This is part of an ongoing series called Jesus in Genesis. The series unpacks how to read the Bible as the redemptive story in which Christ is the center, from creation to the final judgment.
The grand story of the Bible is the history of God’s creation of a kingdom. What is a kingdom? It is a delimited space or land, with subjects—a people, under the government of a sovereign or king. All of this is in view in the opening chapters of Genesis, where the great Lord King, Almighty God, first creates a place and then populates it. Yet, on the heels of God’s establishing his kingdom where he can dwell with his people and bless them with his presence (Gen. 3:8), his subjects rebelled, making the rest of the Bible the unfolding revelation of God’s redemptive kingdom of grace.
Thus, this redemptive story—ultimately all about Jesus—begins with the creation of the world (Gen. 1:1). After describing God’s creation ex nihilo (“from nothing,” Heb. 11:3), Genesis 1–11 sketches the primeval history: a period marked by the fall into sin (Gen. 3), increasing corruption (Gen. 6:5), and a worldwide judgment foreshadowing the final day (Gen. 6–9).
Yet, immediately after the fall, the LORD announces the protoeuangelion (“first gospel”; Gen. 3:15). In the fullness of time, Jesus is the “offspring of the woman” whose “heel” would be bruised at the cross even as he crushed the head of the serpent once for all.
The genealogies of Genesis 4–5 and 10–11 trace the divide between the serpent’s offspring and the woman’s faithful seed. The Lord’s faithfulness to his promise echoes through these passages as he preserves for himself a “remnant” seed-of-the-woman line who “call upon the name of the Lord” (Gen. 4:26). From this line, the Messiah Redeemer would one day come (Matt 1:1–17; Luke 3:23–38).
While most recognize Christ proclaimed in promise in the protoeuangelion, this hardly exhausts the Christward dimensions of these first eleven chapters of Genesis. For example, we can see Christ in creation itself in Genesis 1–2: Jesus was there as God the Son, the Divine Word through which all things were spoken into existence (John 1:3; Col. 1:16). And this creation anticipates the new creation in him (2 Cor. 5:17; Rev. 21:5).
So, as will be seen below, in this “primeval history” of Genesis 1–11, we see so many types and shadows of Jesus—the Firstborn of all creation; the Satan-serpent-crushing, bruised-heel Redeemer; the Shepherd Lamb of God who leads through the floodwaters of eternal judgment into glory; and the great Reconciler of sinful humanity to God and one another.
Seeing Jesus in Genesis 1–11
Genesis 1—Jesus is the divine Word in whom, by whom, and for whom God spoke creation into being (John 1:1–3; 1 Cor. 8:6; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:1–2). He is the true image of God, in whose likeness even Adam was made, since Christ is the firstborn of all creation (Col. 1:15, 18–19; Heb. 1:3).
Genesis 2—Jesus is the Second Adam, whose side was pierced to build a beloved bride, his own body (Eph. 1:22–23; 5:23 4:12–16; Col. 1:18; 1 Cor. 12:27) and with whom he delights to share in intimate fellowship forever, having partaken of her flesh in his incarnation (Gen. 2:21; John 1:14; 20:20). As Second Adam, he fulfills the Covenant of Works, meriting eternal blessings of life and glory for his people (Gen. 2:15–17; Rom. 5:18; 1 Cor. 15:20–28, 45–49) and leading his people “back” into a Garden-temple, dwelling with them and granting access to the Tree of Life to eat and live forever (Gen. 3:22–24; Rev. 22:1–5).
Genesis 3—Jesus is the promised offspring or “seed” (singular; Gal 3:16) of the woman whose heel was crushed at the cross so he might crush the serpent’s head (Gen. 3:15; Isa 53:5; Rom. 16:20; Gal. 3:16).
Genesis 4—Jesus is the true martyr, killed for faithfully worshiping and obeying God, whose blood speaks a better word than Abel’s—not judgment, but mercy (Heb. 12:24).
Genesis 5—Jesus is the greater Enoch, who walked with God perfectly (Gen. 5:22). Though worthy of life, his days were cut short to bear our shame (Ps. 89:45) in order that he might assure us of life beyond Methuselah’s “mere” 969 years (Gen. 5:27)—life everlasting (John 3:15–16).
Genesis 6—Jesus is the greater Noah, being “a righteous man, blameless in his generation.” Like Noah, Jesus leads his family of faith through the floodwaters of cosmic judgment into his New Earthly kingdom populated with those he preserves—a place where righteousness dwells (2 Pet. 3:13) and wickedness is banished (1 Pet. 3:18–22).
Genesis 7–8—Into the context of God’s providential common grace and patience in the face of reigning sin and wickedness, Jesus came in the fullness of time (Gal. 4:4) to redeem a remnant by building a saving ark—his own body—to save his family of faith through the waters of final judgment forever symbolized in his sacrament of baptism (1 Pet. 3:18–22).
Genesis 9—Jesus did not just receive a sign of God’s covenant promise, but he himself became the sign from God of his promises all of which find their Yes in him (2 Cor. 1:20). His body and blood (1 Cor. 11:23–26) as sign and seal assure us that though we deserve death for destroying God’s image (Gen. 9:6), through faith in him and his saving work, we have the guarantee of never facing the Lord’s judgment.
Genesis 10–11—At Babel, sin fractured creation, alienating people from God and one another as humanity sought to make a name for itself by building a tower to heaven (Gen. 11:1–9). Jesus, in contrast, lays aside his glory (Phil 2:7) and comes down from heaven, taking on flesh to give his people a name—his own name above every name (Phil. 2:9–11)—written in heaven (Rev. 2:17; 3:12; Luke 10:20; Isa. 56:5). In him, people from every tribe, language, and nation are united (Acts 2; Rev. 5:9; Gal. 3:28). And he is the builder of the eternal city, the New Jerusalem, which comes down from heaven (John 14:2–3; Rev. 21:2).
