(Genesis) Genesis 3:14-19 — J. Vernon McGee

Judgment on the Serpent and Fallen Humanity

We have now come to the judgment of the Fall, and that is in verse 14. May I say that we have now seen this man, this creature that God has made, turned aside from God, and now God must deal with him, God must judge him.

And I'm reading in verse 14, And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this thing, 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.

The Serpent’s Curse and Satan’s Judgment

Now, all we can say about this is that the serpent is certainly not the slithering creature that we think of today. He was different at the beginning. There has been pronounced upon him this judgment.

And now God pronounces a judgment upon Satan, which has a tremendous effect upon man. And I would have you memorize this verse if you are one who does memorize scripture, but here is one that you certainly ought to know.

The First Promise of the Coming Savior

Actually, this is the first prophecy of the coming of the Messiah, the Savior, into the world. Let me read it. Verse 15, And I will put enmity between thee, that is, Satan and the woman, between thy seed and her seed.

It, that is, Christ, shall bruise thy head, thou shall bruise his heel. Now, this is a tremendous statement that is given to us here, and I think that the most prominent thought that we have here is not the ultimate victory that would come, but the long continued struggle.

The Conflict Between Good and Evil

It reveals the fact that now there's to be a long struggle between good and evil. And that is exactly what you're going to find in the rest of the scripture. For instance, the Lord Jesus could make the statement in John 8, 44, concerning this struggle.

And let me read that. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there's no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he's a liar, and the father of it.

Now that is, if you please, that is Satan, and that is God's judgment, you see. And now this distinction is made, and there's going to be this conflict. John again mentions it in 1 John 3, 10. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil.

Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. So that now we have brought before us the fact that here is a conflict, here is a struggle, here are two seeds in the world.

But there would be the final victory, but the long-continued struggle is important. Every man must face temptation, must win his battle, if you please. Now before Christ came, the victory was through obedience and faith.

After Christ came, we're to identify ourselves with Christ through faith. What does it mean to be saved? It means to be in Christ. And now we see this man. He was one of three orders of creation, angels, man, and animals.

Human Choice, Responsibility, and the Virgin Birth

Animals were given no choice, but men and angels were given a choice. And here you have, if you please, man's choice. And he's held responsible for the decision that he's made here, and he's made a decision.

And you'll notice something else. It says her seed, doesn't say the man's seed. Here is at least the suggestion of the virgin birth. When God went into that garden looking for man, he said, where art thou?

Salvation as God’s Search for Man

And any anthology of religion tells the story of man's search for God. My friend, that's not the way God tells it. Let's tell it like it is. Salvation is God's search for man. Man ran away from him. And when God said, where art thou?

Dr. Griffith Thomas says, this is the call of divine justice, which cannot overlook sin. And it's the call of divine sorrow, which grieves over the sinner. And it's the call of divine love, which offers redemption from sin.

You have all of that in this verse here, the promise of the coming of the Savior. And this is the picture all the way through Scripture. Paul wrote, there's none that seeketh after God. And the Lord Jesus said, you've not chosen me, I've chosen you.

And we can say today, we love him because he first loved us. Now God seeks out man, and he offers man salvation. But there's going to be a long struggle that's going to take place, which I think is made very clear to us at this particular point.

Judgment upon the Woman and the Sorrow of Childbirth

Now, as we move on down here, every man, every man now is going to have to make his decision. That is what is given. Under the woman, he said, I'll greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband.

He shall rule over thee. That's a judgment upon woman. She can't bring a child into the world without sorrow. Isn't that an interesting thing, that that should be true? The very thing that brings joy into the life, continues the human family, it has to come through sorrow.

Judgment upon Man, Labor, and Death

That's life, if you please. And man needs to learn that. And we'll see in the next chapter, he didn't learn it as quickly as he should. Under 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. This is the judgment upon man. Thorns also, and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.

Now notice Genesis 319. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground, for out of it was thou taken, for thus thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. Now death comes to man.

It did not come physically. After all, what is death? Well, physical death is a separation of the person, the spirit, the soul, from the body. The body, the writer to Ecclesiastes says, goes down to the dust, but the spirit returns unto God who gave it.

You see, man ultimately must answer to God whether he's saved or lost. He's going to have to answer to God. But you see, Adam didn't die physically the day that he ate. He didn't die until 900 and some odd years later.

Spiritual Death as Separation from God

What about that? Well, the whole point is just simply this, that he died spiritually. He was separated from God. You see, death is separation. Paul said to the Ephesians that they were dead in trespasses and sins.

Well, they weren't dead physically, but they were dead spiritually, separated from God. And you remember our Lord, in that wonderful parable of the prodigal son, he told about this boy that got away from the father.

And when he returned, the father said to the eldest son, this my son who is dead, he is found. Dead? Sure, he's dead. Not physically, but he was separated from the father. And to be separated from the father means just simply that, and means death.

And you remember the Lord Jesus said to those two sisters, I'm the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me, though he were dead. Dead how? Spiritually. That is separated from God. Now, man died the moment he ate.

That's the reason he ran away from God. That's the reason he sowed fig leaves. And believe me, those fig leaves tell quite a story. I think, frankly, as we're going to see now, that when God now clothes man, and notice this.