by Henry Law, Dean of Gloucester
“I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Gen. 3:15).
These are the first words of grace to a lost world. When were they spoken? By whom? To whom? — When? Just after sin had come in, and innocence was gone, and man had become a guilty creature before God. One command had been given, for the purpose of seeing whether he would love, and fear, and serve his Maker. That one command had just been trodden under foot.
Pause here for one moment and think. Some dream of earning eternal life by doing God’s will. This way has been tried. It failed. The end of it was ruin. Our first parents were innocent, and had no inward movings towards evil, but they rushed into it. We are born with hearts corrupt, and fully bent on sin, and can we keep ourselves holy and spotless? It is a vain thought. Let us cast it away. We cannot continue blameless. Our wicked nature is always drawing us out of the straight path of godliness. We have not stood blameless during one hour of one day of our lives. The charge is true, and every honest conscience will confess it.
By whom were these words spoken? We read, “The Lord God said”. What proof is here, that our God is merciful and gracious! Think how He had been offended! Think, with what base ingratitude — with what contempt He had been treated! Satan’s lie had been trusted rather than His truth. His easy yoke had been broken, as if it had been some hard restraint. The language of the proud heart had been, “We will not have our God to reign over us”.
God, even He, descends. No thunder-bolt is in His hands. No avenging angels follow to sweep the rebels into perdition. The voice which speaks is the voice of mercy. The tidings, which are brought, are the tidings of deliverance.
O my soul, can you consider the Speaker, and not exclaim, Truly, God is good : He willeth not the death of a sinner! Reason as the wife of Manoah did, “If the Lord were pleased to kill us, He would not, as at this time, have told us such things as these” (Judges 13:23).