The Judgment

Because of Adam and Eve’s sin against Yahweh, they lost the ability to dwell in His presence and to live eternally and rule and subdue in His name. The main judgment that they received was being removed from the garden (Gen. 3:22-24), which basically meant being removed from Yahweh’s presence. Yahweh did not remove them because He no longer cared for them but because sin cannot dwell in His presence. Yahweh’s glorious righteousness is so great that it would consume and eradicate the sinner who steps into His presence (Ex. 33:18-22; 34:29-35). So it was because He loved them that He removed them from His presence. And it was because He loved them that He would later send His Son as a ransom so that all of mankind could receive Christ’s righteousness and enter back into the presence of Yahweh.

Specifically to Adam, Yahweh declared that the land would no longer produce food freely for him. Life would now be sustained through pain (Gen. 3:17). To Eve Yahweh declared that her pain in childbirth would be increased (Gen. 3:16a). Life would now come into the world through great pain. Because they were now disconnected from the true Life, they would now experience pain throughout their lives.

Second, Yahweh stated that the woman would now seek to seize Adam’s headship and that Adam would abuse his headship (Gen. 3:16b). Because their relationship with Yahweh was now severed, their relationship with each other would be in conflict.

Third, the offspring of Eve would be in conflict with the offspring of the serpent (Gen. 3:15). It has been commonly understood that this is a prophecy concerning Christ; however, the grammar will not allow for this interpretation. In the Hebrew, the word for offspring, concerning both Eve and the serpent, is plural, meaning “many descendants throughout time.” Jesus was only one offspring of Eve’s, not many. Likewise, Satan, represented by the serpent, did not have any offspring. Satan here is the same Satan that Jesus defeated at the cross, not an offspring of the serpent. Also, the same Hebrew word is used for the man “crushing” the head of the serpent and the serpent “crushing” the heel of the man, which would bring death if the snake were poisonous. (Please keep reading even if you do not like what I am saying.)

The point here is that humanity throughout time would be in constant conflict with serpents. Not only did this serve as a reminder of Adam and Eve’s surrendering to the serpent in the garden but also of what was lost due to this fall. It is symbolic of the fact that humanity has lost its rulership over creation and is now in conflict with it. Because Adam and Eve did not subdue and crush the head of the evil that entered their kingdom, they are now doomed to be in conflict with the creation that they were supposed to be subduing in Yahweh’s name. (Please keep reading.)

My point is not to say that Jesus did not defeat Satan at the cross, but that this is a judgment against Adam and Eve, which they would not have understood as prophecy or hope. However, Christ is the one who comes thousands of years later to bring an end to this conflict. (Please keep reading.)

But wait! There is hope and a foreshadowing of Christ in this chapter! Yahweh demonstrated His love for Adam and Eve and His desire to redeem them and their offspring by sacrificing an animal for their sins (Gen. 3:21). The point here is not that animal skins are a better covering than fig leaves but that the blood (something dying in their place) covers their sin. This is the first, and a better, foreshadowing of Christ to come, for it teaches that the only way back to Yahweh is through a blood sacrifice. And this is what the overwhelming majority of the prophecies of the Bible focus on, not the defeat of Satan. While the defeat of Satan is in the Bible, the focus is not on Him but on Christ in the Biblical prophecies. This prophecy will be developed more in Gen. 5 (see the Adam’s Line page), in Gen. 49, and many more. I will develop these throughout the timeline. (Now wasn’t that worth reading?)