In the Beginning: The Gospel in Genesis

Though Christians celebrate Christ’s death and resurrection every day of the year, we especially set aside the time called Easter for special services to emphasize the vital importance of this historic event and boldly proclaim the “good news,” the saving gospel.

Now no one can truly understand the meaning of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ without understanding the historical events outlined in Genesis 1–3. This is the foundational history that teaches us that God created the first two humans, Adam and Eve. We learn that Adam disobeyed God’s instruction, and we call that disobedience sin.

Illustration by Viktor Miller-Gausa

Ken Ham, President/CEO
Answers in Genesis

Because we are all descendants of Adam, all humans are sinners. The penalty for sin is death. That’s why all humans will die. But because humans are made in God’s image, our bodies die, but our soul—the real us—will live for eternity. However, sinners can’t live with a holy God, so God promised One (God’s Son) who would step into history to become a man—a perfect man—and pay the penalty for our sin by suffering death and then being raised from the dead. Christ then offers the free gift of salvation to those who will receive it by faith. This is the essence of the gospel.

Two verses in Genesis, in particular, not only promise the Savior but also point to the message of the cross. Genesis 3:15 is a promise that God will send a Savior who will suffer but conquer the devil: “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 3:21 sets up the sacrificial system (the Israelites sacrificing animals), pointing to the One who would die for our sin. The first blood sacrifice as a covering for sin is a picture of what was coming in Jesus Christ. He is the lamb of God who takes away our sin.

Hebrews 10:4 says, “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” The shedding of animal blood can’t take away our sins, since animals aren’t made in the image of God. Genesis 3:21 is pointing to God’s Son who would become a man, the Godman, a perfect man, to fulfill the promise of Genesis 3:15 and die for sin, “since he did this once for all when he offered up himself” (Hebrews 7:27).

How can any Christian reject Genesis as historical narrative or claim that a person doesn’t need to believe and understand Genesis to understand the gospel? After all, the gospel is not only founded in Genesis but the essence of the meaning of the gospel is given in the two crucial verses, Genesis 3:15 and Genesis 3:21.