Genesis chapter 3. Last week we looked at the temptation of man in verses 1 to 5, and then the fall of man in verses 6 to 13. Tonight we'll take up the consequences of the fall in verses 14 to 24, but I'll begin reading in verse 1 just to remind us of the context. Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.
And he said to the woman, has God indeed said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die. And the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.
She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.
And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God, among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, Where are you? So he said, I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself. And he said, Who told you that you were naked?
Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat? And the man said, The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate. And the Lord God said to the woman, What is this you have done? The woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate.
So the Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field. On your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust 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 your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
To the woman he said, I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception. In pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you. Then to Adam he said, because you have heeded the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you saying, you shall not eat of it.
Curse it as the ground for your sake. In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for 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. And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
Also, for Adam and his wife, the Lord God made tunics of skin and clothed them. Then the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever. 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. Amen.
Introduction
As I said last week, we saw the temptation of man, Adam and Eve in the garden that God had created for them. placed Adam in that garden specifically as a priest. We saw when we looked at chapter 2 that the garden was essentially a temple where God met with his people, with his creatures, and Adam's task was to extend that garden temple, to fill it with the image of God, to multiply that image throughout the earth. And then that garden, obviously, as we see here at the end of chapter 3, Adam is expelled from that. He goes into a sort of exile.
He is removed from that special dwelling place of God as a result of his sin. Remember that the devil took the form, or rather used the serpent, used the snake to come and to tempt Eve. And he misrepresented God, he misrepresented God's interests, he tried to entice, well, he did entice Eve with the various deceptions that had, at least on the surface, some veneer of truth. And I think that makes it even more difficult and more dangerous.
When the devil comes and tells a flat-out lie, it's easy to spot, it's easy to recognize, and hopefully it's easy to resist. But when he comes and he gives us things that are very subtle and very cunning in the language of the Scripture here, it's far more difficult to guard our hearts. We noticed specifically that she saw, or rather, in verse 6, she had a pragmatic interest in the tree. She saw that the tree was good for food.
Remember, she had no need for food. The tree, or rather, the garden was filled with trees, and God said, you may freely eat. So this now pragmatic interest has come as a result of the suggestion of Satan. And then as well, it was pleasant to the eyes.
It had an aesthetic appeal to her. And then it was desirable to make one wise, and as a result of that desire for philosophical wisdom or sort of a godlike status, she takes of the fruit, she eats, and then she gives it to Adam. And then God comes to reckon with them. Remember in verse 9, when God says, where are you?
He's not inquiring because He does not know. The question is for Adam and Eve. It's not for God. God knows specifically what is happening.
He is giving them the opportunity, ultimately, to come clean. Rather than come clean, they do what sinners have done ever since. They first try to cover themselves with fig leaves, then they try to hide themselves among the trees, and then they shift the blame to one another. Adam first shifts blame to God, the woman whom you gave to me.
And then he shifts blame obviously to Eve, and then when Eve is called to account with God, she shifts the blame to the serpent. Again, that's pretty much our MO ever since that particular time. All the sorts of things we do with reference to our sin can be found here right in Genesis chapter 3. We try to cover ourselves, we try to hide from God, and we try to shift blame.
Rather than taking Solomon's sage advice in Proverbs 28, 13, confessing our sin, forsaking our sin, and finding mercy from God. seeking or attempting to cover their own transgression will not prosper, but the one confessing and forsaking will indeed find mercy. But nevertheless, as we move now to the consequences of the Fall, we see curse to be sure, but we also see a great deal of hope built into this section of the chapter. So even though Adam and Eve didn't own their sin, even though Adam and Eve didn't confess their sins to God, God nevertheless treats them with grace, with mercy, and He makes a promise here, specifically in Genesis 3.15, that is programmatic. for the rest of Scripture. In fact, the rest of Scripture is ultimately commentary and exposition and amplification of what we find specifically in Genesis 1-3 and very much specifically Genesis 3-15.
So we see in the midst of all of this God's kindness, His grace, and His mercy. But
Consequences of the Fall
let's look at the consequences of the fault in verses 14-19. Note the consequences for the serpent in verse 14. So the Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field. On your belly you shall go and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.
Now,
Curse upon the Serpent
notice this lack of interrogation with the serpent slash devil. After the sin, God comes and He asks Adam and Eve specific questions. He interrogates them. There's a reckoning to be had with God with reference to Adam and Eve.
There's no interrogation here. There's no questioning. There's no interview. There is no dialogue.
There's no exchange or interchange or an invitation for such exchange. Calvin says that God does not interrogate the serpent as he had done the man and woman, because in the animal itself there was no sense of sin, and because to the devil he would hold out no hope of pardon. So he doesn't interrogate those whom he's not ultimately going to pardon. He deals graciously and kindly with Adam and Eve.
Of course, he deals simply severely with the devil. Now notice, it says the curse of the serpent was more than every beast of the field. Robertson says, the Lord rightfully curses the serpent. More than all the other creation, he is humbled.
The snake must crawl. As tool of Satan, he bears in himself the symbolic reminder of ultimate defeat. I think that's the point with reference to this particular passage. It says, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.
Some have supposed, goes way back to Jewish interpreters and many Christian commentators, suppose that perhaps the snake previously had legs and he had feet. And this was something new in the life of the snake. Not this particular snake alone, but snakes in general. But that's not necessary in terms of the text.
He could have crawled on his belly prior to that. The emphasis is on this phrase, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. It comes to mean, in later revelation, utter and absolute defeat. You can see this in Isaiah 65, 25 and Micah 7, 17.
One book that I would highly recommend, I think it's called The Hope of Israel. It's sort of the messianic expectation of the Old Testament. And it's by a man who was a Jew, and he was converted. I mean, he's still a Jew, but he's a Christian Jew.
And his name is Michael Reitelnick. And it's a great book, and I highly commend it. But in this particular section, he says, when God proclaimed that the serpent would crawl on its belly, it does not mean that serpents previously had legs. Rather, crawling would now forever be understood as a sign of defeat.
So, he curses the serpent in verse 14.
The Protoevangelium: Genesis 3:15
Now, in verse 15, it's still connected to that serpent curse. He's not moved to the woman and he's not moved to the man. The blessed promise of Genesis 3.15 comes in the context of this curse upon the serpent. but he's obviously going beyond the serpent to the devil that animated the serpent. That's the emphasis here in Genesis 3, verse 15.
The Lord's curse moves from the serpent to the evil power that affected or that utilized or that moved the serpent to engage in this particular activity. Remember, snakes aren't in themselves naturally opposed to man in the sense that The snake wanted Adam and Eve to fall from their pristine glory. This was the devil. The devil is the archenemy of God Most High, and the devil uses this particular beast to accomplish his particular ends.
And we see here specifically in verse 15,
Enmity Between the Seeds
God says, I will put enmity. We need to understand, as I said, 315 is a bit of a programmatic verse, not only in terms of it being the first gospel promise, but it's also the rationale behind the sorts of conflicts that appear all throughout the biblical record, all throughout history. There is this God-imposed enmity between the righteous and the unrighteous. There is this God-wrought enmity between the godly and the ungodly.
I will put enmity, the Lord says, between you and the woman. And between your seed and her seed, he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. The ongoing nature of the warfare until this decisive victory wrought by this particular seed identified in verse 15, again, is the underlying rationale for Genesis chapter 4. Soon as we move into Genesis chapter 4, that enmity becomes very obvious and very apparent when Cain kills Abel.
You'll see it in Genesis chapter 6 with the godly line versus the ungodly line. You see it traced throughout the biblical narrative. There are those identified as the sons of the devil and there are those that are identified as the sons of God. There is this great antithesis that exists between the righteous and the unrighteous, and it finds its taproots here in God's curse upon the devil in Genesis 3.15.
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and then notice, and between your seed and her seed, he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. Now, there is a collective nature of seed in this particular passage. Collective means that it points beyond one particular individual. In other words, when we speak of the seed of Israel or the seed of Abraham in say Genesis or rather Galatians 3.29, everybody who believes the gospel, who is united savingly to the Lord Jesus Christ is considered to be a part of the seed of Abraham.
Everybody follow that? There is a collective nature, a collective sense of this language of seed. But as well, there is a seed singular that the Bible goes on to distinguish throughout redemptive history. And if Galatians 3.29 points to the seed collectively, Galatians 3.16 points to the seed individually.
And that seed is the Lord Jesus Christ. Later, redemptive Later, Redemptive Revelation tells us or interprets Genesis 3.15 for us in a messianic sense. Now, that's the way that I take Genesis 3.15. It's an announcement of the Messiah.
It's an announcement of the skull-crushing seed of the woman who would render a decisive blow to the devil himself. This isn't a new interpretation. It goes back in Christian history to the 2nd century, to Justin Martyr and to Irenaeus. It preceded that in Jewish interpretation.
They obviously didn't apply it to Jesus of Nazareth, but they saw a messianic thrust in Genesis 3.15. So there's this collective seed, the body, or rather the nation of Israel, from whence the seed, Jesus Christ, the singular, the individual would come and render this death blow to the devil, specifically at the cross on Calvary. So the individual identity of the seed is the Lord Christ.
God's Redemptive Initiative
Now let's just investigate this particular promise a little bit more fully. God says, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. What should we, first of all, see with reference to God's redemptive plan? It's initiated by God.
It's not initiated by man. We didn't say, Lord, please save us. We didn't say, Lord, please, we sinned against you. In fact, as soon as Adam and Eve transgress, what do they do?
They cover themselves with these loincloths and then they run for the trees to hide from God. They didn't run to God, it's God who came and sought them out. When Jesus says to Zacchaeus, the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. That's not new in redemptive history.
Jesus Christ is simply imitating the Father. The Father initiates salvation in Genesis chapter 3. Many have properly understood that the cross didn't procure God's love, but rather the cross demonstrates God's love. God has always been loving toward his elect in and through the Lord Jesus Christ, and we see this in the garden.
God initiates salvation. He puts this enmity between him and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. Notice, as well, the Redeemer, the Deliverer, we might call Him the Messiah, the Christ, the Redeemer would be a man born of a woman.
In other words, Israel was taught very early in Genesis 3.15 that their Messiah would be a man, their Messiah would be born of a woman. And some have observed that the language here does at least suggest, if not suggest, it certainly doesn't hinder the doctrine of the virgin birth. It mentions specifically that this man, this Messiah, this Redeemer, this Deliverer comes from woman. Now, again, that's not decisive to tilt the scales in favor of the virgin birth, but when we get to later revelation and we see virgin birth, this certainly jives with what we find in terms of later redemptive revelation.
As well, notice that the Redeemer, the Deliverer, the Messiah, the Christ, would accomplish victory through suffering. That's the emphasis in the last clause. Notice, He, Christ, shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel. So when the Messiah deals the death blow to the devil, we know that he does that on the cross, and we'll see that in a bit more detail in just a moment.
But when Christ bruises or crushes the head of the serpent, he himself sustains injury. Now, comparatively, it's not the same injury as a skull-crushing injury. I mean, if you got hit on the head with an anvil versus getting hit on the heel with an anvil, I think you'd probably opt for the latter. It would always be better to get crushed in the heel than to get crushed in the head.
So, comparatively, the suffering or the blows aren't exactly parallel. They're not exactly the same. The devil gets his head crushed. The Son of God gets his heel bruised.
But we ought to notice something else with reference to this text, because everybody that favors the messianic interpretation will highlight that the passage does, in fact, teach that the Redeemer would accomplish victory through suffering. But I think the text specifies that the Redeemer will accomplish victory through death. And that's specifically what later revelation does teach us. It's amazing.
Many Christian commentators will see and admit and say, yeah, the Redeemer will accomplish victory through suffering. But we need to appreciate that within the text itself, there is this at least implicit idea that it'll accomplish victory through death. What does a serpent typically bite? The serpent will typically bite the heel.
This is where the serpent will go for his particular prey. So while there's a comparativeness about the text, head versus heel, the fact that the heel of Messiah is bit by a poisonous serpent at least tilts the scale to see that what we find later in redemptive history in terms of the death of the Redeemer is already latent within the biblical text in Genesis 3.15. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
Victory Through Death
I'll let Reitlnick explain. He says, since in the context the tempter has taken the form of a serpent, it is likely that the tempter's blow would be equated with a serpent's bite. I don't think that's outlandish. I think that's a perfectly acceptable rule of interpretation.
He says, and in the case of this animal, the Hebrew generally uses it to speak of a venomous and lethal snake. Most likely, therefore, the text is speaking of two comparable death blows. The future redeemer will strike the head of the tempter and thereby kill it. And at the same time, the tempter will strike the heel of the redeemer and kill him.
In other words, substitutionary atonement vis-Ã -vis the death of the Lord Jesus doesn't wait for revelation to Genesis 3, verse 21, but it's already latent in Genesis 3, verse 15. This bruised heel is probably due to this venomous snake, and it does foreshadow the fact that Christ, in rendering victory over the devil, would do it through his own death on behalf of his people. So God's initiative, the Redeemer would accomplish victory through suffering for sure, the Redeemer would accomplish victory through death, and the Redeemer would accomplish total victory. Again, that's what's envisaged in this particular passage.
He shall bruise your head. He shall crush your head. Another great article is The Skull-Crushing Seat of the Woman by James Hamilton, Jr. I highly recommend that article.
It really weaves together the narrative here with later redemptive history, specifically the Old Testament. Because what you'll find is that when you move through the biblical narrative, many enemies of God meet their demise via head wounds. And, you know, you might read the book of Judges, for instance. Judges just happens to be filled with these deadly head wounds.
And you'll think, boy, this is odd. Everybody's losing their head that opposes Israel. Well, there's a reason. Because the promise of Genesis 3.15, this is typical or prophetic.
And then these types come through Jael, who drives a tent peg through Sisera's head. It is typified through the heads of Oreb and Zeb, those Midianites that launched a campaign, you know, foolishly and wickedly against Gideon and the armies of Israel. The woman and Abimelech. Remember when she crushes his head from that tower with that upper millstone.
Everybody loses their head in the book of Judges. Why is that? Is God about gore? No, God's about furthering His promise in terms of the skull-crushing scene of the woman.
See, the book of Judges is about Yahweh is salvation. The book of Judges is about God saving sinners, God saving His people. The book of Judges is all about Jesus, and so we might expect the skull-crushing seed of the woman to be evident and obvious in that book of Judges. Another decisive victory that ended in the demise of a particular head was in 1 Samuel chapter 17.
What's David do when he deals with Goliath? Isn't it intriguing that David ultimately sires or has a son come from his line that deals a skull-crushing blow to a giant of sorts? David is functioning typically at the Valley of Elah pointing forward to David's greater son in dealing out this death blow. You see it in Psalm 110, verse 6, with reference to the Messiah.
It's a psalm of Messiah specifically, and it talks about him crushing heads. You see it in the book of Psalms throughout. This is language picked up in the Old Testament, from the Old Testament, to continue to nurture the faith of Israel. Don't lose heart.
Don't grow weary. Don't grow discontent. The Lord God promised in Genesis 3.15 that a Deliverer would come, and this Deliverer would deal the death blow to the devil. He would render obsolete the effects and the powers of the devil himself.
And Genesis 3.15 is the taproot.
New Testament Fulfillment
Turn to the New Testament for validation of this. I won't even point to Matthew 27, but Jesus was crucified on Golgotha. What's Golgotha? It's the place of a skull.
Now again, we don't want to go overboard and hog wild when it comes to allegory or typology and all that sort of thing, but brethren, The place of the skull is where Christ renders the death blow to the devil? You've got to think in terms of Genesis 3.15. Remember, it's a programmatic text. It's Yahweh's announcement of history, subsequent history to Adam and Eve, of how God will deal with the enemies of Yahweh, and specifically the enemy of Yahweh, via His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Notice in Colossians 1, to get New Testament commentary on Christ's crushing the serpent, crushing the devil. Colossians 1.13, He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. Now, that's a bit of a... excuse me, more of an obscure one in terms of the actual reference to seed or serpent or devil, but it speaks macrocosmically to what Jesus does. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the son of his love.
The strong man, or the Lord Jesus Christ, plunders the strong man's house and he takes from him all those who were previously in bondage. And then notice in Colossians 2, Verse 15, having disarmed principalities and powers, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. Notice in Hebrews chapter 2, Hebrews chapter 2, again, Jesus at the cross dealt the death blow to the devil. If we were in a black church in Southern California, this is where I'd say, can I get an amen?
This is glorious. The Lord Jesus Christ crushed the skull of the serpent, our archenemy, God's archenemy. Christ accomplished this, not only through his suffering and his death, he triumphed over them at the cross. Notice in Hebrews 2 verse 14, in as much then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same.
That through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed, he does not give aid to angels, but he does give aid to the seed of Abraham, or he takes on the seed of Abraham. He assumes their humanity in order to redeem them and rescue them. Therefore, in all things, he had to be made like his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to aid those who are tempted." Notice in 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3. Beginning in verse 7, little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil is sin from the beginning.
For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Drop down for just a moment verse 10, in this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
Now notice, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother, and why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brothers righteous. You think John has Genesis in his mind? You think John has Genesis in the backdrop?
You think as John is expounding the glorious work of our Lord Jesus Christ, he's thinking in terms of the skull-crushing seed of the woman? Absolutely, positively. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Turn over to Revelation chapter 12.
It's always intrigued me that people approach the book of Revelation and they freak out. They get sad, or they feel gloom, or they feel doom, or they somehow think that Revelation is just this sort of foreboding look at the end times, and it's such a bummer, and it's such a drag. That is to absolutely, positively miss the point of the book of Revelation. The emphasis in the book of Revelation is on the crown rites of Jesus Christ the Lord.
It's all about Christ's victory. It's all about Christ's power. It's all about Christ's glory. It's about Christ's current session at the right hand.
It's about Christ's intervention by His Spirit in the seven churches of Asia Minor. It's about Christ's provision for His people. It's about Christ's defeat of the beast, of the false prophet. It's about Christ's defeat ultimately of the devil.
And Revelation 12 is one of those linchpin passages that indicate this glorious defeat of the devil. In fact, if we had time, we would detail how Revelation 12 just shows the utter folly and complete misery of the devil. Everywhere he turns his attention to try to attack next, he is thwarted. Every place he tries to go to upset the people of God, he is thwarted.
But notice specifically in Revelation chapter 12 at verse 3. And another sign appeared in heaven. Behold, a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.
And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth. to devour her child as soon as it was born. She bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and her child was caught up to God and His throne." So what John does there is he telescopes the entirety of the ministry of Jesus Christ. He moves from incarnation to ascension. incarnation to ascension. And if you look at redemptive history, you see those times or those attempts by the devil to try and stop the incarnation.
You see it in Joash way back in 2 Kings 11. Is that right, Roger? 2nd Kings 11 is Joash. Nah, sorry, put you on the spot. 1st King, it's in 2nd Kings, Joash. He was spirited away by his godly aunt so that Athaliah wouldn't be able to kill him.
And then after her reign of terror, he comes out and he now reigns over the people of Israel. Remember, that was her attempt to seize the throne. It was a purge of all the heirs. And yet, Joash was spirited away, spared by his godly aunt, and thus the promise lived on.
You see it also with Herod's massacre of the innocents. What's he trying to do? He's trying to stop Jesus. Now, Herod probably wasn't that bright of a bulb.
What we have to appreciate is that the devil is behind the scenes. activating Herod the way that he does the serpent, the way that he does Athaliah, the way that he does in history. We don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and darkness and all those sorts of things. But they use physical operatives. They use serpents.
They use wretched women named Athaliah. They use Herods. And so there was this attempt to thwart the birth of the Savior. And yet she bore, according to verse 5, a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron.
Her child was caught up to God and His throne. Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God that they should feed her there 1,260 days. and war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world.
He was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come for the accuser of our brethren who accused them before our God day and night has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of the of their testimony. And they did not love their lives to the death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them.
Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you having great wrath. because he knows that he has a short time. Yeah, because God defeats him continually through the power of the skull-crushing seed who renders the death blow at the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Brethren, I would submit that Genesis 3.15 demands a messianic interpretation. based on what we find later in redemptive history. Some would suggest, well, yes, later on it would indicate that this is in fact messianic, but, you know, we're not really sure what Moses would have known as he penned these particular words.
We interpret the text of Scripture. We understand that the text of Scripture comes from God. He uses Moses, he uses Paul, he uses Peter, he uses all these particular authors But the message is God's Word, and we interpret it as God's Word, and we know that He knows all of the connections that are supposed to be made, and so the text necessitates a messianic interpretation.
Covenant of Grace and the Confession
This is how our confession of faith understands the covenant of grace. Our Confession of Faith traces the covenant of grace to Genesis 3.15. It says, this covenant is revealed in the gospel, first of all to Adam in the promise of salvation by the seed of the woman. Now that's not unique to the Second London Confession of Faith.
That's obviously Westminster Confession. That's obviously Savoy Declaration. That is Reformed theology to a man. They have understood, well, I don't know that it's to a man, I shouldn't say that, but the bulk of Reformed commentators and interpreters have understood the messianic interpretation of Genesis 3.15 as that which was intended by God for us and for our children.
We need to appreciate it and we need to rejoice in the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ dealt a death blow at the cross. That, yes, the devil does still roam about as a lion, seeking whom he may devour, according to 1 Peter chapter 5. But he's God's devil. He can only go so far.
I think it was Luther who said, he's like a dog on a leash. Have you ever walked by a house and you see a big snarly dog and he runs after you, but he stops because he's on a chain? That's the way Luther describes the devil. He cannot get you.
He cannot make you sin. He cannot take from you your salvation. He cannot do such things. We have this idea, or at least within some forms of evangelicalism, that the devil is almost deity, that he has omniscience, that he has omnipotence, that he has omnipresence.
He's a creature created by God to do God's particular bidding. Now, I realize we don't always like that conclusion. In fact, a little one asked me on Sunday, why did God create the devil? If your children haven't asked you that yet, they're going to ask you.
And I would encourage you to have an answer ready for them. You know what the most ultimate answer for that question is? For His own glory. You say, well, how could God do that?
He's God. He takes crooked things and He makes them straight. He takes wretches like us and He cleanses us and He puts us on a course to heaven. Certainly He uses the devil to bring about His purposes under His control.
He is not an autonomous being, he doesn't have sovereignty, he doesn't have free reign or free course. This is why John the Apostle can say, greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. The devil may bark at you, the devil may roam about and seek to devour you, the devil may try to nip at your heels, but he can't if you resist him. Have you ever considered that's the biblical theology on how to deal with the devil?
Have you ever been exposed to these people that have these whole ministries built on how to deal with the devil, how to deal with the demons? I remember going to one in Vancouver, and it intrigued me that demon-possessed people knew this guy was in town, paid for a ticket, and would end up in this conference room. I just couldn't figure out how this happened. And then they would manifest, and then he would cast out these demons, and then he would say, in order to be able to do this, buy my DVD set.
I don't know if it was DVD or VHS back then, but for a nifty little price, you could get his whole course on how to cast out demons. You know what the Bible says with reference to the devil? Resist him, and he will flee from you. That doesn't sell DVD series, I get it.
That doesn't sell VHS. It doesn't sell big fat books, but that's precisely what the Apostle says. Resist him and he will flee from you. Why is that?
Because Christ has dealt a death blow to him at the cross. He has defanged him. Yes, he roams about like a lion. Yes, he's that dog that runs to the edge of the grass, but he can't ultimately get you.
And for Christians to live paralyzed and restricted or constricted lives in fear of the devil is to undermine the doing and the dying and the rising of the Lord Jesus.
Assurance from Romans 8
Isn't this Paul's point in Romans chapter 8? In fact, turn there. Romans chapter 8. We looked at this, I don't know, a couple of months ago in our Lord's Supper service.
Manton calls verse 32, the superstructure of grace. I love that reference, the superstructure of grace. But let's pick up the argument at verse 31. What then shall we say to these things?
What are these things? These things in context is the exposition of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, primarily chapters 5 to 8. After having dealt with the doctrine of justification by faith and how that is seen in the impetuous imputation of righteousness in Romans chapter 5, that covenant theology of Adam and Jesus. And then 6, 7, he comes to 8, and he says, what then shall we say to these things?
If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? You see, it's an argument from the greater, the lesser. If God didn't spare his own son at Calvary, how is he not going to help you on Thursday?
You see, this is all true in light of Genesis 3.15. The skull-crushing seed of the woman has come. Notice that Paul continues, who shall bring a charge against God's elect? Who does that?
Sometimes it may come from without. You just get this thought in your head, man, how in the world could you be saved? You're terrible. And then you and your own remaining corruption say, yeah, that's right.
I am terrible. And then you might have people in your life that confirm that and say, yeah, you really are terrible. Look at Paul's point. Who shall bring a charge against God's elect?
It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? Again, who's going to do that? the devil. Do you notice the language in Revelation 12, the accuser of the brethren?
That's kind of the meaning of Satan. It's accuser, adversary. It's the sort of image or description or depiction we get in Joshua the high priest in Zechariah chapter 3. Remember Joshua's Filthy, and he's all not just disheveled, but he's covered in feces, he's covered in vomit, and the devil's right there, ready to lodge his complaint to God.
Look at the best that Israel has to offer. But before the devil even opens his mouth, the Lord rebukes him. And then the Lord says, take off the filthy garments from Joshua and put on new fresh garments. That's justification.
Removal of iniquity, removal of the transgression, removal of sin, and then it's the imputation of Christ's righteousness. And so what we find here is Paul doing the same sort of thing. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sore? As it is written, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Here's what I think Paul is doing at this particular point. Paul is telling you and I, this is where it gets real practical, Genesis 3.15 and my life. We always like that sort of application. How does it affect me?
How is it going to benefit me? Well, Romans 8 is a great sort of explanation of that. Your dependence, or rather your salvation, is not dependent ultimately on your performance. It's dependent upon the performance of Jesus Christ.
That skull-crushing seed of the woman who did what the Father sent Him to do. If by God's grace you've looked to Him in faith, you're saved. If you've looked to Him in faith, you're justified. So that when all comers come and say, you're a wretch, you're terrible, you're this, you're that, you can say, of a truth, you're correct.
But my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but I wholly lean on Jesus' name." That's Paul's point here in Romans chapter 8. Don't lean on sweet frames. Don't lean on your performance.
Don't lean on your good works. Rather, lean on the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the skull-crushing seed of the woman. that Genesis 3.15 man, that deliverer who would render the death blow through His own death at Calvary's cross. It is intensely practical for the people of God, and Genesis 3.15 ought to be appreciated in that particular way.
Consequences for the Woman
Well, let's go back to our text in Genesis 3. I did think we would spend more time on verse 15. than the rest, but I don't want to sort of blow through the rest, so we're just going to look at probably the consequences for the woman in verse 16.
Genesis 3:16 — Sorrow and Desire
Notice he says, to the woman he said, I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception. In pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you. You know, before we proceed, John Sailhammer, in his commentary, makes the observation.
Adam and Eve say nothing. They don't say anything here, do they? They're silent. And Sailhammer says, one almost thinks that it's written about us, more so even than them.
In other words, Genesis 3 is explaining history to us. It's explaining our history. It's explaining our life. It's explaining our problem.
It's explaining what's happening out there. It's because of what occurs in the garden that the world looks the way that the world looks. And so when we look at, say, for instance, Genesis chapter 3, the tendency in so much of Christianity today is, you know, we've got to have practical preaching, we've got to have principles for living, we've got to have this, we've got to have that. Genesis 3 is the most practical of all passages in Scripture because it tells us who we really are.
It tells us what we're really about, and even more importantly, it tells us about our Lord Jesus Christ and what he has accomplished on our behalf. But it is intriguing. Neither Adam or Eve are speaking in the midst of any of this. But no, to the woman, he said.
Now, remember, with reference to the woman, what were the benefits of womanhood? Obviously, there's probably a whole plethora of benefits to womanhood. I'm not a woman, so I don't know what those are. I'm married to a woman and I see that she has benefits and that sort of thing.
But in the context, what is the thing that woman would do? Woman would have children and woman would have intimacy in marriage. It's exactly what we find in Genesis chapters 1 and 2. God brings disruption.
God brings disruption, not a complete overthrow. not a complete removal, not a complete obliteration, but rather subsequent to this fall into sin, there are going to now be attached consequences to these things. Things that were there prior to the fall, things that will be there after the fall, but now they'll be punctuated with a bit of difficulty and a bit of pain. Same when we get to Adam. When we get to Adam, what was Adam's primary vocation?
It was priestly and it was agrarian. As a priest, expanding the garden temple, he would have to do that through labor, through hard work, through knocking back bushes and cutting down trees and all that sort of thing. Remember, labor is not a part of the curse. Labor is a blessed benefit from God Most High.
Sabbath precedes the fall. God patterns Sabbath in Genesis chapter 2. God labors for six days and then he Sabbaths. The idea is that the creature will now labor for six days and Sabbath.
That's certainly how God applies the fourth commandment at Sinai in Exodus 20. He says, remember the Sabbath. And the argument given to remember the Sabbath, or the reason for Sabbath keeping, was because God created the world in six days, and on the seventh day He rested. So you have to understand, labor is not a result of the curse.
I think sometimes people think that. You know, they live for the weekends. Why can't you be happy on Wednesday? If you're making a widget for the glory of God, then praise God from whom all blessings flow.
That's a good thing. Labor is not bad. But there will be disruption after the fall for Adam. So, you see, things that were present prior to the fall continue into a post-fall or post-lapsarian world, but now they're disrupted as a result of the entrance of sin.
So, Eve is still going to have babies and Eve is still going to have a husband, but now it's not going to be carefree and pain-free, but there's going to be tension. It's going to be turmoil in many respects. Genesis 3, 16 to 19 explain why we have difficulties in our lives today. Why is it that we have tensions among husbands and wives sometimes?
Why is it that we have to be told in the New Testament on several occasions to love our wives and wives need to be told to submit to their husbands? Because we live in a post-fall world. We live in a fallen world. We live in a world now where our hearts are hardened, where we're estranged from God, and where we'd rather satisfy and gratify our own lusts rather than do what God said.
Those are consequences associated with the fall. Why is work harder for Adam on the other side of the Garden of Eden than it was when he was in the Garden of Eden? Because he rebelled against God. Yes, labor is a blessed thing, pre- and post-fall, but it's going to be a bit more difficult now, Adam.
You're going to have to work harder. There's going to be more sweat. There's going to be more grit, more determination, and it will oftentimes yield less fruits. Why?
So that every time you come up against a weed, you can remember that you sinned against God. I don't know if it's supposed to be that much, but that's the emphasis. Same with a woman. Every time you have these pains, every time you have this travail, every time your desire is for your husband.
That's a passage that's notoriously difficult to sort of interpret. I gotta tell you, 322 is a real humdinger as well, and thankfully we're not gonna get to that tonight, so hopefully I'll have another week or two to work on it and try to Crack that open. I actually have something prepared on verse 22, but if we don't have to get there tonight, I'm okay with that.
Interpreting 'Your Desire'
But notice in 316, your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you. That's a difficult text. That's a tough text. There's a whole myriad of interpretations with reference to this text.
I'm going to just tell you what I think it means. Now, you may think I'm a chauvinist, and you may think I'm a pig, and you may think all sorts of things like that, but I just think this is what the text teaches. Your desire shall be for your husband, not in the sense that you'll always want to submit to him, that you'll always want to engage in the marital bed with him, but rather your desire shall be to usurp him on occasion. Your desire will be to challenge him.
Your desire will be not to submit to your own husbands as unto the Lord. Now, the reason why I take this particular interpretation over the others is because of a parallel usage of word in verse 7 of chapter 4. Notice when God comes to deal with Cain in verse 7, He says, If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door, and its desire is for you.
What does that mean? It doesn't mean it wants to submit to you. It wants to, you know, go to bed with you. It means it wants to overtake you.
It wants to usurp you. It wants to overthrow you. It wants to reverse the roles on you. Now, this will be part and parcel in a post-fall world.
Not that every woman is going to be, you know, Adolf Hitler Jr. That's not what I'm suggesting. But this will be a continual, ongoing sort of a thing, and the fact that the New Testament, on several occasions, has to make the exhortation that wives submit to their own husbands as unto the Lord. Have you ever considered the New Testament It doesn't waste words.
It doesn't deal with things that don't need to be dealt with. If there's repetition in the New Testament, there's a reason why. Because we need to hear it over and over and over again. You know why Paul had to keep saying, greet one another with a holy kiss?
Because they didn't want to holy kiss one another. Why does Paul have to tell us to do what we're already wanting to do? He tells us things we struggle with. You see it in Paul's admonition to the husband in Colossians 3.
I've always seen this as a beautiful subtlety in the biblical text. He says, husbands, do not be embittered against your wife. I think Paul is a genius, and I don't think Paul needs me to think he's a genius for him to be a genius, but consider this. He's dealing with Christian men.
Christian men's temptations typically aren't to punch their wives. I hope no Christian man says, man, I really struggled with this temptation to beat my wife. I don't think that's in the wheelhouse of Christian men who have the Holy Spirit. But bitterness?
Embittered? Oh yeah, that's right there. It's desire is for us. That's why Paul tells us not to do it.
And so when we come to this particular passage, your desire shall be for your husband. It's not to willingly yield yourself in all areas of life. It's not to be his doormat. It's not to be this overly submissive thing.
It is rather to challenge his authority, somewhat consistent with what we've already seen in the narrative. Talk to the devil. She talked to the serpent. She was basically leading the show and that kind of thing ought not to be.
And then when it says, and he shall rule over you. Again, here's my thought. You can say, oh, you're wrong. You're terrible.
You're a male chauvinist pig. He shall rule over you. Some would connect male headship to the fall. In other words, that God says this in 316 indicates that prior to the fall, there was no male headship.
Adam wasn't at fault. They were equal. They were equal partners in an equal relationship. Everybody had a say, 100%.
There was no sort of gender disparity, no gender inequality, to borrow an overworked term. What we find here is that male headship is imposed as a consequence of Eve's rebellion against God. I don't think that's it. Because remember, Adam was formed first and then Eve.
And Eve was brought to the man to be the helper of the man. After the sin, God comes to Adam. He doesn't go to Eve. He goes to her eventually, but he initially addresses Adam.
Why? Because Adam is the head of his wife. In the New Testament narratives, you see the same thing in terms of headship. Where does Paul argue from when he deals with male headship in the home and in the church?
He doesn't argue from culture. He doesn't argue because men are better at it. He argues from the creation account. Adam was formed first, and then the woman.
And she, being deceived, fell into transgression. 1 Timothy 2, verse 14. So this isn't the text that validates male headship, and it's only to be seen connected to a fallen estate. No, he had headship. But it was a headship that was a much more blessed headship.
There was a one-flesh nest that we see at the end of Genesis chapter 2, such that they're both naked and they're not ashamed. There was the closest of intimacy between unfallen Adam and unfallen Eve. Now, at the entrance of sin, Adam's throwing his wife under the bus, saying, she brought this mess upon us. And now in this post-fall scenario, if the woman is going to struggle with this desire to usurp her husband's authority, men might struggle in being lords or tyrants or despots over their wives.
In other words, I think what God or Moses is doing here is sort of foreshadowing everything that Paul tells us in the book of Ephesians and Colossians with reference to male-female relationships in a post-fallen world. In a post-fall world, it's not going to be the case where headship is exercised beautifully and perfectly and where women submitting to their own husbands is exercised beautifully and perfectly. There's going to be this tension. And when you have that tension, maybe you ought to reflect upon the fact that this is an evidence that we're in sin.
We're sinners against God. We ought to repent, we ought to forsake this sin, and we ought to seek God who brings forgiveness and mercy and grace and kindness. So that's how I see 316. Again, you can go search the internet and see the various interpretations that are out there.
I just think this one, in context, makes the most sense. Well, I think we should stop there. One of those passages that you can get carried away with. It's so wonderful and so glorious.
But don't leave without the thought that Christ is the skull crushing seed of the woman who has dealt decisively with the devil at Calvary in accordance with this promise of Genesis chapter three, verse 15. Well, let's close in a word of prayer.
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank you for your Word. We thank you for this promise. We thank you for its fulfillment in the pages of the New Testament. And we thank you that you've made us benefactors of so glorious a promise.
We thank you for the various spiritual blessings, every spiritual blessing that we have in the heavenly places in Christ. We thank you for justification and sanctification and for that glorification that we look forward to. and how we thank you for his life, his death, his resurrection, the third day, and for his current session at your right hand. We ask now that you would go with us, that you would watch over us in the remainder of this week, that you would bless and strengthen us in our work, help us to rejoice in labor, help us to see that this is to image God, who worked six days and on the seventh day rested. We ask these things through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen.