There are numerous and profound consequences of God Almighty’s curses.  First, consider the curse upon the woman in these three translations.

Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.  Genesis 3:16 KJV

To the woman He said, I will greatly multiply your grief and your suffering in pregnancy and the pangs of childbearing; with spasms of distress you will bring forth children.  Yet your desire and craving will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.  Genesis 3:16 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC)

Unto the woman He said, ‘Multiplying I multiply they sorrow and they conception, in sorrow dost thou bear children, and toward they husband [is] they desire, and he doth rule over thee.’  Genesis 3:16 YLT

Three painful events for a female are mentioned in progression: sorrow, conception/pregnancy, and child birth.  First, for a female of child-bearing age, there is the discomfort/pain associated with the monthly cycle.  Second, there is discomfort throughout pregnancy, from the nausea after conception to the aches and pains at the end.  Finally, there is the pain of child birth.  In the next chapter, we look more closely at the sorrow, grief, and pain associated with a woman’s reproductive processes.

Second, God Almighty’s curse upon the ground (Gen 3:17) spoken to the man Adam was that God Almighty projected the kingdom of darkness upon the physical realm.  Consequently, Satan became the ruler of the physical realm.

We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.  1John 5:19  NASB

Therefore, the initial order of the physical realm was disrupted because of God Almighty’s curse upon the ground.

Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse.  But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.  For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.  Romans 8:20-22  New Living Translation

Jesus demonstrated that the physical realm is subject to spiritual powers when He calmed the wind and sea (Mark 4:35-41).  So, humanity’s banishment from the garden to the ground (Gen 3:23) where Satan is ruler means that spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places (Eph 6:12) use the physical realm to bring misery, calamity, and death to humanity.

Third, God Almighty’s curses collectively speak of the future of humanity in the kingdom of darkness.  The curses upon Satan and the man Adam have been parsed in the following table to highlight their similar structure and wording.  Colors highlight three themes–what is to be eaten (green), seed/descendants (blue), and ground and dust (orange)–that give information about the future of humanity.

We begin with the theme highlighted in orange, the final statement of the man Adam’s curse, which concerns ground and dust.  We have determined that ground represents the physical realm and that dust in the garden represents humanity when of the kingdom of God Almighty has been projected (Section 2.5) upon them.  Guided by the tenses–which are consistent among the translations–we get this sequence:

You (man/humanity) were taken from the ground;                           (past)

You (man/humanity) are dust,                                                          (present)

You (man/humanity) will return to the ground, and                        (future)

You (man/humanity) to dust … shall return.                                   (future)

The man Adam was taken from the ground realm (Gen 2:7) and was placed as dust in the garden of Eden (Gen 2:8).  These first two events of this sequence had occurred at the time of the curses.  The third step in the sequence is that humanity will return to the ground, and that occurred following the curses (Gen 3:23).

The good news contained in this portion of Adam’s curse is that humanity’s banishment to the ground is not the end of the story.  God Almighty’s last command to humanity–to dust you shall return—means that humanity shall return to the garden realm as dust.  Thus, from the beginning of the Bible, God Almighty has declared that some of humanity while on earth will enter the spiritual realm of dust/garden/heaven.  In the following chapters, we will use types and patterns from the Old Testament to organize disparate scriptures into successive steps in God Almighty’s plan of restoration of humanity to the dust/garden/heaven realm.

The theme highlighted in green concerning what is to be eaten is a major portion of the curse upon the man Adam, but it first appears in God Almighty’s assignment of what Satan will eat.

“… and dust shall you eat all the days of your life;”  Genesis 3:14  NASB

The dust which the serpent/Satan will eat is dust (humanity) that has returned to the ground (Gen 3:23) after being in the garden realm.  The New Testament reinforces the portrayal of Satan as a predatory beast of the field feeding upon humanity.

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert.  Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.  1Peter 5:8  NASB

Satan eating dust is symbolic of Satan bring death to humanity, and we can see this in Satan’s representation as a serpent.  The serpent swallows its prey whole after its poison has taken effect upon the prey.  We get confirmation that humanity being swallowed whole by a serpent is symbolic of death because Jesus characterized His death and resurrection in terms of the story of Jonah, who was swallowed whole by a sea beast and later ejected from its belly (Jonah 1:1-2:10).

for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”  Matthew 12:40  NASB

Jesus being subjected to and held by death for three days and three nights is associated with Jonah in the belly of the sea monster for three days and three nights.  Thus, God Almighty, when He declared that Satan shall eat dust, assigned to Satan implementation of death for humanity.

After the curses, the ground became the realm of death, for the dead are buried in the ground.

“ ‘ “ ‘They will bring you down to the pit,  /  And you will die the death of those who are slain  /  In the heart of the seas.  …

You will die the death of the uncircumcised  /  By the hand of strangers,  /  For I have spoken!’ declares the LORD God!” ’ ”  …

“ ‘ “I cast you to the ground;  …  ” ’ ”  Ezekiel 28:8,10,17

Next is a disgusting, but accurate, description of the effects of death upon the natural/physical body.

“Your pomp and the music of your harps  /  Have been brought down to Sheol [grave];  /  Maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you,  /  And worms [in the ground above] are your covering.”  Isaiah 14:11  NASB

Thus, humanity being sent to the ground, where Satan is ruler, included implementation of death, the consequence of disobedience of God Almighty’s commandment (Gen 2:17).  Satan, aided by evil spirits and demons, brings death to humanity by temptation, torment, illness, and calamity.

However, the death of the first couple was an eventual death rather than an immediate death.

So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died.  Genesis 5:5  NASB

So, how does the man Adam live nine hundred and thirty years and not violate God Almighty’s statement that he would die in the day that he disobeyed?  One explanation is to view the immediate loss in all three components of humanity at the time of sin as the beginning of the death process.  In this view, death was started, though not completed, in the “day” of the sin.  Another interpretation is to consider the equivalence of a day and one thousand years as stated in 2Peter 3:8.  With this equivalence, all humanity, including the man Adam, have died within the day they sinned, because no one has lived past a thousand years.  However, we may consider the “day” as spiritual day/age 2 of spiritual creation, which spans the time from the creation of the heavens and the earth until the flood at the time of Noah.  Humanity was created in spiritual day/age 2; humanity disobeyed in this day/age 2; and humanity died in the flood in this day/age 2.  Though death for the first couple was not immediate, death did occur within the spiritual day/age in which they disobeyed as had been commanded by God Almighty.

God Almighty’s curse to the man Adam outlined what food the ground will grow and consequently what humanity will eat when humanity cultivates the ground (Gen 3:23).

Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;  /  And you shall eat the plants of the field;  /  By the sweat of your face  /  You shall eat bread,  …  ”  Genesis 3:18-19

We have learned that, in a spiritual sense, humanity is what it eats, so statements about what humanity will eat from the ground–thorns and thistles, plants of the field, and bread–identify the sequence of spiritual conditions of humanity in the kingdom of darkness during the Old Testament.

The first phase in the progression of what humanity will eat is thorns and thistles.

For ground that drinks the rain which often falls upon it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.  Hebrews 6:7-8  NASB

Here it is noted that thorns and thistles are worthless as food and worthy of a curse.  For emphasis, we repeat what Jesus said of thorns and thistles.

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.  You will know them by their fruits.  Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they?  Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the rotten tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree produce good fruit.  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  So, then, you will know them by their fruits.”  Matthew 7:15-20

There is no fruit (of the Spirit) associated with humanity during the thorns and thistles phase.

Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence.  And God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.  Genesis 6:11-12  NASB

This godless stage of human progression was destroyed by the flood.

The second stage of human progression, derived from Noah after the flood, is plants (herbs) of the field, which are at least edible.

“Therefore their inhabitants were short of strength,  / They were dismayed and put to shame;  /  They were as the vegetation of the field and as the green herb,  /  As grass on the housetops is scorched before it is grown up.  Isaiah 37:27 (Identical to 2Kings 19:26)  NASB

This simile associates plants (herbs) of the field with lack of strength: some growth, but not full development.  Nevertheless, those described in this way would be better than thorns and thistles.

The final food that humanity will eat is bread.  Here then is a reference to the bread from heaven given to God Almighty’s chosen people, the Israelites, in the wilderness (Ex 16:12).  There is also the spiritual bread from heaven, Jesus, which humanity is instructed to eat in the Holy Communion/Eucharist.  So there is a definite progression in the quality of what humanity will eat and thus become.

The theme highlighted in blue of God Almighty’s curses concerns Satan’s seed/descendants and the woman’s seed/descendants.  The curse upon the woman is related to this theme of seed because it speaks of the birthing process of these descendants.  A discussion of Satan’s seed starts with noting a fundamental distinction between God Almighty and Satan.  God Almighty is the source of life, and He can create life whenever and in whatever form He desires.

I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate.  1Timothy 6:13  NASB

God Almighty gave the gift of life including the reproduction of life to the physical realm.  The plant kingdom reproduces with seed after their kind (Gen 1:12), and the animal kingdom reproduces with seed after their kind (Gen 1:24).  To humanity, God Almighty gave the breath of life (Gen 2:7) and the command to be fruitful and multiply (Gen 1:28).

Reproduction of life in the spiritual realm was addressed in Jesus’ reply to an inquiry from the Sadducees.  The question was which of seven brothers, who had successively married a woman, would be her husband after resurrection?    Jesus’ answered.

“For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven.”  Mark 12:25  NASB

Jesus indicated that there is no marriage and therefore no reproduction of life by angels or risen humanity.  Hence, God Almighty did not give reproduction of life to spiritual beings.

Satan’s seed/descendants/children are those among humanity who have Satan’s spirit.

By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: any one who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.  1John 3:10  NASB

When God Almighty removed His spirit from the first couple after their disobedience and sin, it was replaced with the spirit of Satan, as if by a bite of the serpent (Section 2.6).  Therefore, applying the principle of after their kind to humanity means that the counterfeit life manifested by the spirit of Satan resident within the first couple has been passed on to offspring generation after generation.  Without the ability to produce or reproduce life, Satan is dependent upon the reproduction of life by humanity as the means to produce his spiritual seed/descendants/children.

We see the production of Satan’s seed by the first couple.

Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the LORD.”  And again she gave birth to his brother Abel.  And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.  Genesis 4:1-2  NASB

The two brothers at some point brought offerings to God Almighty from their different vocations.

So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground.  And Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions.  And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard.  So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell.  Genesis 4:3-5  NASB

Cain’s offering was a product of the ground, which God Almighty had cursed on account of Cain’s parents.  On the other hand, Abel’s offering required the sacrifice of life, a rite that was instituted by God Almighty in the Mosaic Law.  The New Testament gives us further insight into God Almighty’s regard for the brothers and their offerings.

We must not be like Cain.  He was a child of the devil and killed his brother.  Why did he kill him?  He killed him because the things he himself did were wrong, and the things his brother did were right with God.  1John 3:12  Worldwide English (WE)

By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.  Hebrews 11:4  NASB

So, it was not the offering per se, but the character of the person that was the basis for God Almighty’s different regard for the brothers and their offerings.  Cain, in his anger over God Almighty’s regard for Abel, killed his brother.

And Cain told Abel his brother.  And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against his brother and killed him.  Genesis 4:8  NASB

As God Almighty had done with Cain’s parents, He confronted Cain and then cursed him.

Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?”  And he said, “I do not know.  Am I my brother’s keeper?”  …  “And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.”    Genesis 4:9,11  NASB

Consequently, Cain was a spiritual child of the devil (1John 3:12) and a murderer and a liar (Gen 4:9) just like his spiritual father (John 8:44).

The spirit of Satan resident in the first couple was passed on to the generation succeeding them.  Therefore, given that all humanity is descendant from the first couple, every person born as the result of human reproduction is born as a child of Satan with Satan’s spirit.

knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.  1Peter 1:18-19  NASB

Even so, God Almighty, as He did with Abel, has bestowed righteous status upon chosen servants throughout the Old Testament.

Satan’s seed, the collection of all his spiritual children, is perpetuated by human reproduction. So Satan, in order to ensure his seed upon the earth, has perverted human reproduction into lustful sex, making it one of the strongest temptations, forces, urges, influences within humanity.

“You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. …”  John 8:44  NASB

By populating Satan’s kingdom, humanity does the desire of Satan, thereby making humanity slaves of Satan.  Generation after generation, these offspring reproduce and thereby create an ever-expanding body of Satan’s seed/descendants, with a portion of them living on earth at any given time.

The woman’s new name, given to her after the curses in the garden, associates her with the seed/children of Satan.

Now the man called his wife’s [the woman’s] name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.  Genesis 3:20  NASB

Because Satan is the spiritual father of all humanity and Eve is the mother of all humanity (all the living), all humanity is born into their common seed.  There are two important consequences of this spiritual-human partnership between Satan and the woman Eve.  One is that, because Satan and the woman Eve have the same seed, the woman whose seed has enmity with Satan’s seed is not the woman Eve from the garden.  Specifically, the woman named in the Satan’s curse is Jesus’ mother and this portion of the curse upon Satan is considered the first, direct prophecy of a redeemer for humanity (Jesus).  The other consequence is that the man Adam has been usurped as the spiritual father of all humanity, and the man Adam’s lack of spiritual fatherhood will have importance when the other Son of God (Jesus) arrives.

God Almighty’s curse upon the woman (Eve) stated that her partner shall rule over her (Gen 3:16).  A literal interpretation means that the woman will desire to please her partner, the man Adam, and that he will rule over her.  In general, history confirms this relationship between male and female.  On the other hand, with respect to the seed/descendants of the spiritual-human partnership, the curse states that Satan shall rule over the mother of all humanity and likewise over all her children (all humanity).  Hence, all humanity enters life as members of Satan’s kingdom under his dominion with desire to do his will.  We must wait until Jesus’ redemptive work to inaugurate the process of one, during life on earth, moving from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God Almighty.

Continuing the narrative in Genesis, we find that the human family grows.

And Adam had relations with his wife again; and she gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, for, she said, “God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel; for Cain killed him.”  And to Seth, to him also a son was born; and he called his name Enosh.  Then men began to call upon the name of the LORD.  Genesis 4:25-26  NASB

However, this calling upon the name of the Lord did not last.  Being clothed by skin/hide of beasts means that our mind and heart by default seek to satisfy the inputs of the physical/flesh, which register in our consciousness as lusts (Section 2.6).  Humanity, having a carnal, beastly, fleshly, selfish nature consistent with their spiritual father, is tormented by evil thoughts and emotions from within (spirit of disobedience) and fleshly desires from without (physical lusts), which are turned into evil deeds.  Any desire or effort to worship God Almighty and to seek His ways is not supported by our nature and is attacked by Satan.

Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  Genesis 6:5  NASB

God Almighty, in whom there is only righteousness, expressed his revulsion with humanity manifesting Satan’s will and desire.

And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.  And the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.”  Genesis 6:6-7  NASB

Before God Almighty destroyed all of humanity, He harvested seed from the first planting of life on earth and used these to populate the earth after the flood.

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.  These are the records of the generations of Noah.  Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.  Genesis 6:8-9  NASB

Then the LORD said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household; for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time.  Genesis 7:1  NASB

Noah’s righteousness appears to be qualified by the limiting phrases in his time and in this time.  Noah was faithful to God Almighty and built and filled the ark as he was commanded.  Then the flood came.

And it came about after the seven days, that the water of the flood came upon the earth.  …  And all flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind; of all that was on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died.  Genesis 7:10,21-22  NASB

God Almighty brings death to all of humanity except for Noah, his three sons, and their four wives.

The flood waters of Noah’s time covered the earth at the end of spiritual day/age 2 and brought the death of humanity.

Then the flood came upon the earth for forty days; and the water increased and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth.  And the water prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark floated on the surface of the water.  …  The water prevailed fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered.  Genesis 7:17-18,20

A more positive view of the flood is that the death of humanity by the water of the flood is a necessary step in the restoration of humanity to God Almighty’s kingdom.  Jesus indicated the process.

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”  John 3:5  NASB

For one to enter the kingdom of God Almighty, one must be born of both water and the Spirit.  The process of birth by water and then spirit will occur in the natural with the physical world as well as spiritually with humanity.  The apostle Paul connected death with baptism by water.

Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?  Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.  Romans 6:3-4  NASB

Therefore, the flood, which brought death by water to all humanity, was the water baptism into death of the physical world, which is the required first step in the restoration to God Almighty’ kingdom.  Therefore, we await the necessary and required destruction of the humanity by Spirit (i.e., fire, 2Peter 3:5-7).

In the following table, we summarize the progression of the three components of humanity from the beginning to the flood.

The flood is the culminating event of spiritual day/age 2.

…  And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.  Genesis 1:8  NASB