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.
Genesis 3:15 KJV
In the beginning, God made man in His image and gave him dominion over all that He had made. In His words, God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth, Genesis 1:26-28. God’s choice of words “Subdue it”, implied that man will have opposition or least to say enemies. The Word for subdue is “kâbash”, which means to make something subservient or to thread upon something. It was after man subdued that he could have dominion. Sure enough, man had an enemy lurking around the corner and one who he failed to subdue in Genesis 3. His failure to subdue is what brought man into the position he is today.
One might ask, why did God ask man to have dominion over the animals? Was he asking man to tame or act harshly to animals? It is important to note that before the fall, the nature of the animals were quite different than what we have now. There was no death and once things are restored, like Isaiah 11:6 says, the lion and the lamb will dwell together and a child will lead them. Life is first spiritual before it is physical. Man’s enemy was in the form of a serpent, Genesis 3:1-8. Luke 11:18-19 also refers to the enemy, satan as bees and demons as frogs, Revelations 16:13.
To help Adam with his task, God gave Adam an “êzer” or a suitable help, Genesis 2:18. To be a suitable help implied, that God had put in her comparable strength and/ or the ability to draw strength from God himself who is the ultimate “êzer” (helper) of man, Isaiah 41:10, Psalm 46. The problem however arose, when the one who was to help man began liaising and negotiating with the enemy due to ignorance. You cannot subdue something you are friends with. Both the man and woman did not fulfil the mandate to subdue.
Once man and his helper failed, God stepped in to help. He did so by a promise, to reinstate the enmity between the woman and the serpent and by promising the ultimate victory of dominion via a seed who will crush the head of the serpent, Genesis 3:15. While we can notice a physical application of this to the woman, based on the seemingly one-sided rage of the enemy against the woman folk throughout history, this has a greater implication on the bride of the new Adam, Christ, Ephesians 5:28-33. For the longest time, this rage seemed one sided and in the life of many believers it is. There are believers who are either willfully ignorant of the enemies of their soul or afraid of the enemy and liaise/ negotiate with him. Again, it is not possible to subdue and therefore have dominion over something you do not consider an enemy.
Beloved, the major enemy of your soul today, is the flesh! (Romans 6-8). The flesh is not your physical body per se, that is the temple of the Holy Spirit. The flesh is that earthy nature that is apart from Divine influence. It really hates you and has a goal to ensure you do not become all God has for you. It also really hates God and cannot understand the things of God, Romans 8:5-9. Yes, the devil is an enemy as well and a smart one. Satan fully realizes that he lost all power, when the seed of the woman, Christ, crushed his head. Yet, his hope of victory is your flesh. He will not openly attack, if there is still pride, jealousy, anger, witchcraft (manipulation) and any work of the flesh in you, Galatians 5:16-25. Those things are already enough to destroy any man. Yet, we have a helper, the Lord Himself. While on earth, He could boldly say there was no element of the flesh in Him, John 14:30. He has power over your flesh and if through Him, you destroy the flesh, you will live a life of Joy, righteousness and peace.
God has promised to increase the enmity between you and your flesh. Decide today, not pamper your lustful and fleshly desires. Like David, decide to day to pursue your enemies by the strength of the Spirit, destroy them and not stop till they are consumed, 2 Samuel 22:38. These are the words of a man after God’s own heart.
Prayer for today: Lord Jesus, unto you who has power over all flesh to give eternal life as You please, do I come. I confess my error as Adam had, to liaise with the flesh which is Your enemy and mine. Father, as You promised, increase my enmity with the flesh and the serpent. Let me hate it with a perfect hatred, even more than it hates me. Lord, I realize I cannot fight my lust on my own, but you have crushed the head of the serpent and the strength of my flesh on the cross. Fill me with Your Spirit today, my Helper, that I may walk in the Spirit and not fulfil the lust of my flesh. Amen.
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