Bequests From Adam and Eve, Our “Uncommon Ancestors"
“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
After they fell into sin, our first parents failed to come to God honestly with their guilt. They hid themselves from God and, when confronted, tried to cast blame elsewhere. Because of His great love, God was not willing to abandon them to the devil’s power and eternal death. Instead He gave them the first Gospel promise of a coming Savior. There would be warfare between the woman and the serpent, and between his descendants and her Descendant. We know that it was one Descendant of the woman in particular because God promised that “HE” would crush the serpent's head, though the serpent would strike His heel.
This promise was fulfilled when Jesus, the descendant of the woman, suffered terribly on Calvary’s cross and died there for the sins of the world. This awful wound did not end in defeat, however, because Jesus rose in triumph on the third day. In this way God fulfilled the first Gospel promise to our uncommon ancestors: “that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.” (Hebrews 2:14)
Did Adam and Eve trust in this Gospel promise? We have reasons to be confident that they did. When her first child was born, Eve literally said, “I have gotten a man, the LORD.” Did she mistakenly think that God had sent the Savior immediately? We can’t know for certain, but we do know that the descendants of Seth, their third born son, began to “call upon the name of the LORD.” (Genesis 4:26) No doubt the saving Gospel had been passed from generation to generation. When you call upon the name of this same LORD in faith, you are an inheritor of the same Gospel promise, for "whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved." (Romans 10:13)
I will praise Thy great compassion,
Faithful Father, God of grace,
That with all our fallen race
And in our deep degradation
Thou wast merciful that we
Might bring endless praise to Thee.
The Lutheran Hymnal 384:5