First times are always fun to talk about. We love recounting the times when we first came to know things we take great joy in today. Kids ask their parents about the first time they met. Sports fans speak of the first game they ever went to with almost holy reverence. We love to talk about our initial experiences with the things we love.
One thing I love to hear is about the first time someone heard the gospel of Jesus. It is a holy moment to watch a brother or sister in Christ recall when they first heard the gospel of their joy or when they first came to grips with its awesome realities.
This brings me to ask a question we don’t often think about; when was the first time Mankind heard the gospel of Jesus Christ? Did Man only come to see the gospel when Christ came to earth? That can’t be right because the gospel of the cross and tomb was planned by God before He created the world (1 Peter 1:18-19; Revelation 13:8)! So when did Mankind first here the gospel?
The answer is at the very beginning. The gospel of grace was spoken to our parents, Adam and Eve, the moment they needed it. In cursing the serpent (i.e. Satan), God said, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15). In this we see God cursing the serpent with war between Him and Mankind (I will put enmity between you and the woman) and we see God revealing Satan’s future destruction by a descendent (offspring) of Eve. So how is this good news for Adam and Eve? We must remember that God is saying all these things in their presence. They heard of Satan’s curses, but they also heard of Satan’s destruction by the power of one to come. In cursing the serpent, God evangelized Mankind with the hope of one to come.
Who is that one to come and fulfill God’s will in crushing Satan? None other than Jesus Christ. “When Christ came into the world He said,…”‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book” (Hebrews 10:5, 7).
So what do we see of Jesus in Genesis 3:15? Three things:
1) His Incarnation: God directly cursed Satan (and indirectly promised Eve) that it would be Eve’s offspring (or seed) who would come to crush Satan’s head. Eve would give birth to a Savior who would be bone of our bone and bone and flesh of our flesh and He will be called our brother (Hebrews 2″11-12) because He is one with us. “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14).
2) His Sufferings and Death: “You shall bruise his heel…” The one to come would not do so unscathed by the attacks of the enemy; Jesus did not live untouched by the enemies temptations or attacks. In the wilderness he was tempted to disobedience, faithlessness and idolatry (Matthew 4). Throughout his ministry he was railed against by Satan’s sons (John 8:39-47). In his trial he was lied against, beaten and insulted by men who were filled with the enemies hatred. Satan put it in Judas’ heart to betray him and brought Peter to deny Him. Jesus was hit, time and time again, in the line of duty. His heel was bruised.
3) His Victory: As we know and sing of often, Jesus won. “Christ baffled Satan’s temptations, rescued souls out of his hands, cast him out of the bodies of people, dispossessed the strong man armed, and divided his spoil: by his death, he gave a fatal and 31 incurable blow to the devil’s kingdom, a wound to the head of this beast, that can never be healed. As his gospel gets ground, Satan falls (Luke x. 18) and is bound, Rev. xx. 2. By his grace, he treads Satan under his people’s feet (Rom. xvi. 20) and will shortly cast him into the lake of fire, Rev. xx. 10. And the devil’s perpetual overthrow will be the complete and everlasting joy and glory of the chosen remnant” (Matthew Henry).
The good news we rejoice in today was the good news Adam and Eve rejoiced in then. Surely, we have had a bit more filled in for us and we now stand on the other side of Jesus’ victory on the cross, but nonetheless we rejoice and believe in the same glorious gospel that was preached by God to our parents. May we continue to rejoice in the new, yet very, very old, gospel.
Below is a prayer taken from The Valley of Vision, 1975, which is a book of compiled Puritan prayers, edited by Arthur Bennet. I highly recommend it. The prayer is titled, “Love Lustres at Calvary.” To lustre means to shine. Calvary is referring to the cross of Jesus Christ. 
