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.
But now because of their insubordination, certain conditions would prevail on Earth. Sin would have definite effects. The curses that would result were not, as someone said, proscriptive (condemnatory and prohibitive), or descriptive, but rather prescriptive (to set down a guide, or rule; to enjoin). These curses were redemptivediscipline[s] rendered needful by [man's] sin, to place a check upon the indulgence of appetite and passion, to develop habits of self-control ( Patriarchs and Prophets , p. 60).
The curses were not so much punishment as helps in dealing with this horrible problem called sin, and they will continue until the problem of sin is swallowed up in victory.
Picking up at Genesis 3, verses 16-19, we read: Unto the woman He said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband , and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam He said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
These prescriptions were for their good! The value of their personhood was not destroyed by these prescriptions! Oh, no! When a doctor prescribes exercise therapy to reduce risk of heart disease, one is not denigrated! The doctor knows that if a person goes out walking, rain or shine, heat or cold, building up little by little, that one's heart muscle is strengthened, one's circulation is improved, one's cholesterol is affected. Personhood is not affected by prescription.
With prescriptions come guidelines, not condemnation; hope, not a shaking of the finger. Submission to Another's careful leadership and loving authority was not to be negative but to be pleasant and helpful; subordination to work and toil was to give useful occupation and be redemptive, too.
But these guidelines were only one part of the prescription. The biggest part came in the curse on the serpent in verse 15.
Here was a promise: a Seed would bruise the head of that old serpent! Here, through the Seed, was a promise of inherent hatred of the evil they had so naïvely embraced. There would be bruising along the way. The snake would be free to bite. But it would not be terminal. Their promise of certain death would not be forever. Death would lose its sting. Yes, there would be lots of pain resulting from this enmity between forces. But in the end this Seed would win out.
Every mother thinks that her own little baby is the most precious thing there is! Every mother wants only the best for her child. As we look at the sweet, sleeping baby (they always seem the most promising when they are asleep!), we hope for success, greatness, nobleness. We visualize all the best qualities. But in Old Testament times, mothers in Israel had a secret hope passed down from mother to daughter. Someday, somewhere, would come this special Seed. Maybe I will be that mother. Just maybe my own darling Cain, or Joseph, Moses, or Solomon is seed, the Seed.
Oh, there were many more prophecies along the way of Who this Seed would be, and what He would do, how one could identify Him. Unfortunately, the longing ones read their own oppression into the promises, and their desire for liberation became the object of their deliverance. They longed not so much for repentance, change, and a putting away of this sin, but more for a release from oppression.
In their minds the coming One was to be beautiful. He was to be powerful. He was to conquer and right all the earth, make Israel what it always was meant to be. He would put down all those foreign powers, let the oppressed go free (there were so many inequities, you know; Israel was a servant nation, there were so many oppressions, so many taxes.) The Messiah was to liberate . And scholars had everything documented to prove just when and how Seed would come to liberate. But Israel waited, and waited, and waited.
Many a mother hoped her little one was Seed, but the little ones would turn out to be a murderer (like Cain or Moses), or a pervert (like Samson), or would apostatize (like Solomon). Hope grew dim, real dim. People had their expectations raised about imminence too often. Maybe Seed would come, maybe not.
Meanwhile God was working exactly on schedule. Here is no hastening or delay. God had always had His remnant. The remnant functioned to keep hope alive, not so much among the intelligentsia but among common people like shepherds, devout old saints hanging around the Temple, and even a few foreigners who did not have the privilege of proper Biblical methodology.
At the same time God was searching for someone to be Seed's mother. God was looking for a woman with a special character for a priceless mission. She would be the one to have to safeguard those early times when The Almighty, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace would not be accountable. She with the coaching of angels would do the early training. She would teach the Child. God needed somebody who would be willing to be humble, gentle, submissive, loving, nurturing, but yet wisely hold firm reign on a child's developing conscience. Every mother can have the privilege of shaping a child's character for society and eternity, but no other human being would ever have the opportunity or responsibility of caring for God Himself.
We do not know about the search process. We do know that God's very envoy arrives not in Jerusalem, but in a northern town, Nazareth, at a pitifully poor dwelling, and finds a young girl busy about her work. When told of her calling, she is amazed. But what is her response? Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word (Luke 1:38)!
God found a servant! Someone fully submissive to His will. Willing to be nothing, to be all He wants. Willing to do nothing or everything at His bidding! Her only objection? But I'm not even married! When the envoy assures her that God has His Own ways and means, it is enough. He doesn't have to make sense because God's ways are higher than our ways. His ways are past finding out. The angel had said, With God nothing is impossiblea direct reference back to Sarah and her dubiousness.
We used to call it blind faith. A faith that believes even though we don't understand. A faith that sometimes is vindicated, sometimes not. A faith that is willing to submit to the naked Wordand even die for it when the rest of the world is against you.
Hebrews 11:1Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Contrast Mary's humble response to Eve's basic unbelief. God had instructed, but Eve hadn't believed. She hadn't taken Him at His word. He said that, but He really means this, she mused. Surely God won't mind if I just have one little bite!
Another thing about Eve. She was very intelligent. She rather liked theological discussions, and this talking serpent had such fascinating perspectives. Granted, they didn't match what God said, but . . . there was a note of intrigue there.
She could go up?
She could be like Goda goddess? Just by eating one little bite?
Was God keeping something from her?
Was she really capable of something a bit more than assigned her? This subordinate business, how demeaning! Freedom from oppression! Freedom to mount up!
Ooooo, this serpent was so fascinating. She lingered. She toyed with the ideas. Eve lived in a perfect world. Adam certainly wasn't abusing her. Though in creation order he was formed first to be the head of our race, he was a loving servant-leader, the way Jesus enjoins leaders to be. God's hierarchy is transparent because leaders, or heads, if you will, are so loving that they look out for others before themselves. Sin has introduced a me first competitive edge that pushes one's own agenda no matter how others feel. But in Mark 10:43, 44, Jesus said, Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant. And whoever wants to be greatest of all must be the slave of all.
Adam and Eve, created in God's image, were two parts of a giving organism. Adam, as servant-leader bore responsibility by giving of everything he had and was. Eve responded by cooperating with her whole hearta perfect harmony. ( Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 58.) There was no struggle, no upmanship. Only genuine love.
So Adam wasn't abusing her and angels weren't discriminating against her, yet somehow that fallen angel had infected her with the fatal virus, covetousness.
This fallen angel had lived in a perfect world too. And that perfect world had a hierarchy, believe it or not. Within the Godhead there are different roles, yet all are equal. In God's creation order there are archangels, seraphim, cherubim; yet even with this organizational principle, each of these roles, or spheres (to use an old-fashioned term) is immensely valued and loved. Here was an equality of soul-worth, yet a difference of sphere .
Lucifer didn't like it. Actually, it wasn't so much that he objected to hierarchy; he objected to being subordinate. He wanted to be like the Most High. Yes, Lucifer through the talking snake had infected Eve with this same dissatisfaction. No matter that God's creation order brought harmony and joy and ease of relationship: Lucifer implied that it was demeaning.
Eve should not have listened. Her safety could only come by implicitly trusting God's spoken word. All the lessons which God has caused to be placed on record in His Word are for our warning and instruction. They are given to save us from deception. Their neglect will result in ruin to ourselves. Whatever contradicts God's Word, we may be sure proceeds from Satan ( Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 55).
Jesus' testimony through the prophet of the remnant revealed that there are restless modern Eves who are infected with the same fallacy. Listen to what Jesus has told us in Testimonies, volume 3, page 483: [Eve] was perfectly happy in her Eden home by her husband's side; but, like restless modern Eves, she was flattered that there was a higher sphere than that which God had assigned her. But in attempting to climb higher than her original position, she fell far below it. This will most assuredly be the result with the Eves of the present generation if they neglect to cheerfully take up their daily life duties in accordance with God's plan .
Just what was God's plan? The prophet continues in Patriarchs and Prophets, page 59: In their efforts to reach positions for which He has not fitted them, many are leaving vacant the place where they might be a blessing. In their desire for a higher sphere, many have sacrificed true womanly dignity and nobility of character, and have left undone the very work that Heaven appointed them.
The restless modern Eves, to use her terminology, have much more to complain about than Eve and Lucifer did. Both of them lived in the middle of God's perfect world and plan.
Nowadays we women have every reason to be enraged at men. Men rape us, men abuse us, men discriminate against us. The prescription has become almost unbearably heavy on account of sin. Man's abuse of the supremacy thus given him has too often rendered the lot of woman very bitter and made her life a burden ( Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 59). Most definitely, reforms are needed in society and in the church. But how are reforms effected? From the outside going in, or in the inside going out?
After nearly six thousand years of sin, genuine oppressions and inequities have dominated society. But the Eves of today do not want to go back to God's plan. They have adopted Lucifer's discontent with roles and spheres , and look for a utopia of equal opportunity and equal humanness.
Women's Rights, albeit Women's Liberation, and now Feminism have all done their part to engender women's pride. Many areas have needed reform. But reforms need to be based on the Bible and encourage God's plan. While I have no personal vendetta against some fine women and men who espouse feminism, I have serious objections to its teachings.
I cringe at the naïveté of us as a people facing this invasive feminist ideology. Feminism is not out to just right injustices or to get men to quit hitting their wives; feminism is successfully restructuring society and is in the process of reconstructing Christianity, not to mention Adventism. The worldview has been irrevocably changed. Society is not going back, and our church is at the crossroads.
What are some of feminism's objectives over and against the Bible? I will have to be brief here. If some of you want to take a hard look at what is really happening, I would recommend a book by Mary Kassian, The Feminist Gospel: The Movement to Unite Feminism With the Church . i |