The Fall and The Curse = #2 The Curse
The Fall and The Curse = #2 The Curse
In the previous Blog I dealt with “The Fall.”
In this Blog I will deal with “The Curse.”
“And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 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 commanded 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 shalt 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.” Gen 3:14-19
After Satan had successfully persuaded Adam and Eve to sin, the Lord comes and deals with them, all three (3) of them.
He curses Satan with having to crawl on his belly and eat dust.
He put upon Eve the burden of pain and discomfort during pregnancy and child birth, and changes the dynamics of Adam's authority over her.
He puts the burden of a hostile environment upon Adam, where the ground is less productive, where weeds grow better than food, and where work is onerous.
And he curses his creation.
“The Curse” is God actively making his creation hostile to man, making it not work as it previously had, in both natural world and among the human race, starting with Adam and Eve. Regarding Adam and Eve, he technically did not curse them, but put burdens upon them, as individuals only, but as the heads of men-kind and women-kind, as federal heads, the representative heads. And I am saying "heads" plural, because Eve was the head of Woman-kind, in that the burdens put on her, and there were 2, one regarding pregnancy/child bearing and, and one regarding Adam/her husband, continue to be on all women.
We will look at this under the following four (4) points:
Firstly, the curse upon Satan.
Secondly, the burden put upon Eve.
Thirdly, the burden put upon Adam.
Fourthly, the curse upon the natural world.
Regarding Satan:
Firstly, the “snake” was Satan, the devil, Lucifer, the fallen chief angel.
The word “Satan” is Hebrew, and means “adversary;” “Devil” is Greek, and means “false accuser” and “slanderer.”
The main Old Testament portions about him are Isa 14: 3-17; Ez 28:11-19; and of course the account of his attack upon Job.
After his fall, Lucifer wanted one thing, and one thing only, to destroy Man-kind, the crown of God's creation, so that people would spend eternity with him in Hell.
He is referred to as “that old serpent the devil” in Rev 12 and Rev 20.
"And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night." Rev 12:9-10
That is who he is, let now consider the curse laid upon him.
God tells him he is cursed; cursed more than any other animal, and would crawl on his belly and eat dust. If we take the snake to be a true reptile, into whom the devil went, so that Eve saw a snake, and not the devil, this could be a curse upon the reptilian world. Could it be that snakes had "legs" of some sort, and with this curse God “removed” them, after all, some species of snakes have vestigial limbs.
If we take the snake to be figurative, meaning Eve actually saw the devil, but he is referred to as a snake (like we might say to someone “You rat!”), then this would be figurative, referring to the shining nature of snake scales.
It does not really matter, snakes crawl on their bellies, and the devil is a cursed creature.
Hell was prepared for him, made by God, specifically for the devil and his followers to suffer in for all eternity (Mat 25:41). I would take this to mean hell was created after his fall as recorded in Isa 14, but before Gen 3, but the time of hell's creation is also not a big issue.
Secondly, let us consider the next words spoken to the devil:
“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Gen 3:15
We call this the “proto-evangelium,” the first announcement of the gospel.
The gospel was first announced to the devil, not as a promise of salvation and life, but regarding the certainty of his destruction! Never think of Jesus as some "Casper Milk Toast;" he is the ruler of the Universe, who destroyed his enemy the devil on the cross (Heb 2:14-15), and will imprison him in hell forever (Rev 19-20).
The first gospel proclamation was clearly not a message of good news to Lucifer, but a message of his sure and certain coming destruction!
Yes, of course the gospel is a message of life to we who believe in Jesus and follow him, but it is also a message of judgment and death to those who believe in the devil and follow him; we share the fate and future of our leader!
“For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savor of death unto death; and to the other the savor of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?” 2Co 2:15-16
The gospel tells us we are sinners and deserve eternal death in hell, but God has made a way of escape: he sent his son to die in our place. We who in humble faith, repent and believe, are saved; we who do not, suffer the just punishment for our sins. It is that simple.
Adam and Eve stand by and hear God tell Satan the savior will come:
“I will put enmity between you and Mankind. He, that single man, will crush your head. You will only nip at his heel.”
This is not a curse put upon Satan, he was cursed with having to crawl; here he is simply told what was going to happen! He did not not know when or how it would happen, just that it would happen.
Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, the Savior of the world? Believe and live! Forsake Satan the adversary, the devil the false accuser, who is a liar and murderer from the beginning, and live.
Next Regarding Eve:
Eve clearly has a burden placed on her.
Technically, God did not “curse” Adam and Eve. He cursed the devil, Gen 3:14 “cursed are you,” and he cursed the ground, Gen 3:17 “cursed is the ground,” but he “said” to Adam and Eve.
What burden did he put upon Eve, and all women-kind by her? It was two (2) fold:
Regarding child bearing: during pregnancy, and during child birth. These are 2 different words. Regarding pregnancy it is Strong's H6093, which means “worrisome,” and regarding child birth, it is Strong's H6089 which mean “pain.” Pregnancy is a time of worry and toil and discomfort; child birth is a very painful experience.
Regarding marriage: Eve was clearly told her desires were to be subject to her husband's, that he would rule over her. All of the perfect bliss of Adam and Eve's pre-sin marriage was gone! Marriage is now 2 sinners living together.
Regarding Adam:
Adam is told that the ground, which had previously been his friend, yielding increase to him like a fountain, would yield its increase to him stubbornly, and only after he had put in lots of work, with sweat and tears.
He is told:
The ground is cursed, ie made not as productive as before.
In sorrow (same word as regards pregnancy; “with worry”) you will eat; forever worrying, “Will the crop come in? Will I make the sale? Will I get fired?"
Weeds will grow better that food.
The entire animal kingdom also became hostile, thought this is more clearly stated to Noah after the flood (Gen 9:2).
That will be Adam's lot in life, and by extension, all we men. We are told that life will be hard, that to provide for our families, we will be battling a hostile world, a world that in one sense is fighting back against us; and then we die, are our bodies are buried and rot in the ground.
On another note, it is in the words to Eve and then Adam, that we understand that the woman's sphere of labor and responsibility is the domestic realm, and the man's is the outside world.
This has nothing to do with intrinsic value as a human being; it is all about assigned roles; assigned spheres of labor. And in fact women have a far more influential role in the eternal scheme of things, something which the “women's movement” does not see, because they look at things with eyes of flesh, and it is this: women, moms, you are entrusted with the souls of your children to influence them for good or evil, inclining them toward God or toward the world. Moms, the gospel seeds you sow in the hearts and minds of your children will, under the blessing of God, sprout and grow into faith in the Lord Jesus, and result in eternal life for them in heaven.
Moms, you are laboring for the souls of your children; for their eternal well being.
Men, we are digging dirt!
Who has the greater work?
The devil has done a great job is twisting this all around.
Regarding the curse upon the natural world.
The ground was cursed, and all things of the ground. The entire natural world, not so much the rocks, but the living things of the world. The violence of the animal world is a result of the curse! The lion does not lay down with the lamb, it mauls it and eats it. What do we say, "It's a dog-eat-dog world!"
Evolution says we came from animals. How do animal act? They steal and kill and deceive to get what is not theirs, all to satisfy their physical needs and desires.
A lion kills an antelope; the hyenas come and want to eat it; they circle and fight and outmaneuver and deceive, to steal and eat.
Mammals mate indiscriminately with any and all of their species whenever they can; dogs mate with their mothers and fathers!
Evolution legitimizes these types of behavior in people; Christianity says that they are wrong, sins, not according to God's will.
Evolution tells people they came from animals, and then society tries to tell them to not act like animals. No wonder there is so much evil in the world. Not only does the rebellious nature of man want to express itself, it is being encouraged by the humanistic evolutionary thinking of society, the media, the public education system, etc: You came from animals, so act like animals.
God says:
Honor mother and father!
Thou shalt not kill!
Thou shalt not commit adultery!
Thou shalt not steal!
Thou shalt not bear false witness!
Thou shalt not covet!
But humanistic evolution encourages people to do just the opposite, to act like animals.
The animals do not obey those laws, they violate every one, such that the entire creation is in turmoil, groaning, suffering.
“For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” Rom 8:19-22
That is the current state of things, “groaning and travailing,” but notice, the entire creation was “subject to vanity,” “by him (God),” “in hope.”
"Subject to vanity," that is "The Curse!"
“Vanity," refers to the fact that this world is passing away, and all the glory of it, and so the pursuing of it, is chasing the wind! The Book of Ecclesiastes is THE book to put things in perspective. see my Blogs on "The Wisdom Books."
And "in hope," to what does that refer? The hope that is brought in by the Savior, whose coming was fore-told to Satan, heard by Adam and Eve, and looked for from that day until his birth. Now we look for his return from heaven to restore all things, at the Last Day, when he will usher in the new heavens and new earth, as everything is cleansed by fire, and not just restored, but made better; the new will far surpass the Paradise of Eden and the pre-curse Creation.
"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2Pe 3:10-13
"And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful." Rev 21:5
“And there will be no more curse” Rev 22:3
To sum this up, every discomfort during pregnancy, every pain during child birth, every marital discord, and every weed in the garden, should remind us of one thing: Adam sinned and died, and God cursed his creation.
But since it was done “in hope,” we should wait with patience to see the Savior, who crushed the serpent's head on the cross, and will cast him and his followers into hell when he takes righteous vengeance upon them who hate the gospel (2Th 1:5-12).
Then we who have believed will be ushered in the kingdom prepared for us from BEFORE the foundation of the world. Mat 25:34.
Who ever you are who is reading this:
Christian, do not fret or fear at all the bad news of the day, our Lord Jesus will wipe it all away and bring in the new, for it is the father's good pleasure to give us the kingdom (Luk 12:32).
Non-Christian, today is the day of salvation, the door is still open, enter! God himself says to you, “Repent and believe and live!”
“Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” Eze 33:11
10 March 2025