Then the Lord God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, you are cursed more than any livestock and more than any wild animal. You will move on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life… Genesis 3:14
In Sunday School we are studying the Fall or the first sin. This Scripture passage is the curse that God pronounced on the serpent. The problem is that the curses that were placed on the serpent, Adam and Eve not only affected them, but it affected the generations to follow until Jesus comes back. A part of Adam’s curse is that he will have to eat by the sweat of his brow. This means that gardening will become laborious. This means that there will be weeds and thistles that farmers have to deal with as they grow their crops. For Eve childbirth was made painful. This is something that all women would have endure throughout the generations to come.
God also told the serpent that he would put hostility between him and the woman and between his seed and her seed. He said that the woman’s seed would strike the serpent’s head and the serpent would strike their heel.
In the beginning when God created everything, He called it good. God had made us all to live in harmony with one another. A prime example of this is the serpent. If I saw a serpent in my garden, you would not have to worry about me finding out whether or not it could talk, I would be out of there. But when the universe was created, both man and animal were vegetarians. They all lived in harmony in the beautiful garden God had provided. In Genesis 1:29, God says, “Look I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the surface of the entire earth and every tree whose fruit contains seed. This food will be for you, for all the wildlife of the earth, for every bird of the sky and for every creature that crawls on the earth-everything having the breath of life in it. I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. God saw all that He had made, and it was very good… God’s character is good. It’s his nature to be good. He certainly did not intend for the creatures he had made to be hunting each other down and eating each other.
But Adam and Eve’s sin brought corruption for the entire universe. But, there is a but, there is good news. In Isaiah 6, chapter 11, Isaiah is speaking of the coming of Christ. In verses 6-9, he describes what it will be like when the curse is finally reversed. The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the goat. The calf, the young lion, and the fatling will be together, and a child will lead them. The cow and the bear will graze, their young ones will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. An infant will play beside the cobra’s pit, and a toddler will put his hand into the snake’s den. None will harm or destroy another on My entire holy mountain, for the land will be as full of the knowledge of the LORD as the sea is filled with water.
There is coming a day when God will be able to look at His creation and see that all is good again. So, what are we do to in the meantime? Romans 12:9-21 discusses Christian ethics. These are some good verses to live by while we wait for the curse to be reversed. We should love without hypocrisy, detest evil and cling to what is good (v. 9), we should show brotherly love to one another trying to outdo one another in showing honor (v. 10). We should be fervent in spirit, rejoice in hope, be patient in affliction, and persistent in prayer (vs. 11-12). We should share with each other and be hospitable (v.13). We should bless those who curse us and do our best to be in agreement with one another. We should share in others joy and sadness. We should not be proud but associate with the humble. We should not consider ourselves wise. We should not repay evil for evil. We should do what everyone considers to be honorable. We should leave vengeance to God. We should feed our enemy if he is hungry, give him water if he is thirsty. We should not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good (vs. 14-21).
The bad news is, we are living under a curse, the good news is, one day that curse is going to be reversed and we will all live in harmony once more. But we’ve got work to do while we wait, so get busy.
Have a great day!