A Ray of Light and Hope

But this grief-stricken pair were not banished from their Eden home without a ray of light and hope. Before they were sent forth, they, with Satan, were summoned before the Lord to hear the terrible sentence that must be declared. But in the sentence that God pronounced upon Satan, who had wrought their ruin, they heard these cheering words: “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her Seed; it [He] shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel.” Genesis 3:15.AGP 19.4

“To man the first intimation of redemption was communicated in the sentence pronounced upon Satan in the garden…. This sentence, uttered in the hearing of our first parents, was to them a promise.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 65, 66.AGP 19.5

This brief foretelling of a great conflict between Christ and Satan, and the promise of the ultimate, absolute triumph of Christ and the utter defeat of Satan, must have assuaged somewhat the grief of Adam and Eve as they left forever their once happy home. Yes, there was light and hope in that prophecy, in that promise. In His abounding mercy and infinite wisdom God had provided the solution of the terrible problem that disobedience had created. God had decided upon a plan by which mankind could be redeemed from the very worst that sin could bring upon the race. This was dimly revealed in the sentence pronounced upon the malign instigator of evil.AGP 19.6

To effect the reconciliation of man to God, to redeem him from the curse of sin, and to restore him to the Paradise home from which he was banished, was a plan which had long been determined upon, and that plan was now announced to the tempter in the hearing of the guilty pair. Satan might indeed bruise Christ’s heel, but Christ would bruise the serpent’s head. He would ultimately put an end to sin in its entirety.AGP 20.1

Here a momentous question presses for answer. How could God be true to His righteous law, and yet justify its transgressors?AGP 20.2