Genesis 3:15-19 (NKJV) 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.” 16 To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.” 17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. 18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. 19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.”
Yesterday we read about the characteristics of rebellion from Genesis 3. I have always found the stark contrast in the before and after in Adam and Eve. Before the fall, the Garden was an idyllic place where God, Adam, Eve and creation flowed together in peace and unity. God gave Adam his perfect helpmate in Eve. The depth of his love for here is expressed in the 23rd verse of chapter 2.
Genesis 2:23 (NKJV) 23 And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.”
Immediately after the fall, we see fear, self-righteousness, and blame shifting. The woman who was Adam’s perfect helper and companion is now the source of his trouble. This is what rebellion does to a person. We need to watch out for these things and if we see them in any form, we need to examine our hearts and go to the Lord in humility asking him if we are in rebellion.
Today I want to look at something else in this chapter. Rebellion has consequences. The Father God had created a perfect place for his children to live a perfect life. That was what he wanted. There was no sickness, worry or fear. The Garden worked in cooperation with its human rulers to bring forth all they needed. This is the blessing of submission to God and Godly authority. Rebellion changed all that.
In today’s scripture, God tells Adam and Eve what they have unleashed through rebellion. Many people read these verses and see a God who is angrily punishing his children. That is not what has happened here. These are not things God has done to Adam and Eve; these are things rebellion has brought upon them. God is just telling them what to expect.
The curse brought to creation by rebellion manifests in three basic dimensions. There are specific effects on women because of Eve’s role in the rebellion. There are different effects on men because of Adam’s role. The curse on creation is due to the change of ruler and manifests in ways specific to it.
First, the Lord speaks to women. The affect of rebellion in her life actually begins in verse 15. The Lord tells Satan that he is putting a special antagonism between him and the woman. It might seem that since the woman is the one Satan used to bring rebellion into the world, that he might be grateful to her. It would seem that they would be allies in the “new world order.” The opposite is true.
Through history, women are oppressed and suppressed by the devil and the world he controls. Women are put on the same level as cattle. They are possessions to be used and abused as men see fit. They have no say in society or in their own lives. They are not educated and are seen as incapable of anything beyond bearing children and serving men. This pattern is broken first in the ministry of Jesus.
In his ministry, we see women elevated. He protects them, values them and they are some of his most ardent supporters. They are mentioned in the Gospel with the same value as men. There has been a tremendous change in the role of women in today’s world. If you study history, you will see that this change began primarily in the places where Christianity gained ascendance. We need only look to the extremist Islamic world to see the special hatred the devil has for women.
Her curse also manifests in some other ways. The multiplication of pain and sorrow in conception and childbirth is part of the curse of rebellion. Pain is part of the process. The “multiplication of pain” is part of the curse. My wife will tell you that she would rather have a baby, she had six, than go to the dentist. She is healthy and there were no complications. She believes that undue pain is part of the curse and eves that this curse has been broken by the blood of Jesus. She stood on that promise with every birth.
Another aspect of the curse is that “here desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you.” This is not to say that a woman’s love for her husband is wrong. It is not wrong for her to have sexual desire for him. This is speaking of the unhealthy dependence of women upon men for their identity. The New Testament teaches an order in the home, but it never teaches that men are to rule of women even in marriage. Marriage is a partnership in life that should be the closest and most joyous experience on earth. (Gen. 2:24-25) The curse turned it into something else.
For Adam the curse manifests in what life will be for him. God intended him to be the under-ruler of planet earth. He was to be God’s child. The whole creation was to respond to him. The creation was to supply his needs in harmony. There was to be peace and joy in his relationship with his wife and ultimately amongst his children. The curse changed all that as well.
God tells Adam that from that moment onward the creation would fight and resist him. He would live by the “sweat of his brow.” Work is not a curse. The term “sweat of his brow” is not just speaking of work. God is telling Adam that rebellion has put in a place where life would dominate him instead of him reigning in dominion over life. Struggle and strife would be his future from birth to death.
In the modern world, we might say that we have overcome this curse. Yet we see stress as one of the main killers in our society. Stress is the inward “sweat of his brow” instead of the outward. Many would say that the labor of stress is worse than physical labor.
The curse on creation is that it is now ruled by the devil. It takes on his nature. It becomes predatory and evil becomes the dominant force. Romans 8 tells us that the creation cries out under this curse waiting for the liberation that will come when man takes his rightful place once again. (Romans 8:19-22)
How can we live above this curse? Are we condemned by Adam’s rebellion? There is one way out. Romans chapter 5 tells the story of Adam’s rebellion and Christ’s submission. It reveals that his submission broke the power of the curse. The only requirement is that we now submit to Jesus as Lord and savior of our lives. When we do this, the curse is broken and we are free. (Galatians 3:13)
The more I cultivate Godly and healthy submission in my life, the less power the curse that came through rebellion has over me. Once again, I am not talking about blind obedience to anyone but God himself. I am talking about a heart attitude that says, “I am submitted to God through Jesus my Lord. I want to obey the authority God places over me. I respect authority and resist rebellion.” With this at work the curse has nothing to grasp and we will live in the blessing of God.
Leave a Reply