Scripture
Genesis 3:14-16
The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life; And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.” To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.”
This is 76th Lecture on Genesis.
In the last lecture, I explained how the ecosystem of the earth changed after the earth was cursed due to sin.
Adam, Eve, and all the serpents were cursed and driven out from the Garden of Eden in the Second Heaven, to Earth in the First Heaven
Furthermore, the curse fell upon the entire earth in the First heaven as well.
All the animals and plants were cursed.
The reason it happened was because the authority to rule over this world was handed from Adam over to the enemy devil and Satan.
In Luke 4:6, the devil said to Jesus, “I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.”
“It has been handed over” means that Adam had to hand his authority over the world to Satan.
Therefore, this world which had been under Adam’s authority, came to be ruled by Satan and the devil.
As a result of the sin all the Earth as well as all the animals and plants on the Earth fell under the curse.
Among them, the serpent was cursed the worst; what happened to the serpent?
First of all, its physical form was wretchedly altered.
Do you remember how it was described before being cursed?
The serpent once had legs.
Its skin was very silky, and shined brightly.
Its color was very pure, yet splendid.
In general, it had a long silky and soft body. It shined brightly and it was beautiful to behold.
When such a serpent as this was cursed, it came to look hideously ugly and nasty in comparison.
Its legs disappeared and it had to slither on it belly.
This curse came equally upon all the serpents which were driven out from the Garden of Eden as well as all the snakes on earth.
The reason is because the attribute of ‘craftiness’ lies dormant in all snakes and serpents.
Therefore, God let all the serpents go on their belly to show that the serpents are the lowest being among all the animals.
They were not created like that originally, but their legs disappeared; how miserably they changed.
And then, God said to the serpent in Genesis 3:14, “And dust you will eat All the days of your life.”
Have you ever seen a snake actually eating the dust of ground?
I don’t think you have.
It is because snakes don’t eat dust.
They eat mice, frogs, birds, or insects.
Then, why did God command the serpent to eat dust?
His command contains a spiritual meaning.
‘Dust’ in the verse refers to ‘man created from dust of the ground.’
And the term ‘serpent’ refers to the enemy devil and Satan.
Therefore, ‘serpents eat dust’ has the spiritual meaning of “the enemy devil and Satan prey on sinners and bring on them trials and afflictions”.
Those who don’t believe in God are slaves to the devil and Satan from the beginning.
If a God-believing man commits sin, Satan can accuse him of the sin.
Satan can confidently demand the sinner to pay the price for the sin committed.
Why? Because God commanded Satan to ‘eat dust all the days of your life.’
Therefore, if you are a believer, but committed sin, then you should quickly repent of it and be cleansed of your sin by the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
To Satan that demands for the price of the sin, you should show Satan the ‘receipt of the blood of the Lord’ which proves that the Lord Jesus Christ already paid the price for your sin.
Then, Satan can no longer bring on you any trials or afflictions.
However, in the case of committing a ‘grave deed of the flesh’, you may be followed by refinements in your life.
Especially, for the deeds of the flesh that lead to death you may receive retribution, which is punishment.
Such refinements and retribution as these are only allowed by the permission of God.
Therefore, you can become complete through these refinements.
Dear brothers and sisters.
The prophecy that says the work of Satan shall be constrained by the Lord Jesus is written in Genesis 3:15.
God says, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.”
Here, ‘the woman’ doesn’t refer to the one who is opposite to ‘the man.’
It spiritually refers to ‘Israel.’
Then, who is ‘her seed?’
Revelation 12:5 says, “And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron.”
This ‘male, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron’ refers to ‘Jesus Christ.’
Therefore, ‘her seed’ in Genesis 3:15 also refers to ‘Jesus Christ.’
Now, this verse reads that ‘He – of course Jesus Christ – shall bruise you on the head.’
It is fatal if a snake is bruised on its head.
‘Jesus Christ shall bruise you on the head,’ therefore, means that ‘Jesus Christ shall break the authority of Satan that incited the serpent.’
God continues to say in Genesis 3:15, “And you shall bruise Him on the heel.”
It means that Satan shall bruise Jesus on His heel.
If a man is bruised on his heel, he cannot walk and it will cause him to fall.
Therefore, this verse means that Jesus would be nailed on His both feet and be crucified on the cross.
This is how God is telling us what will take place in the future.
At the moment sin entered human beings through Adam, God presented a way for a sinner to be saved.
That is, God promised that He had arranged for the Messiah to be born in Israel to save sinners.
Satan also knew this well, but she didn’t want to lose her authority in passivity.
Satan thought that she would seize the authority of this world forever and ever and become the ‘king of sinners’ if she could just manage to get rid of the One who would be born as Messiah.
Satan was on the alert and watching for ‘When will the seed of the woman be born?”
Whenever a man of God appeared, Satan incited evil people to persecute him and to drive him to death.
Finally 2,000 years ago, Jesus was born in Israel.
The enemy devil and Satan incited King Herod who then tried to kill the infant Jesus.
In addition, after Jesus began His public ministry, the enemy devil and Satan tried to incite the evil people to cause harm to Jesus Christ.
Whenever it happened, God protected Jesus so that no one could hurt Jesus at all.
When the time came, Jesus was arrested by evil people in the providence of God; He was crucified on the cross, shed His blood and died.
The enemy devil and Satan thought they won the victory.
They had apprehended and killed ‘the seed of the woman who would bruise them on their head’! They also thought they would enjoy the authority of the world.
However for them it was a terrible mistake and miscalculation.
The fact itself that they killed sinless Jesus was to “bruise them on their head”.
They shot themselves in the foot. Today we might say that they “dug their own graves”.
What does it mean?
A very important spiritual law is written in Romans 6:23.
It is the law that “the wages of sin is death.”
Conversely, it means that ‘death’ which is the wages of sin’ applies only to sinners.
In other words, if a person is sinless they cannot be put to death.
Jesus had neither original sin nor self-committed sin.
There were absolutely no grounds by which they could have put Him to death.
But the enemy devil and Satan was hurried to get rid of the Messiah, and eventually broke the spiritual law.
As for the price of breaking the law, the enemy devil and Satan had to give up their authority.
For those who accept Jesus Christ and unite with the Lord as one by faith, the enemy devil and Satan has no alternative but to release them from the snare of death.
In addition, Jesus was bruised on His heel by being crucified on the cross, but He broke the authority of death and resurrected because He was sinless.
Those souls who become one with the Lord by faith will earn the eternal life as the Lord did, and they will live in Heaven forever.
Our Lord broke Satan’s authority over death and saved countless sinners. Furthermore, the enemy devil and Satan lost many things: opportunity, authority and many the many souls that He has saved.
And thus, the word as recorded in Genesis 3:15, which reads, “He shall bruise you on the head” was accomplished.
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