You have seen movies and read books about curses being pronounced upon people or animals by people. Ever since the Garden mankind seems to want to pronounce curses upon fellow humans as well as animals. In the evil world of spirits, some religions caste spells or curses upon people they are unhappy with. Some spiritists charge high fees to discharge curses upon their clients “enemies”. You should know that such things are real … yet for those cover in the Blood of Jesus Christ, who walk faithfully with Him, they are protected. In Genesis chapter three we find God pronouncing a curse upon the serpent and the ground.
Ge 3:14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you.”
Ge 3:17 “Cursed is the ground.”
Observe that God does not place a curse on the man or the woman. Please read:
Ge 3:14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
1) The serpent cursed. Remember starting this chapter? We dealt with the fallen angel we have come to know as the devil, satan or the ancient serpent. To refresh our memory let’s read again:
Rev 12:9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
Although the devil is not the serpent, he used the serpent. He impregnated the serpent with his evil, vicious, sinisterism. Look at this:
Lk 22:3 Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve.
If he could enter Judas why could he not enter the serpent? Where verse 14 explains the harsh life upon the serpent, which is something we see when we see snakes slithering across our lawn, street or farm road, the curse is directed to the being behind the serpent, which is the devil. He is the ancient serpent. Surely if there is any creature that could depict something of the evilness of God’s enemy, it’s the snake. Look at it’s silent, gliding movements, it’s fiery, poisonous bite, it’s raised head and vibrating tongue, its venomous spit … surely these attributes point to the deadly poisonous devil! He used the serpent as his agent and where the serpent is cursed and remains cursed, so to a greater and higher degree is the devil. Why would God curse the serpent / devil and not the man? Because He has a purpose for the man … not for the devil! As an aside … Some think snakes eat dust. They don’t. To explain these words … “eat dust all the days of your life”, we need to look at other passages for help.
Mic 7:17 They will lick dust like a snake, like creatures that crawl on the ground.
Isa 49:23 Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground; they will lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in me will not be disappointed.”
Ps 72:9 The desert tribes will bow before him and his enemies will lick the dust.
The term “lick the dust” means to “suffer defeat” and to be “humiliated”. That is exactly the meaning of … eat dust all the days of your life.
2) The first Gospel Proclamation.
Ge 3:15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
This verse is what is known as the Protevangelium … or the first Messianic Promise. This is another reason liberals reject the first eleven chapters of Genesis. If these chapters did not exist, there would be no concrete reason to build the case for Messiah throughout the Old Testament, leading up to Jesus’ birth, life, ministry, death, resurrection and ascension. In this verse you clearly see it is not a snake addressed but the sinister being behind the snake.
(1) Enmity is not a term for an animal like a snake. As the Bible uses this term it is used exclusively in the context of enmity between moral responsible agents.
(2) The word enmity brings a beam of light because it speaks of deliverance! Look at the verse again:
Ge 3:15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers.
The word “enmity” means “hatred” and “hostile”. It is opposition in the deepest sense. God says He … no one else … put the deep rooted hatred and hostility between the woman and the devil (serpent) and between the devil’s offspring and that of the woman.
(3) Notice the man is no mentioned here. The reason being the woman was deceived by the serpent but from the woman will come one who will bring vengeance upon the serpent (devil).
(4) The words … your offspring and hers … does not refer to snakes that will be hatched until the end of the world! Rather it refers to the children (followers) of the evil one. Did Jesus not speak of this in:
Jn 8:44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire.
All who do not follow Jesus as Lord follows the devil. He is their father! In fact, everyone born is born following the devil until they (should they) come to faith in Jesus Christ.
Eph 2:1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
The offspring of the woman must refer in general to all those coming from the woman, who seek to follow God through faith. Specifically it must refer to an individual who shall come along and achieve the vengeance that “enmity” implies. This is how it has been ever since.
There are those, a smaller group who follow God, and there are those, a larger group who follow the devil. There is a distinct dividing line between these two groups. The larger group have a distinct hatred towards the smaller group because the smaller group reject their morals and ethics and are seen as spoil sports.
Even in our present day we see the divide between sin and evil and holiness and righteousness. We live together on this earth. We even live in the same families. We work together, sport and play together and in some way at times we even get on with each other … yet there is that dividing line that cannot be erased. It is the line between good and evil.
The people of God do not hate the people of the devil. Rather love them and pray for them to be released from the bondage they are in. You see, we were there too. We now know and enjoy freedom because we have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.
We shall return to the last part of this verse tomorrow, but for today, may I ask you … “Are you living exclusively for Jesus or do you have one foot in each camp?” The challenge with this is that you might not know for certain you are saved. Perhaps you want the world of Jesus but you are still fixated by the world of the flesh, materialism and devil. Maybe the Lord Jesus is calling you to come to Him today through faith, confession of sin and to start living a repentant life … exclusively for Him.
O God, how grateful we are that You did not leave us stranded in our lost estate. Thank You for coming to redeem us at Calvary. Help us to live exclusively for You. Amen.