Sermons
Vander Kam on Genesis 3:15
Sermons
Vander Kam on Genesis 3:15Genesis 3:15 – "'And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.'" (New American
Standard Bible)
Beloved in the Lord: we are indeed very fortunate that we have the Bible, and that we have had the Bible since infancy. So that there is really no time in our lives that we are able to say that we did not know what the truth of God was. Because we have always had it, and we have been brought up with these things and thus we have also known them and we have known them for their truth. Time magazine came out two weeks ago and came to the conclusion that many of the stories of the Bible are not true. There never was a Moses, never was an Abraham, and so you can go on and on. They have finally discovered that there may have been a king David, but nevertheless many of the others are not true.
That does not bother me in the least, what Time magazine says regarding that, because the Word says that it is true. And archaeology is not to bolster my view of the truth of God; no, that truth is there, and archaeology is very interesting that it may also be used by Him, but nevertheless it is not necessary to bolster the truth, cause all the truth is here. And we are to realize beloved, that it is also a great advantage that we have, that we have the book of Genesis, that is, the book of beginnings; that's what Genesis means, you know, beginnings.
It is very difficult otherwise to stand in the year 1995 and now begin to wonder how did all things come into being the way they are today? But with the book of Genesis in your hand, then you are able to see this, and then you are able to have a good picture of all that has been given us. And these things are so important, young people, that you must never take that for granted. But you must always realize how greatly our God has benefited us in giving us this knowledge, so that we cannot come to a conclusion regarding the origin of all things, except that you take the book of Genesis in your hand, and then it is very clear. Can you still believe in creationism? Can you still believe in this, that He made the first animals and the first men? Can you still believe that He made all things and that He made them according to the pattern that He Himself has set? And can you also believe that He also tells us how evil came into the world, the beginnings of evil? That is here in chapter 3. We're not very far into Genesis yet. The first chapter dealt only with the beginnings, that is, with creation. The second chapter dealt with that creation some more and also with the beginning of marriage. And now already in chapter 3, the beginning of sin. And how pervasive that sin has become, that that sin is now everywhere. And this is the thing, the background against which we are also to celebrate Christmas.
We are to celebrate the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh against this background. Because, you know, there are so many who have said, and they said to me not long ago in Holland, when I studied there; that really, Genesis has nothing to do with the Christ. So that, if you don't believe the first eleven chapters of Genesis that really doesn't hurt, because it has nothing to do with the Christ. And here we find that it has everything to do with Him, that He is come in order to overturn; Genesis 3. That is the purpose, and had we not had Genesis 3, we would not have had the cross of Christ; it wouldn't have been necessary. But now of course, that is the one and only thing that is going to be able to rescue us, that cross of Jesus Christ, the only way to rescue from the awful effects of Genesis 3. That is the way the Bible is given to us.
You are to realize that here we have already Gospel. Because as you know these things are told of in many chapters, but he doesn't wait until the fiftieth, but it is already in the third where sin has come into the world. Now there is also already the Gospel. They can't do without that, they need that, that is an absolute requirement. And as a result of that He has immediately given them this, that there is that Gospel.
But notice; that He has set here; and I want you to get this straight; He has set here in the midst of the Gospel, enmity. That's not what we mean by the Gospel. What we mean by the Gospel is love; enmity is the opposite, what we call the antithesis, the one standing over against the other. That's what you find now from the beginning in Genesis. While the world of the present time, the thinking world, is guided by synthesis; putting everything together. Antithesis says, what the Lord has separated, don't you put together. And that is the way in which He preaches the Gospel in Paradise.
We speak to you then on: The Gospel in Paradise. And noticing in the first place, its demand; secondly, its development; and finally, its content.
Now the demand that is there beloved, is already very clear that they have already missed, and mistaken in so much. See, they were given a place in the Garden of Eden, so that they were to dress it and to till it. They were to take care of it. That meant that they were to prune, that they were to sow, that they were to do all the things necessary for the plant life, for the animal life, all these things, they had to be taken care of there in Paradise, in that Garden of Eden.
But above all, they had to see to it that there was no foreign element that would enter in, and they didn't. They did not guard it. Because now suddenly you find that Satan comes, and they have allowed him in. They are not keeping it, they are not guarding it, they are not doing their duty, and thereby opens up to them all of the terrible situations that can ever develop. And that is the demand upon them, that they are going to safeguard themselves, that they are going to safeguard that garden. Nothing is safe where the footprints come of the evil one. He has in mind only one thing, and that is, destruction. Destruction in Eden! C'mon now! That may not be, they may not have him there, they should have kept him out. How? They had the weapons for it, they were blameless, they were sinless, they had the weapons. But no, they have allowed this to take place so that now they have also put themselves in jeopardy.
They have put themselves in jeopardy because of the fact that they are now going to become the objects of his temptation. And he is going to tempt them, and tempt them in such a way so that they'll never remain standing. They are no match for the evil one. And he comes to them and says to them immediately, "Has God said?" He immediately puts a question mark there, "Did He really?" And then when they say that He has, and add a little bit to it, that he said, "You will not surely die." "I will tell you the very opposite of what God has said. Because I don't believe Him; because the opposite is true. It is this, that God knows that if you will do this, if you will eat of this tree, you will be as God, knowing good and evil. You will be like He is."
Perfection wasn't enough for them. No, they wanted more; they needed more. They thought that then only would their eyes be opened and then would they have all the things that anybody could ever wish for. And consequently beloved, here there is this enmity that He places. "Now I will put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed." It is now going to become a history of enmity, that is, of hostility, of rancor, the one not getting along with the other. While there should be, in all relationships, except that between the man and the evil one; there should be no relationship at all; but in all others there should be a love relationship. That's what He had laid down at the beginning, and that is already overturned. "And I will put enmity there." And you see to it that that enmity continues because as soon as that enmity is lifted, you're going to die. As soon as you are able to get along with the evil one, then, of course, you are going to die.
So that now they are put in this kind of a situation, that they will have to strive against the evil one and all that he sows. They will have to strive against all that he does, will have to strive against it with might and main. And there will be no synthesis; can't be. God has separated; let's let them not put it together.
We see such strange things that have developed over the years where people put things together that don't belong together at all. "No," He says, "I have put enmity there," and they should acknowledge it, they should recognize it, they should realize that that is something that is permanent. That it is going to stay because this is going to go on, it is going to be a whole history. It is not one sin and that is the end of it, it is not a sin of the one individual and that is the end of it; no, it is going to go on and on and on, it is going to go on unto the last breath of the last man that gives up his life. For all the thousands of years that the world may yet stand; there is nobody that is going to escape it and the only way in which you are going to be able to maintain yourself is this, that you are going to beat that enmity.
And what an awful thing to keep, enmity. See to it that there is that hostility, see to it that there is that kind of a hostile environment, see to it that there is that kind of rancor; and otherwise you'll never make it, never make it. That is the Gospel in Paradise. He lays down the rules and He lays them down very sharply, He defines them very sharply. Later on, well, then these things will have to be shown further as to how it is to go in the Jewish religion and all these things. But first of all, for all men, all the lines are going to be drawn sharply, so that there's no doubt about it whatsoever as to what He has in mind, and what they will have to do in order to maintain themselves in this world.
You are here at that watershed. They have just come out of that perfect situation, perfect life, and now, all of a sudden; they have cast themselves into the arms of the evil one. And now, when you are in his arms, now you have to remember, "I have put enmity; I have put it there." And seeing that I have put it there, nobody is going to get rid of it. And you have to see to it that you follow up on it. That is the demand. And that demand comes to every man, woman and child throughout all the ages. It came to Adam and Eve, and it came to them very clearly, and in such a way so that it was unmistakable. They had to realize that they would not be able to be friends with the evil one. "I will put enmity."
See, there are things where the more hostility there is, the better. The hostility toward evil, the hostility toward the evil one, the hostility toward the world; all these things. Someone wrote in The Banner only a short time ago, "Did we go too far again in 1951, when we said OK to ever so many of the things that we have said were not all right in 1928?" Hmmmm! He said, "Well, you can't get along with it; if you give in a little bit here, a little bit there; ah, after all, you've got to live here." We know that too. You've got to make your living here; and yet He says, "I have put enmity!" And that is going to make life quite different from anything that you have known before; quite different. It is going to be so different, so that it is changed principially. The principle of life has been turned around, it is no longer what it was, but it is now one of enmity. And that's the Gospel in Paradise, that is the demand that He places upon us. And that demand goes on throughout the ages.
And secondly, notice also the development. For it is not something beloved, that is going to end with that particular generation, but there is a development that is going to go on so that there is going to be a history of man. There's going to be a history of this world, there's going to be a history of the people of God, and there's going to be a history of the people who know not God. There is going to be a time that is going to go on and nobody knows the extent of that time; we don't even know that yet today. And Christ says, "Even the Son doesn't know, but the Father has kept that to Himself." As to the time when He is going to return, when He is going to call a halt to all time.
See, there are these important issues that you get in the beginning. "I will put enmity there!" Then you have the Christ who says, "It is finished!" And you have that angel that cries out at the last day with one foot on the seas and one foot in the sun and he cries out, "It is done, it is done, everything is done!" But there is a huge expanse between them. Now that is what the Gospel in Paradise is for. To show to the people of all that time, how they are to conduct themselves. And they are to conduct themselves in such a way so that they will realize that He has put enmity there. And that He has put it there to such an extent that they will never be able to get rid of it. There is no League of Nations or United Nations or any other group that is ever going to be able to take it away. No, that enmity is there and it is going to stay. And that is the only way in which the human race is going to remain in being.
If it didn't, if that enmity were taken away, then they would be swallowed up of the evil one, completely swallowed up, there would be nothing left. Then the church of Jesus Christ would have been past tense, no longer here, but something of the past.
But He has seen to it that He has put enmity there. And what is that going to do? It is going to do this, that he is going to bruise your heel, that is the seed of the woman's heel. And notice, and this is important from the exegesis of the text; "In the dust," He says, "you shall move from now on." Whether before that, that was a different situation, we don't know, that doesn't make any difference with this either. "But from now on you are going to move in the dust, you're going to crawl in the dust." That's where his head is; but that's where the heel of the seed of the woman is too. And he is able to strike that heel, not able to strike the head, but is able to strike the heel, and he does; and that hurts. And that is poisonous. And she has to get rid of that poison, and if she doesn't, then it might prove fatal. And therefore, be careful! That is the Gospel in Paradise.
To give adequate warning to the seed of the woman, that he is going to strike at the heel of the seed of the woman. That serpent, and she is to be afraid of it as she would of snakes. That is the exegesis. But at the same time, though it strikes her heel, the seed of the woman's heel, the heel of the seed of the woman is in the dust, where the head of the serpent is, and that heel crushes the head of the serpent. You notice that it is a total mismatch. The serpent is not able to strike the head of the seed of the woman; that is logistically an impossibility. It is crawling in the dust; it can't reach the head. But it reaches its heel, and strikes it. But that woman's seed, that heel is in the dust where that serpent's head is, and when it moves that heel, it crushes the head of the serpent. And that's it, that's it.
A heel wound need not be fatal, even though poisonous it might not be fatal. A head wound of that nature, that it is crushed, is fatal. That's the end of it. Now that is the situation, and that is the way in which it is all going to be developed. That is the development of it, that is the development that is going to come so that there is no doubt about it but that the victory is going to belong to the woman's seed.
Now that victory, beloved, is going to be given to her in such a way so that it is going to be unmistakably clear. And that is going to repeat itself again and again through the history of the Jews, is going to repeat itself again and again through the history of the church. When there you see the one after the other, that striking of the heel of the seed of the woman, but at the same time the crushing of the head of the serpent.
And this has gone on throughout the ages. Yah, it can't go otherwise! Because, "I have put that enmity there." And that woman's seed does not look around to see whether see can miss the head of that serpent. No! She does it on purpose. And that serpent does not see whether there is something else to strike. No! It does it on purpose. He seeks to strike the heel of the woman's seed. That is the development. So it goes on through the ages. And that is the Gospel, Gospel in Paradise.
Now there are many who have, theologians too, who have concluded that this is nice, a nice verse right in the midst of all of that difficulty; but when finally God meets up with them, He says, "Now what have you done?" And all kinds of excuses. And then it is nice that you have this. But is this really of so great importance? He thought so!
Then notice finally also the victory. The victory that is given to them." And that victory, beloved, is ever so clear. What is the content of it? The content is ever so clear to Eve. She knows that she is going to be victor. It doesn't look very promising at that time. No, there is nothing promising about it, not until God comes and speaks to it directly Himself. Speaks to that issue that has now developed, where she has given heed to the serpent himself, and has listened to him, and now you wonder, is there any good that can come out of this? Is there anything on which she is still able to stand? Then she realizes that in this, everything has still been given to us. That is the Gospel; you recognize it as such.
The church of Jesus Christ of all the ages has also so recognized it. The early church recognized it, the Jewish nation recognized it; that there was nothing else but this, that there already in Paradise He had laid down the rules. He had laid down the lines that were not to be erased. So that is, "I will put enmity there." As long as that enmity will stand, then there is room for God's people. Then there is room for the church of Christ. And as soon as that enmity disappears, then there won't be room for the church; none at all. Then the church will be wiped out. Because then she has not done those things to which she was called. But that it was Gospel; was so crystal clear in the mind of Eve and in the mind of Adam, that now they again take heart. Because He is going to crush the serpent's head, He is going to win. There's no other way out. He is going to crush that serpent's head. That serpent looks so strong at this time, and it looks as though he has everything under control; he has even caused man in that state of perfection to fall; and he saw him fall. He's going to fall by the very simple task, of God's putting enmity between the two. And just so they don't try to get rid of that, and try to be wiser than God, and think that it would be so much nicer if it would be a love relationship. No, as soon as it becomes that, then they are lost. And there is no room for God's people, and the world is a closed book. And Satan has all things under his control.
These are the things that go on throughout the Bible, and it is the one passage after the other that again refers to it. That refers to it in one way or the other, and that finally comes to its climax in Revelation 12, where that great red dragon stands before the woman that is about to be delivered of the man child; and there, finally, is found to be the church in her glory, and that church wins. That's Christmas; there it is again. He had spoken the words already four thousand years earlier. He takes care of His people. He takes care of them throughout all that desert journey, of those four thousand years. And then Jesus comes, and then He is gone, and He dies, and He rises again. And there, there is a clear indication; the serpent's head has been crushed; not bruised. Notice how he puts it; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel. But that bruising of the head is a crusher. That is a crushing because all the weight of the body rests upon that heel, and is crushed into the dust.
That is the labor, and the warfare of the church of Christ. From Paradise to the present, and unto the end of time. And if she doesn't war that warfare, there is no hope. God has said from the beginning that enmity was to be there, people. And if that enmity is wanting, then you will have no place. Then you have thereby forfeited your life. You have to keep that enmity high between you and the evil one. Amen.
We give Thee thanks, heavenly Father, for the grace and mercy Thou hast bestowed. For Thy love and for Thy faithfulness which Thou hast granted us. We thank Thee for the glorious Gospel of salvation Thou hast revealed to us. We pray Lord God, wilt Thou apply it unto our hearts and lives. Grant us Thy blessings further, be near us and uphold us, bring us together in the morning, so that we may then also rejoice in the birth of our Savior. Hear us Father, in mercy, for we ask it in Jesus' Name. Amen.
Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Information What's New Our Beliefs Sermons Literature U.R. Churches Classis Michigan Links Search Feedback Home