How many of us read through the brief records of the first three chapters of Genesis without grasping the full import and gravity of its lesson in relation to our personal salvation.
Paul admonition to the Hebrews, “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. (Heb. 2:1)” could well apply to the lessons recorded in these opening chapters of the Bible.
Bro. Dr. Thomas in speaking concerning the Garden of Eden refers to the order of things established there as : “The rudiments of a glorious manifestation which as a grain of mustard seed, should so unfold themselves under the fostering hand of God as to become a tree which is the greatest among herbs, in whose branches the family of man might be refreshed. In the acorn, it is said, can be traced by aid of the microscope the branches of the future oak. So in the rudiments of the world are traceable the things of the future kingdom of God.
These rudiments, or elements, are exhibited in the sentences upon the serpent, the woman, and the man ; and in that institution styled, “The way of the tree of Life”. Out of these things was afterwards to arise the Kingdom of God ; so that in constituting them, a foundation was laid upon which the world to come should be built ; even that world of which Abraham was constituted the heir, and which, when finished at the end of six days of a thousand years each will manifest the woman’s seed, triumphant over the Serpent-power ; resting from his work in the Sabbatism which remains for the people of God.” (Elpis Israel p. 124-125).
Here then is laid the very root, or foundation upon which the whole structure of God’s purpose is built. Consequently, to rightly understand that purpose as revealed throughout the scriptures of truth ; we must grasp intelligently these foundation principles and lessons, as they apply individually to ourselves, and to the whole order and arrangement of things.
As a means of exhortation and instruction let us limit our observations to the seed of the serpent. To be ignored, or unobservant of the part this symbolism plays in the Divine order of things would be hazardous to a proper growth of the new man in Jesus Anointed.
It might be observed here that although the scene enacted in the Garden of Eden was a literal narrative, it was also symbolic and typical in its presentation of things to be developed out of it.
The Serpent’s Anti-type and Character
The serpent is a subtle creature of the dust, going upon its belly, striking to death his victims with the venom of his mouth. Upright in his beginning, subtle of tongue, quick of eye and ear, reasoning from natural observations with no moral consciousness ; he became, in the hands of his creator, a fitting type of the carnal reasoning of the flesh. His seed are all those who, upon carnal principles are beguiled by fleshly motives ; as in contrast to the Sons of God who are “led by the spirit of God” Rom. 8:1.
Hence then the serpent’s seed are many. They are collectively organized, and formed into Church and state and animated by fleshly principles. He is symbolised in vision to John in the Isle of Patmos, as a red dragon, by Daniel as a ten horned beast, terrible exceedingly, by Moses as a lover of red pottage and a despised of his birthright ; as Mount Esau. Obadiah says, “And Saviors shall come up on Mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau : and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s” (V :21) (11 Thess. 16:10).
This devil, the dragon, that old serpent being the mind of the flesh ; appeals to the simple upon fleshly motives.
“Yea,” he says, when speaking to Eve, “hath God said, ye shall earnestly not eat of every tree of the garden ?” And the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden : But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die : For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave unto her husband with her; and he did eat. (Gen. 3 :1-6).
Now, was not this tree just as symbolic as the serpent who was a type of the fleshly reasoning of the carnal mind, which is at enmity with God, and is not subject to his laws neither indeed can be? We would be indeed short sighted if we overlook this lesson. The scriptures are the voice of God, and are constant throughout in forbidding this tree to the sensual appetite of man. It contained three distinct attractions to the flesh. When the woman saw that it was good for food it appealed to the lust of her flesh. When she saw that it was pleasant to the eyes it appealed to the lust of her eyes. And when she realised its power to open her eyes and to make her as the Elohim experienced in good and evil it appealed to her lust of the pride of life. The anti type is clearly seen then in the Apostle John’s exhortation, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eves, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. (1 John 2:15).
Here then are the wares, peddled in the world, by that old serpent, the devil and Satan. Namely, all those things that thrill and entice the flesh to take of its forbidden fruit ; those things which appeal to; “the lust of the flesh”, for they are good to one’s taste, “the lust of the eye,” for they are pleasant to behold, and “the pride of life”, for they open one’s eyes to know and experience good and evil, a knowledge honoring to the flesh. Eve was first in the transgression. Being tempted, she was drawn away from her own lusts, and enticed. Like the harlot of the 7th Proverb she subtly entices her husband, “And he goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks ;—and knoweth not that it is for his life.” (V. 22-23).
What a sad calamity it all was. It brought sin and a consciousness of nakedness and evil, causing man to fear before God. And is not this the experience of apostate Christianity today ? Are they not afraid of the voice of God? Their fig leaf inventions are inadequate for a covering of their nakedness, and God’s wrath is upon them. Adam and Eve became influenced by the reasoning of the serpent and figuratively had become a part of his prodigy. This is illustrated by Christ in his argument with the Jews in John 8:43-45, “Why do ye not understand my speech ? even because ye cannot hear my word. 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.”
I was told once by an old Christadelphian brother that the world was one big lie. This was a true statement. A truth that the simple one might well heed e’er he, in the black of night, turn aside into the harlot’s house and partake of her loves until the morning, not knowing that it is for his life.
The Apostle Paul brings closely home to us the truthfulness of these types when he says, “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”.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One