1-7 The Promise In Eden
The story of humanity’s fall is
related in Genesis chapter 3. The serpent was cursed for misquoting
God’s word and tempting Eve to disobey it. The man and woman were
punished for their disobedience. But a ray of hope comes into this dark
picture when God says to the serpent.
“I
will put enmity (hatred, opposition) between you and the woman, and
between your descendant and her (special, notable) descendant; it (the
woman’s descendant) shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his
heel” (Gen. 3:15).
This
verse is highly concentrated; we need to carefully define the various
things involved. We will see later that Abraham’s special descendant
was Jesus (Gal. 3:16), but that if we are in Jesus by baptism, then we
also are the “descendant” (Gal. 3:27-29). This word “descendant” is
translated “seed” in some versions, as it also refers to the idea of
sperm (1 Pet. 1:23); so a true ‘seed’ will have the characteristics of
its father.
The seed or descendant of the serpent must therefore refer to that which has the family likeness of the serpent.
- distorting God’s Word
- lying
- leading others into sin.
We will see in Study 6 that there is not a literal person doing this, but that within us there is.
- “our old man” of the flesh (Rom. 6:6)
- “the natural man” (1 Cor. 2:14)
- “the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts” (Eph. 4:22)
- “the old man with his deeds” (Col. 3:9).
This “man” of sin within us is the Biblical “devil”, the serpent.
The descendant of the woman was to be a specific individual - “you (the serpent) shalt bruise his
heel” (Gen. 3:15). This person was to crush permanently the serpent,
i.e. sin - “it shall bruise your head”. Hitting a snake on the head is
a deathblow - its brain is in its head. The only person who is a
candidate for the descendant of the woman must be the Lord Jesus.
- “Jesus
Christ, who has (by the cross) abolished death (and therefore the power
of sin - Rom. 6:23), and has brought life and immortality to light
through the Gospel” (2 Tim. 1:10).
- “God
sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin,
condemned sin, in the flesh”, i.e. the Biblical devil, the serpent
(Rom. 8:3).
- Jesus “was manifested to take away our sins” (1 Jn. 3:5).
- On the cross, it was by His being ‘bruised’ [an allusion to Gen. 3:15] that we find forgiveness (Is. 53:5 AVmg.).
- “You shalt call his name Jesus (meaning “Saviour”): for he shall save his people from their sins” (Mt. 1:21).
Jesus
was literally “made of a woman” (Gal. 4:4). He was the son of Mary,
although God was his Father. Thus in this sense he was the descendant
of the woman but not the descendant of a man as he had no human father.
This descendant of the woman was to be temporarily wounded by sin, the
serpent - “you shalt bruise his heel” (Gen. 3:15). A snakebite on the
heel is normally a temporary wound, compared to the permanence of
hitting the snake on the head. Many figures of speech have Biblical
roots: “knock it on the head” (i.e. completely stop or end something)
is probably based on this prophecy of Jesus hitting the snake on the
head.
The
condemnation of sin, the serpent, was through Christ’s sacrifice on the
cross - notice how the verses quoted above speak of Christ’s victory
over sin in the past tense. The temporary wound to the heel suffered by
Jesus is therefore a reference to his death for three days. His
resurrection proved that this was only a temporary wound, compared to
the deathblow that he gave sin. It is interesting that non-Biblical
historical records indicate that victims of crucifixion were nailed
through their heel to the stake of wood. Thus Jesus was “wounded in the
heel” through his death. Is. 53:4,5 describes Christ as being ‘bruised’
by God through his death on the cross. This plainly alludes to the
prophecy of Gen. 3:15 that the serpent would bruise Christ. However,
ultimately God worked through the evil which Christ faced, He
is described here as doing the bruising (Is. 53:10), through
controlling the forces of evil which bruised His Son. And so God also
works through the evil experiences of each of His children.
The Conflict Today
But
the question may have arisen in your mind: “If Jesus destroyed sin and
death (the serpent), why are those things still present today?” The
answer is that on the cross Jesus destroyed the power of sin in
himself: the prophecy of Gen. 3:15 is primarily about the conflict
between Jesus and sin. Now this means that because he has invited us to
share in his victory, eventually we, too, can conquer sin and death.
Those who are not invited to share in his victory, or decline the
offer, will, of course, still experience sin and death. Although sin
and death are also experienced by true believers, through their
association with the descendant of the woman by being baptised into
Christ (Gal. 3:27-29), they can have forgiveness of their sins and
therefore eventually be saved from death, which is the result of sin.
Thus in prospect Jesus “abolished death” on the cross (2 Tim. 1:10),
although it is not until God’s purpose with the earth is completed at
the end of the Millennium that death will never again be witnessed upon
earth. “For he must reign (in the first part of God’s Kingdom) till he
has put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be
destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15:25,26).
If we are “baptised into
Christ” then promises about Jesus, like that in Gen. 3:15, become
personal to ourselves; no longer are they just interesting parts of the
Bible, they are prophecies and promises which involve us also! Those
who are properly baptised into Christ by dipping under water, associate
themselves with his death and resurrection - symbolised by the rising
up from the water (see Rom. 6:3-5).
If
we are truly in Christ, then our lives will reflect the words of Gen.
3:15 - there will be a constant sense of conflict (“enmity”) within us,
between right and wrong. The great apostle Paul described an almost
schizophrenic conflict between sin and his real self that raged within
him (Rom. 7:14-25). Paul Tournier aptly described it as “the violence
within”.
After
baptism into Christ, this conflict with the sin that is naturally
within us should increase - and continue to do so all our days. In a
sense it is difficult, because the power of sin is strong. But in
another sense it is not, seeing that we are in Christ, who has already fought and won the conflict.
The
very first descendant of the serpent was Cain. Unlike the serpent who
had no understanding of morality, Cain did understand what was truth
and what was lies, and he understood what God required of him, yet he
chose to follow the thinking of the serpent which led him into murder
and lying.
As
the Jews were the people who actually put Jesus to death - i.e. bruised
the descendant of the woman in the heel - it is to be expected that
they were prime examples of the serpent’s descendant. John the Baptist
and Jesus confirm this.
“When
he (John) saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees (the group of Jews
who condemned Jesus) come to his baptism, he said unto them, O
generation of (i.e. gendered by, created by) vipers (snakes), who has
warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” (Mt. 3:7).
“Jesus
knew their (the Pharisees’) thoughts, and said...O generation of
vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things?” (Mt. 12:25,34).
The
world has these same serpent characteristics. How Jesus treated the
people who were the serpent’s descendant or family must be our example.
- He preached to them in a spirit of love and true concern, yet
- He did not let their ways and thinking influence Him, and
- He showed them the loving character of God by the way in which He lived.
Yet
for all this they hated him. His own effort to be obedient to God made
them jealous. Even his family (Jn. 7:5; Mk. 3:21) and close friends
(Jn. 6:66) put up barriers and some even went away from him physically.
Paul experienced the same thing when he lamented to those who had once
stood with him through thick and thin.
“Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?” (Gal. 4:14-16).
The
truth is never popular; knowing it and living it as we should will
always create some form of problem for us, even resulting in
persecution.
“As
then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born
after the Spirit (by true knowledge of God’s Word – 1 Pet. 1:23), even
so it is now” (Gal. 4:29).
“An
unjust man is an abomination to the just: and he that is upright in the
way is an abomination to the wicked” (Prov. 29:27). There is a mutual
antagonism between the believer and the world.
If
we are truly united with Christ we must experience some of his
sufferings, so that we may also share in his glorious reward. Again
Paul sets us a matchless example in this.
“It
is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him (Christ), we shall
also live with Him: if we suffer (with Him), we shall also reign with
him...therefore I endure all things (2 Tim. 2:10-12).
“If
they have persecuted me (Jesus), they will also persecute you...all
these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake” (Jn. 15:20,21).
Faced
with verses like these, it is tempting to reason, “If that’s what being
associated with Jesus, the woman’s descendant, is all about, I’d rather
not”. But of course we will never be expected to undergo anything which
we cannot cope with. Whilst self-sacrifice is definitely required in
order to unite ourselves fully with Christ, our association with him
will result in such a glorious reward “that the sufferings of this
present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall
be revealed in us”. And even now, his sacrifice enables our prayers for
help through the traumas of life to be especially powerful with God.
And add to this the following glorious assurance.
“God
is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are
able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you
may be able to bear it” (1 Cor. 10:13).
“These
things I have spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the
world you shall have tribulation: but be of good hope: I have overcome
the world” (Jn. 16:33).
“What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31).
