What Happened to Us in Eden? - Psychology of the FallNäide

A CURSE WITH HOPE

• God pronounces a curse on the serpent and makes clear what will happen from then on.
• He does the same with the woman, foretelling how things will unfold as a result of what happened.
• He then turns to the man, detailing the curse and the consequences that will affect him most directly.
• But in the midst of it all, God gives the glorious promise that a Redeemer will come, and that the enmity between the serpent and the woman—and between their offspring—will ultimately be resolved in favor of God and His Kingdom in Christ Jesus.

The woman’s offspring, in the person of Jesus Christ, will crush the serpent’s head. Yet, the serpent’s fury against the woman will also be seen in her constant “striking at the heel.” Revelation 12, I believe, is directly tied to this reality. The connections between that chapter and Genesis 3 are too clear to ignore.

And make no mistake: along the way, the man will often be used by the enemy to bring all kinds of pain and suffering upon the woman. This is Satan’s deepest way of trying to “wound” God (since he cannot touch Him directly): to devastate those who belong to Him, and especially to damage the relationship between man and woman. They were created in God’s image and likeness to reflect the kind of relational beauty found within the Trinity itself—equal in what they are equal, and distinct in what they are distinct.

Marriage, used by God as an image of Christ’s relationship with His Church, has always been and will continue to be a prime target, attacked mercilessly—just as it was from the very beginning. The relationship between man and woman has been fractured, and the enemy will make any attempt at repair as difficult as possible. He already has in hand many of the tools needed to do so, including:

• our personal desires for independence and power, regardless of gender,
• how easily we distance ourselves from the one who is “one” with us, going our own way,
• and our tendency to listen to whatever other voice tells us what we most want to hear.

Do you see now why Eden is anything but an “old story”?