2. The Effects of the Serpent Kingdom
Week 3 • Day 2
Ever since our human parents bowed their knee to the kingdom of the serpent, sin (or the disposition towards rebellion) has become a part of our fallen human story. The fangs of sin have sunk deep into all of our human hearts. We, like Adam and Eve, have consciously decided to bend the knee to the serpent’s rule. We, like Adam and Eve, are formed from the same dust of the ground that was cursed in Genesis 3.
And yet yesterday, we read that there is still hope in the Lord’s mercy even though humanity remains gripped by the fangs of the serpent and his kingdom!
There is hope that one day, God will rescue His kingdom family of people.
There is hope that one day, God will return His family back into His kingdom place.
There is hope that one day, God will restore our delegated rule once more.
There is hope that one day, the serpent-crusher will come and reestablish God’s powerful rule and God’s kingdom over all!
Today, we look at a section of passages that follow Genesis 1-3 to watch for how this gospel of the kingdom plays out. Would we see this gospel rescue, return, restoration, and reestablishment soon? Would the immediate offspring of Eve become the prophesied serpent-crusher? If not, what happens when humans continue to do what they were designed to do but in the name of the serpent kingdom? How is God going to respond as the ruler of all things?
THE SERPENT’S RULE OVER GOD’S PEOPLE AND PLACE
Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. - Genesis 4:2-5
Humans didn’t stop being fruitful, multiplying, and ruling the earth by working and keeping it. This is what image-bearers were created to do! However, the kingdom of the serpent introduced sin into the equation. One generation past Adam and Eve, Genesis 4 reveals the first major consequences of humans doing what they do in the name of the serpent kingdom: disharmony and hostility within God’s image-bearing kingdom family of people. While the reason is not explicitly stated, Cain’s offering is traditionally thought to be rejected for not being the “first” and “fat” portion. In other words, Cain doesn’t trust that God’s kingdom place would provide for his needs. Therefore, Cain comes to the understanding - according to his own rule - that it is “good” for him to reserve his resources and “bad” for him to offer the prime cut of his possessions.
Cain spoke to Abel, his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.
And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. - Genesis 4:8, 10
Needless to say, Cain was not the promised “serpent-crusher” and Abel did not live long enough for us to find out. Instead, it only took one generation of human image-bearers for things to turn radically sideways. Abel’s death was not because of something he did wrong, but because the rule of sin in Cain’s life. The entire saga shows that as sin grows and develops, its ultimate end is in fact death. The serpent was at work in the world immediately, sin escalated over the course of one generation, and the stench of death continues to pollute God’s kingdom place on earth as the shed blood of God’s people “cries out from the ground”.
And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch. - Genesis 4:15–17
In His sovereign mercy, God winds up providing a mark of protection for Cain who moves “east of Eden'' where he multiplies and instinctively forms his own kingdom-city place. In this manufactured city, image-bearers continue to progress by becoming tent-dwellers to “keep” their multiplying livestock, by inventing “instruments of bronze and iron” to “work” the earth, and by developing music for their enjoyment. Image-bearers are in fact rearranging the raw materials of God’s place so that humans would flourish. That’s what image-bearers were designed to do! However, civilization is also advancing and innovating in the name of the kingdom of the serpent.
Genesis 4:19-22, 24 And Lamech took two wives The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. Zillah also bore Tubal-cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron.
...Lamech said to his wives: Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say: I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. If Cain’s revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech’s is seventy-sevenfold.
Lamech was Cain's great-great-great-grandson. Now, five generations have passed and the effects of sin have grown to a point where Lamech not only escalates the abuse of God’s image-bearing people, but he decides that it is “good” to boast about doing so. This pattern is the same for sin in the world today. Sin only grows as time goes on and our knowledge of good and evil progressive drifts further and further away from God’s objective standards. It started with disobedience and now has increased to include murder, hate, abuse, jealousy...the list goes on and on.
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them. - Genesis 6:5-7
Instead of a kingdom family of people who would submit to God’s rule and spread God’s glory throughout God’s place, God sees a kingdom of people who willfully have chosen to submit to the rule of the serpent spreading sin by manipulating God’s created place for their own human glory. God knew that as sin continued to grow unchecked, it would inevitably lead to more organized chaos and bloodshed in this human manufactured kingdom. This new reality grieves God because sin has moved His image-bearers further and further “east” of a righteous relationship with Him. In His justified anguish, God possessed every right to “speed up” the inevitable by removing His creative hand from the reigns of creation and allowing the chaos waters to “decreate” the serpent kingdom.
Could there possibly be hope in a worldwide all-consuming flood?
GOD’S RESPONSE: THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM
Gen. 6:8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord...Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.
In His mercy, God decides to rescue the human race. Even though humans are sinning everywhere under the influential power of the serpent, there was still one who remembered God and His kingdom. Genesis tells us that in his generation, Noah was a righteous person who followed God’s rule and “walked with God” just as Adam and Eve once walked in relationship with God. In the midst of the serpent’s rule, the gospel of the kingdom would break through ever-so-slightly in the person of Noah!
Hebrews 11:4, 7 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.
...By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
Today, this is why faith is the distinguishing factor between those in the kingdom of God and those in the kingdom of the serpent. We are saved by trusting in God’s knowledge of good and evil for us even though we may not see where it leads or it doesn’t make sense. Our faith in God doesn’t necessarily mean more success, more money, more fame, etc. Like Abel, it could result in devastation.
By faith, Noah and Abel stepped off of their own throne given to them by the kingdom of the serpent and placed their trust in God’s rule to lead them!
Ultimately, the kingdom story is about who you trust! Will you trust in what God says is good no matter the challenges or setbacks?
Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks...
And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive...
Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.”- Genesis 6:16, 19-22; 7:2-4
Eventually, God would allow the chaos waters to flood the earth and wipe out the enemy combatants who had pledged their allegiance to the serpent kingdom. However, God mercifully spares His faithful servant Noah looking for a new start of God’s kingdom family of people.
Catch this! He calls Noah to build an ark that has 3-tiers, to include all living things - birds and animals according to their kind - both male and female. Then, there is a conversation to look for sets of seven. The imagery is clear: Noah was called to construct an ark and return to a garden-like 3-tiered kingdom place to shield him from the destruction of the kingdom of the serpent! In the midst of a sinful generation, the gospel of the kingdom was breaking through!
GOD’S RESPONSE: THE SERPENT-CRUSHER?
Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth...I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” - Genesis 8:20-9:1, 11
The story of Noah introduces us to a key pattern of the Bible. In the midst of a world of sinners, God singles out the one person who remains faithful towards His kingdom. God then showers His blessings on this person and sets the gospel of the kingdom of rescue, return, restoration, and reestablishment in motion through them.
It was the faith of one person, in a world of sin, that proved to God there is still hope for humanity in this world.
The only piece missing here is the serpent-crusher! Could Noah be the humble servant of God who would remain entirely loyal to the kingdom of God and overcome the power of the serpent? Since we see the same “be fruitful and multiply,” command, could Noah be the “new Adam” who would rescue God’s kingdom people, return them to His place, restore their delegated rule, and reestablish His powerful rule in their lives? Could Noah be the central figure around whom the gospel of the kingdom revolves and is completed?
Unfortunately, just like all other descendants of Adam and Eve up to this point of the story, Noah is still marked by the kingdom of the serpent. In fact, Noah sins immediately after God miraculously protects him and makes a new promise with him.
Genesis 9:20-21 Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent.
Until we meet the real serpent-crusher, we learn an important truth about the gospel of the kingdom when it breaks through in the lives of people like Cain, Abel, Lamech, and Noah. While we as descendants of Adam and Eve attempt to live a life of righteousness that glorifies God, we will soon come to realize that the serpent’s fangs have bitten all of our hearts. Knowing this reality should help us relate to the suffering and hardship of others. We are not above anyone, but when we properly understand the kingdom of the serpent and that all people are marked by sin, we should begin to feel compassion for those who are lost.
The gospel of the kingdom tells us that there is hope coming for us who are completely lost to be rescued, returned, and restored. The gospel of the kingdom depends upon the one who will remain completely loyal to God’s kingdom rule, crush the serpent, and reestablish God’s rule over all things. Until this person arrives, the clash between the kingdom of serpent and the kingdom of God is far from over. How would God accomplish all of this and who would be this faithful servant that would crush the serpent and reestablish God’s rule?
Share the Gospel: In the midst of a world of sinners, there was one person who God found to be faithful towards His kingdom rule. For the first time, we see the gospel of the kingdom begin to break through as a result of Noah’s faithful actions. Unfortunately, Noah could not overcome the kingdom of the serpent. Who will be the “new Adam” who will crush the serpent and rescue, return, and restore God’s kingdom?
