Day 729: The conflict of the ages - Genesis 3 vs 8 - 15

8-9 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12-13 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

14-15 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman,and between your offspring (seed) and her offspring (seed) - he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” Genesis 3:8-15 (English Standard Version)

When God called out to Adam “where are you?”, it was for Adam's sake not God's. In Psalm 44:20-21 the writer cries out: “If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, would not God discover this? For He knows the secrets of the heart.” He was referring to what Bible teachers call 'the omniscience of God' – the fact that throughout the Bible we see that God knows everything that goes on in His creation, even the secret thoughts of our hearts. So what we have in vs 8-9 is the first of many times when God reaches out to those who have become lost through sin. God is holy, but He also abounds in mercy. But what strikes you in the replies the man and woman give in vs 12-13?

In their fear of God (and probably of punishment) neither of them took personal responsibility for disobeying what He had said. The man blamed the woman, and even suggested God was partly to blame, for he says 'the woman YOU gave me'! The woman blamed the serpent for deceiving her. Is this not still true of their descendants. When we've done wrong we so often look for excuses, and this often involves blaming others. The nakedness of their bodies was suddenly embarrassing to them, but the nakedness they felt in their conscience as their disobedience was exposed was terrifying.

It brings us, in vs 14-15, to the first recorded act of God's judgment upon wrongdoing. The word 'cursed' is not the same as in children's books of witches and wizards. The Hebrew word is better understood by the word 'damned'. The serpent was being condemned to a fate. This all took place in a physical setting and what was said is certainly still true in the physical realm of the world today. Snakes do go about on their belly in the dust and are generally feared and despised. But as events unfold the Bible shows that this was also the start of the conflict of the ages.

In Revelation 20:2 we read of an angel who “seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.” The apostle John wrote that “it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practise righteousness is not of God.” (1 John 3:10) The apostle Paul spoke of a believers battle in the world as being against “evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12) But he also encouraged Christians in Rome where persecution was strong by saying “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” (Romans 16:20)

The climax of this conflict that spread through the ages between the seed of the woman and the serpent was at Calvary. God willing, I hope to say more about that in the next post on Genesis. But for now – those born of women who are children of God can take great comfort from knowing that “there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1)