The eschatological view of preterism is always under attack. People want to hang onto their rapture theories and a coming great tribulation and destruction of the earth. My first year as a preterist, I read every argument that I could find against it. I was trying to get back to normal. But 27 years later I still have not found a biblical argument to refute it. Recently I have been questioned by two different people about the curse in Genesis 3. They stated that the curse is to be removed when the Lord returns, and since we still have the curse, this is proof that the second coming is still future. They use the following verse to support this:
There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; Revelation 22:3 NASB
This is referring to the new heavens and earth after the second coming and seems to say that the curse will be no more. I say, seems to say, because I don't think this is an accurate translation. Before we look at this verse in Revelation, let's back up to the beginning and look at the text of Genesis 3 and find out exactly what the curse is so that we can know if it is gone or not. Let's go back to the creation of man.
then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. Genesis 2:7 ESV
Yahweh created man and then moved him into Eden, the cosmic mountain, the dwelling place of Yahweh, the place where Yahweh holds council.
And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. Genesis 2:8 ESV
Adam was brought into the garden Temple and, therefore, into an intimate relationship with Yahweh and the divine council. Adam and Eve dwelt in the presence of Yahweh.
How long was it after Adam was created that he was brought into the Garden? We have no timeline in the Scriptures, but the Book of Jubilees declares the following:
And after Adam had completed forty days in the land where he had been created, we brought him into the Garden of Eden… Jubilees 3:9
The forty here is interesting. The Book of Jubilees, a pseudepigraphal work (sometimes called the "Lesser Genesis") was written in the 2nd century BC and records an account of the biblical history of the world from the creation to Moses.
The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." Genesis 2:15-17 ESV
In the garden, Yahweh gave Adam one command and told him the consequence of breaking it—death. Then God created Eve for Adam.
In chapter 3 the Serpent (a watcher, a divine being) came to Eve and tempted her so that she took the forbidden fruit and ate it. She then gave it to Adam who ate it also. Something happened to them when they ate it.
Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. Genesis 3:7 ESV
Their eyes were opened, they experienced the shame of nakedness, and they hid from God's presence. They had lived in intimae fellowship with Yahweh and now they were hiding from Him. How long were Adam and Eve in the garden before they sinned? The Bible doesn't tell but the Book of Jubilees says that Adam was in the garden for seven years before he sinned.
Yahweh confronted them and Adam blamed God and Eve for his disobedience when he proclaimed: "the woman you gave me." And Eve blamed the serpent. Then in verses 14-19 we have God's judgment on them for their sin. But before we look at that, we need to realize that their sin brought death just as God said it would. Yahweh told Adam, "In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." And he did. The nature of "the death" for disobedience in the garden was spiritual death not biological death. I believe that man was created mortal and would have physically died even if he hadn't disobeyed. Biological death was part of the creation order. They didn't die physically, but they died spiritually. They lost fellowship and communion with Yahweh. God put them out of the garden away from His presence after He made them clothing from animal hides.
Therefore, the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. Genesis 3:23-24 ESV
With that as background, let's read about God's further judgment on them because of their sin. They lost fellowship with God, but there were more consequences to it than that.
The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." To the woman he said, "I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you." And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." Genesis 3:14-19 ESV
We see three people dealt with here: the serpent, the woman and Adam. I'm going to just focus on Adam and Eve for this morning. The judgment on the serpent/Satan was fully carried out in AD 70 on the Day of the Lord when the nations got judged and their gods along with them. The Psalm 82 judgment was fulfilled and the rebellious gods were destroyed.
Now the question involves whether the punishments God gave to Adam and Eve have everlasting effects? Do they all continue even to this day? Or were they removed at some point?
To the woman he said, "I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you." Genesis 3:16 ESV
I think it is important that God doesn't say to Eve, "cursed are you" as He does to the serpent. There is no curse placed on the woman. For a woman agonizing in labor or to a man sweating out in a field under the sun, God's pronouncements could feel like curses. But while the woman is not cursed, she does have consequences for her actions.
"To the woman He said"–this is specific. And divine justice is very apparent in the sentence because the punishment stands in direct relation to the sin of the woman. It's a penalty consistent with her iniquity.
There are two judgments seen here.
First: "I will surely multiply your pain n childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children." [Not sure when this was removed but we all know that this is no longer in effect, right Kaelyn. I'm being facetious.]
The Hebrew construction here literally says, "Causing to be great, I shall cause to be great your sorrow." He says it twice. The idea is intensification. "I'm going to bring upon you a great sorrow and that sorrow is going to come in the area of your children."
Today we have pain medicine and surgeries that can help relieve the woman's pain in childbirth, but for most of human history and in third-world countries today, women routinely die in childbearing.
The Hebrew word for pain here is ‛itstsâbôn which means, wearisomeness, that is, labor or pain: - sorrow, toil. It is a word that encompasses the experience and the emotion. In fact, one lexicon translated it this way, "Issabōn means everything that is hard to bear."
So, woman is punished in the most intimate way. And throughout the remainder of her life, she will be reminded by disappointments and sorrows that she will find her deepest pain in the lives of her children.
Simeon said to Yeshua's mother Mary,
(and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed." Luke 2:35 ESV
Her love for her child will cause a sword to pierce her heart. A mother's children are always her children and can bring her the greatest suffering.
Second: "Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you."
The ESV is good here. The NASB says, "Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you."
Some have suggested that this means a sexual desire, which makes more sense from the ESV. But I don't see it that way. The Hebrew word for desire is teshûqâh. Its meaning can be seen in Genesis 4:7—the only other use of this word in the Torah.
If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it." Genesis 4:7 ESV
Yahweh was speaking to Cain when He said, "Sin desires you." What does that mean? Teshûqâh is from an Arabic root meaning ("to seek control"). Sin wants to control you. Sin wants to dominate you. Sin wants to take over your life. "But you must master it." You must rule over it."
Fifteen verses away from Genesis 3:16 to 4:7, we find a duplication of those phrases. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you. Sin's desire is for you but you must rule over it. The same phrases. The woman desires to control man, and he rules over her.
Literally it could read, "You shall seek control over your husband." In other words, the woman would desire to exert her will. She would desire to take charge, to be in control, to master. That is a judgment from Yahweh upon the woman. The guys may be thinking it sounds like a judgment on the man. You'll get how this is a judgment on the woman in a minute.
She took the place of leadership in the garden. He submitted to her, and he was therefore sentenced to have to deal with such rebellion on a permanent basis.
Peter tells the believing wives:
Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct. 1 Peter 3:1-2 ESV
The believing wife is to have a meek and quiet spirit and call her husband, "Lord," as Sarah did to Abraham, showing her submission. But that's not how it is in the world. She wants to control. The man has to deal with the fact that his wife wants to control him.
Our text in verse 16 goes on to say, "but he shall rule over you." The word rule here is the Hebrew mâshal which means, to dominate, to reign, (literally means to install in office). The idea is that as the woman seeks to master her husband and seeks to control him, he dominates her. As the woman tends toward rebellion, the man tends toward despotism. She isn't going to live her own life totally independent, like the feminists demand, because her husband rules over her. And you have the battle of the sexes right here. And that, folks, is why there is conflict in marriage.
Well, I for one am glad that this is no longer the case. I'm glad that my wife wants to submit to me and I always want to treat her with gentleness and respect. Again, I'm being facetious. We see this in marriage today; nothing here has changed.
Men have been very active in degrading women. Women have known a measure of misery throughout human history. Men have used and abused women, treated them unkindly, unfaithfully, and indifferently. In some societies, many societies, in fact, women have been viewed as animals, as servants, as slaves, and as sexual instruments. And even in our society, men throw women away when they just find another one they like better. And that's not new either. They were doing that in Israel. The Jews had developed a system where a man could send his wife away with a certificate of divorce if she simply burned his breakfast.
It was Judaism and Christianity that elevated and protected the woman. The woman and man are equal in their relationship with the Lord.
The woman is judged in the realm where she lives her life. It affects her childbearing and her relationship with her husband. The home is where God designed a woman to be. That is her realm. That is her sphere. And so, God places a unique judgment on her realm so that she is going to find life particularly difficult in bringing children into the world and in her relationship with her children and her husband. Because she took the lead. She led the man into sin, usurping his role, acting independently of him in the temptation, overturning the divine order. Let's look at what Yeshua said to the man.
And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." Genesis 3:17-19 ESV
Notice again, that the man is not cursed. The ground is. Yahweh didn't curse Adam or Eve. To Eve, Yahweh pronounced that he would greatly increase the pain of childbearing. But he didn't call this a curse. For Adam, Yahweh said: "Cursed is the ground for your sake." Neither of these actions are a curse laid directly to mankind.
"And to Adam he said"—this is the first time that man is named Adam. The dropping of the definite article in the Hebrew grammar indicates that the word for man, adam, was now to be considered a proper noun. Up until that point, it was rendered the man (i.e., the adam), but here God addresses him as Adam. Down in verse 20 is the first time that the woman is called Eve.
Yahweh said: "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife." Guys, sometimes listening to the voice of your wife is the wisest and smartest thing you can do! But it is wrong to listen to your wife when she contradicts God's word.
"Cursed is the ground because of you"—the word "ground" here is adamah. The man is adam and the ground is adamah because the man comes from the ground, (dust to dust).
Adam was in Eden, a beautiful garden full of fruits and vegetables. But now the ground is cursed and there would be problems raising food. God made his life very hard in this regard. There would be no more easy plucking of fruit from trees. Adam would from then on have to work hard and with painful labor in ground now filled with thorns and thistles gone wild.
A cursed ground often involves a lack of water, problems with the soil itself, problems with weeds, problems with the elements, problems with the weather, problems with destructive animals, problems with destructive birds, problems with destructive organisms and insects, etc. Many difficulties would plague the ground.
If you have ever tried to grow a garden or to have a nice lawn, you know that this curse has not been removed. Sure, modern man has come up with many ways to make farming easier with chemicals and modern machinery, but farmers still struggle. And if you go to a third-world country, you will encounter people with very primitive instruments in their hands toiling in a little piece of ground.
What is really interesting and is totally missed in most translations (the ESV gets it) of this passage is that the text shows a parallel description of that consequence for both men and women—even using the same word to describe how both sexes will suffer equally.
To the woman he said, "I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you." Genesis 3:16 ESV
And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; Genesis 3:17 ESV
The woman's work is childbearing while man's work is providing food. Both types of work are described with the word is ‛itstsâbôn, which means labor or pain: - sorrow, toil. Both man and woman are equally pained. They have equal punishment because they share equal blame.
The woman's place is the home; the man's place is the field. These are their workplaces. In Genesis we see that man toiled in the field. That was an agricultural realm in which the man lived. The woman's world is the family. She endures pain in her world. His world is the field, the workplace, and he's pained in that workplace. Human labor is in view, and it's not just agriculture; it's more than that. It's all the work in which man engages.
If this is the correct view, it alerts us to the inherent tendency of the fallen nature of each sex that leads to the woman's desire to dominate her husband and to the man's propensity to dominate his wife. Sin has corrupted both the willing submission of the wife and the loving headship of the husband.
What's interesting is that this word itstsâbôn is only used three times in the Scriptures and all are connected. We'll look at the third one soon.
Many theories have been proposed concerning the extent of the curse and its consequences to mankind. Some say the ground is still cursed while others contend that the curse has been lifted. I think it's difficult to put forth the view that the curse has been removed. There is still difficulty in farming no matter where you live and that's the man's pain, and the woman still seems to have her pain also.
Let's look at that third verse that uses itstsâbôn. It is found in Genesis 5.
and called his name Noah, saying, "Out of the ground that the LORD has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands." Genesis 5:29 ESV
After a thousand or so years of the ground's being cursed, Lamech lamented the ever-present painful conditions that had not changed since Adam sinned. But a light of mercy and hope appears here we see that Noah was prophesied to "bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands." The word "cursed" here is 'ârar. It is the same word for curse used in Genesis 3 for the serpent and the ground. And the word "toil" is ‛itstsâbôn, the same word used in Genesis 3:16 of the woman and 17 of the man. This is talking about the curse that Yahweh placed on the ground and how Noah will bring relief from that curse. That much is clear. The difficulty comes in figuring out how Noah brought relief from the curse.
Some say the relief from the ground curse came in chapter 8.
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. Genesis 8:21 ESV
The word used for curse here is qâlal, and the word used for the ground curse is 'ârar. If this is referring to the ground curse, why was a different word used? Why in the same book by the same author is a different word used if the same curse is in mind?
The word qâlal used here for curse is used in verses 8 and 11 of this chapter and it translated "subsided." This is not talking about the ground curse. Yahweh is here promising that He would never again wipe out all life on earth again as He did in the flood. So, the flood wasn't the end of God's curse on the earth. It was merely the end of a particular form of judgment.
Keith Wrassmann, in an article entitled, "IS THE GROUND STILL CURSED TODAY?" supports the view that the ground curse was lifted in Genesis 8. He writes:
"If the curse is gone, does this then mean that no sticker bushes or thistles should remain at all today? Of course not. What we have today is a pale comparison to what it would have been like in the time before the flood. What we see today is the residual effect of a ground once so cursed. Thorns and thistles, while common today, are by no means overwhelming or alarming, nor do they continually spring up along with crops that are planted year after year."
The ground curse is not just about thorns and thistles. Yahweh says, "in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life." Work will be difficult, a struggle.
So, how does Noah bring rest from the curse? I'm going out on a limb here. I have never heard anyone mention this. So, hear me out and do your own research. I think the rest or relief is seen in chapter 9 when Noah and his family got off of the ark.
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. Genesis 9:1-3 ESV
Do you see how they are getting rest from the ground curse? It is not removed, but they are getting some rest from it. The word "rest" in 5:29 is nâcham, which means "comfort or ease." How did this happen?
Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. Genesis 9:3 ESV
As far as we know from the biblical record, up to this point man has only eaten vegetables.
And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. Genesis 1:29 ESV
Then again in chapter 3 in the pronouncement of the curse Yahweh says,
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. Genesis 3:18 ESV
Now man can eat meat. This would give them some relief from the burden of farming. "And as I gave you the green plants"—Genesis 3:18 "and you shall eat the plants of the field." "I give you everything"—Genesis 9:3 "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you."
The Talmud seems to back up this view:
Rav Yehudah said in the name of Rav: "Adam was not permitted to eat meat, as the verse reads, ‘It will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth.' [For you and for the beasts,] but not the beasts for you." (Talmud, Sanhedrin 59b)
The above Talmudic statement concludes:
And when the children of Noah came, G‑d permitted meat, as it says (Genesis 9:3), "Like the green vegetation, I have given you everything."
Now, there is a verse in the book of Jasher that gives us a different idea.
Jasher 1:18 And Cain his brother Abel in anger, and he said unto him, What is there between me and thee, that thou comest to dwell and bring thy flock to feed in my land? 19 And Abel answered his brother Cain and said unto him, What is there between me and thee, that thou shalt eat the flesh of my flock and clothe thyself with their wool?
If this is true, I have no idea how Noah brought rest from the ground curse.
From the biblical record, it seems that things changed after the flood. Man's original vegetarian diet was changed. Vegetarians who don't like this will say that it was not God's original plan for us to eat meat. True, but His original plan was for us to go around naked. But things have changed.
Yahweh commanded the Israelites to eat meat at the first Passover:
They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. Exodus 12:8 ESV
And Yahweh told Peter:
And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.' Acts 11:7 ESV
Many folks who are still living in the 80's will say that eating meat is unhealthy. Yes, if you believe the government and their food pyramid. But the latest, most up-to-date evidence is that meat is very good for you. Soybeans and pasta will kill you after they first shrivel up your backbone and turn men into soy boys. But meat—red, juicy meat, with a bunch of fat—will keep you healthy and alive longer.
With that as the background, let's look at the verses that people use against preterism in saying that once the Lord returns, the curse will be lifted. Since we still have the ground curse, the Lord must not have returned. As I said earlier, they use Revelation 22:3.
There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; Revelation 22:3 NASB
They say, "See, no more curse in the New Jerusalem." Well, the first problem we have here is translation. The ESV says,
No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. Revelation 22:3 ESV
David Aune makes this comment. He says: "The ‘healing of the nations' is further explained by 22:3. First, ‘there will no longer be any curse.' The phrase is taken from Zech. 14:11 and applied to the eternal new order in which it finds its final attainment. Although for ‘curse,' the LXX of Zechariah has anathema and Revelation has katathema, both are legitimate renderings of the Hebrew ḥerem."
Bob Cruickshank Jr. and I have been talking about this because he is working on Zechariah 14. Aune right notes that the phrase in Revelation 22:3: "No longer will there be anything accursed" is taken from Zech. 14:11
People will live in it, and there will no longer be a curse, for Jerusalem will dwell in security. Zechariah 14:11 NASB
And it shall be inhabited, for there shall never again be a decree of utter destruction. Jerusalem shall dwell in security. Zechariah 14:11 ESV
In Bob's article on Zechariah 14, he writes, "Due to the wording of this verse in the English (NASB), the natural inclination is to recall the curses of Genesis 3. However, this is not the same word for "curse" that is used in Genesis, and Zechariah is not promising that snakes will start walking upright (Gen. 3:14) or that the ground will stop producing thorns and thistles (Gen. 3:17). The word translated "curse" in Zechariah 14:11 is cherem and it refers to "a devoted thing" that is "put under a ban." Deuteronomy 7:25-26 is the key verse in understanding the meaning of this word and the concept behind it."
The carved images of their gods you shall burn with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, lest you be ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the LORD your God. And you shall not bring an abominable thing into your house and become devoted to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest and abhor it, for it is devoted to destruction. Deuteronomy 7:25-26 ESV
Here "devoted to destruction" and "devoted to destruction" are the Hebrew cherem. Klein says that in Biblical Hebrew it meant to ban, devote, confiscate. It has the meaning "totally given to the Lord," often through destruction. Only God's judgment could reclaim anything placed under this ban. Even-Shoshan, in his Concordance, notes that of the 51 occurrences of the Biblical verb, all but three of them have a sense of "to destroy."
The principle of cherem is applied to some, but not to all, of the Israelite wars following their flight from Egypt. The earliest such instance is found in the twenty-first chapter of the Book of Numbers. Here we find that when a city is devoted to God, its inhabitants are destroyed in accordance with the rule of cherem for special religious dedications.
Both John and Zechariah are tracking on the same idea. The meaning is not the reverse or removal of the Genesis curses, but the fact that there is nothing "accursed" in the New Jerusalem.
No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. Revelation 22:3 ESV
This has nothing to do with the Genesis curse. Yes, the Lord returned in AD 70 and yet the ground curse is still in effect.
Others will misuse Isaiah 65 to attempt to prove that the ground curse has been lifted. They focus on verse 23.
They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the LORD, and their descendants with them. Isaiah 65:23 ESV
They say that "labor in vain" has to do with the pain put on Adam and "bear children for calamity" has to do with the pain given Eve in Genesis 3. But the Hebrew words are not the same and this is at best a stretch.
If the ground curse has been lifted, when was it lifted? If it is lifted, why do women still have pain in having children and why do they still want to rule their husbands? Why do men still oppress woman? Why is there so much conflict in marriage? Why do men still have pain in trying to provide for their family? Why are there still thorns and thistles?
The pain that men and women experience in their respective roles is a constant reminder of the price of sin. It is an inescapable illustration of what happens when you disobey Yahweh. It is a constant reminder of what disasters sin produces.
Believers, as we walk in the Spirit, we can overcome much of this pain in marriage. As wives submit to their husbands and as men love their wives, this pain is mitigated.