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And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life [Gen. 3:14].

The serpent is certainly not the slithering creature that we think of today. He was different at the beginning, and there has now been pronounced upon him this judgment from God. God pronounces a judgment upon Satan which has a tremendous effect upon man. I would urge you to memorize the following verse, for this is one that you certainly ought to know. This verse is the first prophecy of the coming of the Messiah, the Savior, into the world:

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 [Gen. 3:15].

“And I will put enmity between thee [that is, Satan] and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it [that is, Christ] shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” This is a tremendous statement that is given to us here. The most prominent thought is not the ultimate victory that would come, but the long-continued struggle. This verse reveals the fact that now there is to be a long struggle between good and evil. This is exactly what you will find in the rest of the Scriptures. The Lord Jesus made this statement in His day concerning this struggle: “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” (John 8:44). “The devil” is Satan. The Lord Jesus Christ made the distinction between children of God and children of Satan. John again mentions this conflict in 1 John 3:10: “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.” Thus we have brought before us the fact that here is a conflict, here is a struggle, and here are two seeds in the world. There will be the final victory—but the long-continued struggle is important to note. Every man must face temptation and must win his battle. Before Christ came, the victory was through obedience in faith. After Christ came, we are to identify ourselves with Christ through faith. What does it mean to be saved? It means to be in Christ.

Man was one of three orders of creation: angels, man, and animals. Animals were given no choice, but man and angels were given a choice. Here you have, if you please, man’s choice. He has made a decision, and he is held responsible for the decision that he has made.

Notice that it says “her seed.” It does not say the man’s seed. Here is at least the suggestion of the virgin birth of Christ. When God went into that garden looking for man, He said, “Where art thou?” Any anthology of religion tells the story of man’s search for God. My friend, that is not the way God tells it. Let’s tell it like it is: Salvation is God’s search for man. Man ran away from Him, and God called to him, “Where art thou?” Dr. W. H. Griffith Thomas in his book, Genesis, A Devotional Commentary, makes the comment that “it is the call of Divine justice, which cannot overlook sin. It is the call of Divine sorrow, which grieves over the sinner. It is the call of Divine love, which offers redemption for sin.” We have all of that in the verse before us—the promise of the coming of the Savior.

God’s search for man is pictured all the way through Scripture. Paul wrote, “… there is none that seeketh after God” (Rom. 3:11). The Lord Jesus said, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you …” (John 15:16). And we can say with John, “We love him, because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). God seeks out man, and He offers man salvation, but there is going to be a long struggle that will take place.

McGee, J. Vernon: Thru the Bible Commentary. electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1981, S. 1:ix-27

New Testament Fulfillment:

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law [Gal. 4:4].

At the time determined by God, God the Father sent forth God the Son, born of a woman, born under the Law. Mary was a Jewish woman. Out here on the West Coast there is a woman who is saying that Jesus did not belong to any race. How absolutely puerile and senseless! It is an attempt to take a saccharine sweet position which has no meaning whatsoever. The woman at the well (as recorded in the fourth chapter of John’s gospel) knew more than the woman out here knows today. She said, “How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? …” (John 4:9, italics mine). She thought He was a Jew, and our Lord didn’t correct her; so I conclude that she was accurate. If you don’t mind, I’ll follow her rather than some of my contemporaries who try to play down the fact that Jesus, according to the flesh, was a Jew. He had a perfect humanity. He also was God manifest in the flesh. In my day that is being questioned. However, the only historical Jesus that we have is the One who is described in one of the oldest creeds of the church as “very man of very man and very God of very God.” I agree with that creed because it is exactly what the Word of God teaches.

Now what was God’s purpose in sending forth His Son?

McGee, J. Vernon: Thru the Bible Commentary. electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1981, S. 5:175-176

Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil [Heb. 2:14].

This statement emphasizes the Lord’s incarnation.

“As the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same.” Christ came in a way they were not expecting Him to come. However, they should have known, because the prophets had made clear the way He would come to earth the first time. As George Macdonald put it:

They were looking for a King

To slay their foes and lift them high;

Thou cam’st, a little baby thing

That made a woman cry.

Because we were made of flesh and blood, He took upon Himself flesh and blood. And He came into this world by human birth just like you and I came into the world.

“That through death he might destroy him.” Christ Jesus came not only through birth—His birth didn’t save anyone—but through death. It is by His death He saves us, not by His birth or by His life. His death brought to us salvation and deliverance from spiritual and eternal death.

McGee, J. Vernon: Thru the Bible Commentary. electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1981, S. 5:519

He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil [1 John 3:8].

“He that committeth sin is of the devil.” We need to recognize that the Devil is the source of all sin. He is the one who is responsible for sin being brought into the world. He is the one who led our first parents into sin. And the reason that you and I have a sinful nature today is because of the Devil. “He that committeth sin is of the devil.” Remember that the Lord Jesus said to the religious rulers of His day, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do …” (John 8:44). The interesting thing is that we will take after our father. If your father is the Devil, then you are going to act like him. If your father is our heavenly Father, then you have His nature, and you are going to act like Him.

“For the devil sinneth from the beginning”—that is, he started out sinning, and he has been at it ever since. He is in rebellion against God.

“For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.” Only Jesus Christ can deliver you, my friend. Go to Him. Don’t come to me because I cannot help, and no one else can either. But He can, He is the Great Physician, and I urge you to go to Him with your problem.

The Lord Jesus Christ died for the sin of the world. John the Baptist said, “… Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). He took away the penalty of sin. Since you’ve trusted Christ, your sins are behind you, and you are saved in Him. Your sins will never again be brought up as far as your salvation is concerned because you have trusted Him. But John tells us here that the Lord Jesus not only takes away our sin, but He also was manifested to take away our sins—plural. He was without sin—He had no sin nature. “For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners …” (Heb. 7:26). But He was a human being, and He died as our sin offering, paying the penalty for our sin. But John also says back in verse 5 of this chapter that He was “manifested to take away our sins.” The word our is not in the better manuscripts; it is literally “manifested to take away sins”—that is, to take away the sins of all believers. In other words, He died to make it possible for you and me to live the Christian life.

This brings us right to the subject of this section from verse 4 to verse 24: every believer has two natures. This is what Paul talks about at length in Romans 7. He says there, “For the good that I would [the desire of this new nature that I have] I do not [that is, the old nature which has been in control so long takes over]: but the evil which I would not, that I do” (Rom. 7:19). The new nature desires to do good, but the old nature drags its feet. The old nature will not serve God; it is in rebellion against God. Paul writes further, “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom. 8:7–8). You cannot please God until you are born again. “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you”—there is no idea of a condition here, but rather Paul is saying, since “that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Rom. 8:9). Let me be very clear that we are talking about born-again believers. We are not talking about professing Christians; we are not talking about church members; we are not talking about those that have simply been baptized without ever having been saved; we are not talking about those that go through a ritual or belong to some system. We are talking about those that have been born again. The Lord Jesus was manifested “that he might destroy the works of the devil,” to make it possible for you and me to live for God.

McGee, J. Vernon: Thru the Bible Commentary. electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1981, S. 5:791-792