed with covenant relationship with Yahweh and they are to be a light and blessing to other nations of the world.

Their covenant stipulations were grounded in the law of God (the Ten Commandments) and they are to honour the covenant through obedience to God. Most importantly, it was all based on God’s grace (Exodus 34:6-7) and the question was did they honour their side of the covenant? Absolutely not, but then God was faithful and would accomplish His plan of redemption.

Prior to the Mosaic covenant, Jacob prophesied about the eminence of his son Judah and his family. Jacob’s prophecy was related to the dynastic covenant (Genesis 49:9-12). Centuries later God confirmed Jacob’s prophecy through King David who was from the tribe of Judah. David was the recipient of the covenant of a Son whose kingdom will be forever.

When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 2 Samuel 7:12-13 ESV

The immediate promise was referring to Solomon but ultimately the promise goes further down the centuries. David will have a Son through his lineage and this Son is unique whose kingdom will be everlasting.

The many royal descendants of David disobeyed God but this covenant was unconditional based on God’s faithfulness. The promised Seed in the garden of Eden was drawing nearer to His appearing .The gospel message of the coming Messiah was approaching and at this point it was a millennium left to its fulfilment.

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Jeremiah 31-33 ESV

Finally, the New covenant was proclaimed by Jeremiah and it revealed the supernatural superiority over the Mosaic covenant. The New covenant promises the hope of eternal blessings for the redeemed of God. We’ve discovered how the announcement of the Seed of the woman became a promise to Abraham in which this Seed was his descendant (Galatians 3:16). Abraham natural descendants became numerous and were set apart for producing the Seed.

The Seed was a royal Son of King David from the royal line of Judah. A thousand years after King David, the Messiah was born in the town of Bethlehem. With such great expectations for this special person, how is He going to live up to His appearance to crush the serpent head? Isaiah tells us of an eternal Son whose government will have no end ( Isaiah 9:6).

Amazingly, the eternal Son, was also the suffering servant (Isaiah 53). This was Isaiah version of the Lion and the Lamb (Revelation 5:5-6). The Lion of the tribe of Judah was also the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

The mystery and wisdom of God was displayed on the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Christ. On His last Feast of the Unleavened Bread before His impending death, Jesus confirmed the New Covenant as the object and fulfilment of it. He instituted the Lord’s Supper. The symbol of the New Covenant for New Testament believers is the Lord’s Supper or Communion. Jesus the Son of God bruised the head of the serpent in other words He destroyed Satan’s evil empire.

And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross”. Colossians 2:15 NIV

Jesus was paraded in the city of Jerusalem but paradoxically in the spiritual realm it was the devil and his minions that were shamed and destroyed. In the story of redemption, God throughout history was unveiling His plan to create a new people for Himself. The entire covenant of grace, was God’s love towards rebellious sinners. God displays His glory and accomplished His purpose for His own glory and our good (Roman 8:28).

“that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. Ephesians 5:26-27 ESV

At the cross, whilst Satan was being defeated, so also Christ was redeeming His precious bride the Church. The Church of Christ is being prepared through the sanctifying work of the Spirit. On that glorious day the Bride of Christ will finally unite with Christ for the ultimate covenant fulfilment at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:6-9).