God Archives - Kuyperian Commentary

On March 20, 2015 By Uri Brito In Politics, Worship Like

Lent and the Serpent’s Curse

As we approach Holy Week and prepare ourselves to re-enter that brutal narrative of Jesus’ final days before death, I want to discuss one profound accomplishment of the cross of Jesus. Generally, discussions about the cross focus on the covering of sin Jesus provides in his sacrifice, but another element that should receive attention concerns the paralyzing blow that Jesus’ death has on the serpent, the Devil. The serpent is the root and symbol of deception. And so, the story of the Bible means the undoing of Satan’s deception to the world. This blow is given to us in Genesis 3.

Yahweh God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,

cursed are you above all livestock

and above all beasts of the field;

on your belly you shall go,

and dust you shall eat

all the days of your life.

The serpent was cunning above all, so he is cursed above all. To be cursed is to be banished or isolated.[1] This is why when God send his people into exile it is a form of curse. The meaning of Genesis 3 is that the serpent is now cut off from being a part of the cattle and the beasts of the field. He is separated from the animals.[2] In Leviticus 11, there is a description of clean and unclean animals, and among them are listed the creatures that break the boundary of a human life and invade a human house.[3] Anyone who touches these animals is considered unclean. Out of the eight mentioned, six are animals that move on their belly. The serpent became an unclean animal, precisely because it invaded the human house—the Garden—and made it unclean. This curse in the Torah is a reference to the deception of the serpent and consequently the curse that followed that deception.

Another element of the curse is that the serpent would “eat dust all the days of its life.” The author is not referring to dry dirt. The idea of “dust” expresses “the deepest form of degradation.”[4] This is the picture of humiliation. This is a curse, but for us this is a promise that the enemies of God will lick the dust, as Psalm 72 states.[5] It is also a promise of final victory over the devil. Our Messiah defeated the evil serpent at his death, but he will defeat the devil and his demons once and for all at the end of history.[6] The reason Lent is so important for us is because through death he destroyed the one who has the power of death (Heb. 2:14). The promise of the curse is the promise that at the death of our Lord—fulfilled many centuries later– we will witness by the success of the gospel the utter humiliation of the devil. In fact, we live in the age of the serpent’s humiliation. Death, resurrection, and ascension sealed the fate of the evil serpent. In this curse the progress of the gospel implies the enemies of Yahweh licking the dust just like their father, the devil.

Verse 15 forms the famous proto-euangelion passage; the first gospel. This is an expansion on the curse of verse 14 detailing the way in which the serpent will be destroyed.[7]

I will put enmity between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and her offspring;

he shall bruise your head,

and you shall bruise his heel.”

Think for a moment that throughout this curse, the tempter is absolutely silent. There are no smart retorts; no subtle attempt to trick Yahweh; simply silence. And the separation God puts into place is this antagonism between Lucifer and humanity, to prevent humanity from blindly following Satan to destruction.[8]

The implication here is that the serpent has offspring who will war with the offspring of the woman.

Then we come to the final element of this curse, which seals the future of the serpent. As the serpent quietly sits listening to the curse he hears that his head will be crushed. The Book of Judges brings this theme to the forefront when it lists several examples of enemies of the gospel whose heads were crushed. You may remember most notably Jael crushing Sisera’s head with a tent peg (Judges 5:24-27). This is all, of course, a little reminder that the promise of Genesis 3:15 is alive and well. Again, not the precious moment imagery if we were expecting a sanitary Bible. The Bible is extremely violent. Yahweh does not allow his justice to go unanswered. He destroys and brings justice far as the curse is found. The devil has received this temporary blow at the death of Jesus. Lent culminates in the seed of the woman crushing the head of the serpent at the cross (Rom. 16:20). This curse on the serpent signifies blessings for God’s people.

[1] Trees and Thorns. JBJ. See also Cassuto’s comments on this text. The nature of exile can also be added to this concept. Exile is a form of death. The Israelites died in the wilderness both physically and spiritually, since they lived exilically.

[2] E.J. Young. 97

[3] The implications of this text are many. The unclean/clean motif is remarkably potent in the Bible.

[4] E.J. Young.

[5] Verses 8-9 -May he have dominion from sea to sea,

and from the River to the ends of the earth!

May desert tribes bow down before him,

and his enemies lick the dust!

(Psalm 72:8-9 ESV)

[6] See Revelation’s description.

[7] I have preached an entire sermon on this verse.

[8] Trees and Thorns.

On August 8, 2013 By Peter Jones In Family and Children Like

Are You Raising Fat-Souled Children? Part I

I am not sure where I picked up the idea of fat-souled children. It could have been Angels in the Architecture. It may have been an article in one of the obscure periodicals I read. But the image has stuck with me. Just to clarify, the image in my mind is not some fat, lazy, bum living in his mother’s basement playing Halo. The image in my mind is one of contentedness and delight: My father napping in his easy chair after Thanksgiving dinner. My wife and I slipping into bed tired, but content after a hard day’s work. Sipping beer on the back deck after chopping fire wood. Finishing a large project. Spending the Lord’s Day with God’s people. Reading Beowulf in the dead of winter. These are a few of the images that come to my mind when I think of fat souls. My next two articles list ways I think we can raise fat-souled children, children who are content, who take joy in all God has done, who are not petty and dour.

The opposite of fat-souled would be lean, gaunt, under nourished, dying. When people see me do they see a soul overflowing with God’s goodness? Or do they see a dead withered tree that has no sap and no fruit? Many Christians have entered into the abundant life our Lord speaks of and yet their souls are barren, dead, joyless places. With this list I hope to give us and our children a path out of that type of life and into a place of fatness.

There are some points to make before I get to the list.

First, you cannot have fat-souled children if you are not growing a fat soul yourself. A fat-souled person loves God, delights in God, and delights in the world God has made and the people he has put here. If you are not working to become that type of person then your children will not look like that either. All instruction concerning children begins with “parent teach thyself.” This one is no exception.

Second, these are not instructions for making a machine that churns out fat-souled children. In other words, it is possible to do many of these things and still not have fat-souled children. We can take these things and use them to beat our children, go through the motions or do these things without love and joy. As in all of life, there are no automatics. But the things I list below, done in faith and love for God and neighbor, can help your children not have withered souls.

Third, I am not an expert at most of these things. Some I do better than others. Some I am still terrible at. Some I am learning to do better. I fall short of this many days and my children do as well. I make no claim to mastery of these points. The list is a sermon to myself and a target to aim at.

So without further ado, on to the list. The first four are the most important. After that I just put them down as they came to my mind.

Pray that God would make your children fat-souled. Pray that they would not be petty or shallow or self-absorbed. It is true that God alone works on the heart, thus prayer is essential.
Teach your children they are sinners. Then teach them that all of their sins are forgiven in Christ. Nothing, absolutely nothing, frees the soul like Jesus. Nothing frees the mind from anxiety like God’s goodness shown to us at the cross. Without Jesus our souls are lean indeed.
Teach your children about God’s character. Tell them about his holiness, his wrath, his mercy, his providence, his kindness, his chastening rod, etc. Teach them through the study of Scripture, but also teach them through your life.
Teach your children to worship with joy and gladness of heart. This includes the private worship of reading the Scriptures and prayer. But I am especially talking about corporate worship. Fat-souled children need worship that feeds them. They need to know they are meeting with God and his people every Sunday. They need to know that they were made to bow before God.
Teach your children to enjoy hard work. Hard work makes us fat-souled. Both blisters on our hands from raking leaves and weariness of mind from doing research can help make fat souls. Do hard work together. Your children should learn to work by themselves. But they should also learn to work as a family. Build something together. Make a meal together for someone who needs it. Improve your house by laboring together on a project. Even if the little ones cannot help much let them participate where they can. Make your home a place of productivity and not just consumption.
Teach your children to love all types of people. Show them how to love babies and the elderly and everyone in between. Teach them how to love the quirks in their brothers and sister and to delight in the differences between families. Look that family loves to play the accordion. That man wears his ties too short every Sunday. Too often we disdain differences instead of rejoicing in them. Find ways to help your children meet other nationalities and people from other areas of the country (except California :-)). There are wicked people out there. There are stupid people out there. But do not raise your children to be suspicious of everyone they meet or to be uncomfortable around different people. Teach your children that people are fascinating. And that means you, as the parent, must delight and rejoice in your child’s quirks. You must find them fascinating.

To be continued…<>