Gary :
You are listening to a special presentation of Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. Now, our final segment:
UNDERSTANDING THE SCRIPTURES
We return once again to 2000, with Dave and Tom.
Tom:
We are continuing with our discussion of the book of Genesis which is the first book of the Bible, specifically for the purpose of understanding why the world has so many problems and given that what is the solution the Bible prescribes? According to Genesis when God created everything, everything was very good, perfect in every way. But then sin entered His creation through disobedience. There are immediate consequences of Adam and Eve’s sin against God as we pick up in verse 14 of Genesis 3: “And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou has done this, thou are 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;…” Now Dave, somebody just picking up with this may say wait a minute what does that have to do with what I just said? We have addressed the scriptures in which Adam and Eve, Eve in particular, seduced by the serpent, Adam goes along with the sin, sins himself, and then the Fall takes place. But in this particular verse why is God speaking to the serpent here?
Dave:
Tom I don’t know. I mean he…
Tom:
This is one that you’d say I know there’s a meaning here and it’s important, but it…
Dave:
Tom it always amazes me that Satan seems to enjoy being identified as the serpent. And we talked about it—Serpent worship all over the world; dragons everywhere, now—
Tom:
Yes, but this isn’t Satan, this is—
Dave:
Yes but He is addressing Satan through the serpent. Now how serpents moved about you know whether they were more like a cobra with so much up, I don’t think they ever had legs or feet or anything like that. I think we are getting a spiritual truth and some symbolic language here. Now I have no doubt that a literal serpent talked because this is a very popular idea today. You see it in the occult.
Tom:
Yes, we mentioned this last week and I thought your explanation was terrific.
Dave:
Witch doctors all communicate with animals and so forth, so I don’t deny that at all. I have no problem with that. Now what he is saying that on your belly you will go and dust will you eat all the days of your life, I think it is talking about Satan is a fallen being as well you could say and he is groveling in the dust on this earth now. He was a heavenly being, now he hasn’t been cast out of heaven yet.
Tom:
And like anybody else out there we read the scriptures, we have the Holy Spirit to help us with understanding. We don’t understand everything. The scriptures say we see through a glass darkly, but as you mentioned Dave, God has this in here for a purpose. He seems to be addressing, as you said, Satan himself, but the symbology has to do with this animal, this serpent itself. Verse 15 says I will put enmity between thee and the woman. We talked about that verse earlier, but as it relates to verse 14, I agree with you, my understanding is that this entity called Satan who was Lucifer we believe, an angelic being, this is not the life that he had once before. So God, I believe is addressing this being and demonstrating what sin does, how it affects us.
Dave:
You see Tom you have for example the serpent lifted up on the stake, the post in the wilderness which Jesus refers to in John 3. They were bitten with these fiery serpents which is really a symbol of sin, sin itself. Satan is a slimy deceptive, I mean very subtle. The scripture for example says, “Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” Here again you have the Holy Spirit seen as a dove and Satan is seen as a serpent. When we realize the greatness of God and that we are nothing, it’s like when we reject God and you begin to take your own way, you become like a serpent. We’re supposed to be like sheep under the control of the shepherd. A serpent strikes without warning. A serpent is deadly, poisonous and so forth, wily, subtle—it says the serpent was more subtle than any beast. Maybe that’s why Satan chose the serpent to speak through. I don’t know, but it’s not a pretty picture. This is evil, this is evil itself. Men who fall into evil become the followers of the serpent. Yet again it’s interesting; the serpent doesn’t seem to be dragging Eve down into the gutter. He’s not tempting her with immorality. He’s tempting her with high self esteem—to become like God and so forth. I think we’re getting some tremendous insights into evils itself and to opposition to God.
Tom:
Right, this verse indicates consequences to their sin. As you said we could kind of meditate on this for a long time and get some understanding.
Dave:
And Tom again, I know we mentioned it last week, but isn’t it astonishing that serpent worship is universal. I find that incredible. Now I can remember when you with Peggy 5 months pregnant went on a backpacking trip up in the Sierras! I remember when she came running from that rattlesnake and we met quite a few of them out there in the heat of Southern California even though it was up—serpents to me are so repulsive! I wouldn’t want one for a pet and that people would actually worship them…I don’t know there’s something—there’s a mystique about a serpent. There’s something so evil about them.
Tom:
Well it’s got some history here. No doubt about it.
Dave:
Right, exactly. Here we have evidence again that this isn’t a myth. Of course you have this story all over the world because naturally Adam would pass it on to his children, and Noah would pass it on after the flood and so you have these stories of the Garden. I remember a man telling me he had just been up in Northern India and here was an old ancient fresco way out in the jungle in a temple and there was a serpent, a woman and a tree and they asked him why and he said—and they worshipped serpents—and the natives said it was the serpent who brought our salvation. So you will find—archeologists will find a woman, a serpent and a tree everywhere. This is history. It’s beyond our full comprehension, but we’re having some tremendous warnings from God about the evil and the seductiveness. Apparently the woman was seduced by the serpent, by what it said, by its manner, and again you would think you would be repulsed by evil and yet so many people are attracted to evil and drawn in to it. I mean the very thing we talked about earlier, séances and so forth. This eerie voice and you’ve got some supposed spirit there of someone. You can’t be sure, you can’t verify it and they’re telling you things and somehow people have an attraction for this and I think the Bible is trying to show us something here. A serpent ought to be repulsive and ye [people are] attracted to it. It’s like a person taking drugs. You know it’s going to kill you, but you’re drawn into it.
Tom:
Dave doesn’t it have to do with the heart of man; Jeremiah saying that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked? We don’t even know our own hearts, but that is the attraction. The scripture also talks about the mystery of iniquity. There is pleasure in sin for a season. I mean—
Dave:
Yes, it does show us something about ourselves.
Tom:
This is the consequence of the fall and that’s what we’re trying to demonstrate here by going to the scriptures and by going through the scriptures. Dave we’re about out of time, but we’ll pick up on verse 15, Genesis 3:15 next week, because as we mentioned earlier in the program talking about prophecy, this is the first indication of the gospel…the solution to man’s problem.
Dave:
Yes, well the Bible says this is the nature of sin. It seems attractive. It seems fulfilling, but in the end it destroys you and this is what God is trying to show us from His Word. It’s not just an allegory. It’s something that actually happened and you can see it in the human race today.
Gary :
We hope you have enjoyed this special edition of Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. And now, to tell you more about our ministry here is TBC Executive Director Tom McMahon”
Tom:
The name, The Berean Call, is taken from the book of Acts, chapter 17:10-11, where we find the apostle Paul entering the synagogue in the Greek city of Berea after he had just come from Thessalonica. To these Bereans he preached that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah sent from God. They were commended for being noble, or fair minded, not only for their willingness to hear what Paul had to say about the matter, but more specifically because they searched the scriptures daily to find out whether or not what the apostle was saying was found in God’s Word. That’s what we hope to encourage through this ministry. Our mission is to alert believers in Christ to unbiblical teachings and practices impacting the church. We want to exhort believers to give greater heed to biblical discernment and truth regarding what they are accepting as spiritual. Hopefully we can help mobilize believers in Christ to action and obedience to the scriptural command to earnestly contend for the faith found in Jude 3. And finally our prayer is that we can be used of God to simulate Christians to look to the Bible alone as the rule of faith, authority and practice in living lives pleasing to our Lord and Savior.
Gary :
In addition to this radio program we publish a monthly newsletter which we make available free of charge. We also produce and distribute a wide variety of teaching materials including books in print, e-book and audio book formats, CD’s, DVD’s and other items to encourage the serious study of God’s Word. For a complete list of materials, or to get a copy of today’s broadcast write to us at POB 7019, Bend, Oregon 97708, call our toll free order number 800-937-6638, that’s 800-937-6638, or visit our website at www.thebereancall.org . If you would like a copy of today’s broadcast on compact disk, ask for Program #2709, and be sure to mention the call letters of this station. Get a pen or pencil ready; we’ll repeat our contact information in just a moment.
Next week, we’ll continue our revisits to our 2000 series of programs based on Dave’s book, An Urgent Call to a Serious Faith , and What is the gospel of God? In Religion in the News: “ France bans dangerous religions.” We’ll take a look at that story and address the question: “Who cares about last days’ prophecies?” We hope you can join us. If you have questions or comments about this program, we urge you to contact our offices. Search the Scriptures Daily Radio Ministry is made possible by God’s grace, your prayers and your financial support. I’m Gary Carmichael, and for Dave, Tom, and everyone here at The Berean Call I would like to thank you for tuning in and invite you to join us next week. In the meantime, if you desire to know God’s truth, search the scriptures daily. For more information about The Berean Call contact us at POB 7019, Bend , Oregon 97708 , call our toll free order number 1-800-937-6638, that’s 1-800-937-6638, or visit our website at www.thebereancall.org .
