The First Reference to Jesus was in the Garden of Eden

We’ve all heard about the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were allowed to eat freely of any trees EXCEPT for one tree. God clearly told Adam, who told Eve, that they were not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eating of this tree would bring death. Notice that it wasn’t the tree of good and evil-it was the tree of the KNOWLEDGE of good and evil.

They could eat any of the luscious fruits of any of the heavy-laden trees in the garden. In all the garden’s perfection, they were told they were not to eat of just . . . that . . . one . . . tree. Nowhere in Scripture does it say the fruit of this tree was an apple-that probably came from an artist’s imagination years ago and still persists today in images.

Adam and Eve were living in the perfect garden. They communed directly with the Lord. They didn’t know what evil was-or shame, or fear, or any of the unpleasantness evil would bring to mankind.  

We know what happened in that perfect garden.

Satan used a serpent in the plan to tempt Adam and Eve. But this animal did not look like serpents do today. In Genesis 3:14, God tells the serpent that he was cursed above all cattle and above all the beasts of the field. This leads me to believe the serpent that day looked more like cattle.  

Eve and Adam knew God told them not to eat the fruit of that one tree. But they

listened to the serpent. They looked at the fruit. They lusted after it.  

Eve first, then Adam, made the choice to go against God’s commands.  

Sin entered the perfect garden. The consequences of sin is still spiraling out of control today.

God’s curse upon the serpent that was used by Satan was that the animal would be changed from what it had originally been. From that point on, the serpent would go on its belly and eat dust.

The next thing God tells Satan, is the very first mention of the Savior, Jesus.

God said, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.”

I believe the meaning here is that Satan and sin will be a problem for all people born of woman (everyone). But the bigger meaning is that the One who will come from the seed of woman (Jesus, the Messiah) will ultimately crush/destroy the head of the serpent, Satan.

In Genesis, the first book of the Bible, God tells us that Jesus, the Messiah, will one day destroy Satan.

In Revelation, the last book of the Bible, God tells us exactly how Jesus will destroy Satan at the end of time.

Jesus is the beginning and the end.

Carla Killough McClafferty