The Serpent's Sentence
A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 21, 1890,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because you have done this,
you are cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field.
Upon your belly shall you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of
your life: and I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between
your seed and her Seed; it shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise
His heel." Genesis 3:14,15.
SOME master in Israel who wanted to help the memories of his hearers
has said that the three things to be preached above everything else are
the three R's–Ruin, Redemption and Regeneration. He spoke wisely and
well. How will men seek salvation if they do not feel their ruin? Where
is there salvation except in the atoning blood? What is salvation but
being created anew unto holiness? It is a noteworthy fact that, in Holy
Scripture there are three third chapters which deal with these things
in the fullest manner. The third of Genesis reveals Ruin. The third of
Romans teaches Redemption. The third of John sets forth Regeneration.
Will our young friends be so good as to read those chapters through
with care, at home? It is also worthy of mention that not only do each
of these chapters teach its own R, but that it also teaches the other
two R's. In this third of Genesis we have not only Ruin, but we have
the Redeemer in "the Seed of the woman," and we have Regeneration in
the expression, "I will put enmity between you and the woman." God's
regenerating power creates a hatred of evil in the chosen seed. The
same you will find in the other chapters, for the third of Romans
contains a fearful description of the sin and ruin of men. And in the
third of John, after you have read, "You must be born again," not far
from it you find it written, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever
believes in Him might not perish, but have eternal life." Believe any
of these great Truths of God and the rest follow as a necessary
consequence.
May we be helped this morning to learn something with regard to Ruin,
Redemption and Regeneration from the passage now before us! I pray you,
never regard that story of the serpent as a fable. It is said,
nowadays, that it is a mere allegory. Yet there is nothing in the Book
to mark where history ends and parable begins–it all runs on as actual
history and as Bishop Horsley forcibly remarks, "If any part of this
narrative is allegorical, no part is naked matter of fact." It seems to
me that if there was only an allegorical serpent, there was an
allegorical Paradise, with allegorical rivers and allegorical trees.
And the men and women were both allegorical and the chapter which
speaks of their creation is an allegory. And the only thing that exists
is an allegorical Heaven and an allegorical earth. If the Book of
Genesis is an allegory, it is an allegory all through–and you have an
allegorical Abraham–with allegorical circumcision.
Then you would have an allegorical Jacob and an allegorical Judah–and
it is not unfair to push the theory onward and impute to Judah
allegorical descendants called Jews. But if you borrow any money from
this race, you will not find them allegorical when you have to pay! It
is idle to call the narrative of the Fall a mere allegory–one had
better say at once that he does not believe the Bible. There is
something sane about that declaration, although it is folly. But to
say, "Oh, yes, it is a venerable volume and worthy to be studied, but
it is padded out with many an allegory," is to say something which
confutes itself if you come to look into it.
The Bible is intended to be real history and it contains some portions
which, by the consent of everybody, are real history. But Moses could
not be an historian and yet set mere fables before us as a part of his
story. To write a jumble of allegory and of fact causes a man to lose
the character of a reliable historian and we had better repudiate him
at once. There was a real serpent, as there was a real Paradise. There
was a real Adam and Eve who stood at the head of our race,
and they really sinned and our race is really fallen. Believe this.
When Satan, "that old serpent, the Devil and Satan"–as the Apocalypse
calls him–determined to tempt Eve in order that he might destroy the
race in which God evidently took much delight, he could not appear to
the woman as a spirit.
Spirits are not to be discerned by the eye since a pure spirit is a
thing which none of the outward senses of human beings can apprehend.
An immaterial spirit must be invisible and therefore he must embody
himself in some way or other before he can be seen. That Satan has
power to enter into living bodies is clear, for he did so upon a very
large scale with regard to men in the days of Christ. He and his
legions were even compelled to enter into the bodies of swine rather
than be cast into the deep. Being compelled to have an embodiment, the
master evil spirit perceived the serpent to be at that time among the
most subtle of all creatures–and therefore he entered into the serpent
as feeling that he would be most at home in that animal.
Out of the serpent he spoke to Eve as though the serpent itself had
spoken. There was an actual and material serpent, but the evil spirit
who is known as "the old serpent" was there, possessing the natural
serpent with all his masterly cunning. Cruelly determining to lead the
human race into sin that he might thus ruin it and triumph over God,
the fallen angel did not hesitate to assume a reptile form. Well might
Milton make him say–
"O foul descent! that I, who once contended With gods to sit the
highest, am now constrained Into a beast; and, mixed with bestial
slime, This essence to incarnate, and imbrute, That to the height of
deity aspired!'" Notice carefully, that when the Lord comes to deal
with the serpent, He does not question him as to his guilt and the
reason of it. And the reason is, perhaps, that the guilt of the
arch-enemy was self-evident or, better still, because the Lord had no
design of mercy for him. He meant to make no Covenant of Grace for the
devil or his angels. He took not up angels, though he took up the seed
of Abraham.
In the infinite Sovereignty of God He passed by the fallen angels, but
He chose to raise fallen man. Those who quibble at the Doctrine of
Election should answer this question–Why is it that God has left
devils without hope and yet has sent His Son to redeem mankind? Is not
Divine Sovereignty manifested here? We can give no answer to the
question, What is man that God thus visits him with distinguishing
Grace, except this–"He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy, and
He will have compassion on whom He will have compassion"? Intending,
therefore, no forgiveness to this evil spirit, the Lord put no
questions to him.
His interrogation of our first parents was a sign of mercy. When God
chides with a man's conscience, it is with the view of blessing him. Do
I speak to any man here whose sense of sin is aroused, who is accused
by the Word of God, who feels the Spirit of God working within him as a
spirit of bondage? You may be hopeful because it is so. If God had
meant to destroy you, He would have left you alone, even as He left the
serpent without a word of expostulation and He would have passed
sentence upon you speedily. The very rebukes of God are tokens of His
favor towards men. With the serpent, that is, with the evil spirit, God
had no upbraiding, but dealt at once by way of doom. He pronounced a
sentence upon the serpent, which, while it was terrible to him, is most
encouraging to us. And so far as our first parents understood it, it
must have been a sun of light to their dark, depressed souls.
For many a year this was the lone star of believing hearts–this Gospel
of the serpent's doom. Satan was their enemy. He had done them wrong.
He was also God's enemy and God would fight against him and call them
into His battle. He would raise up One who would suffer, but would win
the victory–One whom He calls "the Seed of the woman." By Him Satan's
head would be bruised and in that very fact the race of man would be
unspeakably blest! Last Lords-Day morning [NO. 2163, IMMANUEL–THE
LIGHT OF LIFE ] I introduced to you Immanuel–God with us, born of a
virgin. We are now running on the same lines and again I would speak of
our Lord Jesus as the woman's Seed and extol Him as espousing our
quarrel and undoing the mischief which the old serpent has worked in
us.
In Him His believing people shall shortly bruise Satan under their
feet. We will consider the whole passage and draw from it seven
lessons. As there are so many, I cannot dwell upon any one of them at
length, but must give you hints of the wealth of meaning which lies
within the words of these most instructive verses. With regard to our
Archenemy, we may here learn much.
First, notice THE INSTRUCTIVE FORM UNDER WHICH SATAN APPEARS. The text
begins, "The Lord God said unto the serpent." Under the serpent form he
beguiled the woman and under that form he was condemned. He is a
serpent, still. He can go about among the weak and defenseless as a
roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, but he is most at home as the
embodiment of a serpent. The serpent was most subtle and so is the Evil
One most cunning. You think you understand the ways of Satan but you
are mistaken. You have been tempted by him these 30 years and you
believe your experience can unravel all his plots.
Ah, my Brothers and Sisters, he has been engaged in the work of
tempting men for nearly 6,000 years and he is not only much older, but
he is far more acute and more sagacious than you are. His ways are not
easily found out and though we are not ignorant of his devices, we know
not which device he will next use. If we have successfully escaped his
nets for 40 years, the skillful fowler may even yet entangle us. We
have need each day to cry, "Lead us not into temptation; but deliver us
from the Evil One." John writes of him in the Revelation as "that old
serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceives the whole world."
He is more cunning than the wisest–how soon he entangled Solomon! He
is stronger than the strongest–how fatally he overthrew Samson!
Yes, and men after God's own heart, like David, have been led into most
grievous sins by his seductions. We do not know where he now lurks, or
from what quarter he will next shoot his arrows, but we may rest
assured that he is always plotting mischief against the people of God
and he is working to effect their pollution. We may wisely enter into
Paul's anxiety when he wrote to the Corinthians, "But I fear, lest by
any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your
minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." From
the evil machinations of the Subtle One, may the Lord deliver us!
A serpent is very insinuating. It can enter where another creature
could not. Ever so small an opening makes room for a serpent and it
winds itself in without noise. Satan is very insinuating and as he
entered Paradise, so can he penetrate into the most secret and sacred
places. He creeps into the Church, watch though we may. He creeps into
houses though sanctified by devotion. Have you never found him
intruding into your closet during your prayers? There may seem to be no
loophole and yet there he is, where he is least expected. Has he not
wound himself into your families? Has he not crops in your hearts? How
can we keep him out? We watch against his attacks from without but,
behold, he has found a lodging place within! Subtle and insinuating is
Satan–he is a serpent, indeed!
And how venomous! What poison one fang of the old serpent will throw
into our moral system! Look around and see how many have been poisoned
with the desire for strong drink, with lust, with avarice, with pride,
with anger, with unbelief. Fiery serpents are among us and many die of
their venom. If we tolerate the least sin, it is a burning drop in the
veins of the soul! One touch of the fangs of this serpent will work
immeasurable sorrow, even if the soul is saved from death. It is only
the power of God that keeps us from being destroyed by this viper! Had
he his will, he is a spirit so malignant that no heir of Heaven would
survive! O God, keep Your own! Deliver us from the Evil One!
In all probability the reptile called the serpent was a nobler creature
before the Fall than now. The words of our text, so far as they
literally concern the serpent, threaten that a change would be worked
in him. It has been a sort of speculative opinion that the creature
either had wings, or was able to move without creeping upon the earth
as it now does. Of that we know nothing. But assuredly the serpent is a
hated thing with which manhood is at war–and its form and habit typify
all that is mean and cunning. There is nothing noble, nothing brave,
nothing true about the idea of a serpent.
Satan was among the first-born of the morning, a swift and shining
servant of God, but he transgressed against his Sovereign and fell. And
now he is nothing but a serpent–malignant, base, cunning, and a liar.
He is fitly figured by "the wily snake." "He was a murderer from the
beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in
him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and
the father of it" (John 8:44). He goes out to deceive the nations (Rev.
20:8). He works signs and lying wonders (2 Thess. 2:9). He lays snares,
and takes men captive (2 Tim.
2:26).
Keep before your minds the form of a serpent and remember that after
this manner Satan will attack you. Only let me soften your fears with
the sight of another serpent–the serpent of brass lifted upon a pole
brought life to those whom evil serpents had injured. It seems to me a
wonder of condescending Grace that our Lord Jesus could allow Himself
to be symbolized by a form which had been assumed by the great enemy of
souls! Yes, there was the bronze serpent lifted high
upon a pole and they that looked, though bitten by fiery serpents,
lived! Even thus is Jesus on the Cross the sure remedy for sin of every
kind. Look out with all your eyes of caution for the old serpent, the
devil. But at the same time look up with all your eyes of faith to Him
who was made a curse for us that we might live.
II. So much for the first lesson, now for the second. Observe THE
MEMORABLE FACT AS TO SATAN'S CONDITION. "The Lord God said unto the
serpent, Because you have done this, you are cursed" and that curse was
made emphatic and superlative. He with whom we have to contend has the
curse of God upon him even now! God has blessed His people, but he has
cursed their great enemy! The curse of God blights and blasts, even as
in the case of the fruitless fig tree, which, beneath the sentence of
the Lord Jesus, withered away.
The curse of God has fallen upon that foul spirit who represents
evil–it could not justly be otherwise. This is his shame and your
strength. The next time you are fighting with Apollyon, here is a keen
shaft to hurl at him. Tell him he is accursed of God and what has he to
do with those whom the Lord has blessed? He whom God blesses is
blessed, but he whom God curses is cursed, indeed. Upon all the power
of sin and error, yes, upon Satan himself, who is the ringleader in
evil things, the curse of God abides and this is prophetic of their
overthrow. The truth shall conquer, holiness shall overcome. Falsehood
and wrong bear the brand of Cain upon their brow and they shall wither
from the root.
Satan was cursed with reference to us. Our fall has brought him no
gain, but an increase of Divine displeasure, of disappointment and
envy. He was under God's wrath before, but now the Lord says concerning
him, "You are cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the
field." Though there comes pain and groaning upon all the lower
creation through man's sin, there shall come upon the old serpent a far
more exceeding measure of the curse because he has dared to lead into
revolt the race of man. Who will willingly be the slave of a tyrant
whom the Lord has cursed? Not only Satan, but every form of sin is
under the curse. The Tempter would make you think that some shapes of
sin are blessed, but this is false.
All sin has a curse attached to it. Keep far from it. Is it false
doctrine? It is accursed! Is it living in wantonness and carnal
pleasure? It is accursed! Touch it not! You cannot do wrong without
defiling yourself with that which God has cursed. You may imagine that
you will gain many good things by yielding a little to sin, but this is
a lie of the Adversary–evil is loss and ruin. The curse which God
pronounced on the serpent is pronounced on the whole of his seed and
everything that is impure, untruthful and unholy lies under the ban of
God. Brethren, if for Christ's sake we should suffer poverty, or
reproach, or slander, or even death, there would be a blessing in it
all! But if by means of doing evil we should rise to wealth, honor and
ease, we should find in all our gains a burning curse! Who prizes gold
with the curse upon it? It is cankered, and will eat into the soul. God
knows what is cursed and what is blessed–and we may well believe His
declaration that evil is meaner than the brutes and more sensual than
the wild beasts of the field.
All this is a call to escape from the ways of sin. Tremble lest you be
found under the curse! Hasten to flee to Him who can turn the curse
into a blessing, even Jesus, who bore our sins in His own body on the
Cross and so bore away the curse from all Believers. The memorable fact
that Satan and the power of evil are under the curse should hearten us
in our conflict with spiritual wickedness. We can overcome them, for
the curse of the Lord has gone forth against them.
III. For a third lesson, note THE REMARKABLE PROSTRATION which fell
upon the serpent–"Upon your belly shall you go." So does the serpent
move and so does evil labor to make progress. Satan moves always as a
fallen one–not with the dignity of holiness, but groveling low. God
has put upon his every movement the indication that he is no longer
great and wise. The movements of the Prince of Darkness are base and
sensual–"Upon your belly shall you go." His seed also take to the same
posture in going. I have seen the foes of the Truth of God contending
against the faith of God's people and I have marked their policies,
their plots and their plans–and I have said to myself, "Verily, it is
written, Upon your belly shall you go."
Beings engaged in evil designs have no other way of going but with
tricks, devices, concealments and double meanings. When men deny the
Scriptures and the Truth of God, they always go to work in an
underhand, mean and serpentine style–"Upon your belly shall you go."
If guilty man begins to plot for his own advantage, scheme for his own
glory and aim at perverting the Truth of God, you will notice that he
never takes a bold, open, manly stand. No, he dodges, he conceals, he
twists and shifts–"Upon your belly shall you go." Sin is a mean and
despicable thing. The greatest potentate of evil was here doomed to
cringe and crawl and his seed have never forgotten their father's
posture. All the objects of the powers of evil are groveling.
What do they seek after? When men forsake the way of holiness, they
rush after polluted and idle amusements. What is there in the world's
pleasure which is ennobling? Carnal mirth is still a groveling
thing–"Upon your belly shall you go." A professing man gives up the
separated way, enters upon modern society and he no longer walks with
God. What is his general course? Within a short time we find him
careless of all religion and tolerant of licentiousness. It is ever
so– "Upon your belly shall you go." If you give way to evil, you shall
go down, down, down till your god is your belly and you glory in your
shame! If a man would be great, let him serve God! If a man would rise
to the angels, yes, rise to God, let him obey the commands of his
Maker. But if he wishes to degrade himself below the adder, which
"glides obscure through bush and brake," his easy method is to follow
Satan and rebel against the Most High.
IV. Observe, in the fourth place, THE PERPETUAL DEGRADATION put upon
the serpent–"And dust shall you
eat all the days of your life." Satan is now to live a defeated life,
for such is the force of the expression, "His enemies shall lick the
dust." It signifies that they are utterly defeated. So Satan, all his
life long, exists as a conquered and chained enemy–his power is broken
and he knows it. He is defeated as to the whole of his great scheme and
he is to be defeated in the details of it all the days of his life!
When he met our Lord in the wilderness, he crept upon his belly with
serpentine temptations. But our Lord, by His holiness, made him eat
dust! How often was he, in our Lord's lifetime, made to feel that his
conqueror had come! He cringed before Him and implored that he might
not be tormented before his time. When he saw the Lord Jesus upon the
Cross, having planned, as he thought, to crush Him by death, he began
to dread defeat. When he heard Him cry, "It is finished," and felt His
iron heel upon his head, he knew, to his eternal horror, that he had
only fashioned for Christ an opportunity of redeeming mankind! What a
mouthful of dust he had to eat in that day! None more wretched in the
universe than Satan, whose works the bleeding Savior had destroyed!
It was a day of bitter defeat for the enemy when our Lord rose from the
dead. The old serpent had watched the pale corpse, but when he saw it
live and when the angel rolled away the stone and Jesus, the Christ,
came forth to die no more, I guarantee you the serpent ate dust that
day! And when the Apostles stood forth–men whom Satan despised, humble
fishermen–and the Holy Spirit came down upon them, again it was
fulfilled, "Dust shall you eat." When the nations were converted, the
idols were broken and the Truth of God mightily prevailed, then did
Satan remember the words, "Dust shall you eat all the days of your
life."
He has more humiliation yet to come. Arise, and preach Christ and win
souls and the great enemy of souls shall find his power diminished, his
name abhorred and again he shall lick the dust! Forever, dust shall be
the serpent's meat, for what he does gain always disappoints him. He
thought he had obtained a great advantage when he won the woman to
disobedience–but he had made a rod for his own back since her Seed
would become his eternal antagonist! The Fall of man led up to the
Incarnation and the Atonement–and by these Satan is thrown down. By
man has come the Resurrection and so the defeat of Death, who was
first-born of Hell. The victory of the devil in Eden is blotted out by
the victory of Jesus at Calvary!
If Satan ever knows pleasure at all, it is of the foulest and most
unsatisfactory kind–dust is his meat. There is nothing satisfying in
the pleasures of rebellion. He remains a disappointed, restless being.
The most cunning error which he invents and sustains by philosophy is
no more than dust. His whole cause, for which he has labored these
thousands of years with a horrible perseverance–his whole cause, I
say–will dissolve into dust and will be blown away as smoke! Still
does he feed himself upon dust. Let those who are servants of Satan
know assuredly that as they are living in sin, they will have to eat at
their father's table and learn the emptiness of all the pleasures of
sin–and the worthlessness of all the treasures of evil.
Everything that sin can bring you is just so much dust–foul eating,
insufficient, clogging, killing. Though you hoard up wealth, gold is
nothing but dust to a dying man. Though you gain all earthly honor, it,
too, dissolves in dust. This is the misery of that great spirit who is
called the Prince of Darkness, that he must eat dust all his days! But
what misery it must be to be only some poor subject in that unhallowed
kingdom and still to be doomed to the same loathsome fare! "Dust shall
you eat all the days of your life." Note that right well–and may God
deliver you from such feeding!
V. Let us, in the next place, think upon THE CEASELESS WAR with which
God threatens the serpent–"I will put enmity between you and the
woman, and between your seed and her Seed." Satan reckoned upon an easy
conquest and had apparently gained it–but he would find his Victim
become his antagonist and at length his conqueror. Satan can
never know peace–he seeks rest and finds none. When he talked to that
woman with his guileful words of flattery, he thought he had made a
friend of her. The charming creature in whom God had embodied the
perfection of beauty–had he not seduced her from obedience to the
great King? Had he not used her as the instrument to make her husband a
traitor to his God?
They were great friends–those two. She felt, in the moment that she
took the fruit, that she owed much to the serpent for giving her the
gentle hint whereby she was led to find the opening of her eyes and the
uplifting of her nature to be as God. How grievously was she deceived!
Nor was the serpent to find himself advantaged. The league was broken
and the Deceiver and his victim were at enmity. God declares most
solemnly, "I will put enmity between you and the woman." God will see
that there is no peace. There is a war to be waged between Satan and
the woman's Seed so long as the world stands. Sometimes it looks as if
there was going to be peace, for the world flatters the Church and the
Church seeks to conform herself to the world.
As before Noah's flood the sons of God and the daughters of men were
joined in unhallowed alliance, so again and again there have been
attempts at truce. But peace there cannot be! Today Satan tempts the
ministers of Christ to soften down the Gospel, adapt it to the age and
make it popular. And he also labors to throw down the division between
the Church and the world. "Fill up the gulf!" he says. "Cover it over
like an old sewer and forget that it ever existed!" Thus he speaks like
the sinner in the Proverbs–"Cast in your lot among us, let us all have
one purse." But mark this, all you that hear me–though all the pulpits
should be captured and though it should seem that the very elect were
deceived, yet God will not leave Himself without witnesses but will
find, somewhere or other, some chosen ones of the Seed of the woman to
carry on the holy war even to the end. Jehovah has laid His hand upon
His Throne and He has sworn to have war with evil from generation to
generation.
See how it was in Israel when the high priest of God, even Eli, winked
at sin when his own sons, as priests, committed iniquity at the
tabernacle door and all Israel was thus made to do evil. Would not the
lamp of Truth go out? Would not the worship of the Lord be utterly
abhorred? Ah, no–a little child was brought by his mother into the
tabernacle to be the servant of the Lord and in him the Lord found a
champion! In the night did God call Samuel and he answered, "Here am
I." This Samuel stood before the Lord and gave forth prophecies which
made both the ears of him that heard them to tingle–and the Lord was
again great in Israel.
Do not tremble for the ark of the Lord! God will not suffer the old
serpent to spread his slime over all things. Satan's throne shall
always be opposed. This enmity is to be kept up by God Himself. He
said, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your
seed and her Seed." See here the Church of God announced in this verse!
You have not only the Gospel here, but the Church, also! Christ, the
Seed of the woman, is the Head–and all who are in Christ are His
body–He and they are the one Seed. In these words the Lord set up the
Church which continues to this day–a seed which is opposed to Satan
and to evil–a seed which will remain, by the power of the Spirit of
God, waging constant war with the powers of evil.
Do we belong to that seed? In this seed there is a deep-seated hatred
to everything that is false and evil. God will see that this seed shall
never yield to the power of evil, for still it shall stand true, "I
will put enmity between you and the woman." As long as there is false
doctrine, there shall be a protesting reformer. As long as there is any
form of wickedness extant, there shall be a witness born from on high
to contend with it. This seed is born, not of blood, nor of the will of
the flesh, but of the Spirit of God who dwells in the true seed of the
woman. And this seed shall be valiant for the Lord of Hosts till the
last enemy shall be destroyed.
Which side are you on, my Friend, this morning? I put the question very
pointedly to everyone here–Are you born from above? That which is born
of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is
spirit–and only this last is the true seed of the woman.
VI. Sixthly, observe that we see in the text THE LIMITED ACHIEVEMENT of
the old serpent. What will he
accomplish by all his schemes? "You shall bruise His heel." That is
all. This is after the serpent's manner. Satan is "an adder in the
path, that bites the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall
backward." If he dares not attack you openly, he will assail you from
behind. He is as a snake in the grass, biting at the heel of the
traveler. The result of Satan's 6,000 years of cunning and enmity is
that he has bruised the heel of his Victim. That bruised heel is
painful enough.
Behold our Lord in His human Nature sorely bruised. He was betrayed,
bound, accused, buffeted, scourged, spit upon. He was nailed to the
Cross. He hung there in thirst and fever and darkness and desertion.
They pierced His hands and His feet. And last, they cut his heart open
and there flowed from it both blood and water. Satan by death bruised
the heel of the woman's Seed. It is a sad business, but when our Lord
thought of the Resurrection, the salvation of His chosen and the
conquest of the world, it seemed to Him to be a light thing–"He
endured the Cross, despising the shame."
Behold the Seed of the woman as further comprehending all the Lord's
believing people! Satan has bruised their heel to the utmost of his
power. Through the long persecutions he has been assailing the heel of
the Church. Many of the saints the devil cast into prison and others he
caused to be tortured for Christ's sake. But their souls were not
conquered! He could only bruise their heel–their spirit soared out of
his reach. And you, today, when tempted and tried, and cast down, may
be comforted because your Head is not hurt, for Jesus reigns in Heaven!
The waters are black and they cover the body, but our Head is above the
billows and the body is safe.
The serpent's bruises stay in the heel and spread no further. The
suffering of the Church, however great, is but a light affliction, not
worthy to be compared with the far more exceeding and eternal weight of
glory. Thank God the enemy can only bruise your heel! The cause of God
and Truth in the world may, by Satan's subtle power, be for a while
sadly bruised as to the heel of its progress, but it cannot be wounded
in the heart of its Truth. The kingdom advances painfully because of
the bruised heel, but it fails not–even when lame it takes the prey.
Some doctrine which, possibly, may have been stated in a questionable
manner is more fully studied, more carefully made known and so even the
heel-bruise works for good. Though the Church of God may be under a
cloud for a time, yet she will break out with all the greater splendor
before long. "You shall bruise His heel."
Make the best you can of it, Satan, it does not come to much! All that
you are at your greatest is but a heel-nibbler and nothing more. You
are not allowed to poison the heel, but only to bruise it. Though the
man of God walks limpingly a while and suffers where the fangs have
been, yet, leaning on his Beloved, he comes up from the wilderness
without fail–and forgetting the bruises of his heel–he rejoices in
the triumphs of his glorious Head!
VII. Now we come to the seventh lesson. We have marked the limited
triumph of Satan and we now observe HIS FINAL DOOM. "I will put enmity
between you and the woman, between your seed and her Seed; it shall
bruise your head." Here is the end of the great conflict. Satan, who
heads the powers of evil in the world, is to fight it out with all his
cunning and strength–and he is so far to succeed as to bruise the heel
of the champion with whom he fights–but in the end the Seed of the
woman is to bruise his head.
This was accomplished when the Lord Jesus died and by dying honored the
Law, put away sin, slew death and defeated Hell. When the great
Substitute drank the cup of wrath to its utmost dregs for every
believing soul. When He unhinged the gate of the sepulcher and carried
it away, as Samson carried the gates of Gaza–post, and bar, and all.
When He opened the doorways of Heaven and led captivity captive, then
indeed, the head of the dragon was broken. What can Satan now do? Is
not the accuser of the Brethren cast down? He is still doing his little
best in bitterness and malice, but the Christ has crushed him! Yes, the
very Christ who "was despised and rejected of men." The Man of the
thorn crown and the marred visage. The Man of bleeding shoulders and
pierced hands and feet. The Man who was born of a virgin. The Seed of
the woman has broken the power of the enemy!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! He has cast down the Prince of Darkness from
his high places! Did He not, Himself, say, "I beheld Satan as lightning
fall from Heaven"? He has bruised the serpent's head! This is done in
all Believers, also, and shall be done yet more effectually. Brothers
and Sisters, in that day when the Holy Spirit led us to trust in the
Lord Jesus, we bruised the serpent's head! Satan had been accustomed to
command and we to obey–and thus sin had dominion over us. But as soon
as ever we believed in Christ, that dominion was ended and Dagon fell
before the ark of the Lord! I see the serpent rise above me. This great
python, with opened jaws, gapes upon me as though he would swallow me
up whole. But I am not afraid! O serpent, I have bruised your head in
Christ Jesus my Lord, for I, too, am of the Seed of the woman! The
serpent cannot lift himself against the chosen Seed. What can he do
with a broken head? He knows that God has decreed that every Believer
shall triumph over him. It is written, "God shall bruise Satan under
your feet shortly."
Hallelujah!
Once again. This bruise upon the head of the Evil One is a mortal
stroke. If he had been bruised upon the tail, or upon the neck he might
have survived. But the Lord shall utterly slay the kingdom of evil and
crush out its power.
Reigning evil shall cease and Divine Grace shall reign through
righteousness unto eternal life. There shall be a new Heaven and a new
earth wherein dwells righteousness. Christ Himself, the Seed of the
woman, shall come a second time and He shall reign on earth among His
ancients gloriously. Then shall He ride forth prosperously, because of
truth and righteousness–and His right hand shall exalt His people. His
foot shall tread down their enemy. May you and I be among the happy
throng that shall salute the Seed of the woman in His Second Advent!
May we reign with Him in that day! By the Seed of the woman is Paradise
restored to us and all the mischief of the Fall is undone, for He
restores that which He took not away.
And now, my Hearer, which side are you on? Do any of you think that you
shall not surely die? You talk like your father–and you are his
children! Do any of you say God is a hard Governor? Has He said, "You
shall not eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden"? You are like
your own father in this, also. And do you move in snaky, cunning ways?
Are you given to craft and policy? Dare you tell a lie and then forge
another to prop up the first? You are of your father the devil, for you
do his works! Are you opposed to God and truth and righteousness? And
do you cry out for what is called "liberty," that is, licentiousness
and permission to indulge your own passions? Then you are on the evil
side! Do you aspire to know good and evil? Young man, would you go into
evil haunts to see vice and learn its ways? Do you long to see "life,"
as they call it? Are you familiar with the sensual and the profane? Ah,
then you are listening to that old deceiver who allures you into his
deadly nets! I pray you, escape from his seductions!
Is it well with you? Do you look to Jesus, the Seed of the woman? Are
you trusting in Him to break the power of the enemy? Do you wish the
power of sin to be broken in yourself? Do you desire to have the very
head of it crushed to powder? Do you pine to be free from sin and holy
as God is holy? Are you trusting in Jesus to have this same thing
worked in you? Ah, then you are on the conquering side! Victory shall
be yours through the blood of the Lamb!
Thus have we found much Gospel in the wonderful sentence pronounced
upon that old serpent, the devil. But yet we have only skimmed the
surface. To the eternal God be glory, world without end. Amen.
PORTIONS OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON– Genesis 3. HYMNS FROM "OUR
OWN HYMN BOOK"–917, 470, 477.