111 SATAN INVADES THE HUMAN SCENE genesis 3

Adam excused himself for his disobedience, claiming ‘The woman whom you gave to me, she gave me the fruit of the tree, and I ate.’ ( v12 ) Adam blamed God for His gift of Eve and her womanhood, when she offered the fruit to him.

Adam decided that Eve would be the scapegoat and that all blame must rest on her. Later in Leviticus 16:7,11, Moses taught that the scapegoat could only be released into the wild after the other goat had been sacrificed. It referred to our Lord Jesus in His sacrificial death on the cross for our sins. Did Adam consider that Eve could die for his sin of disobedience, while he could be freed? Where was God’s free gift of Eve as a helpmate to Adam? We cannot transfer our guilt to another person, except as our Lord becomes our substitute as Saviour.

The Lord God turned to the woman,’ What is this you have done? ‘( v13) The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’ The precious fellowship of the Father with His children had degenerated into her doubting her holy God. Eve realised that her subtle enemy, the serpent, had no truth in him, but was the ‘Father of lies,’ as our Lord Jesus later described him, ‘ Don’t have truc ( or fellowship or communion ) with the devil’. Nor play with fire!

God announced stern judgments for this first act of rebellion against Him.

Firstly, ‘So the Lord God said to the serpent,

‘Because you have done this, you are cursd more than all cattle, and more thanany beast of the field. On your belly shall you go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.’ (v14) The Living Bible translates this ‘ You shall grovel in the dust ‘. God hid from us the changes which occurred in the serpent following this judgment. When we walk in the bush in our country, our eyes scan the ground to ensure that no reptile is lurking or slithering in the dust in our path.

God’s condemnation continued, ‘" I will put enmity between you and the woman.’ My wife recoils in horror when a snake appears on the television screen, so deeply is her objection to that creature. I tell her when she can look up safely. 6000 years later, this abject dread is sensed by every woman.

‘And between your seed and her Seed.’ This is a most important truth in God’s Word, for it tells of the enmity between satan’s family and the Seed or eternal son, born of the virgin Mary, her seed. Observe that the reference is not to mans’ seed as in normal procreation, but to the Holy Spirit- implanting the divine Life in the womb of Mary. Luke the physician wrote, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, Mary and the Power of the Highest shall overshadow you, and that Holy One that shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God.’ ( Luke 1:35 ) An amazing prophecy of our Lord Jesus, fulfilled 4000 years later.

‘He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.’ (v15) The seed of the woman, our beloved Saviour, will bruise satan’s head, referring to the total victory of our Lord over satan in dying for the sins of all mankind. In God’s foreknowledge, He planned this victory even amidst the agonies of rejection and

crucifixion. Paul writes in the same strain, ‘ The God of peace will crush Satan

under your feet shortly’ ( Romans 6:20 ) No wonder Paul could add, ‘The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.’

‘You shall bruise His heel’ clearly refers to our Lord Jesus’ body ( or part in touch with the world ) which ‘was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities’. ( Isaiah 53:5 ). In the preceding chapter, 52:14, Christ’s sufferings are indicated as ‘ Many were appalled at you. So His visage was marred ( His heel bruised ) and His form more than the sons of man.’

The fulfilled prophecy of scripture powerfully confirms God’s Word.

God’s judgment fell on all womanhood. ‘To the woman He said,

‘I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception.’ ( v16) All the medical and social ills of womanhood were foreseen in this judgment. Women may suffer deeply with dysmenorrhea ( painful periods until the relief following the first pregnancy ), with PMT ( pre-menstrual tension ) relieved in our generation with diuretics and hormonal supplement ) . Every woman respects the accuracy of God’s word. Pain or travail in childbirth is included in the multiplied sorrow.

‘Multiplied conception’ followed the Fall. In His perfect creation, God intended a controlled conception, which was lost in the rebellion of our first parents. My wife asked a village woman in Java how many children she had borne, ‘I carried ten babes. Only one survived,’ was her dejected reply. Most cultures have herbal medicine, like Quinine in Java, for controlled pregnancy. However, in the mercy of God medicine has provided an excellent control for ‘multiplied conception’. Many a godly woman has wept, relieved that she need not bear children always. In my consulting, I argued that we use antibiotics for infection, insulin for diabetes, surgery for appendicitis, all through the fall. Should we not control pregnancy as God’s provision through medicine?

Man’s sin brought the judgment or curse of God in the agricultural realm. It was an ecological catastrophe. God said, ’Cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you shall eat from it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you. And you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground. For out of it you were taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.’ ( v17-19 ) Our grandson loves roses, but dislikes the thorns. ‘Jed,’ I said, ‘The thorns came because Adam and Eve sinned. ‘ God made the rose fragrant and beautiful. Sin brought the prickly thorns. ‘ His older sister explained, ‘Grandpa, It came in the Fall.’

Paul wrote, ‘We know the whole creation groans and labours in birth pangs together, eagerly awaiting for the adoption, the redemption of the body.’

( Romans 8:22,23 ) We have studied the outcome of the first sin, but now we see how the Lord Jesus’ death and resurrection will restore all His redeemed creation. There is a delightful balance in Scripture.

God clothed His naked children, ( v21), ‘For Adam and his wife, the Lord God made tunics of skins, and clothed them.’ Redemption was essential for

covering, for the animals must be slain, their skin removed, the blood gathered

and offered for their sin. It previewed the shedding of the life-blood of God’s dear Son to clothe us with His holy life. It is a type of Christ’s salvation.

Paradise was lost. Adam and Eve must go. ‘The Lord God said, Behold the man has become as one of us ( Holy Trinity ), to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also from the tree of life ( Christ Himself ) And eat and live for ever’. Therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. ‘So He drove out the man , and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, And a flaming sword which turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. (v34)

Summarising, the fall shattered God’s creation. The Seed of the woman , Our beloved Saviour, bruised the serpent’s head, winning for us a glorious victory.

He is worthy of our praise. Lift His Name high!

If these studies enrich you, please write hgsteward@cobweb.com.au