I’m always amazed at how I can study the Scripture passages before I film a video, spend hours filming and editing it, but when I sit down to write the blog post I think of 100 more Truths I want to share.
Thus, once again, the video and its accompanying post are different.
I can’t seem to stop writing and thinking of more to share. You ever feel this way? If so, maybe you need this helpful post as much as I do: When Have I Done Enough?
Today’s video thrills me because we’re looking at Genesis 3:14-19 and…drum roll…the first time we see God proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.
It might surprise you to see who God proclaimed the gospel to first.
First, a Quick Recap
In Genesis 3 so far, we’ve seen that Adam and Eve sinned and then tried to cover their guilt and shame with fig leaves.
God would’ve been just and right if He’d destroyed them, but He didn’t.
Instead, in a display of His grace and mercy, He came down to seek and save the lost.
He asked Adam and Eve questions to draw them to repentance.
And then He turned to the serpent.
Now You’ve Done It!—God Judges Sin
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.
Genesis 3:14
God will not overlook sin. He will always judge it. He must.
Sin is a horrible affront to His holiness.
TRANSFORMATIONAL TRUTH TO REMEMBER:
God always judges sin.
His holiness demands sin be judged.
But, praise God, He is a God of grace! He’s the God of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that alone gives us hope.
TRANSFORMATIONAL TRUTH TO REMEMBER:
God is a God of Grace
PRESENTING: The Gospel of Jesus Christ
Just as God’s holiness demands He judge sin, His character of grace and love made a way for sin to be judged and still save His children.
This way is the gospel of Jesus Christ. God proclaimed it in Genesis 3:15.
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
Genesis 3:15
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
Did you notice who God proclaimed it to?
Let’s look at the first line in Genesis 3:15 to discover his identity:
I [God] will put enmity between you [Satan] and the woman [Eve]
God was talking to the serpent, who we know is Satan.
Of all creatures on earth to be the first to receive the proclamation of the gospel, God chose Satan.
Adam and Eve heard it, but God proclaimed it first to Satan.
“Gospel” Means “Good News,” but Is It Good News?
To call the gospel good news is a bit of an understatement for us and an extreme overstatement for the one to whom God first proclaimed the gospel promise.
The gospel was horrible news to Satan, its first recipient. It wasn’t good news. It was a curse. To Satan, calling the gospel good news was a gross overstatement.
For Adam and Eve the gospel was far more than good news. It was salvation. And restoration.
TRANSFORMATIONAL TRUTH TO REMEMBER:
Sin destroys but Jesus makes all things new!
The Gospel Makes Us Friends of God—And Satan Can’t Undo It
Satan had desired to destroy Adam and Eve—their lives and their relationship with God. It was working.
The moment Adam and Eve traded God’s Truth for Satan’s lies, they’d made themselves enemies of God and friends of Satan.
But God changed that. He reversed it.
Satan lost another friend.
He’d lost his friendship with God when he rebelled against Him in heaven.
Now he lost his friendship with Eve (and all who would become followers of Christ.) By friendship, I don’t mean the type we desire.
Friendship with Satan means being an enemy of God and a tool of Satan’s (but only as far as God allows.)
God proclaimed to Satan that his friendship with Eve was over.
We can’t love Satan and God. We can’t be friends of both. One will always be our enemy.
God promised Satan that He would free Eve from her friendship with Satan and restore her back into His love.
And it’s God’s promise to us through Christ.
“I [God] will put enmity [hostility/hatred]
Genesis 3:15a
between you [Satan] and the woman [Eve],
and between your offspring [those opposed to God]
and her offspring [followers of Christ];
We’re all born enemies of God, but through Christ, God restores us to Himself. All who trust in Christ become God’s friend. His child.
Amen.
TRANSFORMATIONAL TRUTH TO REMEMBER:
The gospel makes us friends of God. And Satan can’t undo it.
God Curls Satan’s Tail
As if the curse weren’t bad enough for Satan, God’s next words had to have curled the serpent Satan’s tail.
he [Jesus] shall bruise your head [crush/destroy Satan],
Genesis 3:15b
and you [Satan] shall bruise his heel [lead evil men to crucify Jesus]”
The full meaning of God’s words was most likely a mystery to Adam and Eve, but Satan no doubt understood enough to know God’s words declared his doom.
The Mystery of the Gospel
We can’t be certain what Adam and Eve understood of the promise. We don’t even know how long they’d been alive before they rebelled against God, much less how much they understood of the gospel.
God veiled the fullness of the gospel promise in His wording and created a mystery that prophets and righteous men of Old Testament days longed to see and understand (Matthew 13:17).
But on this side of the cross, it’s easy for us to see God’s promise rise up through the curse.
“I [God] will put enmity [hostility/hatred] between you [Satan] and the woman [Eve],
Genesis 3:15
and between your offspring [those opposed to God]
and her offspring [followers of Christ];
he [Jesus] shall bruise your head [crush/destroy Satan],
and you [Satan] shall bruise his heel [lead evil men to crucify Jesus]”
God promised Satan that Jesus would crush his head.
If your head gets crushed, you’re not recovering. That’s a fatal wound. Satan’s doom was set. He would not recover.
Satan would bruise Jesus’ heel (a God-ordained but not fatal wound) by enticing evil men to crucify Jesus.
But Jesus would crush Satan’s head (fatal) on the cross by paying the debt mankind owes for sin and defeating death in the resurrection.
Jesus would endure the wrath of God for sin, and then rise again from the dead, thus proving His sacrifice was sufficient to set us free from the power of sin and death.
TRANSFORMATIONAL TRUTH TO REMEMBER:
Satan is a defeated foe. Christ remains head over all.
The Extravagance of God’s Grace
It’s easy to miss God’s grace because God granted it to them so quickly. We could almost mistake it as no big deal.
But it’s a HUGE deal.
God’s curse on Satan is well-justified.
God’s grace poured out on Adam and Eve isn’t.
His grace toward them is astounding. Remember what we said earlier about God’s holiness? They rebelled against God and offended His holiness.
They polluted His Creation with their sin.
They embrace His enemy and rejected Him.
God’s grace is beyond amazing. It’s shocking.
God showed them great kindness, BUT sin still has consequences. And we don’t get to choose them.
TRANSFORMATIONAL TRUTH TO REMEMBER:
God’s gives His grace freely by faith based on Christ’s worth and work, not on ours.
Painful Consequences—The Curse on Eve
Immediately after God proclaimed mankind’s hope and Satan’s judgment, He turned His attention toward Adam and Eve.
Instead of condemning them to instant physical death or eternal judgment, God held off their physical death and handed down curses.
To the woman he said,
Genesis 3:16
“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be contrary to your husband,
but he shall rule over you.”
Eve would experience pain in childbirth.
Being a mother is one of the greatest blessing a woman can enjoy, but it’s hard. A mother’s heart is never truly at rest outside of Christ.
In Him we can enjoy perfect rest no matter what’s going on in the lives of our loved ones. But in our flesh, our hearts are united to our children forever and that can bring much pain.
Joy to be sure. Much joy. But also pain.
But wait! That’s not all. Adam and Eve’s marriage relationship would also be hard.
Eve would have to fight the continual desire to rule her husband. This battle passed on to us as well. And it destroys the picture of Christ and the church.
God intended marriage to reflect Christ’s relationship with His bride, the Church.
Sadly, the curse is evident in marriages today and in the Church. Just as wives around the world seek to rule their husbands, Christ’s Church seeks to tell Him how they will live and operate.
The Church doesn’t always submit to Christ well. Or much, at times.
TRANSFORMATIONAL TRUTH TO REMEMBER:
If we’re in Christ, His perfect love is ours, and we are His. Forever.
Painful Consequences—The Curse on Adam
And to Adam he said,
Genesis 3:18-19
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Adam hadn’t listened to the Word of God. He listened to the voice of his wife.
God’s Word is Truth. Let’s base our life and choices on God’s Word, or else we’ll base them on a lie.
God told Adam he would now have to work hard to survive. By the sweat of his brow.
It’s summer here in South Carolina. There’s a lot of sweat on our brows.
The joy of simply picking fruit off the trees in the Garden of Eden were gone. He’d have to labor among thorns and thistles to provide for himself and his family until he returned back to the dust from which he was formed.
TRANSFORMATIONAL TRUTH TO REMEMBER:
God’s commandments are for our good and bring us joy—even when they hurt.
Count the Cost
Sin will take us farther than we ever thought we go.
Sin will keep us longer than we ever thought we’d stay.
Sin will cost us more than we ever thought we’d pay.
This is so depressing until we remember the grace of God. Until we remember the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Sin destroys.
But Jesus makes all things new!
Spiritually, Adam and Eve were dead, but the gospel promised life. And it promised them (and us) great joy in a restored friendship with God.
Who Are You Surrendering To?
Trust in Jesus. Surrender all to Him. Don’t hold back. Nothing short of full surrender will do.
You’re surrendering either to God or Satan. It’s a done deal.
Choose wisely.
TRANSFORMATIONAL TRUTH TO REMEMBER:
We surrender to either Christ or Satan.
Choose wisely. Choose Christ.
TRANSFORMATIONAL TRUTHS TO REMEMBER:
- God Judges Sin
- God is a God of Grace
- Sin destroys but Jesus makes all things new!
- The gospel makes us friends of God. And Satan can’t undo it.
- Satan is a defeated foe. Christ remains head over all.
- God’s gives His grace freely by faith based on Christ’s worth and work, not on ours.
- If we’re in Christ, His perfect love is ours, and we are His. Forever.
- God’s commandments are for our good and bring us joy—even when they hurt.
- We surrender to either Christ or Satan. Choose wisely. Choose Christ.
Watch the Video: Genesis 3:14-19—The Gospel Promise
