The Mission, the Price and Calvary
The serpent—a
subtle beast of the forest was cursed.
And
the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art
cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly
shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
Gen
3:14 KJV
The serpent
has often associated with temptation, sin, and evil.
God cursed
the serpent that, upon its belly shall it go, it shall no longer walk erect,
but become the most contemptible of animals— for being the agent employed in
this mischievous business.
Satan, the devil,
is the tempter; but he made his approach to Eve by speaking through a serpent,
which is described as "more cunning than any beast of the field which the
Lord God had made" (3:1). Because of the serpent's role in the temptation,
God pronounced a curse on the animal, sentencing it to crawl on its belly and
eat dust "all the days of thy life" (v.14).
Here God
made a twofold sentence, one on Satan and the other on the agent he employed.
Serpents are
mentioned under various names (for example, asp, cobra, and viper), and they
pose a life-threatening danger to man because of their poisonous bite (Deut
8:15).
God placed
"enmity" between the serpent [a subtle beast of the forest] and the
woman [Eve].
“And
I will put enmity between thee and the woman…” (Verse 15a KJV)
Eve was
mother of all living; of all within the earth, as a household—she was held in
high regard by all creatures of the earth.
And
Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
Gen
3:20 KJV
The name
“Eve” means “life-giving;” her life on earth was full of energy, excitement and
sparkle. The Scripture account of Eve closes with the birth of Seth.
This “enmity”
– a deep-seated animosity in Genesis 3 is also prophetically between the
serpent [satan, the dragon] and the woman [the Church or Israel].
And
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and
hers..." (Verse 15a
NIV)
Satan is the
adversary of the saints—he is the enemy, the opposer, the devil, the slanderer,
the accuser, and the tempter.
This
prophecy conclusively reveals the "enmity" between "thy
seed" [seed of the serpent] and "her Seed" [Christ the Seed of
the woman].
“And
I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her Seed…” (Verse 15a KJV)
Cain
apparently became "the seed of the serpent;" that's why he killed his
brother. Then, he became the first murderer in the earth.
Now
Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while
they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
Gen
4:8 NIV
See what God
told him in verse 7:
“If
you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is
right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must
master it."
NIV
The name
Cain means “possessed.”
The New
Testament refers to Cain in three places. Abel's offering to God was "a
more excellent sacrifice" than Cain's because Abel was
"righteous." His heart was right with God, and Cain's was not (Heb
11:4).
Apostle John,
in his epistle calls Cain "the wicked one" and asks why he murdered
his brother; the answer was, "Because his works were evil, and his
brother's righteous"
Do
not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And
why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were
righteous.
1
John 3:12 NIV
Jude warns
his readers to beware of those who have "gone in the way of Cain"
(Jude 11).
Now,
understand that according to Scripture Prophecy on this matter, from Genesis to
Revelation, "the seed of the serpent" will ultimately manifest in the
earth in the person of "the Antichrist" [the beast, the man of sin]
whose primary work is deception, which also characterizes satan in his attempts
to undermine the work of God.
At Calvary
[the skull], outside Jerusalem, Christ Jesus bruised satan's head; 'that old
serpent,' and he bruised our Savior's heel.
“…He
will crush your head,
and
you will strike His heel."
Genesis
3:15b NIV
The Message
of the Cross is the Power of God.
For
the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us
which are saved it is the Power of God.
1
Cor 1:18 KJV
Why is the
preaching of the Message of the Cross—the Gospel of our Salvation the Power of
God?
Because by
the Cross, and with His precious Blood, Jesus Christ paid the price for our
redemption; He is “the excellent sacrifice.” He destroyed the works of satan on
the Cross.
Blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to
us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross;
And
having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a shew of them openly,
triumphing over them in it.
Col
2:14-15 KJV
And the NIV
puts it this way:
…having canceled the written code, with its
regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; He took it away,
nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He
made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
NIV
By His
crucifixion and resurrection, Christ has bruised the head of the serpent as
Genesis 3:15 prophesied.
Satan's
deception began in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3 and will continue until the
end of time. The dragon (or serpent) of Revelation 12 is Satan, the serpent
mentioned in Genesis 3. Thus the thread of Satan's deceptive work can be traced
from Genesis through Revelation. That work reaches its climax in the
Antichrist, who receives authority and power of the dragon, Satan (Rev 13:4).
And
unto Adam He said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and
hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat
of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all
the days of thy life;
Thorns
also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of
the field;
In
the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground;
for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou
return.
Gen.
3:17-19 KJV
Still in the
Garden, the LORD made yet another prophecy to the woman:
Unto
the woman He said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in
sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband,
and he shall rule over thee.
Gen
3:16 KJV
This, God
said to Eve after satan made his approach to her through the serpent; this
association with the serpent; a beast "more cunning than any beast of the
field..." produced "the seed of the serpent"—"the wicked
one"—Cain, and his works were evil. And so, God placed "enmity"
between the serpent and the woman (3:15).
Now, in
verse 16 God said to the woman,
"I will greatly
increase your pains in childbearing;
with pain you will give
birth to children.
Your desire will be for
your husband,
and he will rule over
you."
Afterwards,
the woman's grief and suffering in pregnancy increased—the pangs of
childbearing; with spasms of distress, even as it is today.
In this
prophecy, the LORD made it clear that, beside her intense pain and suffering in
child bearing, she will welcome her husband's affections, and he shall rule
over her. This means, her desire and craving will be for her husband [the man],
who will be a head (or master) of the home.
Next was the
case with Adam:
And
unto Adam He said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and
hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat
of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all
the days of thy life;
Thorns
also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of
the field;
In
the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground;
for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou
return.
Gen
3:17-19 KJV
Because Adam
listened to his wife and ate from the tree which God commanded, 'Thou shalt not
eat of it,' God cursed the ground; as a consequence, ‘man’ struggles to extract
a living from it.
All
his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This
too is meaningless.
Eccl
2:23 NIV
“If a man
will not work, he shall not eat" (2 Thess. 3:10).
In the
English dictionary, there is one word which connects ‘working for a living’
with ‘the process of child bearing;’ the word is: “labor.” The both exert pain,
blood, sweat and tears.
In Genesis
2:17 God said to Adam and Eve
But
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in
the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
KJV
Because of
“the fall of man” which resulted from the eating of the fruit of that tree,
‘man’ fell short of ‘years of life.’
And
all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.
Gen
5:5 KJV
Dust to dust;
earth as burial place for all flesh (Job 21:26), but “Man” that was formed of
the dust of the earth, and given the breadth of life (Gen. 2:7) has been given
the privilege to receive the gift of Eternal Life in Christ Jesus.
So
it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last
Adam, a Life-Giving Spirit.
The
spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The
first man was of the dust of the earth, the second Man from Heaven. As was the
earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the Man from Heaven,
so also are those who are of Heaven. And just as we have borne the likeness of
the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the Man from Heaven.
If
there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written:
"The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a Life-Giving
Spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the
spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second Man from
Heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is
the man from Heaven, so also are those who are of Heaven. And just as we have
borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the Man
from Heaven.
1
Cor 15:45-49 NIV
After a
stated time of toil, sweat, thorns and thistles and dust—
Beyond our
pains and sorrows; vexation and grief—greater than our emptiness, falsity, and
futility—in exchange for vanity, the perishable will be changed for the
imperishable; the mortal for immortality.
Then, death
which is ‘the wages of sin’ will be swallowed up in Victory.
The
God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
Rom
16:20 NIV
When time
and nature is done, we shall lift up our eyes and behold the Beauty, Splendor,
Majesty and Glory of our Eternal God and His Kingdom, and live and reign with
Him forever.