The Serpent’s Curse

Turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter three. We will be reading verses 14 and 15.

Hear now the Word of the Living God:

Genesis 3:14–15 ESV

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 and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

O God Almighty, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, would you give us now undefiled bodies, pure hearts, and watchful minds. Grant us the knowledge that always points to the truth. Grant us the influence of your Holy Spirit so that we may further gain and enjoy the truth. Grant us your peace. Grant us your assurance. We ask this through Jesus Christ, who is your glory in the Holy Spirit forever. Amen.

INTRODUCTION

Have you ever noticed that the most beloved stories in our day tend to be those with a grand-scale conflict between good and evil?

Star Wars has the Sith Lords, like Darth Vader and the Emperor.

Lord of the Rings has Morgoth and Sauron.

Narnia has the white witch.

Harry Potter has Lord Voldemort.

The Avengers has Thanos.

The list could go on and on.

In addition to our interest in the conflict between good and evil is our love for happy endings. All of the stories I mentioned earlier have happy endings.

I don’t think this is merely a product of our post-Christian culture in the West. It seems to me that these stem from something deep inside us. Something that longs for good to triumph over evil. And this desire of ours is explained very well by Christianity.

In this sermon, we will be considering just that: how it is that our world is caught up in a grand-scale conflict between good and evil. It all started in the Garden.

We read Genesis 3:14-15 a moment ago. This passage contains God’s curse on the wicked Serpent. And there are three aspects of this curse that we will be considering.

CURSE PART ONE: HUMILIATION

“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.”

We’ll consider this first aspect very quickly and move on to the other two.

The chief sin of Satan was exalting himself above God.

And in the Prophet Isaiah’s writings, we are given a glimpse of that moment:

Isaiah 14:12–14 “12 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! 13 You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’”

Satan thought he could exalt himself above the God. But the passages goes on to describe what will happen to him as a result.

Thus ultimate humiliation will be his consequence

Isaiah 14:15–19 “15 But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit. 16 Those who see you will stare at you and ponder over you: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, 17 who made the world like a desert and overthrew its cities, who did not let his prisoners go home?’ 18 All the kings of the nations lie in glory, each in his own tomb; 19 but you are cast out, away from your grave, like a loathed branch, clothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit, like a dead body trampled underfoot.”

His great pride will result in a great fall.

But this fall does not happen all at once.

TRANSITION: The primary way we will see the humiliation of Satan is in the conflict between his seed and the woman’s seed.

CURSE PART TWO: CONFLICT

“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.”

Who is Satan’s offspring?

Demons

Satan does not have any literal offspring, but he doe

Accusers Specifically

Those who use the Law of God as a weapon of accusation to exalt themselves above God’s people are just like their father, the Devil.

This is why Jesus is so harsh to the religious leaders in his day:

John 8:44 “44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

Unbelievers Generally

Ephesians 2:1–3 “1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

A Rescue Mission

Thus Christ came on a mission to rescue us from the clutches of our wicked, demonic masters.

And we who have been rescued and now entrusted with this same mission.

2 Corinthians 5:20–21 “20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Our goal is to help other be reconciled to God.

Who is the Woman’s offspring?

Christ

Galatians 4:4 “4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,”

Interestingly, when the Bible speaks about “seed” in regards to offspring, it usually refers to the seed of a man. Without getting into too much detail, the man is the one who carry the seed and the woman is the garden, so to speak.

But here in Genesis 3:15, God says the seed of the woman. Many scholars believe this is referring to the virgin birth. I am inclined to agree.

But it isn’t just Christ in view.

Believers

Though Christ is certainly the primary person in view when it comes to the meaning of “Seed of the Woman”, believers are also included in this. Because the conflict between the serpent and the woman is a summary of the conflict between good and evil, between God’s people and Satan’s people, between light and darkness.

As we look through history, we can see this conflict play out.

What does it mean that the Serpent will bruise the seed of the woman’s heel?

Primarily, it refers to Jesus’s crucifixion

John 13:2 “2 During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him,”

John 13:27 “27 Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.””

The Enemy will sabotage (Preventing from doing good)

1 Thessalonians 2:18 “18 because we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, again and again—but Satan hindered us.”

The Enemy will tempt (Encouraging us to do bad)

1 Peter 5:8 “8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

What does it mean for the Serpent’s head to be bruised?

Jesus’s first coming (Past)

When considering Christ’s judgement on Satan, we are often tempted to only consider it in regards to Christ’s return. But the scriptures speak more about Satan’s defeat in Christ’s first coming than his second. Listen to these scriptures:

John 12:31 “31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.”

1 John 3:8 “8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”

Hebrews 2:14–15 “14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”

How then does Jesus’s first coming bruise Satan’s head?

Through Disarming Him

Satan means “accuser”. This was his chief weapon against God’s people. But through the gospel, his weapon is rended ineffective:

Colossians 2:13–15 “13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”

Through Plundering his Possessions

And now that Satan has been disarmed, listen to what happens next:

Mark 3:22–27 “22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” 23 And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. 27 But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.”

The implication here is that Jesus has bound the strong man—Satan. And now that he is bound, he can plunder his possessions: the nations.

This is what we see in Revelation 20:

Revelation 20:1–3 “1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. 2 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.”

So the binding of Satan is a binding for a specific purpose: that he might not deceive the nations anymore.

This plundering is done chiefly through the Church.

The Church (Present)

I mentioned earlier that Christ is not the only person in view when God spoke of the seed of the woman. Here is proof of that:

Romans 16:20 “20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”

How is it that the Scriptures can speak of Christ crushing the serpent and the Church crushing the serpent? Because we are the body of Christ.

This is great reason to rejoice and great reason to be optimistic about the success of the gospel.

Satan is currently bound from deceiving the nations. He is certainly still active, trying his very hardest to keep people from seeing the light of Christ. But he has been severely wounded, disarmed, and humiliated. He will be forced to watch as person after person, family after family, nation after nation bows the knee to Jesus Christ—the one whom Satan had crucified.

But lest we forget, let us remember how it is the we conquer him: It is not by the physical sword, but by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony.

Revelation 12:7–11 “7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.”

We must not love our own lives more than Christ. We must love him, even unto death. We must love others, even unto death.

CONCLUSION — CURSE PART THREE: DEFEAT

Jesus’s Second Coming (Future)

But Satan will mount one final counter attack. At the end of this age, he will be releases from his chains temporarily, and will come out to deceive the nations. He will gather the enemies of God’s people and seek to destroy the Church. And it is just at that very moment that our Lord will return. And he will obliterate him. But not by a drawn own battle. It wont be a close call. When our Lord Jesus opens his mouth and speaks to Satan, one little word shall fell him.

Revelation 20:7–10 “7 And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. 9 And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, 10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

So take heart, Christian. This war we are fighting will be one that we win. The nations belong to Christ and he will have them. And you belong to Christ too. Make sure you are on his side.