Posted on 12/13/2011 10:45:41 AM PST by pastorbillrandles
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.(Genesis 3:15)
In the judgment pronounced by the LORD upon the serpent, a mysterious prophecy comes to light concerning the course of human history and its eventual outcome. The “seed” of the woman would ever be in conflict with the “seed” of the serpent. The conflict would culminate in an individual “seed of the woman” who would crush the head of the serpent, but would greatly suffer doing so.
The identity of the seeds is twofold, both a corporate and an individual identity. Neither the woman or the serpent(Satan) have physical seed, therefore this is not a physical designation. There is no race of men who could identify as the “seed of the woman”, nor is there an accursed race who are the “seed of the serpent”. Physically speaking there is only one race, the human race.
Corporately speaking, the prophecy is about a spiritual and moral affinity. The seed of the serpent, consists of all of those who would abide in the same spirit of independent pride as Lucifer did when he asserted his own will and goals over those of the Most high. They will not agree with God that they are sinners, lost and in need of God’s forgiveness.
The seeds of the serpent refuse to acknowledge God, nor thank Him, much less admit their own helpless condition, nor the need to be saved by the God appointed substitute, Jesus Christ. Proudly they deny the need for salvation.
They always take the side of the serpent in the issues of their day, whether they actually believe in the Devil or not. Jesus rebuked Peter , saying he was like Satan, because he “savored the things which be of men and not of God”. Satan is a humanist, not a satanist, he savours the things that “be of men”, ie human autonomy, pride, independence from God.
The seed of the serpent alternate between the denial of God’s existence, or complaint about the concept of a “merciful God” in view of the perceived injustice of the world. They don’t hesitate to defy God’s revealed will, for they allow themselves no reverence for him.
They actually believe the serpent’s lie, considering themselves, or man in general to be “as gods”, able to define for himself right and wrong, good or evil, beauty and meaning, with no reference to the real God.
These are the God resisting “brood of vipers” that John the baptist railed against, the children of their (true) father, the devil, and who never fail to take the stand of their father, against the Most High.
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:(Matthew 3:7-8)
O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.(Matthew 12:34)
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.(John 8:44-45)
But the seed of the serpent is embodied also in an individual of whom history has provided many types and shadows, all pointing to an ultimate human expression of the enemy of mankind. When David faced goliath on the field of battle, what was he seeing and hearing? A nine foot man dressed in scaly armor (like a great dragon) taunting the people of God, ridiculing their faith, a beastly man, in the very character of Satan.
Nimrod, Caesar Nero, Hitler, Stalin, and in fact all deified kings and leaders serve as types and shadows of the final ,b>“seed of the serpent“, the very “son of perdition” set to oppose all that is called God or that s worshipped as God, until the Lord comes to “destroy Him with the spirit of his mouth and with the brightness of his coming…”.
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.( 2 Thess 2:3-4)
And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:( 2 Thess 2:8)
Who are the seed of the woman? They are all of those down through time who would stand with Adam and Eve on the ground of the promise, and who would patiently wait for the Lord to descend from heaven to save them and to undo the work of the serpent. They admit that they are helpless sinners in need of a God sent saviour.
They are those who humbly acknowledge that sin requires death, and yet they rely on the God appointed substitute. The seeds of the woman are pilgrims, who will have to endure persecution in view of the eternal prize, all the while expecting the final triumph of the Redeemer.
The ultimate individual ”Seed of the woman” is Jesus Christ, the one born of the virgin, or as Galatians 4 says,” born of a woman”. He it is who has already “crushed the serpent’s head” when he died on calvary, and made a way for the fallen sons and daughters of Adam to be reconciled to God, and born again.
The promise in Genesis looks past the fall of Adam and Eve, and even past the ongoing conflict between the two seeds, unto Calvary, where Jesus gained the triumph over the serpent. Ultimately it also includes events past Calvary, to the Parousia of Jesus, and the crushing of the anti-christ’s head and the worldwide revolt that he leads. This mysterious vision even encompasses the final and irreversible crushing of the serpent’s head when…
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Revelation 20:10)
Praise God for the Promise of His Return!! Amen!!!
AMEN!
You do know, pastor, that Romanism claims the woman is Mary, don’t you? who’s man child, according to Rev. 12, is Christ. Apparently, from what I gather, their interpretation of Rev. 12 lies at the root of their Mariolatry doctrine.
If you are right about the woman being a spiritual entity and not physical, then it would bring a great deal of clarification to the Mary issue. But, how can the woman be spiritual when we know that her “seed,” Christ, was certainly physical. I’d like to hear how you would handle this.
The woman is spiritual as we see in both Proverbs(31) and in Revelation (19). Revelation 12 has a woman clothed with Sun Moon and stars, which corresponds to Israel according to Joseph’s vision, of the Sun moon and stars bowing to him. A woman is a metaphor for a spiritual body, whether true or false, Harlot or Bride. The Serpent and his followers have always withstood Israel, and the church(ie the true people of God), that didn’t begin after Mary, it was from the beginning.
But I don’t deny that Mary was the specific human being chosen to bear the Jesus Christ in her womb. (a self confessed sinner in need of a saviour according to Luke1), It is blasphemous of the Catholics to say that Mary is the one who crushed the serpent’s head.
Just a little farther in Matthew 12, Jesus throws the whole Queen of Heaven, eternal virgin thing solidly under the bus:
46 While He was still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him. 47 Then one said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You.” 48 But He answered and said to the one who told Him, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” 49 And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”
And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.
Thanks, good scriptures. In other words, then, Rev. 12 has to do with Gen. 3:10, the great prophetic, and spiritual, conflict between the woman, the devil, and the two seeds, thus the emphasis wouldn’t be on Mary.
Sounds to me like the identity of the woman issue has more to do with Eve than Mary. Eve and the devil being the ones to whom the prophecy is addressed in Gen. 3, they thus become the paradigm “woman” and dragon/serpent for what we see in Rev. 12.
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