“Is it really so that God has said you must not eat from every tree of the garden?”
With
that seemingly innocuous question the father of the lie – the original
manslayer – slyly implied that mankind’s Creator was untrustworthy. Ever
since then the slanderer has heaped up a mountain of lies to cause
mankind to distrust God. However, on the very day the Devil tricked Eve
into tempting her husbandly head into disobeying God, Jehovah announced
his far-reaching purpose to provide a forthcoming seed of the woman who
would be bruised in the heel and ultimately crush the skull of the
serpent.
In furtherance of
that purpose God organized the nation of Israel, which ultimately
produced the promised messianic seed. The tribe of Judah was
specifically selected for that privilege.
With
the appearance of Jesus, “the lion of the tribe of Judah,” the first
aspect of the edenic prophecy was fulfilled when Satan maneuvered to
have Jesus executed. Jesus’ trust in God was tested to the limit when he
submitted himself to the torturous death the original serpent inflicted
upon him. But his trust was not misplaced. As promised, God resurrected
Jesus from the grave. Hence, the wound the serpent had inflicted upon
Jesus proved to be temporary – as if a mere bruise upon his heel.