The Advancing Covenant of God from Eden to Christ and the Coming Eighth Day

In Genesis 3:15 after Adam and Eve fall into sin God says to them, “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 CSBA). This line is considered by many Christian theologians to be the First Gospel as it serves as the very first prophecy of a future Savior. Throughout the Old and New Testaments this enmity between the serpent and Eve’s offspring unfolds as Satan continually sought to destroy God’s promised Redeemer to come. God preserves this line of Eve through Noah, Abraham, Israel, Judah, David, and finally fulfills His promise in Jesus Christ, the “seed” of the woman, whose death and resurrection decisively crush Satan's power and inaugurate the process of new creation promised from the beginning.

In the Book of Genesis, the fall of Adam and Eve occurs when they succumb to temptation in the Garden of Eden disobeying God’s sole restriction: not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This action violated God’s Edenic Covenant where God provided Adam with life and dominion over the earth on this specified condition (Genesis 2:15-1 CSBA). Deceived by the serpent who promised they will become like God, Eve eats the forbidden fruit and shares it with Adam (Genesis 3:12 CSBA). Violating God’s command they are overcome with shame. After Adam and Eve disobeyed God and were overcome with shame, God pronounced the consequences of their sin and gave the first promise of redemption: that the Seed of the woman would crush the serpent's head (Genesis 3:15 CSBA). This promised that a future Savior will come from Eve’s offspring who will permanently destroy the devil for a new creation as the tempter caused man to harm God’s initially created paradise. Even though God promised redemption, He also prophecies that Satan “will strike his heel” foreshadowing that he would inflict a temporary injury on the Messiah including the Devil's attempts to thwart the promised Deliverer throughout the Old Testament.

Genesis 4 records humanity's first generation after the Fall, revealing Satan's continued attack against Eve's seed while highlighting both the consequences of sin and God's promise of redemption. Cain murdered his righteous brother Abel after God accepted Abel's faithful offering but rejected his own. Although Cain's descendants made cultural advances, they also perpetuated sin, as seen in Lamech's boast of murder. After Abel's death, God gave Adam and Eve another son, Seth, through whom the godly line continued toward the promised Redeemer.

Genesis 3 and 4 speak of mankind being connected with the Lord and losing that communion by submitting to sin. Since Adam and Eve’s sin, Paradise was lost, but through God’s covenant Paradise may be regained. For, “[n]either for Christianity, any more than for the Old Testament, is Paradise a future of an indeterminate nature. Paradise is upon us. It is a presence” (Genesis 4:23 CSBA). While Paradise is upon mankind throughout the Bible, the battle of mankind vs the devil is one to prevent the coming Savior as much as it is for people reaching Paradise today. Separation from the presence of God is the result of sin. This is the reason why the evil one continues to tempt people so to prevent humanity from entering Paradise in God’s Recreation. For, “the mark on Cain in verse 15 will serve as a constant reminder of the opposition to be faced. Regardless of the attacks from Satan, Chapter 4 closes with a note of hope, stating that during the days of Seth's son Enosh, "people began to call on the name of the Lord," marking the growth of faithful worship despite the increasing wickedness of the world (Genesis 4:25 CSBA).   

The story of Noah represents the next stage in the continuing story of Genesis 3:15, as God judges a world overwhelmed by sin while preserving through Noah the covenant family from whom the promised serpent-crusher would eventually come. While the world apparently fell greatly into sin, “Noah found favor with the Lord” (Genesis 6:5-8 CSBA). With the coming of the flood, and the selection of Noah to build an Ark by God’s design, Noah in a sense became a new Adam, and as a descendant of Seth, Noah continues the line of Eve. This indicates that “God declared to Noah that, notwithstanding the flood, God would establish His covenant.”  This Noahic Covenant “when used in the divine and secular covenant context of the Old Testament,” the word “covenant gives quasi legal backing to an already existing relationship” This means that God’s commitment to His created order and promised recreation remains as it was prophesied. The stories of the Tower of Babel and Abraham mark the next major stage in the fulfillment of the First Gospel, demonstrating that although humanity continued to sin against God, the faithfulness to His covenant prevailed as He called Abraham to establish a chosen people through whom the promised Seed of the woman would come. As mankind grew and spread to new nations through generations following the flood, the “whole earth had the same language and vocabulary” (Genesis 11:1 CSBA) United, some humans entered the land of Shinar where they sought to build the Tower of Babel to “make a name for themselves” rather than obey God (Genesis 11:4 CSBA). Their pride demonstrated that sin still ruled the human heart despite God's judgment through the Flood. In response, God confused their language, halted the construction of the tower, and scattered the people across the earth (Genesis 11:5 CSBA). The account of Babel illustrates humanity's continued rebellion against God and set the stage for His call of Abraham. 

God’s covenant expands further with Abraham, and thus keeping with His promise made in Genesis 3:15. God called Adam to share in his blessing in the covenant of marriage with Eve, and promised to deliver them from sin through the promised “seed” by crushing the head of the diabolical serpent tempter. The Father pledged to Noah to keep him and his household safe through the flood, and then promised never to wipe out the human family that way again.

This progressive expansion of God’s covenant began in the marriage in the Adamic Covenant to the Family in the Noahic Covenant and next to the tribe in the Abrahamic Covenant. Prior to each covenant man fell into sin, but God still redeems mankind from their sin in a way that moves forward in His promise. 

In Genesis 12:1-3, God calls Abram to continue forward in his progressive expansion of His Covenant following the dispersal of people from the Shinar. This “call of Abram … displays God’s grace, for with him God will begin again”. Just as God did following the sin of Adam and Eve, of Cain, and of mankind before the flood, He now turns to Abram to initiate a new beginning of his continued expansion of his covenant. For God tells Abraham in Genesis 12:3 that “all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you,” which foretells of a Savior to come as was promised. 

God's reaffirmation of His covenant continues in His call to Abraham and the miraculous promise of Isaac's birth thus demonstrating that the promise of the First Gospel in Genesis 3:15 is depended not upon human ability but upon God's faithfulness to preserve the promised Seed of the woman. God reaffirmed His promise to Abraham by declaring that his wife Sarah, despite her old age and barrenness, would bear a son within a year. Sarah laughed in disbelief because the promise seemed humanly impossible, but God responded by asking, "Is anything impossible for the Lord?" Though Sarah disbelieved, God affirmed His power to accomplish what He had promised, demonstrating that the covenant would advance through His divine faithfulness rather than human ability (Genesis 18:9-15 CSBA). The birth of Isaac was truly a miracle by God because the birth was unimaginable. In continuing with the Abrahamic Covenant, Abraham’s “descendants” through Sarah “are to become a great nation foreshadowing immediately the political future of Israel” thus foretelling the miraculous birth of the Savior through Mary. 

After the birth of Isaac, God asks Abraham to sacrifice his only, miraculously born son Isaac. Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac on Mount Moriah serves as one of the clearest Old Testament foreshadowings of Christ's sacrifice at Calvary. Isaac, willingly carried the wood for his own sacrifice up the mountain, just as Jesus carried His cross to Golgotha. At the last moment, God provided a ram as a substitute in Isaac's place, pointing forward to Christ, the true Lamb of God, who would become the perfect substitute for humanity's sins. Through Abraham's obedience, God reaffirmed His covenant, promising that through his offspring all nations would be blessed—a promise ultimately fulfilled in Christ, the promised Seed first announced in Genesis 3:15.

The life of Jacob marks the next significant stage in the fulfillment of Genesis 3:15, revealing that despite his own deception and failures, God graciously renewed His covenant with him and preserved the lineage through which the promised Savior would ultimately come. Jacob was not a man free from sin. First, when Esau returned home exhausted from hunting and saw Jacob cooking a stew, Esau said, “"Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!" to which Jacob replied, “"Sell me your birthright." (Genesis 25:30-31CSBA). Jacob took advantage of Esau's weakness, and used it to take the first born’s birthright rather than showing brotherly love. This birthright would have allowed Esau participation in God's promises, which he gave away. Second, years later when Isaac became old and nearly blind, intended to give the patriarchal blessing to Esau. Rebekah, overhearing Isaac, instructed Jacob to deceive him. Jacob, pretending to have done as Isaac requested, falsely claimed himself to be Esau. As a result, Isaac gave the covenant blessing to Jacob instead of Esau (Genesis 27:1-36 CSBA). Jacob's deception illustrates that God's covenant advances despite human sin. These actions of Jacob show that he had not earned God's promises through moral perfection. Rather, God's choice was revealed before Jacob and Esau were born when He declared, "The older shall serve the younger" (Genesis 25:23 CSBA). This demonstrates that God's redemptive plan unfolds according to His sovereign purpose rather than human status, birthright, or works. 

Jacob's encounter with God at the Jabbok River marks another important stage in the fulfillment of Genesis 3:15, as God transforms the flawed patriarch into Israel preparing the father of the twelve tribes through whom the promised Seed of the woman would come. “Jacob is changed by struggle at the Jabbok River and, in the rite of passage, receives the new name Israel (which probably means ‘God strives”). As one with whom God has striven, Jacob can now be said to have prevailed over himself; as a changed man, he is now able to meet and to be reconciled with his brother Esau” Jacob’s name change to Israel signifies that God's covenant now passes fully to Jacob and his descendants, who become the nation of Israel.

In further foreshadowing the coming nation of Israel, which prepares the way for the coming Savior, Jacob has twelve sons and one daughter. Jacob’s wife Leah bares Jacob’s sons Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun: His wife Rachel brings forth Joseph and Benjamin: Leah’s maidservant Zilpah gives birth to Dan, Naphtali; Rachel’s maidservant bares Gad and Asher (Genesis 29: 31–35; 30:1-24; 35:16-20 CSBA). From these twelve sons came the twelve tribes of Israel. These tribes played an important role in God's plan of redemption. Through them, God established His covenant nation and preserved the line of the promised Savior. As foretold in Genesis 3:15, God faithfully protected the promised "Seed of the woman" through centuries of sin, idolatry, war, and foreign oppression to the coming of Jesus Christ.

Genesis 37 introduces the story of Joseph, Jacob’s eleventh son, who was greatly loved by his father leading his son to undergo great trouble furthering the way for the coming nation of Israel. Though he was his eleventh son, “Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors" (Genesis 37:3 CSBA). Joseph’s older brothers grew jealous of him, but before they could act God provided Joseph with a dream foretelling that he would one day rule over his family (Genesis 37:5-8 CSBA). Soon afterwards, Joseph's brothers plotted against him, sold him into slavery, and deceived their father (Genesis 37 CSBA). Although Joseph's suffering appeared to threaten God's covenant family, his journey to Egypt became the means that God would later preserve Israel and continue the covenant line.

The stories of Pharaoh's oppression of Israel, the calling of Moses, and the Exodus marked the next major stage in God's progressively expanding covenant, as Satan once again sought to destroy God's people, but God faithfully delivered Israel, established them as His covenant nation, and preserved the promised Seed. Exodus 1:6-12 provides that after the deaths of Joseph and his brothers, the Israelites continued to multiply rapidly and became a great nation in Egypt. However, a new Pharaoh who did not remember Joseph feared Israel's growing numbers and subjected them to harsh slavery and forced labor in an attempt to weaken them. Despite this oppression, God continued to bless His people, and the more they were afflicted, the more they increased, demonstrating that His promise could not be overcome by the efforts of earthly rulers inspired by the continued opposition of the evil one.

God’s saving grace for the Hebrews in Egypt came in a similar fashion for which the Lord has maintained before. Moses who was "drawn out" of a basket in Noah’s Ark like imagery was raised in Egypt but nurtured by a Hebrew woman parallels the previous events in Genesis. Following several struggles and plagues issued by God before delivering Israel from slavery in Egypt, God commanded every household to sacrifice an unblemished Passover lamb and place its blood on their doorposts so His judgment would pass over them. The Passover foreshadowed Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God, whose blood delivers believers from sin and death, while advancing God's promise of redemption. This became the Passover and set the stage for the the Exodus and creation of the nation of Israel that expanded God’s promise from Adamic Covenant in marriage to the Noahic Covenant in family to the Abrahamic Covenant in tribe to the Jacob/Israel Covenant in the twelve tribes to the Mosaic Covenant. 

After establishing Israel through the Mosaic Covenant, God instituted the sacrificial system and priesthood. He instructed Moses to build the Tabernacle to be his dwelling place among His people. The Tabernacle symbolized God's presence among the Israelites and provided a way for sinful Israel to approach Him through worship and sacrifice, foreshadowing Jesus Christ as the perfect sacrifice for sin and the eternal High Priest.

Now that the promised “'skull-crusher” of Satan is foreshadowed God’s priest who can grant redemption through the shedding of innocent blood, the final requirement is that the savior be a divine king who will secure God’s promise. In 2 Samuel, God established the Davidic Covenant by promising David that one of his descendants would build a house for the Lord and that his kingdom and throne would endure forever. David becoming King of Israel established the Davidic Covenant by establishing His everlasting kingdom (2 Samuel 7:8-19 CSBA). This does more than stop at God’s people, the nation of Israel, because the final redeemer for all of mankind has not yet appeared. God tells David "... your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever." The promise of an everlasting throne was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the Son of David, who established God's eternal kingdom for mankind, and who reigns forever.

Having fulfilled every Covenant promised through His incarnation, redeeming death, resurrection, and eternal kingship, Jesus Christ brought the prophecy of Genesis 3:15 to its consummation in the New Testament ending in the Book of Revelation, where the serpent is finally and forever defeated, God's kingdom is reestablished, and creation is restored to the paradise lost in Eden. 

From the Old Testament to the New Testament Jesus Christ is identified as being the promised Savior through the line of David. As the promise made to Eve in Genesis 3:15, the Angel Gabriel tells Mary that the “Lord God will give” Jesus “the throne of his father David” and that “ He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and his kingdom will have no end” (Luke 1:32-35 CSBA). This fulfills the promise that the “skull crusher” will be born of a woman under the Law. Additionally, this passage mentions that Jesus is the heir of King David, fulfilling the Davidic Covenant God. Next, in his sermon at Pentecost, the Apostle Peter proclaims that Jesus is the promised descendant of David who, having been raised from the dead and exalted, now reigns at God's right hand (Acts 2:29–36 CSBA). Then the Apostle Paul affirms this truth, identifying Jesus as "descended from David according to the flesh”, emphasizing both His humanity and His messianic lineage (Romans 1:3 CSBA). Finally, the risen Christ declared His own identity, saying, "I am the root and the descendant of David", revealing that He is both the divine source of David's kingdom and the human descendant through whom God's eternal promises to David are perfectly fulfilled (Revelation 22:16 CSBA).

Scripture demonstrates God's faithfulness in preserving the promised line of the woman through Noah, Abraham, Israel, Judah, and David until its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. As the promised Seed of the woman, Christ fulfills Genesis 3:15 by defeating Satan through His death and resurrection, inaugurating the new creation and securing the ultimate restoration of God's people and creation, which will be completed at His return.

This return of Christ is refered to as s"the Eight Day" by Eastern Orthodox Christians as it is the return of Earth to the "Garden of Eden" where humankind returns to the fullness of its connection with the Creator, God, the El Elyon, which is the foundational Hebrew title translated as "God Most High".