The serpant had (and represents throughout scripture) a carnal mind, a mind of the flesh (not spiritual); it challenges Gods commandment in ch 2 v 17 ('of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof “dying thou shalt die” '). Eve told the serpant the Truth, but the serpant replied that she would not die, but would know good and evil, like the Elohim (- it might have overheard the Elohim talking, who knows), but the point is the serpant sowed the seed of doubt and at that point Eve lost confidence in the power of faith to restrain her; the Truth had no effect, did not restrain her natural/ flesh desires (she saw it was good for food LUST OF FLESH, pleasant to the eyes LUST IF THE EYE and wanted to be wise like the Elohim PRIDE OF LIFE)! Up until that point, the law of sin and death had not yet entered into her, she was ‘very good’ but now she lacked a deep and earnest conviction of what God had said and what he meant, she was easily confused.
This great lie “ye shall not surely die” is still believed today! Dust thou art (man was created from the dust of the ground) and to dust thou shalt return (v 19) - there is no heaven going and no ‘immortal soul’! The serpant power (aka sins flesh, carnal mind) is totally destroyed at the end of the kingdom age when the earth will be filled with immortal beings manifesting Gods glory in the earth - end of Revelations. Christ however is the ‘first fruit’ of these immortal beings taken from Adam’s race, the ‘second Adam’, the true ‘seed of the woman’ who overcame sins flesh and is now with the Deity waiting to return to set up his kingdom on earth. But I digress…
When Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden tree, there was a change in their constitution; man became mortal and our bodies Subject to sin, disease and death. ‘Dying though shalt die’… dying is a process… in a sense, we are all born dying, we are all born with the same sins flesh and carnal minds inherited from Adam and Eve. Genesis ch3 contains the ‘Edenic covenant’, the ‘Christ-doctrine’ (see verses 14 onwards). Think seed of serpant = mortal man with carnal mind, subject to sin disease & death and opposed to following God’s commands; seed of woman = Christ. It’s a prophecy! In short:
Christ was to:
- Be born of Adam’s race (sins flesh)
- Be the seed of the woman AND the son of God (Deity)
- Be killed
- Rise from the dead
- Destroy the power that killed him.
‘The wages of sin is death’ but Christ did not commit sin and lived his entire life in obedience to God’s commands. The grave could not hold him and he rose after 3 days… there’s loads me to it, but hopefully that suffices for now.
The seed of the serpant v the seed of the woman is the theme throughout scripture and is the cause of all emnity between man and God. The seed of the serpant bruises the seed of the woman’s heel (not fatal), but the seed of the woman bruises the seed of the serpents head (fatal). Christ overcame the flesh by living a sinless life. Through him we all have the hope of salvation through forgiveness of sins if we live by faith and obey the commandments… so eventually we will reign with him ON EARTH (inherit the promises made to Abraham).
Verse 21 the Elohim made coats of skin as a covering for Adam and Eve. This is the first animal sacrifice in scripture - this is highly significant: the sacrificial lamb, ‘without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins’, the covering of the lamb… all things of Christ.
Verse 24 the Elohim guarded the tree of life with a flaming sword - deeper meaning - the way to the tree of life (immortal life) is through a flaming sword, the flame consuming fire, we must all pass through the refiners fire and face trials in life to shape our characters, life long trust in God and continual study of his word, prayer, meditation to develop the ‘fruits of the spirit’, help us overcome the flesh; the sword slays - death to the flesh, death to the carnal mind. Gods plan and purpose is to fill this earth with a multitude of immortal beings that manifest his glory in earth. Its all for His pleasure.
Note From Admin: Due to the depth and significance of this discussion, we have dedicated a separate thread to it. This post originated from a response in our daily Bible reading discussion on Genesis 3-4, which can be found here: Genesis 3-4: The Fall and Its Aftermath - Understanding Sin and Redemption