The Seed of the Woman

Genesis 3:

14 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:
15 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.
God spoke these words just after Adam and Eve’s sin in the Garden. The entire human race had just denied God. They rejected their Creator and became Satan’s servants. From this point on, every child born in the world was born into bondage to Satan. It was a sad occasion; instead of freedom under God, they chose slavery under the evil one. God though, held out hope for us. He told of a future event in which the world would be divided. At this point in time there was no division; there was only one class of people, Adam, Eve and all their descendents constituted the seed of the Serpent (Satan). They were his seed in the sense that they believed him, took his advice, and decided to be their own gods. This is exactly what everyone that doesn’t believe and obey God today does. They think that they are in control of their lives but they are blinded to the reality that there are only two choices; they can obey God or disobey Him, which is to follow the path that Satan took in his rebellion against the Creator. This is the meaning of the expression “seed of the Serpent.”
At this time in history then, there was no hope for the human race; all were destined to an eternity in hell, a place where there was no beauty, no goodness, only misery without end. Why is there such a place? Why did a loving God create it? We are not told why but we need to consider that man, as a creature, was created to live in dependence on his Creator. When he rejects that Creator, he rejects everything good in life and this is all that is left. He is given freedom to choose and he makes his choice.
But our merciful God held out hope for man. There would be a future time when a new class of humanity would come into existence. There would be the “seed of the woman” as well as the “seed of the Serpent.” This new class is referred to in Scripture as the new creation (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15; Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10). This new creation was brought into being by Christ when He humbled Himself, became a man, and died on the cross to pay the sin-debt of all that would believe in Him. It consists of Christ Himself, the God-man, and all those that are in Christ, all true Christians. Their sins are forgiven and they are no longer in bondage to Satan (Col. 1:13). They are no longer the seed of the Serpent but are now the seed of the woman.
God also said here that He would put enmity between the two seeds. He placed them in opposition to one another. Why enmity and opposition? Why not friendship and brotherhood? Isn’t God a God of love? Yes, He is a God of love and that is precisely why He put these two forces in opposition. One represents what is good and righteous; the other what is evil and wicked. Good and evil cannot be friends; they cannot have fellowship together but must remain separate and distinct from each other. To allow any commerce between them is to permit compromise and to compromise with evil is evil. Christians must not compromise with unbelievers. They are to guard their purity and, by contrast, the wickedness of unbelief is to be seen for what it is.
We also see in this verse that there is to be conflict between the two seeds. Today, because there has been much compromise, we don’t see much conflict. Christians, in disobedience to God’s commandments, have been bending over backward to compromise with evil for several generations. The consequence has been the degradation and degeneracy that is becoming more and more obvious in our society. Legalized killing of the unborn, pornography in our entertainment, the open anti-Christianity in our schools, cohabitation without marriage, the common use of God’s name as a swearword, all witness to the degree to which the two seeds, in disobedience to God, have mixed together.
Christians have been disobedient, not so much willfully as, because, instead of studying God’s word for themselves, we have relied on teachers, pastors and theologians to do it for us. We were not like the Bereans that searched the Scriptures to see if what the Apostle Paul told them was true (Acts 17:10,11). Instead of relying solely on God’s word, we relied on fallible men that led us astray. Christians desire compromise but the seed of the Serpent doesn’t compromise. They are more consistent with the nature that God gave them; they will not rest until the Christian religion is wiped off the face of the earth. This is where this ages-long struggle between the two seeds must end up; one will survive and the other will be totally eliminated.
So you see Christian, like it or not, you are involved in a life and death struggle. The only question is whether you will engage in the contest or lie down and surrender. The latter choice may seem to be the easy way out but it’s the coward’s way and Jesus didn’t save us to be cowards. Consider what the early Christians went through to win for us the freedom and prosperity we enjoy today. It may (or may not) be the easy way out for us but what about our children, their children and all the other Christians that will come after us? Our negligence would lead to real persecution for them; and what will Jesus say to us when we see Him? How will you answer Him when He asks, what did you do with the talents I gave you?
All of Scripture assures us that the seed of the woman will be the victor in the struggle of the seeds (Num. 14:21; Psalm 37:11, 72:8-11, 110:1-6; Dan. 7:27; Matt. 5:5; Acts 2:29-35; Heb. 10:12,13; Rev. 19:11-16). An obedient generation will arise and the battle will be won. The question for us is where will we be as individuals? Will we see ourselves in eternity as having been soldiers for Christ or as cowards?
The beautiful thing about this struggle is that among the enemy there are many that don’t belong there. They are God’s elect that haven’t yet figured out which side they belong on. So, while we engage in the struggle, we can see the enemy as a fertile ground to be harvested. This task falls primarily to pastors, teachers, evangelists, those that have the necessary skills. But the greater task falls to ordinary believers; we must shape the cultures and laws of the nations to bring them into conformity with God’s law (Matt. 28:18-20). We must work with all the effort we can muster to make this world a Christian world. This is how we will win the war, the struggle, against the Serpent’s seed. A day will come when the Serpent’s seed will no longer exist, when they will all have either been converted or have died out.