Beginning with Moses Part VIIIb Curse and Judgment June 2 2019

Beginning
with Moses and the Prophets

The
Book of Grace

East of
Eden - Paradise
Lost

Part
VIII(b): Curse & Judgment  

Genesis
3:8 - 24

Introduction

            If you look at the first page of the
insert you will see one of the Calvin & Hobbes cartoon strip from the 90’s
it captures the the no-fault characteristics of the culture then and more so
how it is today. It’s mostly a monologue by Calvin, the little boy, to his
tiger friend, Hobbes.

 

            Victimhood is the fantasyland refuge
of everyone, from criminals, to politicians, lawyers, theologians who imagine
you can put the blame for their conduct on other persons, or things or groups.
Passing the buck is the treatment, the prescription drug of this new
millennium, new age.

            It’s primeval roots is original sin,
(Genesis 3: 8-13). Looking at Adam’s sin through the
lens of today’s world you’ll see the language of “victimhood - Adam is the poor
victim of the woman and God gave her to him. God it’s your fault, You’re
responsible for my situation that left me susceptible to sin -- my upbringing,
my abuse, my inept parents and teachings;

This plays in our
culture today where we have an excuse for every wrong done. It’s nothing new --
Adam’s sin brought instant death & instant sinfulness. Faster than you can
snap your fingers they were both diffused with the tincture of sin - and just
as fast both were dead in their transgressions & sins. Then came guilt and
instant victimhood as Adam points the finger of culpability at the woman &
the Lord God & as the woman pointed at the snake. Each passing the buck.

That’s how it has been
throughout history until the Only Begotten One of Kind Son of God, the second
Adam, God Himself became flesh and became the willing victim for our sins.

It’s significant to see
that in the garden the Lord God did not question the serpent but without any
hesitation whatsoever cursed him. Embedded within that cursing of Satan was a
hope of grace for the couple. When God judged Adam & Eve, the judgments
again were laced with grace.

The curse &
judgment in the garden interwoven, strangely enough, with grace. Yes, paradise
was lost; depravity & death became the lot for humanity. But the curse
& the judgment as they were given, meant that paradise could be regained --
by grace.

The Curse

            Here we summarize the events again
but in reverse order. The last point in the “face-off” now becomes the starting
point for the judgment, which proceeds to determine the punishment of the
transgressors in the order in which each sinned: to begin with, the temptor;
then the woman who was first to eat; and last the man who ate after his wife.
The whole drame is reenacted in front of us in the original sequence of the
happenings.

God made no corrective
gestures to the serpent. Just a curse. There were two objects, the first was
the reptile itself (v14), & then Satan who controlled the reptile (v15).

Reptile
Cursed (14)

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;

The serpent being
cursed is consistent, the same as what will be the fate of other animals in
Scripture that cause harm to humans & were therefore put to death. Exodus
21:28 says: If an ox gores a man or a woman
to death, the ox shall surely be stoned . . .

Animals
that were used for immoral purposes were to be put to death also, not because
they were accountable, but because they were used to abuse men & women who
were made in the image of God (Leviticus 20:15-16). -- If there is a man
who lies with an animal, he shall surely be put to death; you shall also kill
the animal. If there is a woman who approaches any animal to mate with it, you
shall kill the woman and the animal; they shall surely be put to death. Their
bloodguiltiness is upon them. The Animal was made for man and subject
to him; any perversion or abuse of the order called for strict judgment.

There
are two places in the Bible where God Himself verbalizes a curse, here and in
4:11 where we read that God cursed Cain for the murder of Abel. In all other
instances men invoke curses in God’s name.

The
curse upon the serpent is given in physical terms - the snake crawling on its
belly & eating dust. Is this a new way of travel for the serpent? From
up-right to moving on its belly? Maybe, maybe not. Derek Kidner argues that the
crawling is symbolic, (Isaiah 65:25)- The wolf and the lamb will graze
together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the
serpent’s food. They will do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain,” says the
Lord.

            Like Gen. 9:13 gives a new
significance for the rainbow is given not a new existence. So a new
significance is decreed for the serpent’s posture. You have have heard the term
when one man tells another, “eat dust, eat dirt”, in Scripture it has a
humiliating significance. Psalm 72:9- Let the nomads of the desert bow
before him, And his enemies lick the dust.

            Micah 7:17- Nations will see
and be ashamed Of all their might. They will put their hand on their mouth,
Their ears will be deaf. They will lick the dust like a serpent, Like reptiles
of the earth.

            The image we see is fitting, the
snake exalted itself above man therefore it would go on its belly.

            The snake is a repulsive image,
fittingly, even though there are some who seem to like snakes but that has to
be something of an acquired taste. I fit in right with Indiana Jones who feared
snakes. Calvin said that in words to the effect that though some take pleasure
in snakes, the sight of them inspires us with horror and renew in us the memory
of the fall. Even non poisonous coral snakes that crawl into the garage.
Serpents keep the revolting image of Satan before our eyes & in our minds.

            Isaiah 65 pictures the whole of
creation delivered from the effects of the fall except for the serpent, which
lives in perpetual degradation, fulfilling, “all the days of your life.”

            Satan Cursed (v15)

            God addresses the reptile, but His
speech goes beyond the snake, & the one being referred became Satan. 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.”

            Here in this verse we read, we hear,
we learn how much the Lord God loves His creation. Though the Lord must punish
transgressions, sin, still we see a crystal clear picture of the grace of the
Lord God. Here, in the book of Beginnings, Genesis, we are given an astounding
gospel prophecy. From the second century A.D. this verse has been recognized as
the “first gospel.” This gospel message was verbally spoken, mouthed directly
from the mouth of the Lord God.

            We say there are “four” gospel
accounts. Matthew’s, Mark’s, Luke’s, (the synoptics), & John’s. All four
are inspired by the Lord God; but there is one that is spoken by the Lord
Himself.

            This, again, was recognized as the
first gospel, or if you want to show off your Greek, “protoevangelium”, when
the post-apostolic fathers Justin Martyr & Irenaeus preached that the
woman’s offspring, (literally, “seed”) here referred to Christ who would crush
Satan’s head.

            In the early second century Justin
Martyr wrote: "Christ became man by the Virgin that the disobedience
which issued from the serpent might be destroyed in the same way it originated.
Eve was still an undefiled virgin when she conceived the word of the serpent
and brought forth disobedience and death. But the Virgin received faith and
joy, at the announcement of the angel Gabriel...and she replied, "Be it
done to me according you your word". So through the mediation of the
Virgin he came into the world, through whom God would crush the serpent"
(Justin Martyr, Apologia).

            Irenaeus, a direct disciple of
Polycarp - himself a disciple of St John, around 189 A.D., wrote on Genesis
3:15 as follows: "As thou canst perceive in Genesis that God said to
the serpent, 'And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy
seed and her seed...'. For from that time, He who should be born of a woman,
[namely] from the Virgin, after the likeness of Adam, was preached as keeping
watch for the head of the serpent" (Irenaeus, Against Heresies,
4.21.1)

This
had been the church’s position, with hardly no variation, until the rise of
biblical criticism, which viewed it as nothing more than a statement that there
will be perpetual conflict between humanity and the snake population, but
eventually humanity would win.

            But this thinking was wrong. When
the old Testament was translated Hebrew to Greek in 250 B.C. giving the world
the Septuagint translation, the translators interpreted the word “seed”
(“offspring” in the ESV) as a single individual, “he” will crush your head . .
.” The Septuagint translators, who would not have had any inkling of Christian
presuppositions, understood the seed of the woman to be a future individual who
would deal a deathblow to the serpent.

            Hebrew scholar Jack Collins has
examined every use of the word “seed” when it means offspring and found that
when used in the singular, as it is in Genesis 3:15,  it always denotes a
specific descendant and when it is an individual, the pronoun will be
masculine. Collins argues that, in the broad context, that this could be read
as God’s threat to the serpent of an individual is going to engage the serpent
in combat and win.

            This argument is sustained by Paul
in Gal. 3:16 on the basis of the use of the singular “seed” in God’s promise to
Abraham, that the word “seed” refers to Christ: the promises were spoken
to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to
many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ.

            In Genesis we have the prophecy of
the cross when Satan would strike the heel of Christ, through the suffering on
the cross, but christ would strike the serpent's head through His death and
glorious resurrection. All those who are in Christ participate in the crushing
through Christ, as Paul writes in Romans 16:20 - The God of peace will
soon crush Satan under your feet.

            There’s more; when Christ came he
understood the “first gospel” in Genesis. That He was the antidote to the venom
of the serpent. We quote, I do, John 3:16, but just prior to that declaration
verses 14, 15 He says As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him
have eternal life.

            Jesus was referring to Numbers 21
where due to Israel’s sins, God sent venomous, poisonous, snakes into the camp
so that many people died and were dying. As Moses was praying, God said to him
to make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and that everyone who is bitten,
when he sees it, “shall live” (vv8,9).

            Listen to these details, they’re
really worthy of attention. You got these snakes all over the camp as a result
of sin - they’re the perfect expression in that it was a serpent who tempted
Eve & Adam in the garden, thereby  bringing sin into the world. Our
own natures have been polluted by the venom of the serpent. Paul tells us in
romans 3:10 that “there is none righteous, not one.”

            Now above the dying people we see a
likeness of a serpent lifted up on a pole, foreshadowing Christ who was made to
be sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). It is significant that Moses did
not use an actual serpent, but a likeness! The symbolism would not have been so
exact & perfect if he had used a literal snake. Our Lord became sin (or a
serpent) for us.

            Romans 8:3 says, what the Law
could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in
the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin. 2 Corinthians
5:21 adds - He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that
we might become the righteousness of God in Him. And Galatians 3:13
states - Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a
curse for us.

            Out of all the animals in the animal
kingdom, God chose the perfect representation - the serpent. On the cross our
Lord Jesus Christ took the sins of the world upon Himself as symbolized by the
withering serpent.

            Let’s not miss the most important
point, the gaze of faith. Numbers 21:9 tells us that, Moses made a bronze
serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit
any man, when he LOOKED to the bronze serpent, he lived.

            The command to look upon the
uplifted serpent was a gracious foreshadowing of looking to the crucified
Christ for our salvation.

            Listen again to what Jesus says as
written in John 3:14 - As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; --

            Moses lifted up that serpent high on
a hill in the camp in the wilderness, and any and all Israelites that were
dying had to do was look at that pole & be saved. It didn’t matter how
badly they were bitten, no matter how many times they had been bitten, no
matter if they were on the very edge of death, the opportunity for salvation
was there.

            So too for anyone today, even the
most degraded & miserable sinner who looks to Jesus Christ alone for
salvation will be saved.

            This great, wonderful grace had its
origins & image in the “first gospel” in the garden. There was hope in
paradise lost. And there is hope for you who are lost, who do not know Jesus
Christ, who are lost in the most miserable of sin, just by gazing on the Lord
Jesus Christ, the eternal, only begotten Son of God, you will go from death to
everlasting life.

This is
grace, the free gift of the Lord God.

My
prayer for you is that the Holy Spirit convince you of your need for salvation;
that He draw you to Jesus Christ who said- No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws
him”
(John 6:44). Come to
me ALL who labor & are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)  I am the way, and the truth, and the
life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6).

            My prayer is that you see this
“first gospel”, that the Spirit will give you understanding of the words of
Jesus when He said - As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him
have eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten
Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
(John 3: 14-16)

            I pray that: The Lord bless
you, and keep you; The Lord make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.’