Will you open your Bibles, please, to the book of Genesis, chapter 3. When we considered this chapter earlier, we discussed how sin was introduced not into the earth, but into the human race. Sin was introduced into the earth by the fall of Satan, but sin was introduced into the human race by the deception of Eve and the disobedience of Adam. We considered the verses related to that subject, down to chapter 3:7, where we read:

Genesis 3:

We tied verse 21 in with that:

Genesis 3:

Shedding of Blood to Provide A Covering

We pointed out that the reason Adam and Eve knew they were naked when they sinned was that they had lost the glory of God with which they had been clothed, and we read in Romans 3:23:

Romans 3:

Because they realized their nakedness and were conscience-stricken because of it, they made an effort to cover their nakedness with fig leaves. As we compared verse 21 with verse 7, we found that that was highly unsatisfactory, and that God made another provision. The provision that God made, man had nothing to do with. The provision that God made included a substitute. The provision that God made necessitated the death of another. The provision that God made necessitated the shedding of blood.

This provision to which we are introduced in Genesis 3:21 became the foundation and the pattern of approach to God from then on. All the way through the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, the approach is the same, until it climaxes in the death of God's own Son as the Lamb of God that was slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8).

We want to consider the effect of this sin, not just as it affected Adam and Eve during their lifetimes, but the effect of this sin even down to the present day and beyond the present day until the very beginning of eternity. There are a number of passages of Scripture which deal with this very thing, and we want to look at those passages. We begin with Genesis 3:8:

Genesis 3:

We read earlier that they enjoyed the presence of the Lord God every day when He came down and walked with them in the midst of the Garden. Now they did not want to be in the presence of God, because they had disobeyed Him.

Genesis 3:

We are not going to comment much on this paragraph, because through the years you have heard many sermons, I am sure, on these verses, and you have heard them taught in Sunday School lessons. They need very little comment. But I would like to emphasize one thing about this paragraph that never ceases to amaze me anywhere in the Word of God…God's tremendous grace; God's great mercy.

Bringing Adam to Confess Sin

Did you see that every one of these questions was designed to elicit a confession from Adam and Eve? God did not need to say to Adam, “Adam, where are you?” God is omniscient. God knows everything. God saw Adam hiding behind that tree just as the Lord Jesus Christ saw Nathaniel under the fig tree (John 1:48). He did not need for Adam to say, “Here am I.” He asked the question, “Where are you?”, because he was bringing Adam to a place of confession.

Notice that in verse 11 He said, “Who told thee that thou wast naked?” God observed the temptation of Adam and Eve. He knew all the details. He did not need for Adam to inform Him. He was eliciting a confession. “Who told thee that thou wast naked?”, He asked.

Then again He asked, “Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?” Again He is eliciting a confession: “Why have you done this? Have you done this?”…on and on, that Adam and Eve might be brought to the place of confession.

The hardest thing in the world for men to do is to confess their sins. Have you ever stopped to think about that? The hardest thing in the world for men to do is to confess their sins. Confession does not come easy. It did not come easy for Adam, nor did it come easy for Eve. When God said to Adam, “Did you eat of the tree?”, instead of a simple “Yes, Lord, I sinned. Yes, Lord, I disobeyed. Yes, Lord, I ate of the tree,”…instead of that, in verse 12 Adam said:

Genesis 3:

Do you realize the implication of this answer? Adam was blaming God for his sin, and that is so typical. Adam was saying to God, “God, you started it. If You had not given me this woman to be with me, I would not be in this sin. You started it, God. Do not blame me.”

That is typical of people today. That is typical of the fallen nature. We are not ready to admit, we are not ready to confess, our sins. We are willing to blame even God for our sins. And did you notice, the woman's response was the same. When He said to the woman, “What is this that thou hast done?”, He gave her an opportunity to tell what she had done. That is what we are going to learn…what she really did do. She did more than just eat a piece of the forbidden fruit. She did a lot that we are going to notice.

Confession Comes Before Forgiveness and Cleansing

God said to her, “What is this that thou hast done?” Instead of admitting and confessing her guilt, she said, “The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. He slipped up on the blind side of me. I did not know what I was doing until I did it.” You see, she was not owning up to her sin at all. I repeat that confession comes hard, and yet, unless there is confession, clear and definite, without any strings attached, there can be no meeting with God. For we are told in the Word of God that sin is what makes the barrier between us and God. Sin is what breaks the fellowship. But we are told in I John 1:9:

I John 1:

There can be no cleansing and no forgiveness for the child of God without that confession. Remember that.

As I have pointed out at other times, I would like to emphasize now that when we confess our sin, we do not merely say, “Lord, I have sinned today. Forgive me.” We do not merely say, “Lord, if I have sinned today, or if I have done anything I should not do, forgive me.”

You do not need to pray like that at the close of the day. The Word of God says that if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin (I John 1:7). That takes care of all those sins that you might not know about, and those sins you are afraid you have committed and might not be conscious of.

Walk in the light, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth you from all sin. When the Holy Spirit pinpoints a sin, you do not need to say, “Lord, if I have sinned.” You know whether or not you have sinned. If the Holy Spirit pinpoints a sin, you do not need to say, “Lord, forgive me for those sins I might have committed today.”

You can say, “Lord, I confess unto Thee…,” and name the sin. But even that is not enough, because the word confess does not mean primarily to name something. The word confess means to agree with God about it. What you should be saying is, “Yes, Lord, the sin I have committed is wrong. Yes, Lord, I feel the way You do about it.”

The reason I am making that distinction is that I do not believe you can feel the way God feels about sin and keep right on doing the same old thing over and over again with compunction. I do not think you can go along saying, “Oh, I confess my sins every day.” If you feel as God does about it, you will think twice before you do it again. Confession is hard to come by…the kind of confession I am talking about.

God said to Eve, “What is this that thou hast done?” She did not give the answer, but the Word of God does. As I said a moment ago, that is what we want to examine. What did Eve do when she sinned against God? We are going to examine the various things that she did, separately and individually in the light of the Word of God. The things which Eve did, the things for which she was the primary cause, are portrayed for us in the sentence that was passed by God upon the various participants in this crime of disobedience against Him.

Judgment Upon the Serpent

Notice Genesis 3:14:

Genesis 3:

The first person God dealt with was the serpent. Keep in mind what we told you when we studied the early part of this story about sin's entering the human race. We told you that the serpent was the most subtle…that is, the most beautiful…the most accomplished, the most intelligent of all of God's animal creations.

You may think an anthropoid ape is the highest of God's creations. Well, when things started out, the serpent was the highest. He was the most beautiful. He was the smartest. He had the ability at this time to convey his impressions, and there is every reason to believe that he had the ability to converse with the human race. That was the serpent.

But we learned that the Devil took possession of the serpent. That is, he entered into the serpent so that he motivated the serpent. He used the serpent. He caused the serpent to act and to speak in his behalf. If you think that is strange, remember that this is not an isolated instance.

This is the only time where there is any record that the Devil entered the serpent, but there are a number of instances recorded in the Word of God where Satan entered individuals and took possession of them, just as he took possession of the serpent, and spoke through them just as he spoke through the serpent. In addition, there are numerous instances where the demons, who were the angels that fell when the Devil fell, took possession of individuals and motivated them, and caused them to do the things that they would have them to do. So it is not unusual at all to read that the serpent was occupied by the Devil.

God's Curse On the Serpent To Continue

Listen very closely to what I have to say. God first addressed the serpent. Then He addressed the Devil who occupied the serpent. Because Eve sinned, the serpent felt the brunt of it. Because Eve sinned, God dealt with the serpent, and God dealt with the serpent in a way in which He has dealt with no other one of His creations. As long as this earth exists, the serpent will bear his punishment. That is not true of some of the other curses God has placed, but it is true of the serpent. Notice what He said to the serpent in verse 14:

Genesis 3:

We might spend some time talking about the serpent's being cursed above all cattle and above every beast of the field, but there might be some strange individuals who would take issue with that and say, “Oh, I like snakes better then I do dogs.” So we are going to stick to the Word of God, and nobody can argue with that. Will you turn with me, please, to Isaiah 65, and notice verse 25:

Isaiah 65:

If we had the time to read the entire 65th chapter of the book of Isaiah, we would discover that it deals with a period of time that is yet to come upon the earth, a period known as the Millennium. It is so-called because it will last for 1,000 years. It is God's time of perfection upon the earth. It is what writers have referred to as the Golden Age. It is what Scripture calls the Reign of Righteousness. It is that period of time when the things for which we pray every time we pray the Lord's Prayer will come to pass. When we pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven,” we are praying for this period of time we are talking about…the Millennium.

God's Plan for Ages to Come

So there will not be any misunderstanding, let me place that in God's prophetic program. At the present time, we are in the Age of Grace. This Age of Grace will end when the Lord Jesus Christ comes in the air and catches up the Church to be with Himself. Every born again believer is a member of the body of Christ, regardless of denominational affiliation. The Lord Jesus Christ will come in the air and will catch up the Church to be with Himself.

On the earth, there will be a period of seven years, known as the Tribulation. The Lord Jesus Christ and the Church will come back to the earth at the end of that Tribulation period, and He will begin His righteous reign upon the earth. He will begin the Millennium. When the Millennium begins, everything, as we are going to see a little bit later, will be different from what it is now.

The curse that God placed upon the earth will be lifted. The wildness and ferociousness of beasts will be removed so that the lions and the lambs will lie down together. You do not see a lion and a lamb lying down together now unless the lamb is inside the lion, because this is not the Millennium. But the day will come when the lion and the lamb will lie down together. The curse will be lifted. Everything will be perfect.

The only thing God will not change is what He did to the serpent. He said to the serpent, “You will eat dust for all time, even during the Millennium when everything else is changed.” When God lifts the curse that fell on everything else, He will refuse to lift it for the serpent. The serpent will eat dust until this earth is completely destroyed.

That should help us to realize what a serious thing Eve did when she disobeyed God. God said to Eve, “What is this that thou hast done?” The serpent is a living relic of the terrible thing that Eve did.

Enmity Between Satan and the Nation of Israel

Will you turn back with me, please, to Genesis as we continue our thinking about the effects, the results, of what seemed to be an innocent pastime of eating a piece of fruit. Apparently addressing the serpent, but really addressing the one who occupied the serpent, we find God saying in Genesis 3:15:

Genesis 3:

A very cursory interpretation of this 15th verse would suggest that God made women afraid of snakes, as women are afraid of mice. That is what some people say this means: “I will put enmity between thee and the woman.” There may be a sense in which women are afraid of snakes, yet I have read where the silly things wrap them around their necks occasionally, so this would not hold true altogether, would it? If that is not the complete interpretation, what is the interpretation? Does the Bible tell us? It does, because the Bible does not leave us in darkness about anything that God wants us to know.

There is a thing we need to ask ourselves in order that we may understand this. When God said to the Devil, “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, ” who was the woman? Who was the one against whom the wrath of Satan was going to be vented? Who was the woman who was to be the perpetual enemy of the Devil? Do we have the answer?

Turn with me, please, to Revelation 12. I am going to ask you to accept what I say about this chapter on faith until you are able to examine all the Scriptures that give you the explanation of the various signs. We will not have time to examine those passages, but I trust that you will believe enough of what I say to know that there is a Scriptural interpretation for every symbol in this chapter. We do not need to wonder about it. We do not need to jump to conclusions:

Revelation 12:

John did not say that a woman appeared in heaven. He said that a sign appeared in heaven. That sign was in the form of a woman. Let us notice carefully what the Word of God says. In the sign, the woman had the moon under her feet, she had upon her head a crown of twelve stars, and she was clothed with the sun. You know that is no human woman. You know immediately that it is a symbol and a sign.

Revelation 12:

Here we have the second fact about this strangely garbed woman. She was about to give birth to a child.

Revelation 12:

Get the picture. Here is a woman about to give birth to a child, but here is a great dragon ready to eat up the child as soon as it is born.

Revelation 12:

Then if you will skip down to verse 13:

Revelation 12:

Here is a commentary on what God meant when He said to the serpent, “I am going to put enmity between you and the woman.” Who is this woman? When you have time, read Genesis 29, Revelation 13, and Psalm 2. When you have read all those passages of Scripture and have examined them in the light of this passage, you will have come to the conclusion that the woman here is none other than the nation of Israel. The child to whom she was to give birth was the Lord Jesus Christ. The child whom this dragon would try to devour was the Lord Jesus Christ, and the dragon was the Devil, the serpent.

A Continual Enmity

So we find that when God said that He was going to put enmity between the serpent and the woman, He was announcing that He was going to put a continual enmity between the Devil and the nation of Israel. Mark what I tell you: The Devil hates you. He is a roaring lion going about seeking whom he may devour (I Peter 5:8). He is not your friend. No matter what you may think about it, he hates you. But far more than he hates you, he hates the nation of Israel. “Why,” you say, “should he hate the nation of Israel more than he hates is?” Because from the very moment God said this to him…that through the nation of Israel would come the Word of God, which is our only defense against the Devil…he hates the nation of Israel. He has an enmity against the nation of Israel which God describes as an enmity between the serpent and the woman.

The Seed of the Woman

I would suggest as we turn back to Genesis 3 that when God said He was going to put enmity between the woman and the serpent, He was not talking about something light. He was talking about the institution of a warfare that is still going on. Notice verse 15 again:

Genesis 3:

This enmity was to continue not only between the Devil and the nation of Israel, but the warfare was to be taken up by the Devil's seed. The Devil's seed was going to intensify his efforts against the woman's seed. We know already from Revelation 12, as it is compared with Psalm 2, that the woman's seed was the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no question about that.

Satan's Seed

Who is the Devil's seed? Turn back to the book of Revelation, if you will, and notice chapter 13:

Revelation 13:

Once again I ask for your indulgence as I remind you that Scripture explains very plainly what all these symbols mean, but we do not have time to look at the passages. This strange being called the Beast is presented in the first verse and is elsewhere referred to as the Antichrist, the man of sin:

Revelation 13:

Or three and one-half years. This individual is the seed of the serpent. He is the Antichrist. What did we read in Genesis 3? Because Eve disobeyed God, God said, “I am going to put enmity, Devil, between thy seed and the seed of the woman. There is going to be a warfare between the Antichrist and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Is that true? Turn with me to Revelation 19:11:

Revelation 19:

If there is any doubt about this individual, this should settle it. It is the Lord Jesus Christ, as He returns to the earth. Look at verse 19:

Revelation 19:

Remember from what we read in Revelation 13 that the Beast is the Antichrist.

Revelation 19:

Here is the climax of the enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.

Bruising the Serpent

Will you go back to Genesis 3:15, please:

Genesis 3:

“The seed of the woman, serpent, the seed of the woman, Devil, is going to bruise thy head.” When is the Lord Jesus Christ going to bruise the head of the Devil? Turn to Romans 16:20, where the Apostle Paul holds out a precious promise to the believers in the city of Rome:

Romans 16:

There is the promise. What does it say? “The God of Peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. To whom is he talking? Believers. Well, I thought Satan was going to be bruised under the feet of Christ? He is. But he is going to be bruised under our feet, too, because we are associated with the Lord Jesus Christ in this victory. The Devil may defeat us now, but there is coming a day when we will be able to grind his head under the heel of our foot.

A Lake of Fire Burning With Brimstone

Go back to Revelation 19. In verse 19 we see the Antichrist and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the Lord Jesus Christ sitting on the horse, and against His army. What happens?

Revelation 19:

Satan is bruised under the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. This should dispel forever any idea that Satan is sitting on a throne in Hell directing a fund-raising program to air-condition it. Hell is meant for the punishment of the Devil, and it was prepared for him for that very purpose. He is sent there when the Lord Jesus Christ grinds his head under His foot.

Satan Bruised the Lord Jesus Christ

Back in Genesis 3 there is one other thought in regard to what God said to the serpent that we need to notice together, if we are to have the complete story of all that was involved when the woman ate of the forbidden fruit:

Genesis 3:

That is, a continual warfare between the Devil and the nation of Israel.

Genesis 3:

That is, warfare between Satan and Christ.

Genesis 3:

The serpent shall bruise the Lord Jesus Christ. That is what God said. Did that happen? Many passages of Scripture declare that it did. But may I suggest that you turn with me to Isaiah 53 for the exact language, so that we may have clear in our minds what happened when the Lord Jesus Christ died on the Cross. Men who do not believe in the Bible, and men who do not believe in the determinate forecounsel of God tell us that the Lord Jesus Christ died a martyr to a lost cause, but that is not true. He died in fulfillment of Genesis 3:15. He died in fulfillment of God's Word. God said that one day the serpent would bruise Him:

Isaiah 53:

Listen carefully now:

Isaiah 53:

Notice the exact language: “He was bruised for our iniquities.” If there is any question in your minds as to the person discussed in Isaiah 53, when you have time read carefully chapter 8 of the Acts of the Apostles. An Ethiopian nobleman was reading Isaiah 53, and he said to one of God's servants, “Is Isaiah talking about himself or about somebody else?” Philip began right there where we read, and preached Jesus to the Ethiopian eunuch. The Ethiopian eunuch believed what he heard. He made this a very personal thing (Acts 8:26-38). I would like for you to make it personal now.

Christ Died for Me

Will you indulge me as I read this passage of Scripture again, changing the pronouns from the plural to the singular, and will you in your heart read it that way? If you have received the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, you can read this without any reservation at all in the first person singular. If you have not received the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, then let me beg of you to receive Him now. What is recorded here is recorded because of you. It is recorded because of your sins, as though you were the only one in all the world:

Isaiah 53:

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