“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.) The divine sentence pronounced against Satan after the fall of Adam and Eve was also a prophecy, embracing all the ages to the close of time and foreshadowing the great conflict to engage all the races of mankind who should live upon the earth.
God declares: “I will put enmity.” This enmity is not naturally entertained. When our first parents transgressed the divine law, their nature became evil, and they were in harmony, and not at variance, with Satan. There exists naturally no enmity between sinful humanity and the originator of sin. Both became evil through apostasy. Apostates are never at rest, except as they obtain sympathy and support by inducing others to follow their example. For this reason fallen angels and wicked human beings unite in desperate companionship. Had not God specially interposed, Satan and mankind would have entered into an alliance against Heaven; and instead of cherishing enmity against Satan, the whole human family would have been united in opposition to God.
Satan tempted Adam and Eve to sin, as he had caused angels to rebel, that he might thus secure cooperation in his warfare against Heaven. There was no dissension between himself and the fallen angels as regards their hatred of Christ; while on all other points there was discord, they were firmly united in opposing the authority of the Ruler of the universe. But when Satan heard the declaration that enmity should exist between himself and the woman, and between his seed and her seed, he knew that his efforts to deprave human nature would be interrupted; that by some means mankind was to be enabled to resist his power.
Satan’s enmity against the human race is kindled because, through Christ, they are the objects of God’s love and mercy. He desires to thwart the divine plan for our redemption, to cast dishonor upon God, by defacing and defiling His handiwork; he would cause grief in heaven and fill the earth with woe and desolation. And he points to all this evil as the result of God’s work in creating mankind.—The Great Controversy, 505, 506. HB 337
O, could I find, from day to day, A nearness to my God, Then would my hours glide sweet away, While leaning on His word. Lord, I desire with Thee to live Anew from day to day, In joys the world can never give, Nor ever take away. Blest Jesus, come, and rule my heart, And make me wholly Thine, That I may nevermore depart, Nor grieve Thy love divine. —Benjamin Cleveland. MH 267
They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Revelation 12:11, NKJV