Genesis 3:14-20

Good morning, gang!

In today's verses, we get our first view of God as the just Judge. Unfortunately, in order to have justice, there must be a judge and there must be a judgment. The good news is that our Judge is righteous and completely fair. His motivation is ALWAYS love and He disciplines in love for our good. So, with His judgments, there is always hope and grace! His children do not get what they deserve, but unmerited grace.

God turns to the serpent first. You know Satan had to be rubbing his hands together in glee when Eve, then Adam, ate the fruit! "I've got them now!" he must have gloated to himself. So, God turned to him first and pronounced judgment - and gave the first prophetic promise of deliverance:
“Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 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.” (verses 14-15)

Satan loves to think he's gotten the best of us - but God has the final say and this nasty serpent, who was defeated at the cross, will be finally and completely crushed at the return of Christ (Rev. 12:9, and Rev. 20:10) While we are here on earth, we will have to contend with him in warfare on a daily basis - he is our greatest foe - but Christ has won that battle for us. We belong to Christ - not Satan. Our defensive weapons, which, according to Ephesian 6, we need to put on each day are the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of readiness that come from the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, and the helmet of salvation. The one defensive weapon? The sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. Those will keep us prepared for the daily battle. How grateful I am, though, that the victory is already won in Christ!

God then turns to Eve, to pronounce the consequences to her and all women who come after: pain in childbirth, the desire for our husbands, and his rule over us. Adam's curse? WORK and LOTS of it! And it is true that one of the frustrations of women, early on in a marriage, is that their husbands don't give them enough time - they never listen, etc. - because the husbands are BUSY earning a living for the family! By the "sweat of their brows" they provide food for the table and a roof over our heads. Don has faithfully gone to work each day for more than 37 years - and I mean WORK - to take care of our girls and me! It leaves him exhausted, with not a lot left over at the end of the day. And since I've been working, I totally feel the same way when I get home. I get it!!

Wow! This seems like harsh punishment doesn't it? Is it fair that we all (including all of creation) suffer because of one man? Well, we also receive salvation and eternal life through One Man, the Second Adam (see I Cor 15): "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom 6:23) With the judgment, there is the hope and promise of salvation through Christ. Thank you, LORD! We were all under Adam's curse, but when we received Christ, we moved from death to life!

Verse 20 seems random after what had just taken place: "Adam named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all the living." I was glad I looked this up in Jon Courson's commentary, because he writes that this change of name from "Isha" (from the man), to Eve (giver of life), shows Adam's faith in God's promise that from Eve would come Adam's (and our) Savior. There isn't a word wasted in the Bible!

My "take away" this morning is to not live as though I am under the curse, but rejoicing because I have been delivered from the curse of sin by my Savior. People should see that hope in me today.