Where in the Bible would you find the first expressly written statement offering the hope of the Gospel? Hint: It is not in the New Testament. Would you believe that it occurs in Genesis?
In Genesis 3, we are told that Adam and Eve failed to obey the command of God (not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil). Consequently, all of mankind was condemned. A physical deformity is often passed on through genetics; so too are the tainted spiritual genetics of Adam passed on to us. We are all fallen and in need of a Savior.
Yet the curses unleashed upon Adam will eventually fall upon Christ. Consider the curses that were poured out upon both man and Satan at the Fall. Even Genesis proclaims that Jesus is the only cure for our curse!
In Genesis 3:17-19, God issued the curse of the Fall upon mankind. He told Adam, "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."
Just prior to this, in Genesis 3:14-15, God had told Satan, "You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."
God declares that mankind was condemned to return to the dust, and Satan was condemned to eat the dust. God is telling us that Satan will devour the remains of the dead, but He graciously promises that One would come who would crush the serpent's head. Indeed, God would bring ultimate death to the wicked one who thrives upon death. This is the first clear promise of the Gospel. Mankind would be saved from the wicked one who would otherwise swallow us up in death.
Instead, because of our Lord, we do not need to fear death as the end. Instead, death is our ticket to true life! It is our ticket into the arms of the One who conquered death! Thus, a Christian can mock death alongside the Apostle Paul who said, "When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory.' Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"
Jesus has turned everything right-side-up. He has taken the worst curse upon mankind (death), and He has made it into a doorway to true life. Jesus has borne our curses. We were cursed to suffer thorns, yet on the Cross, Jesus took our curse upon Himself and He made it into His crown. We were cursed to sweat and suffer for our bread, yet Jesus willingly faced the agony of the Cross -- fretting with sweat of blood -- so that He could freely offer Himself to us as the Bread of Life. We do not have to toil and sweat for this Bread; it is a free gift of grace. We were condemned to return to the dust (the spiritual food of Satan), and yet Jesus has stomped the head of this devouring serpent. We have been freed from the plague of death!
Jesus has reversed our curses!
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