More Than Medicine
More Than Medicine
DWDP : Gen 3, 14 -15 The Dire Consequences of Sin
The first gospel promise ever given appears in an unexpected place – right after humanity's fall into sin. Dr. Papa takes us on a profound journey through Genesis 3:14-16, exploring what theologians call the "Protevangelium" – the first announcement of redemption hidden within God's judgment of the serpent, Eve, and Adam.
Delving into the multi-faceted nature of the curse, Dr. Papa reveals how sin's consequences rippled through all creation, bringing everything under "the bondage of decay." While Adam and Eve received judgment tempered with hope, Satan's sentence was final and irrevocable. The serpent's belly-crawling existence would serve as a perpetual reminder of mankind's fall.
At the heart of this passage lies the mysterious prophecy of Genesis 3:15 – the promise of enmity between the serpent's seed and the woman's seed. Dr. Papa masterfully unpacks the multiple layers of meaning in this verse. On one level, it represents the age-long cosmic conflict between those aligned with Satan and those who belong to God's kingdom. On another level, it specifically prophesies Christ (the woman's seed) who would crush Satan's head while suffering a temporary heel wound at Calvary.
The contrast between these wounds reveals everything: Satan's head wound is fatal and permanent, while Christ's heel wound is temporary and leads to his exaltation. In this ancient text, we discover God's redemptive plan unveiled from the very beginning – that even in the moment of humanity's greatest failure, God was already promising the Savior who would defeat our ancient enemy. Listen as Dr. Papa brings these profound truths to light, showing how putting Jesus at the center makes even the most obscure passages come alive.
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Welcome to More Than Medicine, where Jesus is more than enough for the ills that plague our culture and our country. Hosted by author and physician, Dr Robert Jackson.
Speaker 2:Papa, can you tell me a story? Do you really want me to tell you a story? Well, you go, get your brother and your sisters and I will tell you a story. Well, you go, get your brother and your sisters and I will tell you a story. Welcome to Devotions with Dr Papa. Gather your Bibles, gather around and let's look into the written word, which reveals to us the living word, who is our Lord Jesus Christ. Us the living word, who is our Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2:Today we're in Genesis, chapter 3, verses 14 through 16. Let me read those to you. Then 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 and pain. You will bring forth children. Yet your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you.
Speaker 2:Now, today we're going to actually talk mostly about verses 14 and 15, and we'll get to verse 16 next week. The title of today's lessons is the Dire Consequences of Sin. This passage describes the curse, which actually is several curses or phases of the curse. It's not just one single curse. There's a curse on the animal kingdom, there's a curse on the serpent, there's a curse on the woman, and then there's one on Adam and his descendants, and then there's a curse on the very elements of the ground itself.
Speaker 2:Now let me read to you a little passage from the Genesis record. Henry Morris's look at the book of Genesis. This is on page 118 of his very scholarly interpretation, interpretation of Genesis 118. I'm sorry, genesis, the whole book of Genesis, really, it's just on page 118. Since Adam had been appointed to exercise dominion over the earth and since Adam was to begin to die he's beginning that whole process of dying physically his dominion also would begin to die. Since that time we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.
Speaker 2:That's Romans 8, 22. This condition is called by the Apostle Paul the bondage of corruption, or better, the bondage of decay, for the creation was made subject to futility. That's Romans 8, verse 20 and 21. As for the personal aspects of the curse concerned. God pronounced them in the same chronological order in which the specific acts of sin had been committed. The first curse was on Satan, then on Eve, then on Adam.
Speaker 2:For Adam and Eve, however, their subjection under the curse was in hope, as Romans 8, 20 tells us, a hope of eventual redemption. For Satan, however, it was final and irrevocable. He not only had rebelled against God in heaven, but now he had also infected mankind with his rebellion. You see, god dealt differently with Satan than the way in which he dealt with Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve had a hope of eventual redemption and a reconciliation with their heavenly father, but for Satan, he was a fallen angel who had once worshipped in the very presence of God, beholding the face of God, fully understanding who God was, and now he had brought his rebellion down to the creatures that God had made and had infected them with his rebellion. And the condemnation, the destruction that God brought to Satan was entirely different. There was no hope for Satan. His eventual doom would be in the lake of fire and in fact, some of Satan's angels the Bible makes it plain were immediately cast into the abyss, and the Bible tells us that they were put into a place of eternal darkness that was reserved for Satan and his angels, the place where Satan would eventually find himself.
Speaker 2:Now let's look at verse 14, where it tells us that Satan was cursed. Above all, read the verse there. In verse 14, it says Because you have done this, cursed are you more than all cattle, cursed above, more than all the other creatures. Now, why would that be? Well, it's because Satan was directly culpable in deceiving Adam and Eve, and this curse was a perpetual reminder to mankind of the cause of his fall. And it was a reminder of the final destination of Satan, whatever his beauty and posture before the fall. Because you know, there are theologians who believe that Satan was a beautiful creature once before, and they believe that he may have even walked upright, and whatever his beauty and whatever his posture may have been, henceforth he would glide on his belly in humiliation and be an object of dread and loathing. And, as I say to my friends, I'm not afraid of snakes, except for big ones and small ones. You see, snakes are an object of dread and loathing.
Speaker 2:And then, one more thing that should be noted that all the other animals were brought under the curse at this time, although none of them had sinned. The serpent was merely cursed above all the rest. But every beast henceforth had the sentence of death in its members. Each was a part of man's dominion, and it was by man's sin that death came into the world, and man's sin infected everything in that dominion. Now just think about it. It's logical. Every man that came after Adam and Eve, all of Adam's descendants, were also infected by Adam's very bad and sinful choice. Had you and I done anything at that time? Of course not, but we are infected by Adam's choice. Had the animals done anything wrong? Of course not, but they were infected by Adam's choice. Had the creation done anything wrong? No, but the creation was infected and affected by Adam's choice.
Speaker 2:Now look at verses 15 and 16. Let me read verse 15 to you and I will put enmity between you and the woman talking about Satan. I will put enmity or hatred between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He, talking about the woman's seed, shall bruise you on the head and you shall bruise him on the heel. Now, was this curse pronounced against the snake or against the evil satanic spirit that possessed the snake's body? Well, you know the answer to that it was against the malevolent spirit controlling its body and spirit. Who was that old serpent called the devil? Henceforth, satan is known as the god of this world Since Adam had forfeited his dominion over the physical realm. He forfeited his dominion over the physical realm to Satan, and that's why Satan is known as the god of this world.
Speaker 2:Satan probably believed that Adam and Eve and all their, the woman, would not be his willing ally. In fact, the scripture says I will put enmity between you and the woman. Satan may have expected that she would easily deceive her husband and lead him by the nose into following Satan, but alas, such was not the case. As God said, she would not rule over her husband. In fact, the scripture says your desire shall be for your husband, but he shall rule over. Satan may have expected this woman, whom he deceived so easily, to produce an army of faithful followers in her own progeny. But once again, he was dead wrong when God said I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. In pain you will bring forth children, perhaps, just as we are.
Speaker 2:Satan was blinded by his sin and he could not fully comprehend the full implications of the curse that predicted that he would only bruise the heel of an eventual savior of the world, and that savior would crush his head, dealing a fatal blow to himself. So let me ask you a question what motivates Satan to continue the struggle if he knows he will eventually lose? Is it hope inspired by spiritual blindness that cannot comprehend the full implication of the? Or is it just plain enmity driven by blind hatred and animosity? After all, it is his nature to lie, steal, kill and destroy. He can't stop doing and being what he is until incarcerated in the lake of fire.
Speaker 2:Now let me point out another thing to you. Genesis 3.15 is known as the Protevangelium. You didn't know that word, did you? It's P-R-O-T Evangelium. P-r-o-t Evangelium that word means the first gospel. It's the first place in the Bible that promises the coming and victory of our Redeemer. This prophetic verse already looks forward to the time when Satan will be completely crushed beneath the feet of the woman's triumphant seed.
Speaker 2:This is a strange prophecy, since only man can produce seed. Have you ever pondered that the woman's seed Satan's seed? It's certainly not Satan, because he is an angelic spirit. Nor is it Eve who is a woman, so it must refer to some kind of spiritual progeny. So there are multiple layers of meaning in this verse. First of all, satan's seed are those who are knowingly and willingly setting themselves at enmity with the woman's seed. At enmity with the woman's seed, they possess the character of the adversary and seek to oppose God's purpose in creation and in redemption.
Speaker 2:Do you know people like that? Have you heard the phrase? He's got the devil in him? Well, sometimes that phrase has more truth in it than we realize. When I was in college, my college roommate's grandfather sometimes referred to people by saying the truth just ain't in them. Well, that's a direct quote from the book of first john, where the prophet the, the follower of jesus john, would say the truth isn't in them. And he was referring to people who claim to be Christians but did not live by the commandments of the scriptures. And he would say the truth is not in them. Well, there are people who are like that. There is no truth in Satan and there is no truth in his followers. And there's no truth in people who pretend to be Christians but are actually the seed of Satan.
Speaker 2:Then there's the seed of the woman. Who are they? The seed of the woman are those who, by faith, are brought into a right relationship with the heavenly Father. They are the children of God. To as many as call upon His name, god gives the right to be the children of God. There is an age-long conflict between the children of the kingdom of God and the children of the wicked one. If you have spiritual eyes with which to see, you can perceive that age-long conflict in our world today between the kingdom of God and the secular worldly kingdom.
Speaker 2:Now there's another level of understanding about the seed of the woman and the seed of Satan. There is another primary seed of the serpent, known as the son of perdition, who's described in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2 and verse 3. And he's none other than the Antichrist, to whom the dragon gives his power and throne and authority, as described in Revelation, chapter 12, in verse 3. The dragon is the devil and he gives his authority to the son of perdition, who is the Antichrist. The Antichrist, the seed of the woman, is the virgin-born, conceived by Holy Spirit, lord Jesus Christ, who battles with and destroys Satan himself, crushing his head and destroying the works of the evil one.
Speaker 2:Yes, of course Satan bruises Jesus' heel at Calvary in a temporary wound that appears fatal but ultimately is not, as God lays on him the iniquity of us all, so that he may serve as the final, perfect, sacrificial lamb, as Peter said in his first sermon on the day of Pentecost. But God raised him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for him to be held in its power. Did you get that? It was impossible for him to be held in its power. Just as we sing on Easter Sunday, up from the grave he arose with a mighty triumph o'er his foes and he triumphed over Satan, who was his perpetual foe.
Speaker 2:Now I want to contrast these wounds Satan's wound on his head and Jesus' wound on his heel. Satan was wounded on his head. Jesus was wounded on his heel. Satan was wounded on his head. Jesus was wounded on his heel. Satan's wound was permanent. Jesus' wound was temporary. Satan's wound was fatal. Jesus' wound was superficial and non-fatal. Jesus, I'm sorry.
Speaker 2:Satan's wound caused the destruction of all the works of the evil. One. Jesus' wound resulted in the redemption of all mankind that would believe on him. Satan's wound resulted in him becoming our defeated foe. Jesus' wound resulted in him being exalted as Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Satan's wound brought him one step closer to being locked for a thousand years in the abyss. Jesus' wound resulted in bringing him one step closer to ruling on David's throne for a thousand years. Satan's wound caused him to know for certain that his eventual judgment would be in the lake of fire. Jesus' wound resulted in him knowing for certain that he would reign with his Father on his eternal throne his father on his eternal throne and knowing that he is worthy to receive glory and honor and power and riches and wealth and dominion.
Speaker 2:Now why, brothers and sisters, why is this verse in genesis, chapter 3, and verse 15, so important to you and me? Because it is the first gospel. It is the proteevangelium. It is that verse that prophesied our eventual Redeemer. It prophesied the eventual redemption of all who would believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and put their trust and confidence in the blood of the Lamb that would eventually be shed on Calvary's cross. For you and me, and as I've told you over and over and over again, if you put Jesus in the middle of these verses that are sometimes obscure, it makes them all come alive. It makes them all come alive. You're listening to Devotions with Dr Papa. If you like what you hear, I pray that you would share it with your family and friends Follow, like and share or download it. Tell your family and friends about it. We'll be back again next week and until then, may the Lord bless you real good.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to this edition of More Than Medicine. For more information about the Jackson Family Ministry, dr Jackson's books, or to schedule a speaking engagement, go to their Facebook page, instagram or their webpage at jacksonfamilyministrycom. This podcast is produced by Bob Sloan Audio Production at bobsloancom.
