Glorious and Depraved (13): The Fall of Mankind (Part Three)

The consequences of the Fall are multiple and far reaching.

¹⁴ So Yahweh Elohim said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,

“Cursed are you more than all livestock
and all wild animals!
On your belly you will crawl
and dust you will eat
all the days of your life.
¹⁵ And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your seed and hers;
he will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:14,15)

Yahweh’s curse on the serpent is actually a promise of redemption.

The first part of the curse is on the beast of the field, the serpent, who is told that he will crawl on his belly the rest of his life. Does this just pertain to this one individual serpent, or does it extend to all serpents? The fact that in the next part of the curse there is a continuing enmity between the serpent and the woman, his seed and her seed, might lend itself to the idea of a continuing effect on all serpents. But it is questionable whether in this part of the curse Yahweh is really addressing the animal, as opposed to Satan who filled the serpent. Has there really been enmity between snakes and humans throughout history? The answer must be no.

The second part of the curse seems addressed to all creatures who are under the sway of the Devil as the serpent was. We see the enmity almost immediately in the relationship between Cain and Abel (Genesis 4). John says Cain was of the evil one (1 John 3:12), a seeming reference to Genesis 3:15 and the seed of the serpent, and Jesus speaks of his enemies being of their father the devil (John 8:44). The enmity is between those like the serpent who yield to the devil and the people who trust in God.

This enmity will result in attempts to destroy the holy seed, but one particular seed of the woman (“he”) will deal a death blow (“strike your head”) to the seed of the serpent, who will wound the seed of the woman (“strike his heel”). By singling out one particular seed of the woman and the serpent there is established a prophetic vista for this battle. There is going to be war between God’s followers and the devil’s followers, but the seed of the woman will ultimately be victorious. This, in essence, is a promise of the restoration of God’s Edenic kingdom to earth. The one who led mankind into sin will himself be defeated and God’s people will rule.

We see the ultimate fulfillment of this prophecy in Jesus, the seed of the woman (not the seed of the man, but virgin born) whose death is redemptive and frees mankind from the devil (“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil” Hebrews 2:14), and who, upon his return, will defeat the man of sin or the beast in order to establish his kingdom on earth (Revelation 19).

All the rest of history from this point on is a battle between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman, unbelievers versus believers, with alternating victories, until the promised seed of the woman comes to win the final victory (“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” Romans 16:20).