Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
8 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. 9 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 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 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 The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
Genesis 3:1-15
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.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
The single key Bible verse that sets the theme of the Scriptures is Genesis 3:15. The entirety of the Bible is working out this theme in history. It is the historic battle between the seed of Satan and the seed of the woman. This passage is known among theologians as the protoevangelium, the first promise in Scripture of a Savior and the defeat of our enemy, Satan or the Serpent. The picture is the Serpent bruising or crushing the heel of the Savior, which was worked out in history at the crucifixion of Jesus. Jesus was crushed but not lethally. He rose from the dead. Only his heel was bruised. The Serpent, on the other hand, was crushed lethally through the life, death, resurrection, and ultimately the second coming of Jesus Christ, the seed of the woman.
This Serpent Seed and Seed of the Woman conflict can be seen in grand battles for humanity as well as in the life of individual believers. Recognizing this battle can aid us in living with the conflicts we see all the time.
The paradigm of attacks from and defeats of God’s enemies has worked out over and over again through the narrative of Scripture. These are violent pictures of conflict, defeat, and victory. “The mortal combat declared by God against ‘the serpent of old, the devil and Satan’ is seen in the opposition of the two seeds throughout history: Cain against Abel, Ishmael against Isaac, Esau against Jacob, Edom against Israel, Saul against David..”1
God had promised Abraham that he would rule over his enemies
And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
Genesis 22:15-18
Before God promises to bless all nations through Abraham’s seed (or offspring), he declares that Abraham’s seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. In order to possess the gate of your enemies (the gate is the center of government), one has to defeat the enemies. We don’t read a lot about Abraham going to war, but there is one renowned episode. The Serpent’s seed took Abraham’s nephew, Lot, captive. That was a mistake. Abraham gathered his men and overtook three Kings, including the King of Sodom, and retrieved his nephew.
The people of God, the seed of Abraham, were held in bondage in Egypt. Pharoah attempted to crush them. Instead, God delivered his people miraculously through the water of the Red Sea and crushed the armies of Pharoah under the Red Sea. The seed of the woman, Moses, a type of Christ, defeated the serpent’s seed.
One of the most troubling sections of Scripture is the story of the conquest of Canaan under Joshua. The question is, “How could a loving God have Israel slaughter all the people living in Canaan?” Understanding this requires a Biblical paradigm instead of a human paradigm. The Canaanites were idolatrous, evil, pagan people. They were descendants of Noah who had turned from the Creator God, Yahweh. God had given them opportunities to repent and trust in the Creator God. They would not. The Lord told Abraham that it wasn’t time for their judgment, so he sent Israel into Egypt for 400 years so the iniquity of the Canaanites could ripen for judgment. The Canaanites, as a whole, were enemies of God. They were the Serpent’s Seed. (There were individual Canaanites who repented and trusted the God of Israel, like Rahab from Jericho.)
Jesus is the ultimate seed of Abraham, the seed of the woman. Galatians 3:16 tells us that believers in Jesus are the seed of Abraham through faith in Jesus Christ.
The cross work of Jesus sealed the fate of the Serpent.
He [Jesus] disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
Colossians 2:15
There is a future grand battle where the final crushing of the head of the Serpent will take place.
Why is it important to have this over-arching theme in mind? It is important because we don’t know exactly where we fit in the timeline of God’s plan of the ages. We would all love to live in the midst of one of the times of victory when we have just witnessed God’s temporal defeat of the Serpent Seed. These are times of peace and safety characterized by righteousness. Some of us lived through such a time following the end of World War II and the defeat of two enemies who were attempting to take over the world and rule as the Serpent Seed; the Third Reich of Hitler and the Japanese Imperial forces. For those of us in the United States, these times after the war were times of growing prosperity and peace. It was a great time to be alive.
The United States has, however, followed the age-old pattern of God’s people. Face extinction, fight and win, rejoice in the victory, and praise God for it, then forget God and fall into ruin. The United States is in the “fall into ruin” phase of the pattern of humanity in which we have not only forgotten God but we actively oppose him. If it continues without a revival of faith in Jesus Christ, we will continue down this downward spiral and find ourselves in bondage. We are behaving much like the Canaanites and deserve the same punishment. It is then that the people of God must remember that the Seed of the Woman has defeated the Serpent Seed, and there is one final battle that is yet to take place. It may happen in our lifetime, or it may be in decades or even centuries. We are assured that there will be that final battle when the work of the King of the Universe is completed, and the Serpent is put away for good.
Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, 18 to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.” 19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. 20 And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. 21 And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.
Revelation 19:11-21
