Genesis 3:14–24

Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself. Slowly and carefully read the passages of Scripture.

1.         Yahweh Elohim spoke to the serpent, indwelled as it was by Satan itself, and pronounced a “curse” upon it, which would be dramatized by having to crawl on “your belly.”

2.         Furthermore, and most importantly, there will be a prolonged and cosmic spiritual warfare between Satan’s offspring (the demonic kingdom) and the woman’s offspring (Christ and His Church).

3.         Indeed, the offspring (or seed) of the woman would deliver a death blow to it’s offspring while Satan’s offspring is only able to bruise the heel of the woman’s offspring.

4.         Here is the first revelation of what is called, in Latin, the protoevangelium, the first mention of the Gospel, which is the defeat of sin and Satan by means of the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus the Messiah.

5.         The breaking of the first and only commandment would also result in a disturbance in the relationship between husbands and wives.

6.         In addition, life would from then on be lived not in a paradise, but in a world full of misery and woe. Surviving would be no easy task

7.         A second looking forward to the work of Jesus on the cross in the passage is prefigured by Yahweh Elohim making coverings of the hides of animals for Adam and Eve (the name Eve means “life giver”).

8.         Sadly now, Adam and Eve are driven away from the paradise originally intended for them. The way to the tree of life is now barred.