Eve, the First to Hear About Jesus
March is the month of Eve, a month where Seele is looking at the first woman from 5 angles, over a period of 5 weeks. We’ve looked at: Eve, A Unique Woman; Eve, The First Dressmaker; and Eve, the Strength and Power to Her Husband. Though Eve made a costly mistake by listening to the serpent, she is still significant, fascinating and there’s a lot that we can learn from her and apply to our lives.
Though Adam was made directly from dirt, Eve was made directly from God’s hands. She was Adam’s partner, his strength and his power. The earth, animals and male had been created. By her creation as female, creation was complete. According to Grace to You, “Her creation also reminds us of the essential unity that is ideal in every marriage relationship, and it illustrates how deep and meaningful the marriage of husband and wife is to be. It’s not merely a physical union, but a union of heart and soul as well. The intimacy of her relationship with her husband is rooted in the fact that she was literally taken from his side.”
Before their fall, Adam and Eve were co-laborers in the Garden. Adam was the head and Eve was accountable to him. They were equal and the garden was a true paradise. But we all know what happened in Genesis 3. They made a choice that resulted in a shift on the earth, a change- a curse that would affect all of humanity. But despite this, Eve remained Adam’s partner, and would remain the mother of humanity.
When God met the two sinners in the Garden, and the chief sinner himself, Satan, God dolled out punishments to all 3. But there was a prophecy that fell from the lips of God to the serpent that was also for Eve:
And I will put enmity (children of God) between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He (Jesus) will crush your head, and you (Satan) will strike his heel. –Genesis 3:15
Even in Adam and Eve’s punishments grace abounded. God was there to show that the curse on the earth would not end in doom. You see, Eve was the first person to receive the divine prophecy of the cross. That one of Eve’s offspring would squash sin. That offspring was Jesus, who was uniquely “born of a woman,”- a virgin- as Paul points out in Galatians 4:4. And God, who came in the flesh [Jesus], was that Seed of the woman who crushed the serpents head.
I won’t go too deep because this is for another post, but Adam is a prototype of Christ, a priest. Eve represents the church, the bride (Revelation 12: 1-6 & Ephesians 5:22-32). Both Eve and the serpent have seeds. These are all spiritual symbols. When a person becomes a follower of Christ they are children of God- seeds of God. The devil also has seeds, those who do his will (John 8: 40-41, 44).
God’s words to the serpent in Genesis 3:15 is indeed a prophecy of spiritual war between God’s people and Satan’s.
Eve being the first person to receive the divine prophecy of the cross shows God’s unbelievable grace. That He wasn’t going to allow man to be doomed, but that a Way was coming to receive a pardon for sin. When Jesus said, “It is finish” on the cross and breathed His last, what essentially happened was that in the spiritual realm, the serpent’s head was “crushed” (prophecy from Genesis 3:15). The serpent’s head represents power and authority. According to Bible Gateway, “Jesus laid hold of all satanic principalities and powers that Eve’s transgression brought into the world, and put them under His feet.”
Though she made a mistake, God still showed His love and grace to Eve by sharing a key prophecy. We learn that God always had a plan for humanity, though Jesus. And we learn that despite her mistake, God still spoke to Eve and He will still speak to His daughters through various ways, despite our mistakes. He has plans for us, the daughters of Eve.