Christ in the OT #2

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO GENESIS

 When we think of Genesis 3 we are prone to think of the first sin, the disobedience of Adam and Eve, the descent of humankind and creation into a sinful existence marked with suffering, wickedness and death. And we would be right in our summary of that passage…for the most part.

            What we might miss is the presence of the gospel embedded in the story. There is a subtle but heavy tone of good news that permeates this narrative. It may sound ludicrous to say but it’s there. In the midst of God’s questioning of Adam and Eve and his eventual sentencing of the conniving serpent and the guilty pair, there is a glimmer of the plan of redemption.

            One verse that captures the essence of the gospel is John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” This is easy to see; simple, direct and to the point as to where our redemption is found.

            However, when I compare John 3:16 with Genesis 3:15, I see a common thread: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

            Do you see it? I know, it’s bizarre. How do you find the gospel, let alone John 3:16, in God’s condemnation of a snake? Yet theologians call this protevangelium, or “the first gospel.” And Augustine, reflecting on the glorious triumph of God through Christ over sin, considered that we would never know the incredible love and mercy in the heart of God if Adam had not sinned. He called it Felix culpa, (fortunate transgression).

            So there it is, the first key played in the musical score, the song of redemption, God’s symphony. God was not surprised by man’s sinfulness; indeed, he was prepared for it. For Peter wrote, “He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake,” (1 Peter 1:20). Now how does that song go, this song that God began to sing? How did it start?

1. The Context – The Original Sin

Because Genesis 3:15 is so important to the history of redemption we need to put it into context:

a) Time and Place – We begin with the observation that this event took place at the dawn of human history. Some will call this a biblical myth, that it was a story used for teaching, but was not intended to be taken literally. While the talking serpent is not something you see every day, I am going on the belief that this is an historical event. One solid reason for this is that the NT writers treat it as an historical event. Jesus is in the line of Adam and Paul speaks of Adam as a real person.

            In Garden of Eden, at the dawn of creation, when everything was perfect, two people were given a choice: trust and obey, or go your own way.

b) A serpent, a woman, and a man – The story features that talking serpent coming to the woman and planting ideas in her head. Why he chose the woman is unclear to the reader. Perhaps it was because God’s command not to eat from a specific tree was not given in her hearing; she only heard from the man that she should not eat of it. The question on our mind’s then is, where was the man? But 3:6 reveals that when the woman gave some to her husband, “who was with her,” he ate without question. Did he hear the whole conversation with the serpent and say nothing?

c) Sin is born – The most important detail in the context is that this is where sin began.

            The serpent’s strategy in this attack was to instill doubt and desire in the woman’s heart. He planted doubt by asking, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (3:1b). The woman innocently answers that they may eat from any of the trees but one. That one tree, she explains, must not even be touched or you will die. God did not say that. He said, eat of it and you will surely die (2:17). No matter, the serpent drives the doubt deeper. He says that they will NOT surely die. In fact, in Hebrew it reads, “Dying, you will not die…” casting a huge shadow of doubt on what God said.

            What’s at stake here is the heart of God. Is God good or not? Would God deprive humankind of anything that they needed? Would God keep from us that which would make us better people? The serpent convinced the woman that God must be keeping something from her.

            Then the serpent applies desire. When you eat of it your eyes will be opened, you will be like God, you will know good from evil. Wouldn’t you like to be wise like God?

            The woman’s response comes on three levels:

The Practical Level: the fruit looked good to eat; she desired it – THE LUST OF THE FLESH!

The Emotional Level: it looked good (pleasing to the eye) – THE LUST OF THE EYES!

The Spiritual Level: it would make her wise – THE PRIDE OF LIFE!

            This is the core of sin. “For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does – comes not from the Father but from the world,” (1 John 2:16).

2. The Conflict – Spiritual Warfare Begins

Sin introduced a new element into the world – conflict. Conflict between God and humankind, between man and woman, between all people and between people and the serpent. Our focus in the main verse is this: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers,” (3:15a).

a) God’s mercy – There is a gentle sense of God’s mercy in this story. God knew what the man and woman did. He could have thundered from his throne and condemned them on the spot. God might have started over with a new couple – he could have if he wanted to, but he didn’t.

            What did God do? He gave them a chance to explain their actions. That doesn’t mean he would excuse their sin and say, “That’s okay, we all make mistakes.” No, but he went looking for them, seeking them out, giving them an opportunity for reconciliation.

            What did they do? They tried to cover their nakedness (sin) with fig leaves (the works of their hands); they hid from God; the man blamed the woman; the woman blamed the serpent. They did everything but confess.

            God could have been angrier still. He had no choice but to pronounce sentences on the three. And it is in this odd sentence that we find the gospel; in the serpent’s condemnation is our good news, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers.”

b) Unmasking the serpent – It is only through the NT writings that we know the true identity of the serpent. John unmasks him in his Apocalypse, “The great dragon was hurled down – that ancient serpent called the devil or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him,” (Rev 12:9).

            Satan was the serpent, or used the serpent. Either way, it was his work that led the woman astray. So God declared that there would be hostility between the woman and the serpent (is that why woman don’t like snakes?). Satan continues to use deception, doubt and desire to lead people astray.

            I caught a small scene out of the movie Out of the Grey one night. The synopsis of the movie is that a plane crashes in the Alaskan wilderness and the survivors have to outrun wolves to stay alive. There is one survivor left at one point, and he cries out to the sky calling on God to show himself or do a miracle. The survivor pledges to believe in God for the rest of his life if God will do this. No answer. He swears at God, keeps moving, and is eventually killed by wolves. The story is very vexing and perplexing in terms of relating to God. Why did God not answer him? Or save him? I discovered the answer later (I’ll share later).

            The point is that Satan deceives and blinds the people of this world even to this day, making them doubt the goodness of God. That is the present conflict we live with in this world. Faith in God is at odds with the world system.

c) Hostility with the world – “I will put enmity…between your offspring and hers.” Our verse implies that the descendents of the woman and of the serpent would be at odds. Satan can’t literally have children but people would choose his deception over the truth.

            Jesus pointed this out when talking to the Jews who claimed to have the truth, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies,” (Jn 8:44).

            Those who oppose Jesus can be none other than people of the lie. If we follow Jesus then we can expect hostility from those who think Jesus is not who he says he is.

3. The Cure – Who is this seed?

“He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” This is the gospel according to Genesis.

a) “You will strike his heel” – The difference between a head wound and a heel wound is tremendous. If you walk on gravel with bear feet and hit that one piece that is razor sharp, you will dance and scream and cry – but you won’t die. If you hit your head in a fall or a car accident, there’s a good chance you will be badly injured or die.

            The cross was a small wound to the heel. Yes it was deadly. Jesus died. But to the Son of God who rose from the dead, it was but a moment of painful dying compared to the power of eternity that was his life.

            Satan had been nipping at Jesus heels all through his life and ministry. Almost as if to repeat his victory in the Garden, Satan tried his deception out on Jesus after 40 days in the wilderness. Nip #1 – “make some bread.” Nip #2 – “Jump off the spire of the temple.” Nip #3 – “bow down to me.” Jesus would have none of it. He knew Satan’s lies.

            Remember the man chased by wolves who cried out to God? I was vexed by the situation. But then God showed me that Jesus was in the same situation. On top of the temple, Satan tried to make him jump and see if God would catch him. Jesus replied that you ought not to put God to the test. What Jesus meant was, even in dire straits, God asks us to trust him. Isn’t that where Adam and Eve failed? They weren’t in danger and they failed to trust God. What if we are in danger – chased by wolves? Can we trust God? Jesus said, “Yes,” emphatically. The cross underlined that trust.

            Satan continued to nip at Jesus. He used Herod; he used Pilate; he used Judas; even Peter was a tool of Satan. Satan finally murdered Jesus through the cross. He thought he had won.

b) “He will crush your head” – It turned out that the cross was a crushing blow to the head of Satan. I have heard that even if you cut the head off a snake, the body still wriggles for a while – and the venom is still deadly. Satan is in his death roes, but he is still deadly.

            But he is conquered. We have the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ who has crushed the head of Satan. I love how Paul puts it in his letter to the Colossians, “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross,” (Col 1:13-15).

            The cross was supposed to be Satan’s defeat of Christ; it turned out to be Satan’s humiliation. He was made a public spectacle through the cross. Our sins can be forgiven; our bodies of death transformed into bodies of life; our curse exchanged for blessing.

            Who is this seed in Genesis 3:15? It is Jesus Christ!

The book of Romans is a beautiful letter that explains in-depth the meaning of the cross. Paul takes us through an explanation of sin, the law, grace, redemption and the new life. At the end of the letter he makes some personal remarks to friends and adds a few warnings. Then he says this, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet,” (Rom 16:20).

            Whose feet? Jesus’ feet? No. Your feet. Jesus has already stomped on that serpent. Now it’s our turn. Through Christ’s victory and because of our faith in his gospel, we can have the privilege of stomping on Satan’s head.

            He is nipping at our heels. He whispers defeat into our ears when we fail to grasp the joy of the Lord or live the victorious Christian life. Satan wants us to wallow in the darkness of his thinking and believe his lies that our sins are too great. In short he still makes us question the goodness of God.

            But are we victims or victors? We need to stop playing the victim and claim the victory in Jesus. Mike Mason wrote, “The idea of attacking my spiritual enemies would have chilled me to the bone. Yet gradually I learned a surprising truth: What matters isn’t the force or skill of my attack, but the simple resolution to fight. As long as I hang back in fear, I cannot win. But the moment I take up arms with a will, the enemy’s on the run. It’s exactly as Scripture says: ‘Resist the devil, and he will flee from you,’ (James 4:7).”

            The best weapon is joy. The reason for Joy is this gospel. This is the gospel song begun back in Genesis.

                                                            AMEN