Genesis 3:1-24 continuing…

“And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, 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: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto 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; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” Genesis 3:14-19.

We have already looked at the ‘Edenic Covenant’ in chapter one verses 29 – 31. In these verses of chapter three we have what has been called the ‘Adamic Covenant’. Things have drastically changed. Adam and Eve are no longer innocent; they are in fact vile sinners, and the Adamic Covenant is basically nothing but the results of sin’s curse. The curse has been put on all of creation. We see this when the apostle Paul writes, “For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now” Romans 8:20-22.

Let’s take a look now at the results of the curse of sin: 1) The serpent would move on his belly; 2) There is enmity between the serpent and the seed of the woman (although this enmity is found in every child and sensible men, this speaks more clearly of the enmity between Christ and satan); 3) The woman would experience sorrow in child bearing: NOTE: the mysterious promise of the continuation of humanity (“in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children”); 4) The man’s judgment was a curse on the ground – where the ground had once been fertile and fruitful, it would now be hard, toilsome and less fruitful; 5) Death, man would return to the dust from which he was made – this does not mean the man ceases to exist; it does mean his body will return to the dust. Since God “Breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul”, thus making him an eternal being; 6) The animal kingdom would rise up against one another and mankind, and some would become carnivores – the lion and the lamb would not be eating together anymore; the calf and the wolf would not eat from the same place any longer; and 7) The whole universe would be in turmoil, especially seen on the earth with storms, earthquakes, etc. though these would probably not come for several years yet.

Even though there is sin in the world there is still an answer. We must turn to our Creator. The One who made all things and holds them together. He is the same one who went to the cross, paid our sin debt, and rose from the grave. “All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made” John 1:3. See also John 1:1, 14 and Colossians 1:16-17.