Bible Study Genesis Part 42-Sorrow

Genesis 3:15 is only one verse, but it sets the tone for the rest of the Bible: a declared enmity, a promised conflict, and a hint of the rescue God is already planning. We slow down and read the language carefully, especially the way Biblical prophecy works with both a local application and an ultimate fulfillment. To make that real, we compare it with Abraham’s words to Isaac about God providing a lamb, showing how Scripture can speak to the immediate moment while also pointing forward to the Lamb of God.

From there we face the uncomfortable part head-on: sin is not just “the big stuff.” We connect Genesis to Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5, where anger and lust expose what’s happening in the heart, and we talk about why sin becomes so common we stop noticing it. That blindness leaves us vulnerable, helps explain why life feels like constant pressure, and shows why the Cross is not an optional religious idea but God’s answer to guilt.

We also dig into a detail that’s easy to miss but huge for Christian theology: “seed” is singular, and the pronoun “it” drives the point home. We follow that thread to Jesus Christ as the seed of the woman, then keep reading into the curses that shape human experience, including sorrow in childbirth and the strain that enters marriage. We address modern pushback, the Hebrew sense of longing in “desire,” and how passages like Ephesians 5 connect back to Genesis.

If you want a serious Bible study that treats Scripture as coherent, challenging, and intensely practical, press play, then subscribe, share the episode, and leave a review so more people can find it.

Transcript

Why God’s Word Matters

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Welcome to the program Study in the Chapel. God's Word is supreme at Chapel Ministries. We consider it absolutely essential to a proper relationship with God. We study it, we love it, we rely on it every minute of every day. The following program is an edited recording of the regular Bible studies we hold. And we decided to share these with you in the hope that you too will be able to find inspiration, encouragement, and ultimately salvation through discovering Christ in Scripture. Our intention is to travel all the way through the Bible. It will be a challenging journey, but one that will undoubtedly bring you to a decision. Through this study, you will be faced with either believing or rejecting what God has said to us. It is our intention to provide you with enough knowledge to make an informed decision about God and his word. We strongly encourage you to listen intently and diligently, because though at the moment you may not realize it, these things are truly a matter of life and death. In fact, these are matters of eternal life and eternal death. Never treat what God has said lightly. There's truly nothing more important to you. Now join us as we seek God's will through his inspired word.

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This is the place to be on Wednesday nights at 7 o'clock, at least on the eastern side of the United States. This is when we come together to learn more about God's Word. You know, we want to spend enough time with it in a detailed way, in a way that makes sense. We are always trying to do our best in getting to know God's Word. A lot of people will discourage you from doing that. They'll say, oh, it's too hard or it's too old or these are just fools that came up with this stuff. There's no reason for us to spend our time with that. Science has already proven it's all false. It's not true. Don't listen to them. The only people say that say things like that have never studied God's word. We're studying here. We're trying to give you all the tools necessary for you to be able to address those people who try to tell you God's word is false. Here we go.

Genesis 3:15 And Two Meanings

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So last time we had only just gotten started on verse 15. Let's read it. Genesis 3, verse 15. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. Now let me remind you that this is a prophecy. In fact, this is the very first prophecy in the Bible. And like all prophecies, this one has two meanings or applications. I'm going to run through this quickly, but we will say this every time a prophecy does come up in the Bible. I will remind you of this, but we're going to go through it quickly. All prophecies in the Bible actually have two meanings or two applications: a local meaning and an ultimate meaning. In other words, prophecies are always told in the context of the current situation, but also have an eventual meaning off into the future. Just as a side, this is yet another way that God is distinct from the heathen. Their oracles, their shamans, their astrologers would speak only of future events in their prophecies. That's not the way God is. God's way is to appeal to mankind's common sense and power of reason and ability to discern. God is not out to fool us. God is not out to hide anything from us. That's why we have his word. Why would God try to hide stuff from us if it is in his word, if he's giving it to us in his Bible? That's the way God is handling prophecy. So back to my point. The prophecies of the Bible, I repeat, address a contemporary situation, but they also have meaning off in the future. Let me give you just a quick example.

Abraham’s Prophecy As A Pattern

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Can you imagine how Isaac would have reacted? So as I said, he kept his true intention to himself. But he did tell Isaac that they were going up to the mountain to offer up a sacrifice. As I said, you know the story. Let's pick it up now in chapter two of this book of Genesis, starting at verse 7. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father and said, My father, and he said, Here I am, my son. And he said, This is Isaac speaking, Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? Isaac noticed that there were all the other items that were necessary for a sacrifice except for the animal. And that's what he was asking his father. He said, Where is the lamb for a burnt offering? Verse 8. And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they went both of them together. Abraham's statement was a prophecy, and it has two applications. God knew, or Abraham knew, that God would provide a lamb for their immediate offering, while at the same time prophesying of the future coming of the Lamb of God, who would be the burnt offering for a sinning man. Though it pains me to rush through this, I must. My point is that all prophecies work this way: an application locally or into the local situation, and an application off into the future, sometimes far, far off into the future. So keep that in mind as we discuss the prophecy here in Genesis 3.15. Now, don't worry, I will keep reminding you probably. Let's start

Enmity, Satan, And Our Shared Curse

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again. And I will put and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. This enmity has not gone away. As you remember, we said that the words enmity and enemy share common etymologic roots and are therefore related. They're in the same word family. And I'm only pointing that out to you to get you to realize the tone of this statement. I will put enmity between thee and the woman. God is going to make the human race and Satan enemies of each other. That's what the enmity is. They're going to be enemies. Now I want to remind you, sin brought this on. Sin opened the door for that enmity to move into the garden, and we're all still paying for it. But wait a second, I never killed anyone. I never robbed a bank. I never cheated on my husband. Why do I have to suffer this enmity? Well, first of all, like it or not, you're included in verse 15. The enmity was to be between the seed of the serpent. That's all of the evil world, by the way, including humans in the service of Satan, knowingly or unknowingly. Not everyone that is serving Satan knows it. God put enmity between everyone that serves Satan and the seed of the woman. Now, in my opinion, this part is that local application that we talked about with prophecies. This part, this part about the seed of the woman including us, that's the first part of this prophecy. The seed of the woman in part includes us. We are the ones as part of Eve's family that suffer under this curse as prophesied. Well, I don't like that. It's not fair. You want to know what's not fair? The innocent son of God being punched in the face by a couple of smelly Roman soldiers, and we're told in the Bible he was punched so hard, he was beaten so hard, he was unrecognizable. That's unfair. You want to know what else is unfair? The innocent son of God having spikes driven into his hands and feet and hung on a cross where he died of exhaustion and asphyxiation as a criminal, though he committed no crime. And let me say something about your professed innocence. We all like to think we get to judge which acts and shines should or should not be considered sin. Of course, most of us agree more or less on the biggies, you know, murder, drug dealing, adultery. We all agree on those. We all get to judge those, we think. But since God is the offended party, he's actually the one that gets to decide what sin is.

Jesus Defines Sin In The Heart

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One time Jesus said, Matthew 5, 21, ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not kill, and whosoever shall kill shall be in the danger of the judgment. But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. Judgment of what? Judgment of being a sinner. Judged to be a sinner. Listen, you may not have murdered anyone. In fact, I'm sure you haven't. But I'm far less sure that you haven't become unnecessarily angry with someone in your heart. John, are you telling me that being angry with someone for no reason is just as bad as me wrapping my fingers around his throat and strangling him? No, I'm not saying that. Jesus is. If you've not been taught that, if you'd not been taught Matthew 5, 21, again, you need to sue your pastor for malpractice. That's Jesus' standard. You may think you're clean and free because you haven't done anything wrong, but I'm telling you, we all think in our minds, not convinced, okay? Jesus also once said, in fact, he said this one right after that first one. Verse 27. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not commit adultery. Uh-oh. But I say unto you, this is Jesus. This is the Lord. This is the one that knows every sin you've ever committed. You know why he knows it? Because he had to pay for it. But I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. Need I go on? Probably not. This entire conversation about what's fair is indicative, by the way, of the problem. We just don't know how powerful sin has become in the lives of every human being. And you have Adam and Eve to think for that. Sin is so commonly found in the human heart that we've stopped noticing it. It's so much a part of us that we seem to now just ignore it. It's just like that L train near Lwood Blues apartment in Chicago. You know what I'm talking about? Jake asked as it roared by that first night he was visiting his brother. How often does the train go by? To which Elwood Blues replies, so often you won't even notice it. Sin is so prevalent in our brother. That's a scene from the Blues Brothers movie. I love it. Sin is so prevalent in our everyday life that we don't even recognize it as sin anymore. Elwood Blues didn't even know that train went by when Jake asked about it because it happened so often. Sin becomes just like any other noise in our lives. Sin affects us so often that it seems no different than any other thought, feeling, or action. It's tragic.

Sin As Background Noise And War

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Since that day in the garden, there's been an all-out war between, quote, all that represents the forces of evil on the one hand, and all that represents the true and high destiny of mankind on the other. That's a quote from the Cambridge Bible commentary, and I love it for its simplicity and elegance. Now you may be thinking, well, weren't the forces of evil always in conflict with all that represents the true and high destiny of mankind? And of course, my answer is yes. The devil has listen closely to this. The devil has always hated whatever came from God, except for himself, of course. Everything that God created, the devil has always had enmity for. Almost all of us know at least one or two people who have been destroyed by sin. Sin of some sort or another. Our constant sinning makes us vulnerable because there's nothing between us and the devil except enmity. Therefore, we listen to me, we are under constant attack. And that is also why life on earth sucks. But we're not without hope. And I think we can all stand a little hope by now. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Now, once again, let me say this is prophetic, though it though this sounds a little obvious to say, but the true test of the legitimacy or accuracy of any prophecy is whether or not it comes true. And the very existence of the church is the proof that this one is truly valid. God said to the serpent, I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. Now, to truly grasp the magnificence of this prophecy, one must realize a rather startling fact. And with this, we're moving to the far-off application of this prophecy, the second part as I described it before.

The Singular Seed Points To Christ

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The word, listen, the word seed there is in the singular. The translators didn't interpret singularity, they translated singularity. It's singular at the source. And the proof of that, of course, comes in the very next word, it. It, as you know, is a singular pronoun. A pronoun is a general, general word used as a substitute for a more specific noun. So for this to be a proper sentence, the singular pronoun it must refer to a singular noun. Listen to me. Therefore, seed to which the singular pronoun it refers is assumed to be single. One. The seed refers to one individual. And the gospel, and really the whole Bible, makes clear that that singular seed of the woman is Christ. That's the far-off application. Christ is the ultimate meaning of this prophecy. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel. The fulfillment of this prophecy is one of the most remarkable in the Bible. It speaks of that struggle that has long existed between the forces of good led by Christ Himself and the forces of evil, led, of course, by Satan, who is here represented, if not flat out present. It's my opinion that the serpent is none other than Satan. You've heard me say that before. I'm just bringing it out for emphasis on this idea of the enmity. Satan himself, or if you want to, some poor creature possessed by him, or just some symbolic representation thereof, this prophecy is speaking of the devil. So here again, God is telling the world of the soon-to-come, long-lasting battle between those loyal to our word and those aligned with Lucifer. That's why this is such an important prophecy. Because this foretells the struggle between the forces of good who are in Christ, that's you and me, and those that are aligned with the devil. Those that are aligned with the serpent. God took the time to tell them, verse 3 of Genesis what's going to happen. Now, you have to be careful. And I agree with Jay Vernon McGee here. This is not a reference to the ultimate victory that is elsewhere prophesied. Yes, there is ultimate victory, but it's not being spoken of here for a reason. Many commentators like the claim that there is a note of the final dispensation of all things in this verse, but that is not what's here, in my opinion. For one thing, there's nothing to even hint at any such positive outcome whatsoever. If it's spoken. Of victory, the tone of this would be far different. Nothing in this passage sounds victorious. You know why? Because he is dealing with sin, and there's nothing positive about sin. If you don't get that through your head, you and God will always be disagreeing with one another. And that's not someone you want to disagree with. I mean, let's read the rest of it briefly just to get a sense of what God is thinking. And you tell me if it appears as if he wants to talk about positive outcomes at this point. We'll cover these in a detail in a bit. I'm just reading without comment for the purposes of trying to gauge God's feelings towards these recent events. Check this out and tell me if it seems like at any point he's looking on the bright side.

No Victory Tone, Only Judgment

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And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel. 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. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commended 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 shall 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. You tell me, is God in a good mood? I don't think God's temperament at the moment reflects any sense of final triumph. Why are you telling us this? Because we don't take sin seriously. We're always looking for a way out. We're always looking for an excuse. We're always looking for a rationalization. And God is never doing that. God is looking to punish somebody. Every time we sin, somebody gets punished. That's the way he is. John, that's not very nice. John, don't tell people that. They'll never come and listen to you again. I'm just telling you what's in the Bible. If you don't accept what's in the Bible, then you will not accept the sacrifice that Christ on that tree offered up to you. You won't take it seriously. You will feel like you don't need it. You'll feel like you can do something better than he did. Besides, I'm not all that bad. I don't need all that blood and stuff. Don't worry, Jesus, that's cool. I just, you know what, I'll I'll I'll read Leviticus and I'll I'll learn better. I'll do better. That's what we think. People don't want to hear that the only way they're going to get around the sin problem is if somebody dies. Well, somebody did die. Because that's how God deals with sin. Well, I'm not that bad. You don't have to be that bad. All Adam did was take a bite out of a fruit. I've said to you before, and I've checked again recently, we are not told of one more sin from Adam. As a matter of fact, what we are told of him, which is not very much, his good character actually comes out. This was a good man. Way better than you are, I'll tell you. This is a curse through and through. God is focused on communicating his contempt for and toward the offending parties. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head and thou it shall bruise his heel. Not a whiff of future glory here. This is merely a forecast of the war that will be fought between the forces of light and the forces of darkness. And let me tell you, you still may say, well, John's full of it. I know that I'm not a sinner. There's no way. Doesn't matter. There's nothing in there that says you're getting exempt from it. That's the point of the entire Bible. It actually doesn't matter what you do, it doesn't matter how good you are. This curse is falling on you, anyhow. You're guilty by association in the fullest realization of that term. And God is making clear that there are going to be victims in this war on both sides. Bruising falls on both parties. I'll repeat what I've been saying for a couple of weeks now. This is the answer to the way things are. Here is why life is filled with long and frequent stretches of misery and pain and doubt and turmoil. This is the reason that even good Christian people, obedient, faithful, committed Christian people still die from cancer or are paralyzed in car accidents or lose their precious little ones too soon. God loving, God serving, saved children of the Almighty Father will, regardless of their standing with God, have difficulties. And it all has to do with these curses. Mankind sinned and it kicked off a terrible war. And I'm I feel like I need to say this. All I'm trying to get you to see is that you desperately need a savior. And that savior isn't you because you're included in this mess. This is you. You're in this crowd. I'm trying to get you to see you need a way out because there is a way out. As bad as this world is, being separated from God's presence eternally is not something you want to experience. This'll this life will seem like a sunny day at Panama City Beach, Florida. And we're witnessing that war rage all around us every day of our lives. A war that's caused widespread suffering to both the condemned as well as the elect. Nothing speaks so clear clearly to us that sin will and must be dealt with than this universal agony so prevalent in the human experience. Listen to me. Had our first parents not sinned, this would be a bruise-free world. But the curse says it all.

Childbirth Sorrow Still Speaks

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The cursing continues. God is turning to the woman now and declaring a condition that has likewise endured. Just like that bruising, the sorrow of childbirth continues as much in the modern world as it did way back then. Childbirth, though as a man, I have no right whatsoever to judge. But I have been in the same room with a woman giving birth. And can I say I've seen the curse firsthand. But I want you to notice that this is actually a at least two-part curse. Sure, there is the pain of childbirth, but that isn't the entirety of it. God says there will also be sorrow in what the James, the King James calls conception, but it's more than likely referring to pregnancy, that which follows conception. Again, no room to judge, but I have also seen the very implications of this condition in my own wife and many others. This curse, this part of the curse, is also still very much active. Now, as much as most women hate this portion, the pregnancy and the birth giving them, as much as they hate that, it's the very next part that has caused many a woman to turn not on Eve as the cause of it all, but rather God, who did nothing more than justly deal with the failure of the mother of the human race. They blame the just and forgive the unjust. Humans are a mess. Verse 16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, as if that weren't bad enough. Listen

Marriage Rule And Culture’s Objections

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to this. This one really stings. And thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. There's nothing more painful than to serve an inferior. There's nothing more painful than for a superior to be subject to an inferior. When God told womankind that she had to be subject to mankind, when God said the woman or the husband was to have rule over the wife, let's just say women have never gotten over this. In fact, this is such a hated commandment that a very large proportion of women daily tempt God's wrath by ignoring what he has clearly said, or worse, claim he never said it. I mean, it's one of the most popular ways to deal with something uncomfortable in the Bible. Oh, you know, this is just a book written by an ancient people living in an unjust patriarchal society. This sort of stuff can be ignored. It's nothing more than the expressions of misogynistic, low self-esteem men. Be careful. Be careful of who you're accusing. Of course, as is common with most Bible doubters, they don't mind some of those other parts. They hate that one, but they don't mind some of that other stuff. In fact, you'll find a lot of them praying to the author of this section of scripture to heal their sweet granny or help them get that promotion or make sure their little one gets into Harvard. God has to say to you, this is what I've said. You'll return it and say, Well, I mean, there are lots of things to like about your word God, but I don't like this one, saith the cherry picker. Most people will tell you that it's perfectly okay to ignore this verse. In fact, they'll insist on it. They'll even question your character or intelligence if you dare to think that this has any validity whatsoever. They're going to say to you, you know, you ought to know better than to believe in such hate speech. You hear that a lot now, don't you? Everything's getting labeled hate. Anyhow, you'll be told that this verse just can't be true. After all, God's not a woman hater, man is. And listen, that's all modern society can say about this commandment. They'll just declare that its only purpose is to keep women down and allow men to rule the home with impunity and ferocity, as if God's powerless against stuff like that. That he doesn't have control over anything that ends up in his book that has his name on it. Well, like it or not, accept it or not, God is recorded as saying to Eve, Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. If you want to disregard what God says here because you don't agree with it, well, then what's next? What else are you going to deem unworthy of your support? I mean, before long, the Bible is going to be a short, unrecognizable, syrupy book of romantic poetry. If we allow the world to censor what's uncomfortable to accept, then there won't be much left. I feel like quoting more scripture, Romans 8.7. The carnal mind is enmity. There's that word again. The fleshy mind, human mind is enmity. It's an enemy against God, for it's not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Or how about this one? 1 Corinthians 2.14. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. When you're disagreeing vehemently with what God's word says, that's the crowd you're in. You're in the fleshy world, you're in the carnal-minded world. You're not spiritual at all. You find this foolish because you're not one of his. Now, not to make things worse, not to think make things more uncomfortable. Let me point out one more thing.

Desire, Teshuka, And Choosing Wisely

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God said to Eve, and by that he's including all women after her, your desire shall be to your husband. This means, now don't get mad at me. I'm just teaching what the Bible says. God is saying, well, if you have a quarrel, take it up with him. Anyhow, this is one of the most difficult passages that modern ears have to endure. Your desire shall be to your husband. That means that the wife is subject to the will of the man she married. Now, unfortunately, lots of horny old preachers want you to think that this word desire has something to do with the boudwar. Well, what is referred to here is much more far-reaching. This is a curse. I'm sorry to say this. This is a curse that means a woman's entire happiness is wrapped up in her husband. Now, listen, I know this is tough. This is not easy to hear, but the original language is clear. The Hebrew word is teshuka, and it is literally translating stretching, stretching, reaching. It's meant to convey the sense of longing. There's no other way to spin this. What a woman wants will be what her husband wants. Listen. Ladies, if you still can, be careful who you tie yourself to forever. If you've not tied yourself to someone, let me warn you, this is what God wants from you. Now we've dealt with this before. Remember in the letter to the Ephesians, chapter 5, verse 22 wives, submit yourselves unto your husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. And what we said back then, I'll say it again. This is what God has ordained. If you want God's blessing on your marriage, this is what he expects. If you want a relationship, if you truly want a relationship that's going to be a godly one, this is what has to be. And listen, I'm married. Do you think it's easy for me to preach this sort of thing with my wife across the table? As painful as it is for you to hear me say it, it's ten times more for Catherine to hear it. But need I remind you, listen to this very closely. This is part of God's curse for disobedience. It's a curse. This is a punishment. And let me tell you, what punishment is going to be levied and therefore effective if it's accepted with joy and pleasure? None. This curse is a bitter pill to swallow because it's a curse. And all of this pain and discomfort and stress and acrimony didn't have to happen. Listen to what John MacArthur has to say here. It's rather profound, if you ask me. Quote: Sin has turned the harmonious system of God-ordained rules into distasteful struggles of self-will. Lifelong companions, husbands and wives, will need God's help in getting along as a result. I'm going to say it again. If it's not too late, ladies, keep this in mind before you get started. Now, there's, of course, the this side for the husband. We talked about it in Ephesians, and it's just important as important, but we're not going to bring it up here because we're talking about the curse on Eve. Anyways, not much more can be said about this, I don't think. Next time, we'll deal with Adam. Believe me, God does not take his foot off the accelerator. See that.

Closing, Resources, And Support

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We hope this study has blessed you. God's word is a great treasure, and it's our belief that a thorough, purposeful study of it will bring all of God's children to an understanding of his eternal plan of redemption. It is our prayer that this will be so for all of our listeners. Please join us again soon. New content is being added all the time, so make sure you check back often. For more information on Chapel Ministries, including our YouTube channel and podcasts, please visit www.chapelontheweb.com. And if God has laid it upon your heart to share materially with us, we encourage you to follow the links to our secure giving page. Please note, Chapel Ministries is not an IRS registered nonprofit organization, and your donations to this program are not tax deductible. It's our hope that you do not rely on taxing authorities to decide for you who is worthy of your generosity.