The Curse on the Serpent
And the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly shall you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life;
and I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel” (Gen 3:14-15).
The first curse came upon the serpent. We know the serpent was the devil (see Rev 12:9). That he was cursed to travel on his belly on the earth seems to also be a metaphor of how he was cast out of heaven down to the earth. Of all the regions of the universe, the devil has been restricted to the earth.
Compared to the rest of creation, the earth is like a grain of sand to the oceans of the sea. We are but a speck of dust to the rest of creation. All the evil in the universe is imprisoned on this little planet, while God\’s righteousness prevails over the billions of galaxies and the heavenly realm that is even more expansive. The devil and all of his evil followers may prevail here for a time, but compared to eternity, it is like a brief moment. The domain of God is of unfathomable greatness and expanse. As C.S. Lewis once wrote, “The Lord\’s domain is so great that if all of the evil deeds and thoughts on earth and in hell were combined and hurled into heaven, they probably would not even have the weight to register as a single thought on the least of the creatures there.”
To those of us who live here where the devil and his hosts have been cast, it seems that evil prevails over all. Therefore, we must keep things in perspective. He is certainly crawling on his belly, lower than all of the other creatures. The serpent was also told that he would eat dust. Because man was created from the dust, in Scripture this often represents the flesh of man, or his carnal nature. From that time, the devil has fed off the carnal nature of man. Every time we give in to following the flesh instead of the Spirit, we are feeding the evil one. Paul wrote in Rom 8:5-11:
- Proclaim Proverbs 2 over your life and that of kingdom citizens in your territory.
- During the summer season many people loosen up and become involved more and more in licentious activities, revelry and sexual licentiousness.
- Ask for the quickness to flee all manner of sexual impurity.