With the Fall came curses that inverted God’s order. The most obvious: the blessing of life was transformed into a curse of death. Yet when one examines the curses, there is a surprising amount of insight that can be gained.
The Inversion of Creation’s Order & Its Implications
One of the subtle consequences of Adam and Eve’s sin in the garden was the inversion of God’s creative order. In disobeying God and choosing to listen to the serpent, they moved themselves from being under God’s subjection, to being under the serpent’s subjection. The woman also, in reaching for the fruit, preempted her husband. With these actions, God’s order of creation becomes completely inverted:
It is here that the woman decides to follow the snake’s advice and ignore the divine command, and likewise the man accepts the fruit proffered by his wife in defiance of the divine will. The hierarchy of authority established in scene 2 and reaffirmed in scene 5 is overturned. God-man-woman-animal in scene 2 becomes snake-woman-man-God in scene 4 (See Eden: Its Structure, Symbolism and Family History, Under The Structure of the Garden Narrative & Dependence on Creation). The order of creation is totally inverted.[1]
The resulting inversion seems emphasized in the order of the judgments pronounced on the participants in the narrative with God beginning first with the serpent (vss 14-15), then moving to the woman (vs16) and finally to the man (vss 17-19). While subtle, the inversion of God’s order results from man’s desire to operate with autonomy and independence from God, something never intended.
Man sought equality with God, calling God’s goodness and integrity into question. Man, whose life rested in God’s gracious, creative provision and upon whom he was completely dependent, now asserted himself as the one in charge, able to meet his own needs and denying his dependence on God.
This is a blasphemous and rebellious act, one in which praise and worship are transferred from God to man. Similarly, autonomy and independence seem implied in the woman’s decision to eat the fruit apart from her husband. Finally, in following the serpent’s instructions, both gave authority to the serpent over God, ultimately paying homage to God’s enemy Satan, the implied power behind the serpent.
While the inversion is easy to miss, the implications are important. Man was to work in concert with God to subdue the earth but was instead subdued by the serpent, one of earth’s creatures over which he was given charge. The woman, who was Adam’s helpmate in fruitfulness, in acting with independence from him, abandoned her role as helpmate.
Neither can work cooperatively with God as each has chosen a path of self-interest over God’s interests. It is possible the author is subtly hinting at coming fundamental problems introduced into the world. When one examines the failings of men in our world, often it results from our inverted priorities, placing ourselves above God and others, motivated by personal gain over community good, desiring personal power and greatness over humble service.
Personal praise drives personal achievement that leads to idolatry, with worship going to things created, rather than to creation’s true Creator. As if to drive the point home, the curse-judgments that God places upon the rebellious players seem to amplify the effects of the inversion.
As the history of man progresses, the sins amplify, unleashing increasing wickedness that must be corrected. The sins must be atoned, but the hearts of men must also change or sin will simply recur. A new creative order must be established. The sin of jealous fratricide is followed by Lamech’s prideful, bloodthirsty killing (Genesis 4:19-24).
Though the earth is ceremonially cleansed in the Noahic flood, new power-structures emerge in the form of kingdoms that amplify violent conflicts, moving from individuals to nations and armies. It is not sufficient to cleanse the present creation. A new creation will be required and with it, a new man of a different spiritual composition.
The Re-Inversion of Creation’s Order in Christ
The new man was prophesied in Psalm 72:8. He would be given dominion, taking it from Satan and restoring it to God. Colossians 1 testifies the promise is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the firstborn from the dead and firstborn over creation:
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
That Jesus is the image of the invisible God testifies to His unique personhood. That He is the creator of all things, seen and unseen, affirms the new creation in Him. And as Creator of all things, He has supremacy over all things, having taken dominion back from Satan. That in the end, Jesus will hand “over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power” (1 Corinthians 15:24) and then as Son, “will be made subject to Him who put everything under Him, so that God may be all in all” (28), points to the completion of the reinversion in the new creation.
Paul’s words establish that God is once again on top, the new man, envisioned in Jesus Christ second, the new woman/bride, envisioned in the corporate redeemed saints third, with all other powers under Jesus’ feet, envisioned as demonic beastly powers at the bottom of God’s new creation order, most specifically Satan as the “new” serpent/dragon (see Revelation 12:9; 20:2). God’s creative order is reestablished in Christ, seen escalated over the Genesis 2 garden-narrative.
Implications to Marriage and Mankind’s New Mandate
On an individual Christian level, Christ’s new creation has brought men back under God’s order through His covenant, and it is possible that Paul’s counsel in 1 Timothy 2:12-15 points to his desire that women willingly accept a position in accordance with God’s original creative order. That his justification for opposing women in authority goes back to creation and the Fall makes it possible.
In creation, mankind was to subdue the earth, including dangerous, wild animals. In the new creation, demonic kingdoms are described as wild “beasts” that must be subdued. It points to the church evidencing God’s creative order by remaining faithful to God through His covenant, humbly modeling a submissive heart. Men and women and Christ together spiritually subduing demonic strongholds, keeping and guarding the covenant-community from infiltration of false-teachings.
The subject of submissiveness should not be over-played however. Pre-Fall, man and woman were viewed as “one” before God. With reinversion through Christ, they should operate as “one” again, with both showing humble submission to Christ as Head of the church (see Ephesians 5:21). Paul’s comments in 1 Timothy 2:12-15 point directly back to creation and the Fall, suggestive Paul instruct women not take authority over men to avoid a recapitulation of the Fall in the new creation. This seems to be the picture Paul wishes to create for the church.
The Curse-Judgment Upon the Serpent and its Implications
God begins with the serpent, cursing it above all livestock and all wild animals. It will be constrained to crawl on its belly, eating dust all its life. The judgment is talionic with the serpent destined to crawl on its belly. He was “more crafty” than all the animals and he is thus fitly cursed more than all the animals. The serpent that sought through craftiness to raise itself above its position in the animal kingdom is cursed and judged lowest among the animals.
There seems to be an implied humiliation in crawling on his belly and eating the dust of the earth (Psalm 102:9-11; Isaiah 49:23; Micah 7:17). Genesis 1 describes lifeforms by mobility. The serpent’s reduced mobility, being forced to slither upon the ground, suggests its lowered standing among God’s lifeforms.
The serpent has been humiliated with possible implication of uncleanness as the serpent will be identified with the class of lifeform that the Sinaic covenant describes as רֶמֶשׂ remes “creeping thing”. The humiliation is evidenced in the prophetic books of Isaiah and Micah. In both cases, amidst promises of Israel’s restoration, there is a promise that kings and nations will bow before Israel with their faces to the ground and “they will lick the dust at your feet” (Isaiah 49:23; the nations “will see and be ashamed . . . they will lick dust like a snake, like creatures that crawl on the ground” (Micah 7:16-17).
In expressing Israel’s vindication following her humiliation of captivity, in talion the nations who abused Israel will be humiliated, ashamed and reduced to the same posture as the humiliated serpent of the garden. The recapitulation in Israel and the nations infers that the nations opposed to Israel are in league with Satanic power. The nations who oppose Israel will be subject to the same humiliation as Satan!
John may have had these scriptures in view when he envisioned the last great conflict of the old serpent, Satan, in league with the nations, in which one would expect the humiliation of the nations at the revelation of Christ’s resurrected covenant-community. Again, one sees talion for the humiliation of God’s saints who will be exalted.
The Promise of Vindication – The Protevangelium
The key to the judgment is found in Genesis 3:15. The relationship between the woman and the serpent, as well as the relationship between her seed and the serpent’s seed will be marked by hatred and hostility. In the conflict, it is predicted that “he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel”. The wording is unclear who “he” is and whether “you” should refer to the serpent or the serpent’s offspring. Wenham points out further difficulty in interpretation of the Hebrew word שוף shuwph, which can mean both bruise or to long after:
There is no agreement among ancient versions or modern commentators, however, as to which meaning is appropriate in which clause in Genesis 3:15. The majority of modern writers believe that the sense is the same in both clauses, more preferring the interpretation “crush, batter” (e.g. Westermann, Gispen, Weinfeld, Speiser, Driver, Skinner, Keil) to the alternative “strive after” (Steck, Jacob; cf. LXX). [2]
To crush or batter is supported by early Jewish and Christian interpretation:
Certainly the oldest Jewish interpretation found in the third century B.C. Septuagint, the Palestinian targums, and possibly the Onqelos targum takes the serpent as symbolic of Satan and look for a victory over him in the days of King Messiah. The New Testament also alludes to this passage, understanding it in a broadly messianic sense (Romans 16:20; Hebrews 2:14; Revelation 12), and it may be that the term “Son of Man” as a title for Jesus and the term “woman” for Mary (John 2:4; 19:26) also reflect this passage (Gallus; cf. Michl). Certainly, later Christian commentators, beginning with Justin (ca. A.D.160) and Irenaeus (ca. 180), have often regarded 3:15 as the Protevangelium, the first messianic prophecy in the Old Testament. [3]
If crush or batter is accepted, there may be a measure of talion and irony in the prediction, with the woman’s seed having his heel bruised but the serpent having his head crushed:
The word play in Genesis 3:15, “you shall bruise him on the heel” but “he shall bruise you on the head” (an irony of degree) establishes the judicial principle that as Satan had meted out, so in fatal measure it is returned to him again. Thus the pharaoh of Egypt hurls the sons of Israel into the river (Exodus 1:22), but God hurls the pharaoh of Egypt into the sea (Exodus 15:4). Likewise the Philistines make sport with Samson in the temple (Judges 16:30), the wicked prepare a pit for David (Psalm 9:15-16), Hamon prepares a gallows for Mordecai (Esther 7:10), and Satan erects a cross for Christ (1 Corinthians 2:8). Retributive irony likewise characterizes the prophetic judgment upon the woman: by desiring to rule over her husband she finds herself in perpetual subservience to him, an irony of contraries. There is retributive irony in the judgment on the man as well: the dust that would be like God (cf. Genesis 3:22) is turned into dust again, an irony of consequence. [4]
The introduction of her seed and his seed points to a conflict to last throughout the ages, which may explain the retributive irony. The seed seems to be at the center of the multi-generational conflict. Here an oddity occurs. It is the woman’s seed, not the man’s seed as would be expected. The Fall came through the woman and the one who will counteract the Fall comes from the seed of the woman.
Its Fulfillment in Christ
The literalness of the fulfillment in Christ strongly suggests why the evangelists were careful to portray Christ as the seed of a woman, with Christ begotten of a virgin. The Hebrew word for seed is זרע zera` meaning seed, descendant or semen. [5] The word zera` is used to describe both her seed and the serpent’s seed.
This choice of word (with its attended meaning semen) may have led some scholars to limit the judgment to snakes. However, New Testament authors refer to spiritual seed as Christ, the one sent from heaven who inaugurated a new race of spiritual men, men “born again” of the Spirit of God (Matthew 13:19-23, 38; Luke 8:5-15; John 12:24). Enhancing this meaning is Christ’s charge that Satan was the spiritual father of the Pharisees in John 8:
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. 43 Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. [6]
While John 8:44 represents the climax of a controversy between Christ and the Jews, in identifying themselves as seed of Abraham (vss 33, 37 using σπέρμα sperma, the same word used in the Genesis 3:15 LXX), Christ’s accusation that they are of their father the devil implies that they are seed (sperma) of Satan.
This idea gains further support from Romans 9, which speaks of the seed of Abraham as spiritual seed. Christ has defined seed as spiritual lineage not physical lineage. It fulfills the promise of Abraham and also defines who the ultimate seed of the serpent are prophetically.
The End of the Age Fulfillment in Christ’s Conflict with Antichrist
The woman’s seed represents Christ and His followers as His spiritual seed. The serpent’s seed is then the mass of humanity following the Antichrist who is the final manifestation of the old serpent, the devil. Israel’s history reveals consistent enmity between her and those supportive of Satan. Prophecy develops this theme with the climax seen in Christ in direct conflict with Satan, followed by an end-of-the-age conflict between Israel and the beast.
It points to ever-increasing enmity between the followers of Christ and those of Satan, leading to a climax at the end of the eschatological age. The conflict is between two communities, the followers of Christ and the followers of Antichrist – envisioned as two corporate individuals, one in the image of Christ and the other as the image of the Antichrist. Though the fulfillment of the prophecy predicts losses to those following Christ (e.g. Revelation 13:10), Genesis 3:15 assures that the end of the conflict will bring victory to the seed of the woman (Christ and thus those in Him).
The Protevangelium is often argued to have been fulfilled in the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. This is certainly true. Yet following Christ’s victory on the cross comes a subsequent conflict and victory of His covenant-community over his beast. In Christ’s passion, Christ is brought into direct conflict with Satan (His heel is bruised in death), yet in His resurrection He has crushed the head of the serpent. The serpent has been judged, thrown down from heaven (Revelation 12:7-9) and defeated through the life-giving sacrifice of Christ.
Fulfillment should not be viewed as completed with Christ’s resurrection, however. John’s prophecy of a great end-time conflict between Satan’s seed and Christ’s seed is seen as a reflection of the direct conflict between Christ and Satan.
The conflict between two individuals at the beginning of the age is seen reflected as a similar conflict at the end of the age between two corporate communities envisaged as individuals, the bride of Christ and the seven-headed, ten horned beast.
The claim of a corporate conflict that follows the individual conflict is unsurprising as it follows a well-developed pattern already noted in Edenic garden-testing, which opened as an individual conflict between Adam and the serpent and is later followed by a corporate testing of Israel by Satanic/demonic forces in the wilderness and again in their Palestinian garden.
The same pattern should be expected in the new creation with a testing between Christ and Satan, followed by a corporate testing of the body of Christ and the corporate body of the Antichrist and his image-bearers, depicted schematically in Figure 1.
It brings deeper meaning to the Scripture, “the student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master” (Matthew 10:24). Taken in context, the passage in which this Scripture is found speaks to the expectations the disciples should have as they are sent on a missionary journey throughout Israel. They will be “among wolves” (vs 16) so they must be “on their guard” (vs 17) as they will “be flogged in the synagogues” (vs 17), “brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child” (vs 21) and they “will be hated by everyone because of [Christ]” (vs 22), yet “the one who stands firm to the end will be saved” (vs 22).
The implication is that severe persecution and death will follow them not just on this journey, but throughout the age as they proclaim Christ. Thus, the testing of the corporate Adam and the conflict John envisions at the end of the age are, in effect, the same. Both testing and conflict to death will occur throughout the age, climaxing in the appearance of the final evil embodied in the man of sin.
Such a view is consistent with Genesis 3:15 as well as Israel’s history. The idea that the saints will escape the conflict, or escape its climax is not in Scripture’s view. To the contrary, Christ sets an expectation that testimony will bring persecution and death to His disciples.
The Curse-Judgment Upon the Woman and its Implications
Desire for Your Husband but He will Rule Over You
Following the curse-judgment upon the serpent, God next dealt with the woman. In reaching for the fruit, Eve stepped from her cooperative relationship with her husband, deciding for herself to eat of the tree. In doing so, she sought to place herself above her husband.
The resulting judgment is again an act of talion. She is placed under her husband, “he will rule over you”. Even here frustration seems inferred. “your desire will be for your husband” suggests that there will be tension over who will be in authority going forward in the marital relationship, evidencing the breakdown in cooperative relations and talionic judgment.
There is also irony in the hierarchy of judgments pronounced on both man and woman. The woman is in bondage to her husband, the one from whom she came and the man is in bondage to the ground, from which he came. The bondage cannot be removed until the coming of the promised Seed. There is irony in this prediction as the one who brought death to her husband will be the channel through whom life is regained. [7]
Its Fulfillment in Israel’s History
Until the coming Seed, the relationship between the man and woman would be marked by tension over leadership. If one examines the behaviors of the corporate Adam, Israel, when viewed as God’s wife, the tension is manifest throughout her history, supporting a deeper meaning in eschatological studies.
Being under this curse, Israel as God’s wife consistently steps out from His providential care, choosing to make decisions for herself. She is consistently unwilling and unable to be faithful to Him and His covenant. She is the consummate prostitute, never satisfied with God’s love, favor and generous provision. Ever wandering off, she lustfully sought the favor of other gods and other kingdoms who could not satisfy her. It puts her in an endless cycle of sin and dissatisfaction, ever seeking fulfillment but never achieving it. This is the consistent testimony of the prophets generally and Ezekiel most particularly (Ezekiel 16, 23 being most explicit).
Its Fulfillment at the End of the Age
John’s introduction of Babylon as the mother of prostitutes points to the end-of-the-age manifestation of the unfaithful covenant-community. She is the realization of the what will become of those who refuse to repent, preferring to lustfully share their love with other gods, most notably the gods of wealth and political power.
Unrepentant Oholibah has degraded into the mother of prostitutes. The fulfillment of her physical carnal desires proves too strong an aphrodisiac. She has no understanding that fulfillment can only be found in spiritual realities so she continuously prostitutes herself to earthly pleasures (Revelation 17:2, 4) that give her a temporary adrenalin-rush. Her carnal pleasures blind her to the reality that she is a participant in the bloodshed of God’s saints. She cannot see her unfaithful behavior to Christ.
While nominally desirous of the benefits of relationship with Christ (e.g., eternal life), she cannot submit to His laws and commands. She covets a life of rebelliousness in which she is the master of her own destiny (Revelation 18:7). In striking irony, she has a desire for her Husband (Christ), but will not allow Him to rule over her! In effect, she is the end-of-the-age fulfillment of the curse-judgment upon the woman.
Perhaps more surprising is the unexpected irony of her destruction. The unrepentant Oholibah has fulfilled Ezekiel’s prophecy. She has become worse than Sodom and like Sodom, now must be completely destroyed. [8]
Note the irony: She is trapped under the consequences of the curse-judgment specifically because she refuses to repent and accept the new covenant which will give her the transformative heart she needs. She desires no change because she self-righteously believes herself clean and unblameable before God. Her unrepentant heart, her arrogant self-righteousness and manifest wickedness demand her destruction.
That the harlot cannot see her own sinfulness points to a final implication for members of the bride of Christ. Submission to Christ and obedience to His commands is critical to maintaining membership in the true covenant-community. It is an important form of testimony. John warns that many will stumble spiritually and find themselves in the company of the mother of prostitutes rather than the bride of Christ.
Implications to Christian Testimony and Christian Marriages
Our testimony then, should faithfully show forth the type of relationship that is required of the faithful bride, which preeminently is marked by submission to the laws of Christ. In faithfully obeying Christ’s commands, we testify to others in the assembly whose carnality may bring leanings toward the prostitute.
Ephesians 5 states our marriages are to model the relationship between Christ and His church. By implication, the way believers conduct their marriage testifies of our relationship to Christ for unbelievers and those who are members of the prostitute Babylon. It follows then, that there must be fidelity in our marriage relationships and clarity of biblical roles for both husband and wife.
However, submission to the laws of Christ is not an acknowledgement of subjection to the Husband or His authority, but an expression of undying love for a Husband who has selflessly, and at great personal cost and injury, redeemed and purified her, to make her as fine and valuable as the rarest gem.
Similarly, Christ’s headship is not to assert His dominion over His bride, subjugating her. Rather, it is an expression of the boundless love He has shown her throughout history, promoting her best interests despite great cost. Such thinking should form the basis of the love and actions between Christian spouses who desire an effective testimony in a world totally lacking true love.
If we truly love the Lord, we will obey His commands (John 14:15). Our love for the Lord is a demonstration for our marriage relationships. If there is tension over leadership in the relationship, we bear false testimony. Though it may not be clear how fidelity in our marriage testifies to our love of God, by faith we must trust that God’s purposes will be met in our obedience (Mark 4:27).
Pain in Child-bearing and its Implications
The woman was to enable her husband to be fruitful and increase in number to fill the earth with offspring who would reflect the glory of God. In her disobedience, the one who was to bring life, brought death to herself and her husband. Each child she brings forth is a son to death (1 Corinthians 15:22).
Likewise, her efforts are frustrated. Each child she will bear is done in pain and sorrow, revealing the loss of cooperative relationship between her and God. Each time she attempts to bring forth the One who will crush the serpent, it will be done in pain and discomfort, a constant reminder of her failure. Her creative ability is frustrated just as all creation is frustrated (Romans 8:20).
Its Fulfillment in Israel’s History
As pain-in-childbirth was wrought in judgment, the picture of a labor pains became a frequent descriptor of judgments to fall on the nations who had abused Israel (Psalm 48:6; Isaiah 13:8; 21:3; 23:4; Jeremiah 48:41; 49:22, 24; 50:43) and also upon Israel for failing to meet her covenantal obligations (2 Kings 19:3; Isaiah 26:17; 37:3; Jeremiah 4:31; 6:24; 13:21; 22:23; 30:6; Micah 4:9-10).
It thus served a two-fold purpose: as judgment on the enemies of God’s people and as judgment upon God’s people. These judgments anticipate the conflict to emerge between the covenant community and their enemies whose efforts are to thwart or destroy God’s covenant community and kingdom.
God’s kingdom dramatically changes the future of creation, evident from a picture of a woman-in-labor in Isaiah 66 which emphasizes the miraculous speed with which the reestablishment of God’s kingdom is to occur:
7 “Before she goes into labor, she gives birth; before the pains come upon her, she delivers a son. 8 Who has ever heard of such a thing? Who has ever seen such things? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children. Isaiah 66 [9]
The change is apocalyptic, suggestive the meaning of the woman-in-labor broadened to include God’s coming kingdom (note Zion as a country is in labor). [10] The apocalyptic character is also seen in the coming widespread destruction of Palestine and Jerusalem by a northern kingdom (Jeremiah 6:1, 22; 13:20) that is prophesied to occur “in that day” (vs 9), a flag indicative of the Day of the Lord.
The judgments to fall upon Israel begin with the charge that Israel has forsaken their God (Jeremiah 2:1-4:2), witnessed in her idolatrous behavior. Israel is pressed to repent with the promise that if she repents, “then the nations will be blessed by him and in him they will glory” (vs 2).
Jeremiah also employed the terms “formless and empty” to describe the devastation to the land, using chiasmus to describe that the coming devastation indicative of the end of the age and the de-creation that results from sin. After a lengthy description of the devastation caused by the invasion, the chapter ends with:
31 I hear a cry as of a woman in labor, a groan as of one bearing her first child—the cry of the Daughter of Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands and saying, “Alas! I am fainting; my life is given over to murderers.”
The passage infers that Israel as a nation will labor in attempting to bring forth their Messiah and usher in His Kingdom. In this picture, Israel is envisaged as a woman in labor attempting to birth the Messiah and His kingdom. [11] The words of Micah 4 similarly present the illustration of a woman in labor:
9 Why do you now cry aloud—have you no king? Has your counselor perished, that pain seizes you like that of a woman in labor? 10 Writhe in agony, O Daughter of Zion, like a woman in labor, for now you must leave the city to camp in the open field. You will go to Babylon; there you will be rescued. There the Lord will redeem you out of the hand of your enemies.
As Eve was exiled from the Garden of Eden, so the corporate “Daughter of Zion” would be exiled from her Edenic Palestinian garden. As Eve was promised One from her seed that would redeem, Micah prophesies that Israel will be redeemed by the Lord, but first she will “writhe in agony” until the birthing of her Messiah (5:3) and His kingdom (4:9-11).
Its Eschatological Fulfillment Seen in Revelation 12
Micah links the picture of the Daughter of Zion in labor with Israel’s coming king and with the timing of her rescue from Babylon. The passage goes on to describe the nations gathering to destroy them and the Lord’s reassurance that the Daughter of Zion “will break to pieces many nations.” These predictions suggest a future Babylonian captivity, one that John perceived in Revelation (Revelation 13:10; 18:4), one from which God’s covenant people would be “rescued” and “redeemed”.
John not only perceived this future exile and exodus, but described the pain and anguish God’s people would experience using the picture of a woman in labor in Revelation 12:1-17, the seminal event the redeemed God’s people.
In the prophecy, John uses an astronomical sign of a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon at her feet, a sign evident in the heavens at the time of Christ’s coming. He adds that she had a crown with twelve stars on her head, a sign of God’s covenant people Israel (cf. Genesis 37:9).
A conflict between God and His enemy is envisioned in a second sign that appears in the heavens: a dragon with seven heads and ten horns, which John tells us is Satan (vs 9). The dragon attempts to destroy the child to be birthed, the One who would “rule all the nations”, the Messiah (cf. Micah 5:3). After failing to destroy the Messiah, a war ensues between the God’s heavenly hosts and the angelic hosts following Satan. Satan’s defeat is evident as “they lost their place in heaven” (vs 8), after which the dragon was “hurled to the earth” (vs 9).
It is at this point that a voice from heaven proclaims that salvation has come “and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ”, signaling the coming of God’s kingdom. The dragon becomes enraged, recognizing his time is short and pursues the woman, making war with her offspring.
John’s vision shows that the conflict in heaven spills over into the sphere of the earth, bringing God’s covenant people into conflict with His enemies. The birth pains experienced at the Messiah’s birth may also apply to the establishment of God’s kingdom throughout our age, bringing increasing pain and anguish to God’s people as the eschaton approaches and as God’s kingdom is brought to consummation.
These pains result in part due to persecution by the enemies of God’s people but also result from the difficult choices God’s covenant people must make as the end of the age nears, to ensure their testimony has fidelity that they are prepared for Christ’s return. [12]
Noteworthy are the parallels between this end-time conflict and its counterpart in Genesis 2 and 3. In Genesis, there is a serpent. In Revelation there is heightening with a dragon who is Satan. In the garden, enmity is prophesied between the seed of the woman and the seed of Satan. The prophesied enmity is seen fulfilled in Revelation 12 as a conflict between the seed of the dragon – the beast and his followers, and the Seed of the woman – Christ and His followers. An amplification of the enmity is also seen in the conflict including both earth and the heavens.
The promised seed of the woman is seen fulfilled in the coming Christ, and Eve’s prophesied pain in childbirth is seen recapitulated in Israel envisioned as a woman experiencing birth pangs of Christ and His kingdom. It would align with the prophecy of Micah 4, including the judgment on Israel going into Babylon, again viewed like the anguish of child-birthing. Throughout our age, Satan prowls through our world seeking to persecute and destroy the offspring of the woman, those who are of the covenant community of Christ.
Christ’s Warnings Birth Pains Characterize Our Age
Jesus similarly spoke of birthing in John 16 when He told His disciples that “in a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me” (vs 16). In seeing that His statement puzzled His disciples, John noted:
19 Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? 20 I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. 21 A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. 22 So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.
It appears this is where John drew from in formulating his picture of the woman of Revelation 12. Christ’s death and resurrection were likened to birth pains. The focuse on the coming of the Spirit and coming persecution His followers will face (vss 1-15) further supports this picture applies throughout the age, extending to Jesus’ return and consummation of His kingdom. This notion is supported by Jesus’ testimony in which He warned of birth pains leading up to His return:
4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains. Matthew 24
Jesus warns His disciples that the end is not imminent. Despite many false christs, wars, conflicts, earthquakes and famines “the end is still to come”. These signs are only the beginning of the birth pains of the coming kingdom. [13] Christ’s words further support that the birth pangs will be experienced throughout the age, again emphasizing that the birth pangs are not associated with Christ’s resurrection alone but with the realization of His consummated kingdom.
As the end approaches, Christ warns that “at that time many will turn away from the faith and betray and hate each other” (vs 10). [14] The occurrence of famines and earthquakes hints at global catastrophes involving all creation, allusions to de-creation and destruction of the old creation as the new emergent creation is reaching its consummation. Just as believers experience the birth pains of the kingdom via persecution, so all creation experiences birthing pains of the new creation inaugurated in Christ:
19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. Romans 8
Paul argues that the present creation has been subjected to frustration beginning with the Fall, awaiting its deliverance from the decay and destruction of sin. The transformation from the old creation to the new heaven and new earth is then described as a birthing process that liberates creation from decay and reveals the true saints in future resurrected glory.
The birth brings global pain and anguish of famines, droughts, earthquakes and other apocalyptic judgments that are cosmic in scope. The breadth of God’s redemptive program is now manifest. What began as a simple yet painful promise to Eve is seen to expand, revealing the cosmic results of the birth of the redeemer, Jesus Christ.
His birth initiates a series of painful events that are best described as birth pains associated with the coming Kingdom of God, the New Heaven, New Earth and revelation of God’s saints. The expansion reveals a deeper meaning in the original curse of birth pains as shown schematically in Figure 2.
The birth pains are experienced by Christ’s followers as well as their enemies (the two-fold aspect of the judgment), as redemption includes all creation, where the old order of creation must be destroyed and displaced by the new order of God and His Christ.
There is pain to be experienced as God’s enemies resist the destruction of their old-world order, bringing the church into direct conflict with the forces of darkness. The destruction of the old-world order is also painful in that God’s people must be torn from its sinfulness and God’s enemies defeated.
The old order of wood, hay and stubble must burn so that only those things of spiritual value remain, in which we are purified like precious metals. The sin of Adam and Eve is now seen to have cosmic consequences. Redeeming creation from its decay and destruction will require painful cosmic counteractions. Death and destruction must come to all of God’s original creation so that all that remains is His new creation in Christ.
Despite the painful anguish of kingdom-birthing that God’s people must endure, and despite feeling abandonment, Micah 5 gives assurance that God’s Messiah, His shepherd will secure His flock and bring eternal peace:
1 Marshal your troops, O city of troops, for a siege is laid against us. They will strike Israel’s ruler on the cheek with a rod. 2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” 3 Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor gives birth and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites. 4 He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. 5 And he will be their peace.
Curse-Judgment Upon the Man and its Implications
In eating the fruit his wife offered, man rebelled against God, willfully choosing no longer to be in subjection to God. The judgment is ironic; the dust that sought to be God is sentenced to again become dust. The chiasm is deliberate with man returning to the ground from which he came. Though Adam was formed of the dust of the “land,” he was also invested with God’s breath of life. Yet with the fall, there is only mention of his returning to the dust of the “land” from which he was formed. It seems the author may be hinting that spiritual death had already taken place.
Curse-Judgment Upon the Ground (Thorns & Briers) and its Implications
Man’s willful disobedience meant that he no longer chose to be subject to God’s leadership. A judgment of talion is seen with the earth no longer subject to man. The ground is cursed, requiring painful labor to bring forth its bounty, a grievous reminder that Adam’s sin now moved him from the garden which brought forth food without effort to the barren wilderness outside the garden where the land must be vigorously worked to bring forth food.
The earth will now work in ways that are counterproductive to man’s efforts, bringing forth thorns and thistles in defiance of his efforts, thwarting his ability to bring the earth into subjection. Painful labor will continue until the man returns to the ground from which he was taken. [15]
Its Fulfillment in Israel’s History
Similar thematic development is seen with Israel, the corporate Adam. Due to Israel’s sins, judgment is pronounced on Israel’s Edenic, Palestinian garden with curse-judgments paralleling those of Eden, including judgments that the land will become desolate (unfruitful) and a place of briers, thorns and thistles (Isaiah 7:23-25; 32:13; Ezekiel 2:6; Hosea 10:8).
Israel is threatened with thorn bushes to block her idolatrous path (Hosea 2:6). The deepened meaning of thorns and briers is not limited to Israel however. Evil men are likened to thorns to be burned (2 Samuel 23:6-7) and evil kingdoms are threatened with the overgrowth of thorn bushes (Isaiah 34:13).
Ironically the thorns, thistles and briers will be burned with fire (Isaiah 9:18-19; 10:17; 27:4), eliminated when Eden is restored (Isaiah 9:18; 10:17; 27:4; 33:12; 55:13). New Testament authors allude to their elimination in an end-of-the-age separating judgment (Matthew 13:30, 41-42, 49-50; Hebrews 6:8) that coincides with the restoration of a consummated Edenic paradise of God.
Deepened meaning is seen in “they will sow wheat but reap thorns” (Jeremiah 12:13), “no longer will the people of Israel have malicious neighbors who are painful briers and sharp thorns” (Ezekiel 28:24) and “thorns and thistles will grow up and cover their altars” (Hosea 10:8). [16]
Of particular significance Jeremiah 4:3 “break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among thorns” which is followed by a call to “circumcise your hearts” before Yahweh’s wrath breaks out like fire devouring the Israelites. Jeremiah echoes the curse of Genesis while deepening its meaning, applying thorns and unkept ground to a man’s heart rather than a garden. Jeremiah shows that man’s responsibility is now to guard and keep the ground or garden of his heart.
Jesus’ Warnings
Jesus follows a similar line in Matthew 7:16; 13:7, 22; Mark 4:7, 18; Luke 6:44; 8:7, 14; Hebrews 6:7-8. His teaching is not at all unreasonable given that man is from the ground (land). He is thus inseparable from the ground.
Tending the ground or tending the land finds equivalence with tending one’s heart. Guarding the garden from unauthorized intruders would also equivalate with guarding the heart from sin. Likewise, the judgment that falls on the land should follow the judgment on the heart. Sin brought thorns and thistles to the land and exile from the garden, the place of Yahweh’s presence and blessing. Sin likewise parches the wellspring of the heart, leaving the heart dry and fallow, unprepared for the seed of God’s word. In its place grow the malicious thornbushes of sin in the dry and unfruitful heart, representing hardness of one’s heart.
Jeremiah and other prophets have opened the way for Jesus’ deepened teaching. As Adam was tiller and planter of the ground of the first Edenic garden, Jesus as last Adam is the tiller of the ground of men’s hearts, planting the seeds of life, the Word of God (see Figure 3).
Relevance for Christians Today
The analysis of the curse-judgments has brought further light upon a number of key creation-themes examined earlier. Most important, the various themes continue to see integration, bringing increased clarity to God’s redemptive plan. New themes have also been introduced that provide insight into God’s redemptive efforts.
Additional Redemptive Themes
Prior thematic development showed that sin breaks down God’s order, bringing chaos to God’s creation. With the Fall, one can add that the serpent’s conspiracy also inverted God’s creation-order. Chaos is seen in the banishment from the garden, man’s return to dust and the introduction of thorns and briers, also evidencing an inverted order, notably in the relationships between God, Adam, his wife, the land and the serpent. There will be enmity between the woman and the serpent for generations to come, there will be leadership strife between husband and wife and the land no longer supports Adam’s subjugating and fructifying efforts.
Sin’s Impact to the Earth
The damage introduced by their sin is substantial. All the earth is impacted and Adam’s mandate to extend the garden has been annulled through his expulsion from it. Now he must work the land in vain awaiting the hope of restoration.
In truth, everything is in vain, as later authors highlight that all creation was brought under the bondage of sin and faces corruption and decay. The damage is so great that there appears to be no feasible way for Adam and his wife to fix it. They serve in a priestly role and can offer sacrifices, but these are of no avail. Death now reigns over creation.
The couple is not left without hope, and neither is the land. But judgment must be meted out before restoration can occur, and it is unsaid exactly how long they must endure judgment. Likewise, the path to restoration will not be easy. Their restoration will come through the seed of the woman, but that seed cannot be birthed without significant pain and discomfort that proves to endure for centuries.
Sin’s Enduring Impact to our World
It brings an important ethical lesson. God’s grace has been extended to them with the promise of future seed that will vindicate the couple while returning the serpent his due. This grace is wonderful, but Scripture bears out that restoration does not come quickly or easily. Judgment upon the couple and their offspring must first play out.
When one understands the magnitude of the damage done to creation by Adam’s sin, the extensiveness and length of the judgment is unsurprising. Yet it is often discounted in a culture that prefers to emphasize forgiveness, grace and restoration.
The recapitulation of these themes in Israel’s history reinforces the truth and importance of these themes. Israel’s sins brought a host of judgments extended over centuries. Yet a review of Israel’s history reveals all the more, God’s great grace and patience with His people.
Eve is portrayed as deceived and Adam as willfully sinning in what appears to be a single act of rebellion. Israel’s rebellion began at Sinai and continued for centuries with little sign of repentance. Her chief sins also appear amplified over Adam’s, marked by constant willful acts of rebellion climaxing in the rejection and death of their Messiah.
Consistent with the Genesis 2 garden-narrative, no wonder then that she was expelled from her garden-paradise for near two thousand years. Her lack of repentance despite centuries of Sinaic-covenant judgments against her justifies the lengthy expulsion and rejection.
Perhaps most unexpected, later prophets declare that Israel cannot be faithful to her covenantal obligations without the coming Messiah and His new covenant that has the power to change their hearts. Christ is the theological foundation upon which all of Israel’s (and the world’s) future is built.
His rejection is certain death, much as Adam’s rejection of God brought certain death (and as Israel’s rejection of God’s appointed, Moses, brought death). When one examines Christ’s ministry on earth, it reveals the necessity for One to be tested as Adam was tested, yet triumphant. Through compliance with God’s laws, Jesus is life as He has not transgressed in the garden as the first Adam did. He can then choose to lay down His life as a substitute for those who, like the first Adam, have transgressed.
Notable is the dramatic impact to the ground. Entrance to the garden was barred, and Adam was pictured to its east in a dry barren land of thorns and briers that would not bring forth its full fruit, even with great effort. That this theme recurs with Israel in Palestine, but applied to their hearts is unsurprising given that Adam was from the ground. Given their close common history, one would expect the curse-judgment upon the land to be reflected in Adam, and Israel as corporate Adam.
Sin’s Impact to the Earth’s “Near-Kin”, Mankind
If the ground would bring forth thorns and thistles and withhold its fruit, then man’s heart could also be viewed as growing spiritual thorns and thistles, becoming spiritually dry and barren, and failing to yield spiritual fruit. This is exactly what appears in the writings of exilic prophets and it is where Jesus as the new Adam, would not be subject to this curse. He would be the new tiller in the new garden of men’s hearts, breaking up the fallow ground and planting good seed that would certainly bring forth a great harvest.
Jesus’ activities of tilling and planting new seed would be a euphemism for what the prophets called a new heart. It is the seed Jesus plants that initiates the transformation of the old heart. [17] There is a possible further flag in the crown of thorns Jesus wore, signaling a reversal of the curse of thorns and briers – for the garden of the heart. Jesus has reversed the greater curse upon the heart, much as Noah removed the curse upon the ground as forerunner of Christ.
Sin’s Impact to Eschatology and the End of the Church
Christ’s great victory contrasts to Adam’s and Israel’s great failures. It suggests the curse-judgment upon Eve anticipates God’s covenant-community facing a similar testing to Adam and Christ, but perhaps most importantly, a testing similar to Israel.
God’s new covenant-community, working to extend Christ’s new garden through evangelism, is seen tested in persecution, suffering and death envisaged as birth pangs. Part of these pangs are global catastrophes that all must endure. But some appear framed as a direct Satanic assault on the covenant-community. The judgment upon men for rejecting Christ is expulsion from God’s presence, signified in physical and spiritual death, consistent with garden-narratives.
Yet in this last garden-testing of the antitype of the corporate Adam, the church, fidelity to Christ brings certain death – physical death (Revelation 13:15). Thus, fidelity will require faith to believe that God will vindicate His righteous-dead through bodily resurrection and entrance into His final Edenic garden. The final garden however, is unseen, as is Christ and His kingdom at the time of this end-of-the-age testing. No wonder then, that Scripture urges believers to hold fast to what we have been taught. What is truly important and eternal is what is unseen.
Excursus: Adam’s Initial Rebellion Anticipates Mankind’s Final Rebellion
A key feature of the inverting judgments we pointed out, is the long persistence of these judgments until the Parousia. Given that, it is appropriate to examine how this initial rebellion in Eden is modeled as a final rebellion in Revelation.
In the fall from Eden, mankind, through its representative head (Adam and Eve) rebelled, following the counsel of the serpent. In Revelation, God’s new covenant-community will endure a period of testing much like that of Adam, Christ and Israel. Unlike the testing of Adam and Christ, which were both envisioned as tests of individuals, the end-of-the-age testing will be a corporate testing after the model of the testing of the corporate Adam, Israel.
The testing is framed as a rebellion, with many nominal-members of the covenant-community falling away in sin when faced with intense persecution, death or decision between the fineries of the old-world order and the kingdom of God. The testing seems envisioned throughout the age, yet climaxing with the persecutions of the beast at the end of the age, leading up to Christ’s Parousia.
Yet following Christ’s Parousia, John envisions another garden-like paradise from which there is a similar rebellion followed by a subjection of the Satanic chaos. The passage is particularly problematic, a narrative for which there are multiple views and no consensus. Its difficulties go beyond our current purposes, yet the narrative chiastically counterbalances with the Eden Fall narrative:
1 And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3 He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time. 4 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. 7 When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. 9 They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. 10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Revelation 20
John sees an angel “having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain”. The angel “seizes” Satan and binds him with the chain, locking him in the Abyss. The abyss is the prison into which the disobedient angels and evil spirits had prior been bound (Jude 1:6; 1 Peter 3:19; cf. Revelation 9:1-11) and also the place from which the beast originates (Revelation 17:8).
This prison was emptied of its fallen angels and demonic forces in Revelation 9 and here is described as the place of Satan’s imprisonment for a period of one thousand years. Some have argued that being chained points to limitations placed upon Satan’s power during our age.
It seems indicative of His defeat and imprisonment, being stripped of all his true power (to deceive the nations). Satan’s imprisonment into the Abyss removes access to the earth, which appears now to operate as God’s victory-garden over Satan, evil and chaos. It suggests that the thousand-year period of Christ’s righteous reign is envisioned as a recapitulation of Eden, though this new Edenic garden is home to a corporate community of privileged and blessed.
It would seem that it is a time of judgment as thrones were established for those “who had been given authority to judge” (vs 4). There is a resurrection of those who lost their lives for faithful testimony in opposition to the beast (vs 4) and they reign with Christ on earth.
At the end of the thousand years, Satan is released “to deceive the nations”, “to gather them for battle”.[18] The symbolism is unmistakable. Yahweh has locked up Satan, preventing his entrance into His new garden, His new paradisal Eden. In effect, Yahweh has put a hedge around His newly created garden, much like the first Eden was thought to have a protective hedge.
Jesus Christ, the last Adam, keeps and guards the new garden from the presence of Satan in contrast to the first Adam, who failed to guard and prevent Satan’s entry. By symbolically locking Satan in the Abyss, Jesus. in effect builds an impenetrable hedge around the new garden, making it safe for His creation. The thousand-year period provides a Sabbath of rest from the evil schemes Satan seeks to perpetrate.
The thousand-year period emphasizes its length as very long in Biblical thought and suggests that this “Millennial Sabbath” models an eternal Sabbath that, like the first Sabbath, is broken by sin and rebellion when Satan is released and allowed to enter the new paradisal garden. Just as Adam and Eve as mankind’s representative head rebelled at the urging of Satan, in the final rebellion, the nations rebel, again at the behest of Satan through the nations’ representative head(s), “Gog and Magog”. [19]
As Adam was to extend the boundaries of the garden throughout the earth and fill the earth with God’s glory, in Revelation we see the fulfillment of that mandate through the last Adam, Jesus Christ. The garden now fills the earth and though John envisions the community centered in Jerusalem, one would expect that Yahweh has followers, sons of glory, scattered throughout the earth. It may be that John envisions the leadership, those martyred, as a priesthood centered in Jerusalem, though this is indeterminant.
For our purposes, it would appear that in the first creation, Satan crept into the garden with the intent to deceive God’s priests (Adam & Eve) and bring death and destruction to God’s first creation as a consequence of their sin. In the new creation, Satan attempts to deceive the nations to rebel against Yahweh and His Christ, to directly and immediately destroy God’s new priesthood, His new Israel, symbolized as a camp. It is noteworthy that those attacked are described as a camp, suggestive of wilderness testing.
It stands in contrast with John’s vision of a rewarded martyred-community. Though their lives were shortened by their sacrifice of martyrdom, Yahweh not only restored the lost years but adds to them substantially (one thousand years). It is their reward for their sacrifice to Christ. They are resurrected and given preeminence in rulership during the Millennial period.
Satan’s focus seems to be upon destroying those in positions of rulership. God prior allowed their defeat via martyrdom by Satan and his beast during the church age. At the close of the Millennium however, Yahweh vindicates His saints by destroying Satan and the multitudes from the nations he marshaled, an inversion with the saints now exalted rather than humbled.
At the close of the Millennial period, Yahweh defends His closest adherents by utterly destroying His enemies and saving His people from further suffering and death. In God’s actions, those humbled to death are publicly vindicated by destruction of Satan and rebellious nations in league with him.
The brevity of the account leaves questions. Who are the nations and how do they differ from the camp of God? Why are nations seen after their apparent destruction in Revelation 19:15? How were the nations deceived? Were they deceived through testing as Eve was deceived? Were those in the camp also tested but not deceived? Who represents the camp, with its wilderness testing implications, and why after Christ’s Parousia is another testing envisioned?
These questions are difficult to answer. While John’s vision is based in Ezekiel 38-39, the narrative provides little assistance in answering them. [20] Further, those deceived are driven from the new garden in perpetuity through destruction and judgment in the Lake of Fire. These and other difficulties, including apparent recapitulations (e.g. Revelation 6:9), have brought differing views regarding this passage.
It was earlier mentioned that Israel was tested in the wilderness, but also during her tenure in the land, both of which she failed. The latter failure brought a death sentence to Israel corporately, leaving only a faithful remnant. One must ask if John sees a parallel between Israel in the land and the church now in their new land.
Against this idea is John’s envisioning of a Gog-Magog rebellion on earth, where typically the final garden is viewed as heavenly. It would require that John’s new garden be viewed as an earthly garden before a final transition to the new heaven and new earth.
In favor of an “Israel-in-the-land” typology is the corporate death-sentence issued to Israel in the land for her idolatry which could foreshadow the final destruction of Satan and the nations, again leaving only a faithful remnant (now in contrast to the unfaithful who are described as numbering as the sand on the seashore). If Aune is correct that John sought to reconcile Jewish expectation of a messianic kingdom with the notion of a final realization of God’s kingdom, could there then be a further typology after the model of Saul and the peoples’ rebellion in demanding a king?
Whether an Israel-in-the-land typology is present is difficult to ascertain. However, like the creation narrative, Yahweh once again is seen defeating the powers of chaos (recapitulated in Satan and the nations) before the presentation of His final temple (Revelation 21: 22), consistent with the testimony of Ezekiel 38-39; 40-48, upon which this narrative is based.
In Revelation, there is escalation over the type, with a new creation that can no longer be sullied by sin and the promised return of the shekinah seen in the replacement of the sun and moon to light the city (Revelation 21:23). As challenging as this passage is, the observations above attest that there is at minimum, a creation-Eden typology chiastically presented in John’s millennial vision.
[1] Gordon J. Wenham, Word Biblical Commentary Genesis 1-15, Waco, Texas, Word Books, 1987, p. 51.
[2] Gordon J. Wenham, Word Biblical Commentary Genesis 1-15, Waco, Texas, Word Books, 1987, p. 80. See also the Chaldee Paraphrast. Hengstenberg, E. W., Christology of the Old Testament, Volume 1, Mac Dill AFB, Florida, MacDonald Publishing Company, 1854
[3] Gordon J. Wenham, Word Biblical Commentary Genesis 1-15, Waco, Texas, Word Books, 1987, p. 80-81
[4] Gage, Warren Austin, The Gospel of Genesis, Winona Lake IN, Carpenter Books, 1984, p. 46. Kings often engraved the image of their enemy into their sandals as a magical way of taking dominion over them and subduing them by walking upon them and their kingdoms. Here it may be similar with the seed of the woman crushing the head of the serpent with his foot/heel, subduing him, but in the process, suffering an injury to the foot he uses to crush the seed of his opponent, the serpent.
[5] Strong’s Concordance available at www.blueletterbible.org
[6] See also Matthew 13:38; Acts 13:10. Likewise Matthew 3:7; 12:34: 23:33 compare Christ’s opponents to snakes, vipers – i.e. serpents, in effect the seed of the serpent of Genesis 3.
[7] The hope is reflected in the name Adam gives to his wife. With the curse and its consequences, Adam names his wife Eve, meaning life or living. He apparently recognized the significance of God’s promise to the woman and its importance given their sin and judgment of death. It would seem that Adam also recognized their relationship had changed from one of companion, to one also entrusted with their future. Their restoration was dependent upon her seed. It is also possible that Adam, in selecting this time to name Eve, was acknowledging his own failure in listening to his wife, reinforcing his leadership position of the couple, if not also recognizing in her name a new covenantal relationship in which their future depended.
[8] Though Ezekiel sees Jerusalem in his day worse than Sodom, it would seem he is also speaking prophetically when one examines Sodom’s sin. Sodom mistreated God’s angelic servants (offensively intending to rape them). Jerusalem’s sins prophetically will be worse in that they mistreated a greater-than-the-angels servant of God, Jesus, conspiring against Him, putting Him to death and then abusing and persecuting His followers. Undoubtedly, this sin makes Jerusalem worse than Sodom. In the final end-of-the-age manifestation of Israel’s harlotries, the Mother of Prostitutes Babylon, will mistreat Christ’s servants to a far-greater degree, complicit with the Antichrist’s attempts to exterminate the Body of Christ. Her sin may be greater in that she attempts to destroy God’s coming Kingdom, thus rejecting Christ. Her rejection of Christ and His kingdom has its source in her desire to rule the earth and rule over the kings of the earth, the same rebellious sin of the woman in the garden!
[9] Isaiah not only emphasizes the speed of the regathering of Israel but like John 16, there seems to be an indication that the suffering of God’s people will seem brief as it will be followed by the joy of seeing Jesus at His Appearing.
[10] It is not just the Messiah that is being birthed, but His kingdom. Note the testimony of the Baptist whose message was not that the Messiah was near/coming, but that the Kingdom was near/coming.
[11] In this picture Yahweh seems to be the husband with Israel the wife.
[12] Note what Paul said of the day of the Lord: “While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape” (1 Thessalonians 5:3). In using the picture of birth pains, Paul sought to show the unexpectedness and suddenness of the destruction. It dovetails with John’s vision, emphasizing the urgency with which believers must quickly “come out” from Babylon.
[13] The appearance of false Christs occurred often in the first few centuries following Christ’s crucifixion. Wars and famines have marked the history of our age. Both support that the birth pangs began early in our age, but the end is not yet, implying they continue throughout the age.
[14] Paul also appealed to the Galatians who were under pressure to “turn back to those weak and miserable principles” of Judaism. In his appeal, he says “I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you”, suggestive that Paul understood Jesus’ warning that many would turn from the faith, betraying the truth of Christ. His use of birth pains is consistent with the prophets and New Testament. Israel will experience birth pains as they attempt to birth Christ in their heart and manifest the kingdom in evidence to the world.
[15] The curse upon the ground/land is removed after the flood (see Genesis 5:29 which foreshadows the removal of the curse in Noah’s name, and Genesis 8:21 formally acknowledges Yahweh’s removal of the curse.
[16] These early typological reinterpretations may have laid the groundwork for later New Testament reinterpretation of the use of “seed” by Jesus and His disciples. Typological reinterpretation is frequently applied to these terms including; Job 31:40; Isaiah 33:12; 34:13; Jeremiah 4:3; Hosea 2:6; 9:6; Micah 7:4; Nahum 1:10; and particularly Jeremiah 4:3.
[17] The idea of Jesus tilling and planting the spiritual seed is enhanced by the giving of the Spirit, viewed as a new soaking of the adamah of the heart (see Genesis 2:6). This picture would be equivalent to the picture of circumcising the heart, bringing equivalence between circumcision of the heart, tilling the heart and the giving of the new covenant.
[18] Note the parallel between the disobedient angels being in chains in prison (Jude 1:6) for a long period of time before being released as part of Yahweh’s judgment on them (Revelation 9) and that of Satan who is locked in chains in prison for one thousand years before being released for his judgment. In both cases, their releases bring judgment on the disobedient dwelling on the earth.
[19] John seems to reinterpret Magog from Ezekiel 38-39. Ezekiel’s account is focused upon Gog. In the creation account, woman is from the man and thus could be considered “Adam” as she was married and thus the two are one flesh. John may have chosen to pair Magog with Gog to parallel Gog with Adam and Magog with Eve. But concerning this speculation, let each decide for oneself.
[20] Aune provides substantial background information to this tradition that affirms the interpretive difficulties. Aune, David E., Revelation 17-22, Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 52C, Dallas TX, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1998, p. 1069-1108