Foundational Themes in Genesis – Study 27
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Foundational Themes in Genesis – Study 27
Key verse: Genesis 3:14-15
The book of Genesis gives us not only the truth of the creation of a physical world, but it uses these visible things to give us an understanding of the invisible things of God, for those who can receive that. The physical world reflects the spiritual types of God’s works within us:
Rom 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.
Luk 17:20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
God is busy working His one plan of salvation, even through this “evil experience / sore travail…in the earth” (Ecc 1:13). This is done in a way God alone decided, as no man was asked to give Him counsel or advice (Rom 11:33-36). Everyone in the first Adam will eventually humbly submit to His ways of doing things when all will give an account to this effect (Php 2:9-14, Rom 14:12). We actually start off thinking we are spiritual and eternal beings who have been placed in a body of flesh having a “free” will to make “independent” choices. However, the scriptures are very clear on our initial earthy status – inside and outside (Rom 8:20, Jer 18:4).
1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
Rom 8:5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
Rom 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
We cannot accept these truths at first, but when God starts to open our eyes, it becomes a humbling, painful, yet joyful process of judgment we must endure (Heb 12:11). The theme of judgment is foundational in this God-ordained process of creating humanity and all carnal-minded creatures in His spiritual image. The judgment of Adam and Eve, with this serpent, helps us tremendously to understand this wonderful and “strange work” of God “in the earth” (Psa 107:1-10, Isa 28:21).
Psa 46:8 Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the earth.
Chapter three of Genesis is packed with so much of what the natural man experiences in the earth, and its true spiritual applications form important foundations for our understanding of God’s hidden secrets. God indeed wrote everything in His book “before the foundation of the world” and through Jesus all will be judged (Gen 18:25, Joh 5:22, Joh 17:24, 1Pe 1:20, Rev 20:12, Col 1:15-17, Heb 1:2, Php 1:8, Rev 1:1-3, Eph 1:11).
Psa 139:16 (CEV) but with your own eyes you saw my body being formed. Even before I was born, you had written in your book everything I would do.
Although God is causing every thought and action of His creatures, they still need to give an account of their own actions. Giving an account is included in the process of judgment, but the natural mind sees this accounting quite differently to what the Scriptures actually say, as the natural minds in Adam and Eve also demonstrated:
Gen 3:9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
Gen 3:10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
Gen 3:11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
Gen 3:12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
Gen 3:13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
Adam and Eve could not give a proper accounting why they did what they did. They simply saw the outward and thought that God was also removed from what is happening “in the earth”. We naturally believe we were left to survive on our own with our own fabled “free” will and the “free” choices we must make in line with, or against, the will of God, but no one can resist the will of God in anything they do.
Rom 9:19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Because the natural or carnal mind cannot see God’s hand in all things, he cannot give a proper accounting of what God has written in His book. God has ordained that this accounting should only be done through a process of judgment, which will bring salvation to all, “by His grace” (Jer 49:12).
Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Rom 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:Tit 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared [Greek: epiphainō] to all men,
Tit 2:12 Teaching [Greek: paideuō], us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
The Greek verb for “hath appeared” is in the aorist tense, which reaffirms that “all men” are appointed to salvation and will receive it at God’s appointed time (1Co 15:22-28).
1Th 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.
God’s grace works through His wrath, which is poured out on all ungodliness and worldly lusts in “all [who] have sinned”, and His wrath lasts for a limited period (Eph 2:2-3, Rev 15:8). The Greek word “paideuō” in Titus 2 verse 11 is explained in this verse:
Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth [paideuō], and scourgeth [flogs] every son whom he receiveth.
How clear is that? One must be blinded and beguiled not to see the “simplicity” of Christ’s one mind on this (2Co 11:3). We should know that judgment is a good thing for our spiritual development which teaches us about God and His righteousness. We receive His righteous mind, His clothing for us, through judgment “in the earth” only:
Isa 26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
It is then significant to see that this judgment is also appointed for the serpent:
Gen 3:14 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:
Gen 3:15 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.
One of God’s “wonderful works” is His creation of a “crooked serpent” (which means he was created with a deceptive carnal mind). He was made by God to go “to and fro in the earth” deceiving all with the same carnal mind in the first man Adam (Job 26:13, Joh 8:44, Job 1:7). From the “sum of God’s word” we know that this serpent (alias Satan, devil, leviathan, the dragon) was cursed and crooked from the hand of the Potter – “from the beginning” (Rev 12:9, Joh 8:44, Job 26:13).
Isa 27:1 In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon [Hebrew: tannı̂yn] that is in the sea.
Gen 1:21 And God created great whales [Hebrew: tannı̂yn], and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
The “sea” and “waters” here refer to his spiritual condition and carnal activities. We are, like this serpent, in that same state of spiritual death which is also typified in Scripture with “dust of the ground” (Gen 2:7). We are dust and carnal, and that is how the first Adam, and all in him, share the same “menu” with the serpent (Joh 3:5-6, 1Co 15:46, Rev 13):
Rom 8:6 For to be carnally [earthy/fleshly] minded is death; but to be spiritually [heavenly] minded is life and peace.
Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Rom 8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
“Upon thy belly shalt thou go” is not merely referring to a physical way of moving around for this serpent, but rather confirming his vain and lowly carnal condition of being earthy. Many miss this spiritual truth because they are deluded to focus on whether the serpent walked upright before. The Scriptures do not say that the serpent walked upright, because he was never spiritually perfect and righteous (“upright in heart”). Spiritually he was on his earthly belly all the time as he was “crooked” from the hand of the Potter (Rom 8:20). The spiritual application of God’s word has much more profit than the naturally puffed up opinions of men (1Co 4:6).
Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
The judgment on this serpent here in Genesis chapter 3 is the first indication in Scripture that this evil spirit being will be saved and given the righteous robes of Jesus Christ (Rev 19:11). This serpent, and all others with the same mind as him, should be seen for what they are – serpents. Nevertheless, all serpents will eventually dwell on the “holy mountain” of God – “seated in heavens”. This is what is meant with the bruising of his head…his carnal mind will be destroyed. This means that Satan and all evil spirits like him, including all in Adam, will have the spirit mind of Christ feeding on the “dust” of God – the holy spirit “menu” of God:
Isa 6:1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
Isa 6:2 Above it stood the seraphims [Hebrew: śârâph – a poisonous fiery serpent]: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
Isa 6:3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.Isa 65:25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.
This is how the words “dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life” are fulfilled in the judgment of the serpent. It also reveals to us the positive application of dust as all things created by God have both a negative (“corruption”) and positive (“incorruption”) application. The “dust” of God is His brimstone which will bring spiritual healing to all and “throughly purge his floor”:
Isa 34:9 And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone [Hebrew: gophrı̂yth], and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.
Mat 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
Mat 3:12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.Rev 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone [Greek: theion], where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented [Greek: basanizō] day and night for ever and ever [the eons of the eons].
The Hebrew word for brimstone is “gophrı̂yth” and is described as the breath or judgment of God:
Isa 30:33 For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.
This links beautifully with the Greek word for brimstone which is “theion” and comes from the base “theos” which means Godly. The Greek word “basanizō” refers to a test for purity of gold or silver which are types of God’s Word. All this is saying is that God’s one and only spiritual fire brings spiritual purification in all He judges (Heb 12:29, 1Co 3:13-15, Jer 5:14, Isa 66:18):
Psa 12:6 The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
God’s judgment on this serpent also brings separation between the serpent’s seed and the seed of the woman. With this God confirms the impassable distinction between the darkness and the light:
Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Gen 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Gen 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
The serpent’s seed operates in the deep pit of darkness – the carnal mind which is typified by the grave (“she’ôl” in Hebrew and “hadēs” in Greek). It is in the thoughts of the natural mind where all the “negatives” are developed which then manifest in words and actions “against the truth” (Psa 88:6, 1Co 15:55). Thoughts/words are spirits – both the good incorruptible “seed” and the evil corruptible “seed” (Mat 13:3-9, Mat 13:24-30):
1Jn 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
1Jn 4:5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
1Pe 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible [seed], by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
This seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman are both also reflected in the various genealogies we find throughout the Scriptures. This starts off with the genealogies of two sons of Adam and Eve, Cain and Seth who was appointed by God as “another seed instead of Abel”). Also included are the genealogies of the two sons of Isaac (Esau and Jacob), and also the two sons of Abraham (Ishmael and Isaac):
Gal 4:22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
Gal 4:23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise [of the spirit].Gal 4:29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
This is how the serpent bruises the heel of the elect. The serpent or dragon will always persecute the seed of the woman in every generation – those who read, hear and keep the testimony of the “Seed”, Jesus Christ (Rev 1:1-3).
Rev 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
[The writer may be reached at glgroenewald@gmail .com for questions or comments.]
[Detailed studies and emails written relating to these foundational themes in Scripture are available on the www.iswasandwillbe.com website, including:
The Wrath of God
Till the Seven Plagues are Fulfilled
Give an Accounting
The Flood and the Dragon
Will Satan and his Angels be Saved?
Will Satan and his Angels be Saved #2?
What Does it Mean “Dust Shall be the Serpent’s Meat”
What is the Spiritual Significance of Genealogies?
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